Daily crono / Napping / An interview
This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put. Churchill
Thinking now, 12 hours later, the interview was great fun. I think one should have one interview per week, or maybe two. I have now learned to like them, to take them as sociological (or cultural anthropological) field experiments. Like visiting some remote, strange tribe and trying to figure out their ways. And if I am lucky enough, have the right magical things with me, do the right things, use the right words, and keep my facial expressions serious, maybe I will be accepted to one of the tribes. They reward their members so well! (But I am not withdrawing my decision. I will limit the time I waste on job search to the absolute minimum, just enough to get some additional field study opportunities.)
The rest of the day was also interesting. I had lunch with Pia in her regular lunch place (and breakfast too). It is always nice to talk Finnish, and European. Later, back at home, napping, hacking, then walking around Back Bay and talking with Mirja on the phone. Still later, trying to find and finding the nest of FedEx-trucks with Kumar and Ashok, and celebrating who knows what in the great South-Indian place in the middle of dark suburban wilderness. Scary surroundings, but delicious food.
Taking a nap is the best way of breaking the spell of procrastinating and lack of creativity. Every workplace should have plenty of coaches (sofas) for napping. Just having small cubicles practically guarantees not having too much creativity around. This is not something the share-owners really like. Or do they?
Back in 1998-2001, I used to have a couch in my office in Nokia. I used it for taking naps, but it was also practical when somebody wanted to discuss with me. I could stay in my chair and he would sit in the couch. Cosy atmosphere. Then some accountant convinced the management that the creativity/productivity loss from stuffing employees in cubicles is less than the rental savings. I think it has turned out to be a bad miscalculation. But running a business means, among other things, following current accounting and management fashions. Sometimes it is very hard not to get physically wounded by all silver bullets flying from above.
I had an interview with a consulting company. I am rather uncomfortable with the case interview methods. Most likely it is just due to lack of experience, but it may also be due to my innate honesty and straightness. So, I tend to do not that well. For example, today I was supposed to tell how an insurance company can increase their customer royalty. In the end, I managed to come up with some semi-sensible recommendation. But the road there was fraud with stumbling, difficulties and worse. The interviewer was interesting in something called strategic technology roadmap, which I really could not understand. So, I said that I do not know what such a roadmap is and what it should contain; that I have never seen such a beast. It seems that the strategic roadmap is something like the high level goals of the system, which, of course, I can define. But it may well be something fuzzier. I hope I get a change to learn later.
The company has a telecommunication practice. I think that despite my ignorance of some fuzzy things, they would do themselves a favor by hiring me. They cannot really find a better person for serving their customer. Not brighter and more experienced anyway. Stay tuned for results.
I think I am going to write an essay on job search in USA later this fall.
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs November 2005".
Daily crono
Just to keep track of the fleeting days, my life. In the morning, the interview. I decided to play to part to the full, so I donned a nice tailored suit and took a taxi to MIT. I felt so CEO. I also bought a coffee in a paper cup, stirred it with a straw, and covered it with a plastic lid. I felt so American. I read Wall Street Journal while waiting for the interview. I felt so all set. And I was.Thinking now, 12 hours later, the interview was great fun. I think one should have one interview per week, or maybe two. I have now learned to like them, to take them as sociological (or cultural anthropological) field experiments. Like visiting some remote, strange tribe and trying to figure out their ways. And if I am lucky enough, have the right magical things with me, do the right things, use the right words, and keep my facial expressions serious, maybe I will be accepted to one of the tribes. They reward their members so well! (But I am not withdrawing my decision. I will limit the time I waste on job search to the absolute minimum, just enough to get some additional field study opportunities.)The rest of the day was also interesting. I had lunch with Pia in her regular lunch place (and breakfast too). It is always nice to talk Finnish, and European. Later, back at home, napping, hacking, then walking around Back Bay and talking with Mirja on the phone. Still later, trying to find and finding the nest of FedEx-trucks with Kumar and Ashok, and celebrating who knows what in the great South-Indian place in the middle of dark suburban wilderness. Scary surroundings, but delicious food.
Napping
Taking a nap is the best way of breaking the spell of procrastinating and lack of creativity. Every workplace should have plenty of coaches (sofas) for napping. Just having small cubicles practically guarantees not having too much creativity around. This is not something the share-owners really like. Or do they?Back in 1998-2001, I used to have a couch in my office in Nokia. I used it for taking naps, but it was also practical when somebody wanted to discuss with me. I could stay in my chair and he would sit in the couch. Cosy atmosphere. Then some accountant convinced the management that the creativity/productivity loss from stuffing employees in cubicles is less than the rental savings. I think it has turned out to be a bad miscalculation. But running a business means, among other things, following current accounting and management fashions. Sometimes it is very hard not to get physically wounded by all silver bullets flying from above.
An interview
I had an interview with a consulting company. I am rather uncomfortable with the case interview methods. Most likely it is just due to lack of experience, but it may also be due to my innate honesty and straightness. So, I tend to do not that well. For example, today I was supposed to tell how an insurance company can increase their customer royalty. In the end, I managed to come up with some semi-sensible recommendation. But the road there was fraud with stumbling, difficulties and worse. The interviewer was interesting in something called strategic technology roadmap, which I really could not understand. So, I said that I do not know what such a roadmap is and what it should contain; that I have never seen such a beast. It seems that the strategic roadmap is something like the high level goals of the system, which, of course, I can define. But it may well be something fuzzier. I hope I get a change to learn later. The company has a telecommunication practice. I think that despite my ignorance of some fuzzy things, they would do themselves a favor by hiring me. They cannot really find a better person for serving their customer. Not brighter and more experienced anyway. Stay tuned for results.
I think I am going to write an essay on job search in USA later this fall.
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs November 2005".
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