How the hell did I get here?

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and since I feel lucky to have remained among the gainfully employed (minus about 90 minutes of true unemployment), it may help to learn how in the hell the nothing I have done for so long can in any way be construed as preparation.

My learning about Google's Santa Monica office sparked some pretty intense productivity. I spent close to eight hours studying up on interview tips. I learned what to say, and how to say it. Even though I failed to pass their first phone screen - the engineer, not the HR recruiter - the skills learned in the lesson were invaluable. Some of those tips must have been stuck in my head during that first meeting with David, and they no doubt helped during the next two.

You need a good resume. Mine sucked. Hard. Without Sheree's initial push, and Matt's and Vikki's advice, my resume wouldn't get past a bonobo

Speaking of monkeys, even though I consider a near-total waste most of the money I spent on Tony Robbins materials and seminars, there were a few nuggets of value I picked up between October '00 and about December '02. The importance of building rapport, how body language influences attitude, and how to prepare mentally were helpful in three ways: first, that interview with David, the followup with Adam and Henry, and the determination and persistence that left such a strong impression.

In order to appreciate my application of the fairly common advice preached so heavily to me by one Mr. John Hambacker, Salem High School science teacher, it helps to know a bit about the hiring timeline.
?Thu Oct. 20 - Interview with David
Tue Oct. 25 - Interview with Henry & Adam
Thu Oct. 27 - Email salary proposal
Mon Oct. 31 - Henry rejection
Mon Oct. 31 - Two phone calls
Tue Nov. 01 - Discussion of counter-offer
Wed Nov. 02 - Email to followup convo
Fri Nov. 04 - Brett, you start Monday

Something led me to follow up Henry's initial rejection twice the same day. After we talked the next day, I knew I should express clearly in email my thoughts additional to those discussed in my counter-offer. I knew I wanted the job, and I did not want to take no for an answer. As Mr. Hambacker taught, it's not whether you fall off the horse, it's whether you get back on.

How to Win Friends & Influence People. 70 years after being published, Dale Carnegie's book continues to makes human contact more personal. A must-read-every-five-years for anyone's list. Without it, I am an even bigger arrogant, insensitive, supremely megolomaniacal asshole. With it, I have a beautiful and loving wife, the job I want, friends who will drink with me, and a family willing to visit during the holidays ;)

Oh yeah. My preparation is not the only part. The linchpin in the job acquisition is Sheree. There are millions of jobs, and unless you apply to all of them, there's a chance you won't win the lottery. Or if you do, you will be missing the megaball number, and that will cost you millions.