So, finding a job.
I decided to cut down my extracurricular internet activities, so I’m not lurking in nearly as many dead irc channels as I was before, not contributing to F/OSS projects for now, not paying much attention to journals (including my own). It’s helped me focus some, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I have little to no experience outside web development, and there are way too many web developers in the world.
It’s a frustrating realization, but what can I do? I’m certainly not alone in my 20-something career funk, I know plenty of people in my same position, most living with parents. So I figure the best thing I can do now is go to a temp agency. I’ll keep up my job search of course, since no one wants to temp forever, but this’ll give me some experience in other fields. Then maybe I’ll have some clue about what I want to do.
To prepare for my temp work stint, I booted into Windows and went through some Word and Excel tutorials that a friend of mine sent me. It’s all pretty easy stuff, and if you’re good with software you can get the hang of any Office application within 20 minutes, but when applying for temp work they have a test that they give you to see how good you are with it. They ask you specific questions about what menu and sub menu to use to do certain things, like adding page numbers, or double spacing. So brushing up on all that is a good idea. Last time I did temp work I took my knowledge of Word for granted and did pretty lousy on the test and ended up working as a clerk in a campus bookstore. I also fired up gtypist and did some excercises in typing and numerical data entry.
Ah, last time I did temp work. I’d say it was a completely useless and dreadful experience, but I did meet a friend who made my last few weeks in New York a lot of fun. Who knows, maybe going through lots of temp jobs will help me overcome the insane nervousness that I always feel when I start new jobs. And if nothing else, temp working leaves one with lots of great stories.
I’ll be going to the temp agency on Tuesday morning.