i'm employed

[mellowtigger]

I accepted a job offer this afternoon, so I'm once again a productive member of society.  :)

I go in Wednesday to fill out the paperwork. I'll be working as a "Technical Support Specialist" at a local Animal Humane Society.  About a year ago or so, local shelters banded together to create a common infrastructure to help reduce overall costs. So 5 shelters in the Twin Cities metro area all use servers located at the Golden Valley center, where I'll be working.  They need 2.5 tech geeks to fill their needs.  I'll be the half-geek.

It's not far away, so the commute is easy. It's only 20 hours, which is great for my sanity. That low-hours time investment will be a necessity if I can get back into the swing of classes again. This job also has a regular schedule and not a rotating shift, so that's another great feature. It's in an industry that I approve, helping animals as much as possible given constraints of human budgets.

As an example of the flavor of the place, here's a photo taken from one of their webpages on training classes for rabbits. I was told that Education classes are for humans while Training classes are for other animals. The verbiage distinction is important.  ;)

Rarely do I see a job with so many pluses in its favor. The only downside is that the low pay ($14/hr) and low hours (20 hrs) combined will keep me very poor indeed. It's the equivalent of a full-time minimum wage job.  I'm still not certain if I'll be able to take classes during my spare time. I'll find out after I see how much the government keeps of my paycheck.  If it's insufficient alone, then I may have to consider another temporary part-time job somewhere to build up funds one semester, then spend it the next semester on classes.

I'm in a much better mood today (after giving them a crowd-pleasing performance on my technical skills test this morning) than I was yesterday (after watching the soul-sucking Human Resources video for the Comcast helpdesk which involved repeated use of the word "stress" in various phrases).

Rabbits for the win!

Comments

[kauko.livejournal.com]

awww look at the cute bunny! oh and there's some writing around the picture too but couldn't read it as the bunny was too distracting

[mellowtigger]

*laugh*

The room where I'll be working has a door that faces the bunny room in the animal shelter. There are solo rabbits in wire cage high-rise apartments. There are pair-bonded rabbits in wide open glass-walled cages so people can reach in and pet the two animals together. They have about 6 of those glass areas, for a total of 12 rabbits.

If I have any need to travel between my future desk area and the server area, I'll be walking by the cute bunnies every time.

*happy dance*

[sctmpls.livejournal.com]

Congrats Terry!

This was long overdue for you.

[mellowtigger]

Although I've been slowly looking ever since September, I didn't really go into high gear until the holidays, and the interviews started soon after that. Still, it is very nice to be done with that phase of employment. :)

[foeclan.livejournal.com]

You'd likely qualify for student loans and grants. Fill out a FAFSA (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) and see what comes up.

[mellowtigger]

Tried it before at Normandale and got confused by all the "enter your parents income here" stuff. I called their service line for help and was told that it's really simple if I just read the instructions. *sigh*

I'll probably give it another try though, since I really do want to get back to school.

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

Ya know, you have friends who can help you with such thing. Just need to ask. :o)

[randomcub.livejournal.com]

Yay!

She called this afternoon to ask how you were to work with. I'm glad it worked out!

[mellowtigger]

Yes, I had my 2nd interview this morning at 11am, and she was in a hurry to get my reference list afterwards. Sounds like she talked to folks right away, since the job offer came about 2 hours after I emailed her my list. Thanks for the (apparently) nice review. :)

[randomcub.livejournal.com]

No prob. Told her you were good with details, came to work on time every day, that we missed you at Wilsons and that you only left because a new supervisor came on board that you didn't jive with (and now she was gone).

She seemed pretty nice. But yeah, that was fast!

[mellowtigger]

Wait. What? "That woman" is gone?!

[randomcub.livejournal.com]

Yes, she was laid off last weekend in the cuts.

[brianrdu.livejournal.com]

Yay...congratulations to you! Now if I can only get my own shit together in this regard...

[mellowtigger]

I recommend job hunting while still employed. :)

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

Me, I'd be hoping for an office near the kitties, but bunnies are good too. ;)

[mellowtigger]

During my first interview last week, there was the occasional *meow meow meow* filtering into the office from somewhere nearby. I don't know where, as the cat section is farther away than the rabbits, dogs, birds, and misc rodents.

In my own past, I've had as pets the following critters:
rats (2?)
mice (2?)
gerbils (2?)
hamsters (1!)
rabbits (2)
cats (5)
dog (1)
ferret (1)
fish (plenty)

Congrats! :o)

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a perfect job for you. :o)

Re: Congrats! :o)

[mellowtigger]

Well, the job at the Minneapolis Computer & Technical College would have been a lot more convenient! But I got their rejection letter an hour or two before the offer at the Humane Society. It was the nicest and most encouraging of the letters (seemingly hand-written) that I'd received, though.

Also, the Sheriff's Office would have been interesting, but it looks like that one succumbed to budget constraints.

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! :) That's GREAT news!

[kjvbear.livejournal.com]

YAY for the new job buddy!!!!!

[quietdanmn.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[ranger1.livejournal.com]

Hey, cool!

I did the poor IT worker thing when I first moved to Minneapolis. Not as fun or financially rewarding as I wanted. But it was a lot better than no income and worrying about money all the time.