google jobs

i woke up yesterday to an email with links to something on google.  this isn't all that uncommon, people send links all the time.  but these links were different.  they were to jobs, and the email suggested that the jobs sounded like they were written for me.  as i looked them over they were tempting.  the roles looked interesting, i would be in the US again close to my kids and i would be working for the number one cool internet company right now.

google is the new microsoft in our space.  by comparing them to microsoft i show the path of my maturity along with the internet.  i started at a time when 4GL was the hot TLA.  sqlwindows v powerbuilder was the argument around the table when new projects were kicked off.  VB, COM, DCOM and .Net changed all of that for me.  i was known as someone who had my full drink of kool-aid.  i studied internals and obsessed over patterns and performance.  i was there when MVC was added to MFC, i studied EJB 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 and agreed each time that design by a committee of competitors is the right way to kill a good idea.

i am old and i have been around the block.  i have the bookshelves and dead company t-shirts to prove it.  i know that c# is literally cool, and can remember the birds of a feather breakout in a smoke-covered LA that the Project 7 team explained it.  that was the same week that i learned the internals of generational garbage collection, the same topic i used this week to explain why a precieved issue was not.

google is the company that most geeks want to work for now.  they are a hip company with a list of top ten reasons you should work for them.  if you read the list, you can see why smart people want to work there.  they are hot and sexy, of course people are attracted.  but why would i be attracted.  i have a job, its one i like and one i am not really ready to leave.

work for me is more than just a job.  i have a career that i love, i have had a series of jobs that i have loved, good times and bad have happened, but when i look back i remember that i have been successful, happy and in control.  i have tried to do the things that i love, to focus on having fun and enjoying the work, the challenges and the victories.  i used to say that one day i would retire to a job as a barber, i thought it was the perfect job, even if you make a mistake the hair will grow back and you get another chance, but tastes and cuts change over time, so experimentation and discovery is built in.

i replied to the email and said i wasn't sure about applying.  the ads looked good, and the change of pace sounds exciting.  but change for change sake is not what i want.  i have a team i care about, i am busy and i learn something almost every day.  i have already stayed in this company and this role longer than i expected and the ADD side of my head would love something new.  but actively seeking that something is a distraction i don't need right now.  

even when things present themselves, sometimes you need to say no.  you might be saying no to the promise of something better, to the expectation of improvement or to the internal drive that is pushing you to consider the offer.  if prior booms and busts didn't teach me this before i came here, malaysia certainly has.  there is always the promise of the next big thing.

the reply i got on the email thread was a question, "how do you know you are good enough to get it if you don't try".  this is when you realize the person knows your buttons well enough that they push them the way a touch typist strikes the keys; clear, strong and effortless.  creating desire even when you have no interest is a talent, one that is built up over time.

so, i am working on the top ten reasons not to apply. 

1) ....