Life update: new gig @ HGST


Last November I left CEI where I had worked for 8 1/2 years.  I had plenty saved up to cover me to the next gig.  So out went the resumes into the void and we waited for the holidays to pass to get an idea of how things have changed in the techy job market.

Turns out they've changed a lot.  I got 8 hits by the end of first full week of January.  Four of those went the distance with 2 offers, 1 offer in progress and 1 that eventually bowed out. All of these were remote, either in Seattle or Portland or work-from-home.  A few others interviewed me but then disappeared.  Only amazon interviewed me and then turned around and rejected me right away.  That's the third time they've done that so I think I'm done interviewing with Amazon.   They don't do any real embedded work anyway (their Lab126 subsidiary does, but not Amazon itself).

hgstWhile waiting for those offers to be finalized hgst swooped in at the last second.  They contacted me, set up an interview, brought me in and made an offer in less than a week.  HGST has a relatively new office here in colorado springs so I wouldn't have to relo.   They also made a terrific offer, better than any of the others.  And the office is actually closer than CEI.  Considering my old commute was about 6 minutes, I found it surprising I'd get an offer from someone even closer to home.

We had been excited by the idea of moving to the Pacific Northwest.  We've been there and really loved it, despite what everyone says about it raining or being overcast all the time.  Unfortunately, the timing is wrong.  My house won't sell for what I bought it for so I gotta wait that out for at least a couple more years.  Economic changes come slowly to Colorado Springs.  It takes a long time to drop down like everyone else, but then it takes a lot longer to rebound after everyone else has.   And if we wait a couple more years I may just stay here and buy a vacation spot somewhere else.  It's hard to leave the mountains behind too.

So I'm happy to announce that I've accepted the HGST gig.  It's a storage product group and I'll be working with firmware – bootloaders, linux distro, customization and product apps.  Cool beans, I say.  My luck never seems to run out, it seems.  My wife and I are planning to build out the basement (hello, media room), make major updates to the landscaping and settle in for awhile.  If we need to get away, we've still got the Pod.  And disneyworld.

Life is good.

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