90 Days

Still in Chicago

After the beautiful autumn weather passed I'm bummed to still be in Chicago in these bitter snowy days. Got a lot on my mind and bills past due, but huge ambitions going forward! The only positive to this horrible weather is that I'll have plenty of time to work on programming and I've been getting some long-needed hours of sleep in. Definitely looking to get the band back up to speed after the holidays and our current D&D campaign when it's nice enough to play outside.

As far as the tech job hunt goes I've not landed anything so far but that doesn't mean I'm out of the race: August I got flown out to California for that 4-hour interview for the medical research company, I spent pretty much all of September passing 3 rounds at the smart home company which includes a test project (but still got outclassed), October on the day after my birthday I went toe-to-toe with a founder saying I could deliver but he's looking for the wrong type of developer, and last month I had one week in particular where I had so many calls and interviews I couldn't keep up (some with companies in the West Coast).

Got a business card from someone I dropped off a delivery for today so I'm thinking about hitting him up later to work in the moving business. Its funny how many jobs I've had in my life just by approaching people I've met off the street: my current holiday lighting gig is with boss I met at a local fair, I did tree-cutting for a few weeks with a raunchy guy I met at a motel, I worked demo in the inner city which almost ended up getting me stabbed, I did a really nasty sewage job out-of-state for gas money and I even lifted a house 6 feet in the air after meeting a guy at a pawn shop! It's crazy how life turns out sometimes and I know I'll write out all these stories... Eventually.

The Search Continues

Just got someone reaching out to me about a potential role in the Bay area and the best thing about this opportunity is that they need a graphics programmer with C++ knowledge! I'll see where it goes and excited to follow up, but now that I've been interviewing these past couple months I know exactly how to prepare if things end up getting technical: I need to read up on some C++ fundamentals which I didn't account for in the past (with the car tuning company), I likely need to be able to present some of my rendering projects with screen-captures, and brush up on the Vulkan API.

The first time I tried to get to California was also for a graphics programmer role, but I was dealing with some very hardcore engineers back then who rendered photorealistic scenes for AAA studios, knew the GPU inside and out, and ported games to consoles! Hopefully the bar won't be as high this time, but I also know I'm a lot more experienced then I was back then: I did after all spend months on a test project only to go to San Diego on my way home from a conference unable to answer their questions in-person. But then again, I've also done perfectly at interviews only to be passed up just because the stakes are so high, especially in the medical research space or in OS level knowledge.

When I followed up with the new opportunity I found out that the company was actually a contractor working to get Apple Maps running on Android! Not sure if I am smart enough to make the cut since iOS and MacOS are not my strongest platforms and neither is developing in Metal with the MSL shading language. But even if that doesn't pan out, I had another call with an AI coding company in San Francisco that sells data to LLM's and an LA social media company creating digital AI avatars which seems promising. Either way, I know I have more prospects ahead as long as I keep at it. The fact that companies are reaching out to me from my dream location is already a good sign!

Week Before Christmas

The holidays are just around the corner and I've been wasting my time playing video games. I used to be a much bigger gamer as a teenager but every once in a while I'll still indulge in it.: my favorites are the Witcher, and Elder Scrolls series but since I got into D&D more recently my attentions been towards Baldur's Gate! I usually like to play on hardcore mode but with strategy games I've discovered a clever exploit whereby logging out of your computer bypasses some of the measures developers put in to auto-save when you close the game normally. So if you really screw up a decision or overwhelmed by combat the easiest thing to do is log-out mid-game and log back in on the hardest modes, even though its time consuming. After all it's how I got through XCOM on Ironman mode! I figured since I have to cheat to win in real life, what's the harm in doing it in a video-game?

I'm scheduled for talk to a robotics company out of the Bay area tomorrow, so I'll see how it goes. I might even hit up someone I met recently to see if he needs some construction or remodeling done. Before my car broke down I worked flooring making good cash and I am really glad I kept in touch with the mentor from that job since he's progressing in the laser restoration business. In hindsight I would have spent every last dollar on a car to keep that gig going instead of partying at a Vegas conference! It would have meant falling behind on rent and bills but that was bound to happen anyway. You live and you learn I guess, and my life tends to fall into a pattern of working construction before I land my next tech role.

I've got a couple of my own projects I'm looking to pick back up, but if I ever want to turn any of them into a viable product, then advertising and sales needs to be my top two priorities. I have a really good grasp on the technical side of development but if I'm ever going to hire my first employees it would definitely be a good designer and a marketing genius! So far I've got a few things on my radar: the roleplaying app I released last year that desperately needs a revamp, a new AI app idea I had that transcribes your thoughts with annotated advice, a multi-platform animation/effects tool built with flutter, as well as the graphics engine I wrote from scratch in C++ or the C library that supports it. What I like about these projects two is that there is a lot of overlap between them, like Gemini to support my AI capabilities or calling native functions to older codebases using dart FFI bindings. I know I'll get back into it, my guitarist has been recording our music with his new software just like I'm prepared to build something awesome in mine. But just like my quest to California it will take take me a bit more time, hopefully at the start of 2026

Elves on Strike

If Halloween was the worst day to work delivery at a pizza place then Christmas Eve was probably the second worst. We were understaffed with a bunch of orders and disgruntled people, but at least we closed up early that day. Construction work is slowest this time of year but I may find something closer to home next month or hit up my lighting boss again when it's time to do take-downs.

I've also got at least one tech interview coming up in the new year and I know even if I'm working on my own projects I need to get off the games and get back into coding hardcore. After all, practice makes perfect: I've got a lot to work on with the apps I developed and more to learn with C++ and embedded programming. Planning to beat this videogame in these remaining couple days to finally get it off my checklist.

Christmas Day was fun and I took my guitarist to our friends house for a jam and to play "Elves on Strike" like we do every year. It's like our holiday tradition and we got pretty hammered just like we did in old times! The drive home felt like a scene straight out of Borat, since we had too much to drink with an attractive Uber driver from Turkmenistan who could also speak Russian. My guitarist tried to say he also speak Russian but I explained to her all he knows is how to say hi and a bunch of swear words. We caught him swearing about lady parts after which he justified himself by saying "don't worry, I won't try to have sex with you." It was pretty hysterical…

The Golden Timeline

I pretty much worked through New Years without a break, in fact these last few holidays just felt like a understaffed grind with no rest in-between. While the weather is crap and construction is slow doing deliveries sucks worst Halloween, Christmas, and especially tonight. I made sure to stop by the house to write down some of my goals before 2026 came around: having the tech job I want, making a profitable business, releasing some of my music, getting my dream girl, and becoming a legend. The only thing not written down is beating this damned video game I've been grinding on for weeks!

I want to start off the New Years making good decisions because I know they'll compound over time, and that means finishing the things I start. Even though gaming seems like a waste of time, I think seeing through the end of this RPG is a good thing since it forces me to be at the computer and focus on tactical strategy for long periods of time. I'm definitely going to need determination if I want any of my tech projects to become more mainstream and the same skills to land the role I want. My next interview is in about a week and I'm pretty sure they will pick back up once everyone gets off holiday, but that means going hardcore graphics programming on Windows, embedded on Linux, and mobile development likely on Mac.

It got me thinking about one of our songs called the "Golden Timeline" since I think I finally understood the meaning: if you subscribe to the notion of free will and that there are parallel realities, you need to make the right choices to end up in the best possible state. Out of the infinite timelines and decisions you could make any second of a given day, your actions should strive to pursue the best possible and most sacred timeline. There could be a reality where you end up homeless, sick, or worse if you stray too far but likewise their could also be a timeline where you get lucky and win a lottery! That's why I need to do the right things now so that they compound later on, since butterfly effects and karma are real. But I know I need to start by finishing this damned video game, then it's on to the bigger fish.

James Bond Moment

I went to a tech mixer in my city recently and walking in I felt a bit like James Bond: before I even reached the event, a super attractive woman asked me if I was looking for directions and I said yes; then literally 10 seconds after meeting her she says "walk with me" in the sexiest English accent I've ever heard! So she introduced me to her girlfriend we walked around a bit like a couple chatting people up. I'll see if they are up to grabbing lunch this weekend, but if we do end up hanging out with my guitarist we both have got to watch our alcohol! The both of us have an inside joke that we can talk to chicks telepathically.

I have to say I'm pretty good at networking and I try to go to events regularly, especially around the larger conferences on the West Coast. There's plenty of parties with food and drinks if you know where to look! In fact, I think I met my dream girl the last time I was in San Francisco and it was all because her friend introduced me after we met at a party. I actually got a text from her saying to come visit, which I'm super happy to hear! It's probably a big reason I want to get to the Bay area in particular and I'm excited that I'm interviewing for 2 companies that have offices there! The bar is high though and I need to pay more attention to coding and my technical knowledge if I'm going to have a shot.

HBO is coming out with a show tomorrow too that I'm really excited to watch with my roommate. While the weather is cold and we aren't playing D&D at the moment, getting together late to watch a show is a nice alternative. I was hoping I'd be a bit more productive at the start of 2026 but it's been hard to find the drive with the cold weather outside and general lack of energy. I need to try to schedule my days better, maybe come up with project plans for the tech stuff, and wake up earlier in the morning. That, and lay off smoking Mary Jane so much!

Negative Degrees

It was probably the coldest day we've had in Chicago for a couple years with the weather reaching -8 degrees. Running some deliveries right now but at least it beats working construction during these coldest days! I remember roofing in January a couple years back and my hands and toes would freeze terribly, especially since my gloves had holes. Compared to working in the hottest temperatures (closer to 100 degrees) -- as bad as it is -- you can take breaks in the shade and let your body recover quicker, whereas the cold really seeps into your bones. I texted my dream girl how chilly it was outside and how I miss the west coast to which she replied come over; I'm excited she even remembers me at all.

I might have been too broke to go to NAMM this year in Anaheim but we made up for it with an epic jam session yesterday. Recorded some dope videos of us jamming, the best of which was when my guitarist started playing the harmonica, beatboxing, and singing at the same time! I can't say I've ever seen someone do all 3 at once but alcohol seems to give him superhuman abilities. Me and him have been pretty good on our drinking lately but whenever we play things tend to get wild, especially the last show when I fell off the stage!

It's been a couple weeks into the new year and I just wish I'd made faster progress with some of my software projects. Getting flutter up running again has been a particular bottleneck, but I definitely want to do more with C/C++ using Linux as well as explore some of the speech-to-text and AI capabilities Google offers. Plus, I was thinking of switching my website to use React since a lot of roles I've been applying to use it in their tech stack. I feel like that skillset and having deeper knowledge of the Bluetooth and AOSP development would increase my odds to make it in the competitive job market. I've been applying a lot in the Bay lately and hopefully hear back during the week.

The Grind Continues

We had a good jam session the other day with our multi-instrumentalist friend; out of all the musicians we've jammed with nobody can play so many half as well as he can. All the important members in our band have nicknames, with the guitarist calling himself "sassy molasses" and my nickname being "T-bone" because that's what they used to call me in the hood. So we dubbed our friend the "electric wizard", partly because he's bringing a beat pad and mini-keyboard for live sets but also because I could totally see him pulling off a good wizard outfit!

I've been making good progress on my coding projects. Working on rendering some visuals in my engine and expanding the texturing library to handle more advanced encoding. One of the things I wanted to experiment with is recursive rendering with frame captures: this would involve feeding a frame back into the texturing pipeline so maybe I'll get that working in C++ before trying it in Flutter once I can get the framework functional again. On the app development side I've made some progress with a new lifestyle app I'm working on and even got some voice recognition running! Looking forward to revamping my website and on Linux I could see myself getting more into AOSP development.

The greatest news is I think that hiring is picking up again and I think I might even have some interviews lined up for next week. After a month of very little activity I think companies are hiring once more for tech roles after the start of the new year! I've been targeting the jobs in California and the Bay area more exclusively, which is where the 2 companies I'm corresponding with are based. It would be very funny if I got a more senior opportunity with better pay than the last time I was flown out to the west coast and based in the heart of San Francisco. But the competition is still intense with multiple rounds and I have to do well on an upcoming coding assessment. So wish me luck!

Everlasting Pattern

A year ago before I left the audio company I explained myself as I was leaving the business: "This is the story of my life, I work in construction and then I find a tech job… it's a pattern. Before I came here, I worked a sewage job. Before my first tech job, I was roofing for 9 months." I warned my fellow coworkers about how putting things off can have disastrous results, which is exactly what happened to me after living my life on easy mode for far too long.

It's crazy how much has happened since then and how fast time flies. After I was flooring and my car broke down I thought I'd land my next 6-figure role in California but that did not go according to plan. I connected with a recruiter I last spoke to back then and told her my story, explaining I was so confident I'd landed it back then I didn't follow up with her at the time. I went through a new potential role with her that I thought I'd be a great fit for I also told her I met the founder of her company last year at GDC before meeting the love of my life, which really seemed to win her over.

Today, I'm working construction with someone I met at a coffee shop this past week. I accidentally hopped on a train north but it turns out it's a pretty short walk to get to the job site! I've done this sort of thing before, and it's how I ended up being a tree-cutter for a few weeks and doing demo in the inner city years back. Looking forward to how this gig turns out and I'm hoping to hear back from the recruiter today. If I get the green light from her I'd probably have to talk to a few people as part of the interview process, but I have high hopes. Working in graphics and animation has always been a dream of mine and this is one of my favorite companies. So construction, then tech job. That's been the goal and it's been my pattern, so hopefully I can pull it off once more.

False Spring

Sometimes I feel like my life story is that of a Tom Sawyer character: working construction with people I had random encounters with, trying to make it out broke after ending up in strange cities, avoiding a life of crime, and playing music all along the way! Thank god it's almost the end of winter and the weather is warming up, but absolutely nothing beats the California climate so I'm still hoping I can make it out there.

I got put on hold by the animation company for now because they are ideally looking for someone who has dedicated their career on build and release engineering. I'm glad to keep a good relationship with the head of talent and received great feedback from the CTO who's brother I'm pretty sure I met last year at GDC. I'm looking forward to more interviews though like the one I have coming up with a medical company and a large online game company that I'd spoken to the day before. Theres nothing in the world I'd like more than to focus on tech full-time instead of the hopping around I've been doing lately.

Running deliveries sucks and I'm hoping construction picks up with the builders I'm working for today. Although on the bright side, if I wasn't at the pizza place I wouldn't have met the most gorgeous woman working at a coffee shop next door. So who knows, maybe I'll end up getting together with her. My guitarist and I were even joking about inviting chicks for yoga at my place and doing a double date! But nothing beats my love in California.

Till' Next Season

Had a pretty wild day yesterday: I woke up to a phone call from the builders I do construction with and they told me to come over. I helped out moving some stuff from their storage unit and when I went to the bosses house he said there would be "a little water" in the basement I had to clear out. When me and his son went downstairs the entire basement was flooded and was ankle deep in some places! Most people would have a heart attack at the sight of so much water in their homes but I guess for us we treat it like it's just another average day.

I'm glad my interview with the online gaming company went well and I'm expecting some later rounds to come up next week. I started off nervous and found my rhythm as I went along, since designing engine systems was almost second nature to me. This audio position requires extensive knowledge of C++ and even though it's my language of choice I may fall behind when it comes to some multi-threading concepts. I explained during the interview that working with Bluetooth and Kotlin we used coroutines which abstracts a lot of the implementation, similarly to how most scripting language have garbage collection in place while in C and C++ your doing memory management manually. I just got to keep doing well with these engineers and maybe I'll land the Cali tech job I've always wanted.

It's crazy how much time has passed and I'm still living paycheck to paycheck while working 2 jobs. I haven't gotten around to asking out the girl who works next door to me, but I'm excited that with spring a few days away my band would be able to play out soon. Tomorrow I'm working construction in the morning and in about 15 minutes one of our band-mates is picking us up to jam! I think I'm making good progress on my side-projects: getting screen-captures working with command-line arguments in the texture library and input logged from a background thread in my own engine. I need to spend more time on the apps I've fleshed out and experiment with what I can achieve using flutter, FFI bindings, and custom shaders, since Impeller is not up to par on desktop yet. All in all, excited for the next season.