Declined

Heard back from that company. The pay was acceptable but it turns out they don't allow telecommuting. Lame. So, I turned them down. They replied that they'd still keep me in mind for future opportunities. Maybe turning them down, telling them I wanted to keep doing the freelance gig for now, maybe that makes me look more desirable - instant credibility.

I was rather excited about having at least twenty miles of bike riding in every day. And then, after this was all finalized, my wife tells me I'm losing my muscles I gained from the bike commuting I used to do. D'oh.

Propositioned

Shortly before we moved out here I interviewed with a local web shop. They decided not to hire me because, they said, I didn't have experience in the language they use. I sent them a rebuttal but didn't hear back and often wondered if that was just an excuse not to hire me, what with it being so lame and all.

Well, out of the blue today I received an email from the HR person there asking me to call her 'cause the number they had for me isn't current. She told me that the owner had thought of me when a position opened. She assured me that the owner meant my intelligence and skills no insult but would I want to take an entry-level SQL scripting position, to get my foot in the door for the next web developer position to open - probably in December or January.

The pay is low. The benefits are great. It'd mean back to the eight-to-five grind. Could probably telecommute most days. Other days I'd get a bike ride in, at least. I dunno. I emailed and asked about telecommuting and what they pay would be for the developer position when it opens.

I doubt I'll take it but it's an interesting proposition and I think it's cool the owner thought enough of me to call me about it.

Job Three, Finally

Finally received my third assignment from The Hut. It's simple but should be fun - a page to allow maintenance of an XML file with location information. They want to be able to modify a list of locations, along with a blurb about the location. The XML file will then be used on their site to feed into a Flash-based interactive map. Simple, unless I feel like getting silly and use the GMaps API... :)

Total Independence

Woo-hoo! I successfully set up my machine so that I can do development on it completely independent of The Hut or anyone else! That's given me a boost in confidence. I think I'll make the most of that boost by calling C(F)D, the guy I sent that email to a few days ago.

On my own

So he didn't warm up much to the idea I had so I'm stayin' solo. I will still be getting plenty of work from him but I need to build up some alternates.

One thing I ran by this guy is to add an additional design shop to the family. There's a local company of creatives here that is looking to hire. I'm going to propose that rather than hire another employee they consider continuing to do the leg- and design-work but then turn over the back-end stuff to me and my guy. They're concerned about outsourcing but hopefully with me right here in town for them to beat up if it comes to it they'll go for it.

And I've got my own website idea to work on during the slow times. And some other small projects just for fun but might fill out the ol' portfolio. :)

Anxiety

I am now a freelance web developer. I finished my second job two Fridays ago and haven't been given a new job from my (currently) sole customer. I have a few things I could do and I had wanted to be freelance so I wouldn't be limited but I'm starting to feel like I'd rather just pull for that customer than for myself.

So, I emailed him about it yesterday but haven't heard back and I'm anxious to get going on something! I spent the bulk of last week working on things around the house expecting to receive more work at the end of the week - that's what my customer told me. But, no word and, hence, no work! Grr.