Happy Monday! Last week, I attended several hiring events and took a couple of interviews. I also played a little DDR at Dave & Busters and attended a small rave. Here’s how things are going.
Job Fairs and Applications
I went to three hiring events last week.
The first was for Coca-Cola Northeast, which advertised a merchandiser position. A merchandiser is a person who goes into big-box stores like Wal-Mart and sets up Coca-Cola displays to ensure the brand looks presentable and appealing. I had a nice talk with the hiring manager, and I assume they’ll follow up with me this week, but the hourly wage is just $20.75 an hour. It’s not terrible for a temp position, especially one that involves being active and interacting with people, but I’d rather go for something higher paying.
The second hiring event was for the New York State Attorney General. Their only open positions were for legal and office assistants, nothing tailored to my field. I gave them my resume, though, and a nice recruiter there gave me a link to check out each week as they advertise new positions.
The last event I attended was a job fair at a local Holiday Inn. About 30 companies set up booths to talk with prospective employees, but most advertised positions were entry-level customer support or sales roles. I spoke with a few recruiting firms that hire developers and IT people, and they said they’d review my resume and get back to me. One NYS agency was hiring a Linux Systems Administrator, so I applied for that opening this morning, although I might be underqualified. I also spoke with a recruiter from the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, which is hiring for a paid Java/COBOL Boot Camp at $31 per hour. That seems like one of my best opportunities right now.
Lastly, I discovered that NYS has about 40 openings for various IT Specialist roles, some involving programming. Unfortunately, I have to write individual applications for each, which will be a huge pain, but I imagine I have a good chance to hear back regarding at least some of them. The only downside about applying for state jobs is that you might not hear from the hiring manager for up to two months after you apply.
Interviews
I had a couple of successful job interviews, including one for the lead support desk analyst opening I mentioned in a previous post. The hiring manager seemed enthusiastic about my experience, but I don’t expect to hear back until the end of this week.
The other interview I took was to become an ESL Teacher in South Korea. It was via phone and involved talking about my teaching experience from 2019-2021 and role-playing how I would talk to students. I passed easily, and I expect to get a job offer from them. I’m still unsure whether I want to return to Korea because it would mean putting my IT career on hold.
Lastly, I have a telephone interview with a local bank later today for an Identity and Access Management Analyst position. Wish me luck!
What else I’ve been up to
I played DanceDanceRevolution (DDR) in the evening on Tuesday and Wednesday with a friend. I brought my tripod and recorded some videos with my new phone, which I’ve started trimming and uploading onto Instagram and TikTok. My videos have been doing okay, but I’m getting a bit tired of farming DDR for video content. I might either take a short break or try mixing up my content with edited videos or clip compilations. I’m not sure yet.
I attended a rave on Thursday that featured dubstep, D&B, and techno. It’s rare to find an EDM event around here, especially one that doesn’t focus on disco or industrial (goth) music. It was a ton of fun, and I danced a lot. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more local DJ sets and shows.
I visited Boston on Friday to sell a Tally Hall poster since one of the band members, Andrew Horowitz, was playing a show there. Since I was already two-thirds of the way there, I continued to Maine to grab drinks and play arcade games with a good friend. Then, I came back and spent a little time playing DDR at Braintree Dave & Buster’s. It was extremely crowded and loud, but I got a couple of nice high scores (and more video clips)!
Lastly, I posted a video predicting some of the content in DDR World, which got some nice feedback. KONAMI recently revealed a bit more about the new UI, so maybe I’ll follow up on that.
DDR Updates
If you’re interested in learning what DDR WORLD will look like, KONAMI released a few more teaser images and updates about the new features they’re adding. Check them out here:
Today is e-amusement Maintenance Monday, so try to avoid the arcade during the server downtime.
Besides that, DDR content has been a bit dry this week. Here are the limited-time events happening right now:
- DanceDanceRevolution WORLD Original Goods Campaign (ends May 28th, 2024) – If you play on DDR A3 or buy the two newest DDR Grand Prix song packs, you can accumulate “DP.” Once you have enough DP, you can spend it on the official website to get a DDR WORLD-branded e-amusement pass or poster.
- COURSE TRIAL A3 (ends May 22nd, 2024) – Make sure to play the COOL DANCE! course in DDR A3 to unlock melody H4CKER.
Thanks for reading!
