With dot aplomb

Slashdot today had a discussion and link to a Wall Street Journal article about some of the silly-ass ideas of the dot com era (see my posting from last summer about one of the companies mentioned in the article).

Back in the dot com explosion of the late 90's, even the stupidest idea related to the internet scored shitloads of venture capital with few questions asked. Even well-established companies went apeshit and blindly pumped cash into their IT departments. If you had a computer-related background and a pulse, packs of technical recruiters would hunt you down like werewolves stalk hitchhikers through pastoral England.

It just so happened that I started my computer programming career about this time and that my specialty was writing web-based software. Dot ka-ching! I had the surreal experience of looking for a job in the Twin Cities in the summer of 1999, just months before the bubble burst. In order to keep my applications straight, I keep detailed contact notes when job hunting. Looking back at my records, I had over 80 contacts and more than 30 job interviews over the course of about 6 weeks. My phone rang night and day.

In one case, a headhunter actually flew in from Chicago so he and his Minneapolis-based colleague could "present" me in person before an interview with a utility company in downtown Minneapolis. I had no idea why I needed to be introduced by them, since I was perfectly capable of shaking hands and saying, "Hello. My name is Jeremy. Nice to meet you." without a backup crew. In any case, I was offered a position on the spot.

For reasons I can't recall, I knew immediately after the interview that I wasn't interested in working for them. I expressed my feelings in no uncertain terms to my headhunter posse. Just short of flying into an uncontrolled range, Chicago boy angrily reminded me that he had spent a lot of money and time flying to Minneapolis to present me for this interview. I snapped back, "Wait just one damn minute. I'm not making decisions about MY career based on how much money you spent. I'm not the one who told you to fly here." I also questioned him about what value he added to the process, particularly when his coworker was based just blocks from the interview site and could have handled the whole thing (whatever it was that needed to be handled).

In the end, I accepted an offer that was a full 25% lower in salary than the highest offer from the upstart dot coms. No stock options or crazy promises of riches beyond my wildest dreams, but it was with a large, established company with an excellent benefits package. Within a year, many of the companies I'd received offers from were struggling or out of business altogether. I have a low risk tolerance when it comes to things like my financial future and my career, so I don't profess myself to be some grand prognosticator for having seen it all. I just couldn't handle the uncertainty.