Update

Hey Guys,

Well, I’m not sure if you have all heard, but I recently started a new full-time job with OnX Enterprise Solutions. They are an IT consulting firm.

You’ve probably seen their sign, on the building near the Leitch building while travelling on HWY. 404/DVP.

I’m working there as a Usabililty Specialist. I’m Ecstatic about the position

I think it’s a pretty funny story about how I got the job. My friend Felix (we worked together at Critical Path) and I had been unemployed for about the same time. I had been been working on small contracts, he had been working with a new start-up. He and I have similar qualificaitons (he’s more skewed to UI design, while I specialise in UI analysis and

Usability), and about the same working experience.

In my final visit to Critical Path, my co-worker Peter Rogers (one of the funniest people I have ever had the honor of working with), had mentioned a UI design opening at a company called OpenCola. They were located in Markham, and seemed to be an ideal position for me.

Anyways, right before I submitted my resumé to OpenCola, Felix and I were chatting. The conversation went along the lines of the following:

Felix: Hey Tai, how’s it going?Tai: Not too bad, looking for a job, but I found this sweet position in Markham. Felix: Really? I just started working in Markham, at a place called OpenCola.Tai: Really? Well, I guess I won’t be applying to them…HA HA, since you just got the position I had in mind.

Brutal, but it gets better…

Tai:Congrats man! When do you start? Felix: I started today actually [Monday, Oct 7th]. Tai: Cool.

Fortunately this conversation was over Yahoo! Instant Messaging; he couldn’t see my envy. He went on to talk about his final round interview with CIBC; I didn’t even get passed the first rounds.

Felix:Hey, did Onx.com call you?Tai: No, why?

I’m thinking, “They called you and they didn’t call me?! ARGHH!” I was frustrated.

Felix: Really? I thought for sure they would call you. Take look at their website, you can apply there. Tai: Yeah, I will. Definitely. Thanks for the Tip.

In a nutshell, I applied Monday, received a call from the HR representative Tuesday, interviewed on Friday, and received and accepted an offer to work Friday afternoon. Felix, to his credit, even called the HR guy mid-week to chat them up about me.

The night before the interview was particularly bad. I had went to sleep early at 11:30 pm. Jen called at 1:38 am. The phone call went like this.

RING! RING!Tai: <silence> Hello?!Jen: Oh my God! You’re sleeping and you have an interview tomorrow. I shouldn’t have calledTai:Bye.Jen: Bye. <click, dial tone>

After that 10 second conversation, I was never able to fall back asleep. I was so pissed at Jen. If my lack of sleep screwed up this interview—I didn’t know what that would do to the relationship.

So with a scant two hours of sleep, I went into my interview. It was good. I was very happy with it—even with the lack of sleep. They loved my turkey stories. You could say that they ate it all up.

As you know, they called back in the afternoon. I started work on Wednesday, and that’s about that.

Exciting stuff is happening at OnX.com, and I’ve already learned a lot…but I’ll talk about that later.

So this year’s Thanksgiving felt especially appropriate.

Thanks a lot Felix, I don’t know if I would have found this job without the tip you give me.

Tai