Boston

For any of you who didn't know, I was in Boston for the last 3 days interviewing for a job. And when I say was there for 3 days, I mean my plane landed on the evening of day 1, I interviewed day 2, and left early afternoon on day 3. The trip was quite enjoyable.

One thing I've never ceased to be amazed at is how lucky I am when I fly on airplanes. This trip, I was 4 for 4 for having the people in front of me lean their seats back. Those are pretty good numbers. What's even better, is that on 3 of the 4 flights, the people sitting in front of me were the only ones on that row to lean their seats back. Meaning that none of the people sitting next to me on the flights were obliged to deal with leg room, just me. How lucky. Oh, and on two of the flights, the people didn't even move the seat backs to the upright position when asked to by the stewardesses. Anyway, enough of my plane rant.

Thursday evening I met up with an old coworker of mine. He was gracious enough to pick me up from the bus station and have me over for dinner. After having Burger King for lunch (I tried to get something a little "healthier", a chicken sandwich) I was definitely in the mood for something fresh. We then talked about Boston all evening as they tried to give me the sell.

The next day another old coworker picked me up and we headed into the office. My day was filled with exciting rounds of interviews. Though in the end, I felt like most of them were telling me why I'd want to work for their particular group. I suppose I should explain who I interviewed with. Scientific Systems Company Inc. (SSCI) is a research and development company focused on SBIRs, which are short term contracts to do research for the government. SSCI works a lot with NASA and DARPA. I'd be doing research in controls/unmanned systems/autonomy. I think it would be quite fun. Anyway, throughout the day I talked to managers over different areas. Each of which proceeded to explain what project within their area I would be great at. The last interviewer was the CEO. He grilled me, but indicated they he felt I would be a good fit, and as soon as they contacted my references, they'd get back to me and let me know their decision. I think I have a good chance of getting an offer, but we'll see.

After the interviews, I traveled into Boston to meet my cousin Peter. He went to Harvard and knows the area quite well, so we had dinner around their. We went to a place called "Fire and Ice". It was a Mongolian grill styled restaurant. After a full day of interviews and grueling questioning, it was sooo good to have all I could eat. I would rank it as one of the better all-you-can-eat style restaurants I've been to. Afterwards we took a tour around the Harvard campus, down to the river, and took in the general Harvard area (which is quite large). We took the T back downtown and then walked through Boston Commons (somewhat like NYC central park) and to his apartment. We stayed up half the night talking about pretty much everything, which was quite enjoyable.

Since we stayed up so late, we slept in till 11:30 or so. We hurried out and caught lunch, and then I headed to the airport. I don't have any other interviews scheduled, but have a couple of companies I need to return phone calls to. I'll keep you posted as the job hunt continues.