Since I got back to Montreal and started working at Nuance, I got contacted a few times by recruiters and headhunters for positions in other companies and/or cities. Working in software means that, recession or not, there will always be work for me. My current job being all right and my desire to leave Montreal being mitigated by my need to catch my breath, I politely turned down all the propositions I got. I even decided not to pursue a chance to earn a six-figure salary in Manhattan, which is the place where I dream to live. My reasoning was that if I lived in Manhattan, even with an annual compensation package of, say, $120,000, I would end up with less disposable income than I have now with my current salary in Montreal. However, for $120K, I'm sure I'd be expected to work like an animal and that would lower my quality of life.
In January, Google was to fly me to NYC for an interview for a position in Manhattan. However, two days before that happened, the position got cut because of the shaky economy. Had I been selected for the position, I would have accepted it even if it meant less disposable income for me. The experience of working for Google and the experience of living in Manhattan would have compensated for that. Once you make enough money, it becomes less and less important compared to other things in life.
After that, I forgot about Google and expected to live in Montreal for a while. I knew I'd get contacted again by Google in due time. I just didn't know it would be so soon. I got an email from them in September about positions in Mountain View, California.
Now, Google is not just another employer. Not only does it give insane perks to its employees, but it's also shaping the present and future of technology and how we see it and the world in which it is used. It's a company that's got a vision and it can be felt. As such, it attracts great people with whom it must be awesome to interact. Google is the ultimate company to work for to many people, including myself. Also, winter is coming and spending it in California sounds a lot better to me than spending it in Quebec. For these reasons, I just had to take another shot at it when Google gave me another chance.
The days leading to my trip in California were quite busy and I was stressed just thinking about the possibility of moving again, changing jobs and the memories of how my first interview with Google basically was the last straw for a relationship with a girl with whom I really wanted things to work out.
However, once I got to California, I felt calmer. I saw Ricky and his wife Min Lin (both of whom went to college with me) and we talked about our respective situations a bit. I stayed at their place. The following morning, I took them to the airport. They were going to Las Vegas for Min Lin's birthday. They gave me the keys to their place so that I could stay there while they were gone.
Their flight was pretty early. So, I found myself on a Saturday morning heading towards Napa Valley. My rental car was a hybrid Nissan. It had a surprising amount of torque and I sped my way along the 6-lane freeway to Napa. I sped a bit too much, though and was given my first ever speeding ticket by a California Highway Patrolman on a motorcycle (anybody remembers CHiPs?). I was doing 87 mph (140km/h) in a 65 mph (104km/h) zone. The officer seemed to imply I was going pretty fast. It's a good thing he didn't catch me while in a hurry!
After that, I made my way to the Napa Valley. At my first stop, I saw a geyser. Then, I proceeded to a few vineyards: Sterling, Castello di Amorosa, Berringer, Charles Krugs, Robert Mondavi, ... I was loopy by the end of my sampling day. Napa Valley is nicer than Okanagan Valley, but I have fonder memories of the latter because of the company I had when I went there.
I spent the next day driving around Silicon Valley. I saw some nice neighborhood in Palo Alto; saw the garage where HP was born; the headquarters of Apple and visited Stanford University. That university has quite the impressive campus! It's a far cry from the shit university I went to.
I spent the following day studying in preparation for my interview at Google. I had already studied a bit, but wanted to put all the chances on my side.
Finally, today, I had my interview session. Basically, it consisted of meeting an HR person for a quick briefing of the day, followed by two 45-minute interviews, lunch and two more 45-minute interviews.
The interviews felt easier this time around. Then again, I was told that, two years ago, I was given a tougher than normal interview. The first interview was OK. I felt the second went really good. The third went pretty well. The fourth and final one was OK, but I stumbled a bit during the run-time complexity analysis of the problem. Now, I felt that was below what my performance should be and when I was picking myself up to make my answer clearer, the interviewer told me to move on and talk about something else.
On my way back to my hotel, that last small thing kept nagging me. So, I decided to find the interviewer (by Googling him, no less) and send him clarifications on my answer by email. I found him on meetup.com and emailed him my comments. I don't know whether that's annoying on my part or shows will and tenacity. I guess I'll find out pretty soon!
I think I could live in California and enjoy the lifestyle that working at Google would give me. I can't wait to see what the next chapter of my life will be...
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