Things have suddenly gotten exciting. Since the end of my last contract, things have been pretty slow. Until a couple of weeks ago, when there was a small uptick in recruiter activity. I did have an offer from a company in Nebraska, but it did not seem to me to be a good fit, and the contract arrangements seemed to me to be a little strange, so I turned it down. After that, I got lots of contract submissions, but only a handful of actual interviews.

I was looking at a number of alternative ways to make some income. Internet marketing seemed to have some potential, but I wasn’t able to get enough traction to make a living. The summer slump came to my violin teaching. I started thinking in terms of finding a part time job, even if not in software. But I continued to work with several contract shop recruiters.

I thought maybe I would land something relatively close to home, like I did in 2005, when I got submitted to a client in East Texas. I was still waiting for some feedback when I got a phone screen for a contract in North Carolina. A few days later, the recruiter called me to arrange a Skype interview — for a date two weeks away. I figured that was probably the end of that, so I went back to looking for anything local that I could handle, regardless of whether it was a great fit.

The two weeks passed with no feedback at all from the East Texas submissions, and the Skype interview actually happened on Monday (June 16th), which was in itself a bit of a surprise. I thought I did OK on the interview, but not spectacularly so. I went off to run some errands with my wife.

I forgot to forward my regular phone to my mobile. When I got back, and checked the log, I saw that I had several phone calls spaced out over roughly 20 minute intervals from the same number. I thought it odd that I did not have any voicemails, so I figured I would just wait for whoever it was to call again.

When I checked my email, I saw one from the recruiter who had submitted me to the NC client asking me to call, and it was the same number as on the the log. I called him. He had been trying to reach me to tell me that the client wanted to extend an offer. Not only that, but they wanted me to start immediately, as in how long would it take me to get there?

I finally got the formal offer on Tuesday afternoon, along with a bunch of papers to sign and return. The actual start date was negotiated to be next Wednesday. So, I am scrambling to get ready for the trip…

…and, BTW, when it rains, it pours. This time is no different. Now that I’ve sent the “Sorry, but I’m no longer available for a while” email to every recruiter that has contacted me in the last 6 months, I’m getting floods of recruiter email, and my phone is practically melting. Most of them are adding that they will pay a bounty if I can refer somebody that they can place. Sigh.

So, if you are looking for work, and are a software developer with lots of C++ experience, feel free to use the contact form to reach me — maybe I can collect one of those bounties. Although, right now, I’m guessing you don’t really need any help from me, since the tide appears to have turned.