For those of you who have been regularly tuning in to “Where’s gconnor interviewing now?” you will be pleased to find out that we may actually have a winner this time! Today’s interview was at Shutterfly and think they like me, and more importantly, I think I like them.
I’ll post details later. Brief overview, I met with 4 people, 5 if you count an almost-cameo appearance by the CIO. All of them seem very cool (well, I already knew ezray was cool). They have a real product to sell and they’re still a little bit startup-y but not as much so as the other place I interviewed last week. They have lots of servers and need more server-wranglers, which I am. Their group seems to be distinguished from other places I have checked out in that they have a strong role in finding technical direction, almost R&D like.
The downside for me is going to be the commute. Mapquest reports 36 minutes at the speed limit, but this morning it took me 1 hr 10 min to get there at 8:56. I don’t know if this is typical, but it’s 14 more miles of 101 than I currently drive to work and my normal commute is 40 to 50 min. This may be offset by arriving later (or much earlier, though I don’t know if I would lean that way unless most co-workers do) but we shall see. If the job turns out to be utterly wonderful then I may look to move closer somehow. (Fremont maybe?)
In other news, the company that was so excited about me last week phoned to say they’re still excited about me, but that they just got acquired, and they’re dealing with their new masters and still trying to get an offer out in the midst of that. So we’ll see what comes of that, but if it doesn’t come soon it may be a moot point.