8+ Hours on my couch Thats right everyone I stayed on my couch for nearly 8 hours today. I woke up, took a shower, sat on my couch and didn't move until 5 this evening. Why? Not because I was watching television, sick or lazy but because I was working my butt off to find some work.

It's pretty startling exactly how much mental work is involved in finding work. I'd dare say that working is actually easier than finding work. The scope of the questions I've had to answer, tests I've had to take and things I've had to learn has been broad. I've learned more in the last 30 days than I'd learned in the previous 6 months so its been rewarding but I hadn't counted on it being like this.

Big week of job hunting for me. I've got 5 total interviews this week and hopefully something will materialize into an opportunity. Definitely looking forward to getting in there and producing.  ¶ 10:09 PM 0 comments

  .NET Framework I've about gotten down all the essentials for using the .NET framework for developing applications. It took a little getting used to but once you get a good hold on what does what in Visual Studio then Intellisense and the debugger seem to do the reset for you. Whats more is there are so many developers out there that finding answers to questions is much simpler than PHP, Perl problems I used to face.

Today I did a good deal of PHP programming on one of my own web applications at Best of Baton Rouge. I'd started tinkering with the development of a databased system for this website late last year and have had to put it to the side while job hunting. I wanted a break from my .NET development so I picked it up today.(one of the benefits of being unemployed is you can program whatever the hell you want to) After a week or so of daily work in Visual Studio 2005 with that wonderful debugger and Intellisense it was suprisingly a pain in the butt. I imagine that anyone used to the wonderful tools available for .NET development would turn a little red working with PHP and a not so great CASE tool like Dreamweaver.

I'm curious about how fast I can put up a good ASP.NET site so this week I'll see about setting up a live ASP.NET site to compare development speeds and results.  ¶ 11:34 PM 0 comments

  Job Hunting - Trial By Fire I've recently had to start searching for a job and the skill everyone wants the most is the one I've had the least on the job experience with. Actually, I've had no on the job experience with .NET! I picked up a copy of Visual Studio 2005 in the last part of 2006 for the purpose of learning the new development tools that everyone is loving so much. Its great and coupled with the very awesome C# language I just had to give it a look. I never realized that in 2007 it would be the center of my world and the focus of all my attention.


.NET Mania

Since I posted my resume on Monster.com and Dice.com I've had about 15 contacts concerning .NET and 2 out of state contacts concerning my other history which was primarily *NIX based databasing coupled with custom PHP, PERL and Javascript applications. Nobody local is doing anything not .NET. I can't move so what do you do?

Learn .NET, C#.NET, ADO.NET and ASP.NET

I'm a professional and I know that if you need something you get it and learn it ASAP. Luckily I'd already familiarized myself with C# and using Visual Studio 2005. This was fairly easy because I had a background in Visual Studio 6, Visual Basic, C and Java from college. I can also read SQL like its plain english. However the use of the .NET framework and the subtleties of the environment are taking some getting used to. Unfortunately this is going to likely cost me some of my first opportunities since I'm still somewhat in the transition phase. No worries since I likely need the interview experience and I may get lucky with someone realizing what an adaptive guy I am.

Blessing in Disguise

This change of career occurance likely couldn't have come at a better time. All of these companies are making the transition to .NET using the newer versions of the language and they've got to scramble to train or hire people. I'm doing self training with 5 recent purchases from Amazon on .NET, ASP and C# and at least a month of daily rigorous study and practice in using the environment. I'm hoping to develop a website and an application as my tests to gauge my experience. There are a ton of communities out there and help is available. I just can't wait to get a chance to mix it up and contribute to a company!

Exciting times!  ¶ 10:17 PM 0 comments

  Busy Busy Busy on the Job Hunt I've never worked so hard and not been paid for it! My first part of 2007 has involved a constant job hunt for the beginning of my career in .NET software design. Opportunities are plentiful and its very exciting all around. I've really been getting a crash course on how a job hunt works since this is officially my first job hunting/interview experience. I stayed on with the company, InsiderLabs, that I worked as an Intern for and continued with them until we finished development in 2006 so I'm completely new to this.

Enterprise Level Training

After talking with a number of consultants and then recruiters for larger companies I definitely feel the large development teams of big companies are the way to go for me. I'll get real exposure to a dynamic team enviroment so I'm targeting those types of employers. Wish me luck everyone!

LSU Tigers

Are really struggling today against the Auburn Tigers in mens basketball. Man this Terry Martin kid is something else! Dameon Mason also hase absolutely no fear at all.  ¶ 3:51 PM 0 comments

  Geaux Gators As strange as it is for an LSU fan to be so happy about the Florida Gators winning a football game it was great tonight watching the Gators represent the SEC and completely destroying the Ohio State team. They dominated the game in every aspect and demonstrated to the country what it means to be an SEC champion team. This is the second time the SEC champion jumped from #3 to #2 and was questioned about it and its the second time the SEC team in question destroyed the #1 ranked team. Thats the power of the SEC baby!!

Congrats Gator nation. We'll see you in Death Valley next year!  ¶ 1:10 AM 0 comments

  As if we needed more fuel on the Alabama, Auburn, LSU rivalry Today Nick Saban becomes the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide! Wow what can you say to that? Nick has got to be loving the challenge of coaching against Les Miles and Tommy Tuberville. In the first year that a majority of LSU fans have forgotten about Nick Saban he comes back to the SEC. I'd bet Coach Miles is looking forward to the chance to throw a smooth beating on the guy that so many people around LSU wouldn't forget about.  ¶ 12:16 PM 0 comments

  Boise State vs. Oklahoma Wow what a football game. Up and down left and right these guys tore it up tonight. Just when you thought one team was done the other pulled something off. Great heart from Boise State getting back in it when they'd almost let it go. What guts with that play calling at the end of the game.

And then that Boise State player proposes at the end of the game to his girlfriend! A complete show and by far the most memorable bowl game this year so far.  ¶ 12:01 AM 0 comments