A number of my friends are aware that I’ve been open to the idea of a new job for a while. Not all of them knew, some are co-workers, and some have friends who are co-workers, but I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open for a while. Back in the June/July timeframe, I started looking in earnest.

I posted résumés on several job boards, the most successful of which were Monster.com and the WashingtonPost’s jobs site. It’s funny, I’m a software developer with 18 years of experience (almost 19 at this point). So naturally, one of the first inquiries I got was from someone who wanted me to sell cars. (Yikes!) This was followed shortly by people trying to recruit me to install satellite dishes (Huh?) and as Election Day came closer, people who wanted me to set up electronic voting machines (not a chance).

Of course, the quest did have some high points. Back in July, I was contacted by an online bookstore that a few people have heard of. I wasn’t entirely certain about moving to Seattle, but when one of “those” companies asks if you’d like to interview, there’s only one correct answer. (Of course I said “yes.” I may be a number of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.) After several rounds of phone interviews, I eventually flew out to Seattle for an in-person interview.

In the end, they decided to, in their words, “pursue another candidate” (That makes them sound like coyotes, doesn’t it?) but that’s not how I look at it.

1. The online bookstore wanted to interview me! What a great morale boost!
2. It was good practice.
3. I got a free trip to Seattle out of the deal! (I’d never been there before, so the opportunity to sightsee was quite cool.)

So, no offer from the bookstore, but the quest continued.

As summer turned into fall, I had several more interviews, and a few of those turned into offers. One offer was for a position that would have had me, on a good day, driving more than an hour each way. That one was easy to turn down. Another offer was actually pretty fantastic, except that it felt like a step backwards in terms of the skills I’d be using. After much deliberation, I decided to turn that one down as well.

So, demonstrating that the third time really is the charm, I went with the third offer. That’s what the countdown was all about.

Today I gave my two weeks notice. I’m moving to Seattle.

Just kidding.

Today I gave my two weeks notice. I start the new job on December 11. I’ll be staying in Maryland, with a commute not much longer than my current one.

I’m rather excited about it.