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Well it's been a few weeks since I last updated you on my job hunt so I thought I might do that in my spare time. Finding a job isn't hard; the hard part is finding a job that fits my qualifications and experience (or lack thereof). My search thus far has been hit and miss. I'll be contacted by some recruiters, but it either turns out that my lack of experience turns them off to my resume or the position they have is in a location where I'm not looking.

This has brought up something I'm always asking myself, but I never can figure it out: companies want so many years of experience, but how are we supposed to get experience if they don't want to hire the inexperienced? In order for someone to get 1-2 years experience or more, they have to have worked in the field. I don't know, but to me it seems that eventually companies would exhaust the market of experienced workers if they don't hire inexperienced.

Anyways, back to what I was saying, finding a job has been difficult, but I think my job search has been turning around for the better the last two weeks. About two weeks ago, I expanded my search from just checking Monster and Hotjobs to include several other job sites (including IT specific job sites). These sites include: Careerbuilder (a general job site), Dice (an IT job site), America's Job Bank (general job site), After College (entry level job site), TEK Systems (a recruiting company), Robert Half Technology (a recruiting company), ComputerWork.com (IT job site), ComputerJobs.com (IT job site), and MonsterTrak (entry level job site). And yes, I do check EVERY one of these sites every day. This new approach to my job hunt is having a lot more success than my old approach. In the last two weeks, on average, I'm applying to 10 jobs/week, where as the previous two weeks, I only averaged about 1.5 jobs/week. There are a few positions I'm hopeful about: earlier this week I applied to 7 jobs at Sun Microsystems. I'm hopeful about these positions, because unlike other positions I have applied for these were specifically targeted at recent grads with no experience. There are also two different companies I applied to yesterday that were also targeted at recent grads.

In addition to looking at these sites, day before yesterday I paid for a service to mail my resume to hundreds of recruiters in a mass distribution. The distribution won't take effect until tomorrow, but it should bring in more job leads. I also registered for a job fair in Denver, which will take place on March 5th. I need to call them to make sure software will be represented, but unless a job comes through, I am definitely planning on attending.

Ok, so my ThreePointOh site upgrade has been put on hold for now. A lot of the database work I am doing on it as well as the scripting I have for it is on my desktop so I won't be able to work on it until after I move most likely. In the meantime, I decided to do an intermediate site upgrade on the home page. I haven't really changed the blogging software or anything except for the main page. Some of the major upgrades include a stripped down navigation bar so you don't get lost on the site. I've implemented a lot of the ideas I said I would for ThreePointOh such as removing the forums, chat, webcam link, downloads, and just a bunch of other things that just convoluted the site. In addition to the stripped down menu, the site load time has dropped a lot just from the new interface. I've removed the frameset, and although I couldn't completely get rid of frames because of the different coding styles in the blog, gallery, and storyboard (a PHP include would screw up the links), one iframe isn't going to slow things down too much. I've also used CSS on Northwindy 2.5. This has really allowed me to do more with positioning that I wasn't doing before. There is some limited PHP use on the page. Right now the PHP is streamlining the navbar for better efficiency, and reducing code repetition in case the server location or domain location is ever changed.

Overall I don't see it as enough of a change to warrant calling it 3.0 because the actual ThreePointOh upgrade will have all the software written by me and no iframes. I think this is a major step towards 3.0, but we still have a ways to go. The CSS for 2.5 needs to be streamlined but if you want an idea what 3.0 is going to look at, just imagine 2.5 with a few cosmetic changes and some streamlined features.

The calls from companies regarding jobs have continued. Today I spoke with the recruiter I had mentioned in the last entry, but I was also called up by a different recruiter hiring for a company in Arvada, CO. First, let me go over what the first recruiter had said. Apparently what she does is package my resume and present me to several companies and from that several job interviews should develop. The problem with this was really the cost. Considering my post-graduation job search is only a few weeks old, I don't feel that its necessary yet to spend $600 or more to find a job. I'll see how far I get under my own steam for awhile and maybe if I'm not very successful, I will consider it.

Anyways, the second recruiter I spoke with actually represents a company called Sopheon that is hiring. As I said, they are located in Arvada, and the recruiter felt my job skills matched what the company was looking for. So I spoke to him for awhile and what he is going to do is speak with a few more candidates and present the top ones to the company, which should only take a few days. If there is interest, I will be called up again to phone interview with the company. Any relocation expenses would be my own, but it's really not a bad position. If it works out, I may be interested in accepting this job, but I'd like to see if I get any more offers for higher pay.

So that was my day in a nutshell. I've also been thinking more about the vehicle I'd like to get after I get a job. Like I said yesterday, I'm interested in either a 2007 Nissan Frontier 4x4 NISMO or a 2007 Nissan Xterra 4x4 Off Road. Right now I'm leaning heavily towards the Xterra. I've been reading reviews on it and it has been rated the best off roading SUV from several magazines. While the off-road features are mostly for bad weather driving, I do think it might be fun to take it into the back country and do real off-roading :-P. It was fun as a passenger so I'd like to do it as a driver too. If I did get it, it would be the fully loaded Xterra Off Road (not the SE). I was looking at the different packages and the off road is the only one with all the gizmos to help you out. I can just see myself in one of those blizzards where all the cars are stuck in snow, but I could put it in 4LO, turn on the rear locking differential (if necessary), and turn on Hill Assist / Hill Descent Control to keep the tires from spinning, and just go! It would be nice. And heck, if I had friends stuck in the snow, I could tow them out with that V6 4L 285 HP engine. My alter ego would be stuck there in a pile of snow in his 07 S2000 with no where to go .

So you can see I'm getting excited about buying one of those Xterras hehe. All in good time, right?

So it's 2007 now, and this will definitely be a year for change. It will be a year of new jobs, new cities, new friends and relationships. Now that I'm graduated, a lot will be different this year, and it should be the beginning of my new life. Right now, I'm in a transitioning period. In a way it feels like a limbo because I won't be staying here in San Antonio much longer, and things are on the verge of a major change. In the next few weeks / months, I will be starting new. I'd say there is a good probability that will be in Colorado, and I am excited about the new prospects. So what can we look for in 2007 with me? Well, for one, I'm going to be getting a new job. Tomorrow I'll be talking with a recruiter who will help me find a job and if they are as successful as they say they are I could have a job by next week.

Very shortly after getting a new job, my first investment after moving and getting my living situation stabilized, I'll be looking to invest in a new car. The amount I want to put down is slowly declining from what I initially wanted. At first I was saying I'd put 10,000 down, but that will take too long and I'd like to get the car before my student loans go into repayment. I'm thinking about just putting the minimum 3,000-6,000 down so that I could get a new car within a few months of getting my job. But in what? I'm really being more practical about the kind of car I want now. As much as I'd love to have a Honda S2000, it's not very practical for Colorado, and if I bought it, it would be very hard to drive around during the winter. It also can't tow.

So now I'm starting to look at trucks and SUVs. I have a few at the top of my list but it's proving to be more difficult choice. Either truck or SUV, it will likely have off-road capabilities for the snow. From Nissan, I really like the Frontier NISMO (like my friend Tony had), but the problem with that is they only have the manual transmission in the NISMO king cab. If I got a truck it would have to be a crew cab. I haven't ruled out a Black Frontier NISMO crew cab, but it would be an automatic, which I don't like. I like the blue, but that would basically copy the truck Tony had, and that would just be odd. With that, I'm actually looking more at the Xterra 4x4 off-road, which has the same engine as the Frontier, and a lot of the same features like Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC), front/rear wheel lockers, skid plates, and Hill Descent Control (HDC), and it even has the same shock absorbers as the Frontier Nismo. Actually the only thing that is different about it is that its an SUV and it doesn't have the chrome trim, and they offer it in 6-spd manual transmission. Another big plus is that it gets 0-60 in 7.3 sec! It might not keep up with an S2000 but that's actually pretty fast (and not just for an SUV).. my Civic gets 0-60 in like 8.3 sec. I've also looked a little at the Toyota Tacomas and Toyota RAV4s, but I wasn't too impressed. A lot of the features don't come standard, and there isn't a 10 speaker system w/ subwoofer as an option. So yeah you can obviously see that getting a new car/truck is a big priority for me, but I have to get a job first.

I am really anxious to get my new life underway, but it's like each day is going by incredibly slow. The few weeks its been since graduation feel like months. I can't stand the uncertainty of not knowing where my life is headed. I like to feel like I'm in control of my situation, but that can't happen until I'm secure in knowing that I have a job. Everything should pick up after then. I feel like my life is on hold until I move so I'm anxious to get the move done.

Anyways, that should get you up to date on my situation. Hopefully I will start writing more entries for the public, but we shall see. Until then...