> mike mathew

or Purposefully Making Each Day Count

This week, as I entered week 5 after my studies as The Iron Yard, I knew that I would need an extra helping of poise to stay afloat. There were a few possible interviews looming from the ten or so places I have applied over the last month. This week, though, this week is going to count. Lots to do and lots to see. Keep your head down and work hard.

A selection of happenings in the Mathew house:

• My lovely wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary! (Festivities on hold until I have a jobby job again. We will head to Gloria's soon!)
• My 13-year-old son had a band concert and rocked the french horn. Keeping it in the family.
• My 10-year-old daughter had caroling with her elementary Honor Choir.
• I spent five days working hard on a portfolio website that is ready to launch...just waiting on the web hosting and DNS servers to all click together.
• I had an interview with a staffing agency in Dallas. What a terrific view they have in their downtown Dallas perch!
• My 17-year-old brother had a band concert. Percussion rules!
• Our 3-year-old daughter has had a daddy chauffeur most days.
• I have another interview tomorrow with an awesome company on the north side of the metroplex that uses technology I dig. This place understands their culture and purpose — I can get on board with that!
• Another phone interview day after tomorrow with a recruiter for a position that reads perfectly for me.
• I also started working on the Advent of Code, which has been a lot of fun (and some of it is pretty darn challenging).
• Star Wars movie comes out. I am waiting to get a job lined up to buy tickets. Bit of incentive to me. I must see this.

15 years...just the beginning!

I have only heard back from one place that requires front end developers to have a Computer Science degree. I don't know all developers, obviously, but many of the ones I know (or know about) either have degrees in unrelated areas like physics (nutellahabit dot com) or Japanese (Dave Rupert) or they didn't even go to college at all! I not only have a Bachelor's degree, but I am nearly done with a Master's degree. I know how to play the game, and I know how to learn and improve. Just gotta keep my chin up and continue to bust my rump each day. Thankfully I have endless curiosity about things, which means I will likely never be bored again. There is so much to learn — very exciting!

Overall, things are going well. I am staying healthy in all ways. I am getting a little exercise here and there. I am relaxing and playing video games or hanging with my kiddos enough to break the monotony of staring into my flux-ed screen all day. I am getting out of bed, making the bed, showering, and working each day. I kinda like going downstairs and working in our home office. My dog Chewie does, too. I am willing to wager that Chewie knows more about JavaScript than most of the neighborhood dogs!