Hello all,

I went to a barcamp in DC on the 2nd. The topic was e-democracy. I really like the barcamp concept, as it is very impromptu and organized in large part by the attendees. If I stay here in Orange County, I am seriously thinking of trying organize a Ruby barcamp. I will seriously need to research it ... and get lots of help. There's not much indication of another meeting of the Orange County Ruby Users Group.

I took some notes on the conference. I know they're not as clear as I'd like, I might clean them up later. I also took some pictures. I've posted both the PDF of my notes and the pictures -- sorry the service isn't the fastest host, but I don't have the time to really design a nice page for this all (that's why I am blogging it). If I can hunt down usable hosting, I might do it up as a real page. But I'd like to put the photos up so that others can tag them (and the PDF too, might as well), I could code that, but for that I'd need more than hosting, I'd need access to install my code on the host. Or I could use another photo-share service that allows for that. I picked the one I did as it had no limits to number of files, and didn't resize the files downward (which flickr did to me for my photos of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival).

Cheers!

Looks like I am likely to be heading back to the East. It seems the LA Times was looking for a much more senior developer for the position. While I'm senior relative to IT overall, I am not for Ruby on Rails. I had only 8 months experience, which is more than year less than their other developers. So, I have been given notice -- my last day will be 12/7, at the end of a development cycle (an 'iteration' as they call it).

At least I have learned a lot here, including agile methodologies, and SCRUM. The whole planning for an iteration is good; it lets all the development team understand much better the code.

If I don't get an offer by about a week from now, I will book a flight on around the 11th or 12th back to IAD from LAX. I will also then need to pack up and ship a few boxes back to MD or VA; and I don't really have anywhere to ship them to just now.

I will also look for shot term housing in VA or MD, while I look for work.

There has been some interest from recruiters, especially for a few jobs in NYC and another job in Columbus, OH. In fact, like 3-4 recruiters have queried me about the Columbus job; I was careful to ask who the client was when I heard the same town name and saw the same specs on the job. It is very bad form to have more than one agency submit a candidate -- it will likely disqualify him or her for the position.

The job in NYC sounds more interesting, and also will pay far better ($50/hr on W-2) vs. maybe $45/hour 1099 in Columbus. The NYC job also will be being submitted with per diem, if I maintain a place in VA. For that I could easily rent a small room which I would have for weekends on occasion and to fall back to when the contract ends. It would also be good for the landlord as I wouldn't be there weekdays and most weekends. :-)

If anyone reading this knows of other Ruby on Rails developer opportunities, please let me know. Likewise if you know of a place to rent in the DC metro region (as I don't have a job when I get there, the location is not so important. If I did find a local job, I could always then look for somewhere closer to live).

( I've got two wonderful life options now ... )
As the song with the title above says, "It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right." I think I will do well with either option, I will do fair, honesty, hard work in return for my pay. And I will also pursue life with gusto with either option. I have the above factors to consider, and once I see both contracts, there might be other factors (but probably nothing that significant). If I knew either option would accelerate my gaining a Canadian skilled worker visa, or if either option would lead to finding a mate, yeah, that would trump all the others (or at least be a *very* high factor). I certainly hope that I will have "had the time of (my) life."

Comments are quite welcome!