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About Me : Austin Jobs
I moved to Austin in late March of 2000 and have worked a bunch of different jobs since moving here.. Just for the hell of it I decided to put a page up to keep track of the jobs I've had here. :)
Jobs I've Worked in Austin
AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless, and AT&T Wireless)
September 13, 2004 to May 9, 2008
After business had slowed down too much I needed to get a full-time job to keep the basic bills and rent paid..
The past few months before this job had been a struggle to keep afloat, so I responded to an add placed by Apple One for a call center peon gig at AT&T Wireless in South Austin.
Having done telephone technical support in my early .com days I figured I'd be qualified, and the work couldn't be too hard. I thought it would be a temporary gig while I continued the effort to get back into a tech gig.
I started working here when we were still AT&T Wireless. In mid-November of 2004 the big merger went through, and we became a part of Cingular Wireless.
In February of 2006 I got into the "Consumer Data Support" group. Much less stress, and after a short while I was promoted to a "mentor" for the other phone reps, where I stayed here until I took a leave and moved back to the Phoenix area for the summer in early May of 2007.
In September of 2007 I moved back to Austin and went back to work at the new AT&T, again in Consumer Data Support. As a reward for coming back they let me slack off in a 6 week training class again in case I forgot anything over the 4 months of beer drinking in the Arizona sun. :)
International Studies Abroad
July, 26 2004 to July, 30 2004
I had been trying to get a decent 9 - 5 "normal" job doing web programming for a while since moving back to Austin in late June of 2003. And not much had come from a few interviews with local state agencies. Not surprising since there's like 100 resumes submitted for any posted position, so being chosen for an interview was a small success in itself..
The self employment and contract work I had been doing through my friend's company Porch Puppy Online for a couple years had been up and down, and as a result I had been accumulating some debt trying to make ends meet.. And wondering if checks would come in to cover the rent in time could be a real drag too..
After lots of looking and interviews I was hired by Studies Abroad. For a week I worked at their offices near U.T. and tried to make a go of it.. Then the day after I started they fired the guy that was helping me learn their systems (the only other programmer in the shop) and how things worked there. After some futile attempts to get some clear answers and help from the boss another contract project came up with Porch Puppy Online, so I decided the place wasn't for me and left. I didn't think a little introduction and help in getting to know the setup and settled in was too much to ask, but I guess it was..
Dell Computer
April 19, 2004 to April 27, 2004
Since a few different interviews over the months with Texas state agencies had not yet resulted in any developer job offers I responded to a Spherion ad for a phone support gig at Dell Computer in Round Rock, TX. I ended up interviewing there and getting a job offer for a telephone tech support position.
I started their training class, but the miserable commute from south Austin up to Round Rock really started to wear on me quick.. And I never had any intention of moving up to Round Rock.
I didn't move back to Austin in mid-2003 to move to someplace with no character or uniqueness. I could have stayed in Phoenix and been surrounded by thousands of the same model of tract houses, with a Chili's® and strip mall on every corner. I want to continue living in south Austin, near downtown if possible..
So one morning I didn't arrive my usual 45 minutes to an hour early, and sure enough there wasn't a single parking space around the entire building to be had (much like my current job at Cingular), so I made the decision that although I could deal with the mundane work, the commute was more misery than I wanted for any length of time.. Why is it that big companies want to provide parking to only 85% - 90% of their work force anyway? Finding parking at Dell was like musical chairs.
Sitel @ GM
February 2, 2004 to March, 19 2004
After quitting the part-time pizza delivery slacker job at Papa Johns I continued the search for a day gig in in web development and programming, and stumbled across an ad Telesource had placed regarding a temp job at Sitel doing telephone customer service work in the mean time.
While continuing the search for a suitable day gig I liked the idea of the temp thing, and the work would be easy, and it was.
I continued working on projects for Erika at Porchpuppy Online, and also kept up my regular full-time search as well during my time here. For a while it worked out..
Early on I got roped into being a "supervisor/lead".. Which means I was the asshole that went around with the clipboard to ask and enlist people to go home early, unpaid time off, when the call volume was slow. Yay. Even got a couple of unpaid days off myself..
I finally decided this temp gig wasn't worth it since they'd bring us in only to let us go 2 hours later. And when we were there we'd all wait for like 30 - 45 minutes between calls. And with the firewall blocking any cool web sites to pass the time on it became really mundane and one of the most boring jobs I've ever had in my life. I almost missed my high school dish washing job. :)
Papa Johns Pizza
August of 2003 to January 18, 2004
I took a part-time pizza delivery job at Papa Johns a couple months after I returned to Austin from my 7 month sebatical in Phoenix working for Erika. Business and projects were a little slow, and I needed something to supplement my income to make the bills..
For the most part it was easy work. Once I got to know my way around the store's territory it was a breeze. The hardest part of the job (as my manager put it) was to find a decent radio station..
But we also had "side work" to do once our shift was done. One of these menial tasks was washing dishes and pans.. For whatever reason they had scheduled me with this miserable task 3 shifts in a row once before. I was irritated (actually, really pissed off), and made it very clear that it couldn't ever happen again, at one point throwing pots and pans around the back room.. And my manager assured me it wouldn't happen again.
So not more than a couple of weeks later I started a shift with "sweeping the back" as my task, but later ended up looking at a 3rd shift in a row of dishes (due to a co-peon getting a boo-boo on his finger at his day job).. So I didn't touch them the whole shift (we would normally try to get a head start during the shift during slower times) and at after my last delivery cashed out and told the assistant manager I wouldn't be doing the dishes or coming back.
Porch Puppy Online
September of 2002 to September of 2004
I had done a couple of web programming projects for my old buddy Erika and her company Porch Puppy Online over the previous year or so on the side while still working at Hoover's Online.
When I decided to leave Hoover's I started working for her doing web development and programming. Since it would be good for business, and so I could attend meetings with prospective clients, I moved back to Phoenix for 7 months..
Moving back also helped since in the beginning I was also the systems administrator, and the server rack I had put together was there at her place too..
After 7 months in Phoenix I was originaly intending to move down to Casa Grande, so I could be closer to Skydive Arizona.. But after finding out I wouldn't be able to get a high-speed (no cable, DSL, etc..) Internet connection I scrapped those plans. And after thinking a while, and talking to my old skydiving buddy Donna via email, I decided to move back to Austin instead..
I missed my old dropzone, and my old buddies and my adorable ex-girlfriend Marilyn. And since the web programming and database work I was doing could be done from an Internet connection anywhere I decided to move back.. And moving back meant no more meetings with clients too, an added bonus! :)
I rented a room from my old skydiving buddy Donna and continued working from home for the next year and a half..
Working for yourself can be great with the total freedom, but it can also be scary.. Since I'm not a saleman, and not very outgoing with people I don't know, I was kind of at the mercy of whatever business Erika could generate.
Some months can be really good, while others can be very bad and stressful. And not having a regular paycheck (not even a small one) to rely on can make budgeting for the bills tough.. I started the full-time "regular job" search a couple months after my return to Austin..
Hoover's Online
April 3, 2000 to September 17, 2002
When GoRacing.com started to go under in late 1999 I put the resume out on Monster.com, as I had before.. And a recruiter in San Antonio found me and hooked me up with Hoover's Online..
I spoke to Susan Booth (who would later be my manager) in late January and early Febrary of 2000, and they flew me out to Austin for an interview. I first interviewed with Susan. Then I interviewed with the CTO Tom Ballard, who first asked if a wanted a beer, and then brought a couple of beers back to the conference room. We sipped on a beer and had the interview. I think it was at this point that I knew this was the place for me. :)
When Susan took me to dinner later that night and told me they'd be making me an offer I was very happy. I flew back to Phoenix and put in my notice with my manager at the dying GoRacing.com.
I browsed some apartments near the new job online, and contacted an apartment locator company to make the arrangements, and in late March of 2000 I packed a Uhaul with my belongings and moved to Austin.
I had some great experiences at Hoover's, and experienced my first 35 hour work weekend there (a couple of times actually, dang deadlines), met some great people, and learned a lot.
And working at a place that would buy the staff good import beer and put movies on the numerous TV screens every Friday was pretty cool too.. :)
When I first moved to Austin I lived across the street from work, and walked to work for the first 9 months. Then the lease ran out so the company bought the old Buttercrust® building on Airport Boulevard a couple miles away, and we moved into that building after they gutted and overhauled it.
I really enjoyed most of my time at Hoover's, but toward the end they made some management changes and the morale sunk to new lows, it just wasn't the same place I started working at.. So one night, after several weeks of thought and refinancing my truck for a smaller payment, I was still at the office at 10:00pm one night (not uncommon in the .com business) and decided to leave and check out the self employment thing.. I typed out a resignation letter, cleaned my personal stuff from PC hard drive, and left my door badge and the letter on the CTO Tom's desk..
