Hi Michael:
Thanks for the work pep talk. You are right, though. I am learning a great deal and ultimately, if I screw up, someone else will take the heat. Kind of sucks bit its true. It makes me feel better.
Hmm, speaking of Brea, I really hope that you get the job with the City of Brea. Than I can call you and harass you all the time for all kinds of stuff. My department works closely with the Economic Development Department for the City of Brea. I have had only a few brief contacts with the IT departments for several OC cities including the City of Brea IT staff. What type of position are you applying for? Programmer? Tech support? What is it that they are looking for?
I have to tell you, I think you are very talented. I know a few government IT staff from various OC cities. From the looks of your website, your knowledge surpasses entry level IT positions. You might get bored working for the government. You seem so creative and you seem to know quite a bit about web design. Not to be mean or criticize anybody but you are going to find that there are a great deal of uneducated people working for the government. There are many people in city and county governments that have advanced to managerial positions simply because they have paid their dues and worked as public servants for eons. I have encountered several management type people in my work circles that only held high school diplomas and a little bit of junior college.
That is not to put anyone down. I am well aware of the fact that college is not for everyone. The majority of really financially successful people in America don’t even hold degrees. Not only is college not for everyone but it certainly should not be a measure of a persons worth.
I don’t know if it is like this in the private industry but I have found that many people in city and county offices do not have degrees. Many people in government advance to management positions due to program knowledge and years vested with the company. There is nothing wrong with this at all in my book. I feel that knowledge and experience should be rewarded. But you understand that someone like me, fresh out of college, might confront certain situations a little differently than the way someone who did not study and learn business and economic theories might? I have had supervisors in the past that had no degrees to their name feel threatened by someone like me who did have a degree. It was kind of weird because I am so not into lame power trips. I just want to go, do my job, and leave it all behind when I am off. Like you, I am very ambitious, but I don’t want work to be the center of my world. That spot will be reserved for a future husband and my children.
From what little I have seen from the City of Brea’s IT department, I think you will shine brightly if you get hired. Like I mentioned, it’s not that I think everyone is stupid and or uneducated in government jobs, it’s just that the pool of college educated people working in many government jobs is actually very small. The City of Brea IT is a pretty small department. I really hope that you get the job. It would be so cool if you were on my same work schedule. I get every other Friday off. Most city and county government workers are on what we call a “flex” schedule. This just means that we alternate Friday’s off. Twice a month we get to enjoy a 3 day weekend. It’s the best! I am actually working on convincing my boss to start letting me have every Friday off. I love only working four days a week. I don’t think that I will be able to pull this one off but I am still going to try. We also receive all kinds of holidays off. I love working for the government. I get to feel as if I am helping people who are in need and I get all sorts of little perks like great health benefits, retirement, unionization, etc.
The only thing that kind of stinks is the pay.
I earn in the mid 40K a year. After taxes, I feel like a total pauper. Some of my friends who went to work in the private industry are already earning like 50K or 60K a year and I am stuck making 40 something a year. My particular position has a salary max of 52K a year. I’m almost at my max and I just started in this position. Once I reach my max, no amount of hard work will ever get me a raise. So I need to apply for a higher position. Those don’t come around very often. So I will have to wait and see. I am happy where I am at for now. I have a great boss and I am just starting my MBA. I have a feeling that having an MBA will increase my chances for promotion. It’s all good.
Besides, I want a family soon. I want to meet someone, get married and start raising a family within the next couple of years. I’m working long hours right now because it’s a new position and I am learning the ropes. These long hours are definitely not the norm. I normally work 40 hours a week and no more. Once the learning curve has kind of settled, I will be getting off of work by around 4:00 P.M. or so the way I used to. Virtually no one in the county or the city works beyond 40 hours a week. They are usually really strict about this. I’m kind of glad because I tend to be a work-a-holic and this kind of puts a brake on me trying to work overtime.
Anyway, enough talk about work. Suffice it to say that I think you are very talented and I know that you will blow them away. Best of luck to you!!
Thank you sooOOOooo much for the great tips on information for my Argentina report. You are so sweet! Now would write it for me, too? Just kidding! I’m just not into finishing my paper tonight. It’s a beautiful night out tonight and my jaunt to the beach has me dreaming about more beach time. Can’t concentrate on my paper with the smell of the sea air still on my mind. I’d give anything to just go splash around in the water right this minute. Oh well! On Friday night I will be near a lake and I suppose that will have to do. But again, THANK YOU so much for your help. I found the first website to be very useful.
So, you went out for some fun and gambled your heart away until midnight?
Too funny! I could just see you totally excited at your good fortune. I have a very good male friend who loves to gamble. He’s retired and he spends his days going from casino to casino just having a good time. I have to admit I have not the foggiest idea on what exactly a black jack is. I take it that it is a good thing. The only time I gamble is in Las Vegas and I stick to the easy stuff: slot machines. Gambling is fun though. It is so addictive! I love it!
I might go to Vegas again after my classes are over. I could use a weekend of fun.
Ha! Your conversation with your friend’s mom must have been a hoot!
Yes, I do believe that I would have felt a tinge of awkwardness, too. So? Are you dating this girl? Is she a potential new love interest? Tell me everything! If so, let me tell you, you definitely scored points with the family by attempting to speak their language. Michael, that was awesome! Pretty smooth, my friend… I’m kidding! I know that you are not like that. I’m just happy that you had a good time. “Michael and Vietnamese girl sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Sorry! I couldn’t resist teasing you.
I’ll be quiet now.
I have a friend who is Vietnamese. I don’t speak a word of Vietnamese. I speak a little bit of Tagalog. I actually have several Vietnamese friends. My friend is named Thuy (pronounced Twee). I have friends of many different nationalities. I don’t discriminate. If I like someone and have something in common with them, I will hang out. My circle of friends looks like a meeting of the UN; blacks, whites, Middle Eastern, Asian, Latin, and European. One of my most trusted confidantes is a woman from Europe, Sweden to be exact. She is a very kind woman and I really love her. She listens to all my nonsensical ramblings and I owe her a lot. She makes me laugh. She is in her 40’s and has two daughters. She is divorced and is working on her master’s in Northern California. She called me the other day to tell me that she is in love with one of her professors.
What is about teachers that drives woman mad? I know that I have had my fair share of crushes on teachers but those were a zillion years ago. I was a teenager and prone to fall in love with anyone and everyone. My European friend told me that she sent her professor an anonymous Valentine bear with a sappy love poem attached. I started cracking up when she told me this. I couldn’t help it. It just seemed so melodramatic and kind of cute to me. Anyway, I encouraged her to wait until after the semester before she pounced on him. She sent me a picture of this guy and I can see why she is smitten. He’s not incredibly handsome. He looks to be in his 50’s but he has a gentleness about him that seemed very attractive. I hope that her feelings are returned by him. She lives six hours away from me and so I won’t even be able to comfort her with a hug if this thing doesn’t pan out.
O.K., enough stalling on my part. I really have to get back to my paper. Aren’t you happy to have a friend who is so good at wasting time when there is work to be done?
Seriously, though Mike. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure what the day will be like for you but I do hope that you can make it through the day with some semblance of happiness. Valentine’s Day will be a blast for you again someday. Thanks again for all of your help. Enjoy your day tomorrow!!!
Cheers!
Lexi