On looking for a job

Well, it's really hard to find a job (in my area, that is Computer Science, Java programming) at the US when:
1) Your current visa doesn't allow you to work, and you need to find an employer who will sponsor a temporary worker visa (H1-B);
2) You're not living in a big city;
3) You don't have any contacts in your industry.

2004 was really tough. At least until March. I was looking for a job, posting my resume (which I thought it wasn't too bad) all over the place, getting emails and phone calls from employers; even a few interviews. The visa barrier, however; was unbeatable.

After March, things got even worse. That was when I learned that the H1 visa cap was reached, meaning that the immigration services had issued all H1 visas they would for that fiscal year (2004 fiscal year goes from October 1st, 2003, until October 1st, 2004). It was right when I started to contact the right people and get a little networking going. From then on, 2004 wasn't looking too good.

Until October, I didn't have much to hope for, so I tried to keep myself busy. I bought a laptop, and started to do some home programming projects to keep me up to date with the technology. Knowing that no employer would contract me before I could actually start working (Oct 2004), I patiently waited until August, when I started the job hunt again. To my disappointment, on October 1st, the first day of fiscal year 2005, the cap was reached again, and I hadn't been able to get a job again. What it was bad, it just had gotten worse.

Since I wasn't planning to be sitting around for another whole year, with no prospect of things being different, I decided to go back to school.

I always wanted to take business classes. It'd be handy when I start my own I.T. company, so I looked into MBA courses and other related degrees. I quickly gave up getting a masters degree, though: too expensive. So I find out about Southeast Community College, a stated funded college, way cheaper than regular universities, providing 2-year Associate degrees. Their program looked good, I'd get all the info I'd need to run my business.
I flew to Brazil, got a student visa, and by January 5th, I was back in school. Please check my next post: "On going back to school."

I quickly learned that, as a student, I could work part-time on campus. I got a tutor position in the computer lab. I helped other students with whatever help they needed. I even tutor some students in Java, since they were taking classes for the Microcomputer's program. It was nice to finally earn some money, but the problem was that they only wanted me 4 to 6 hours per week, and I could work up to 20.

And to everyone's surprise, including mine, I got another position at the college's day care. Read more on that on my future post "On working with children."

For almost the whole of 2005, I was taking business classes, computer tutoring, and working with children. I did not forget, though, that on October, another fiscal year was going to start. Earlier this time, on July, I started looking for full-time jobs and companies that would sponsor the H1 visa for me.

I got a good contact with a company willing to do exactly that. I compiled all the documentation, paid all fees, and by August 10th, I had it sent to Immigration. My application, however, got there a few days after the cap was reached. All H1s for fiscal year 2006 were gone even before the fiscal year started.

I then applied and got a permission to work off-campus (well it's a whole lot more complicated than that, but let's leave at that. This post is already too long, anyway). With my permission on hand, I now could work off-campus, at least part-time. After my first interview with an IT company that develops software in Java, finally, after two years of trying, I got a job in my area.

On writing in English

I can see some people back home complaining about my writing in English.

Let me explain in advance, why that is:

First of all, I'm an avid reader as my dad. I read from 6 to 10 books every year and listen to audio books when traveling (you should try it, by the way). And guess what, the books here are in English.

But I started writing in English when I took a Composition class for my Business course. Of course I had to write all my short stories in English, as well. I even wrote a couple of short stories that I really liked. All with the encouragement of my instructor. I don't have to say that I got an A on that class, and considering that some other American students got Bs and Cs, I figured that my writing wasn't too bad.

Well, after reading one particular sci-fi short stories book, I thought that maybe I could write some stories of my own. I had some ideas already, so I sat down and wrote two stories. By that time, I actually wrote one in English and one in Portuguese. The Portuguese one is about to be published in a fanzine called "Notícias do fim do nada" (literally, News from the End of Nothing). But, having read Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, I had dreams of greatness of getting my stories published. So I took them to one of the writing tutors at SCC, and I asked if he could proofread them (being a student has it advantages). But hey, how is he going to help me with my Portuguese story?

For some people it's hard to understand, but English is the language I speak and write everyday and therefore it's only natural being comfortable to write in it and to practice it.

Don't worry, I'm not becoming American. But what's the point of living in a country and not trying to understand its culture. I've met a lot of foreigners here that still act as if they were still in their own countries. Hey, more about that later.

On living in Lincoln, NE, USA

Having just started my blog, and being living in Nebraska (check map) for more than 2 years now, I have a lot of back tracking to do.

I'm originally from a city with 1.2 million people. First time I realized that Lincoln had only 0.2 million, my first thought was that I was going to the middle of nowhere. Ask anyone from the US outside Nebraska and they'll pretty much agree with me. But let's not jump into conclusions just yet. By the way, this is a big city for Nebraska standards.

After a while you come to appreciate the small town atmosphere the city has. No hectic traffic, that is, no honking, no crazy drivers... and no buses. But hey, you can buy a car for $400, so that's not too bad. The city has several parks, lots of outdoors activities, and a football team (American football, that is) that drives all Nebraskans crazy. The stadium becomes the 3rd biggest city on every single game, they've been selling out since the 70s or something, and all that for a college football team. I still cannot understand that. But I bet they also cannot understand why we love soccer so much, so I guess we're all good.

Anyway, sports is a whole different subject altogether. To almost everyone from my culture, a ball game means only one thing: soccer. Here, the diversity of sports played and cheered for is big: Football, basketball, baseball, softball, hockey (ok, maybe not hockey). We do have a hockey team here, the Lincoln Stars. I have no idea of what kind of league they play, but, having lived in Canada and having watched NHL games there, I'll pretty soon become a Lincoln Stars fan.

This is actually a very interesting fact. The incentives to sports here is huge. Even high school leagues here are appreciated, on every sport. Even four-year olds get to go to tournaments and kick a soccer ball around with parents cheering and expecting their children to score. Ok, maybe that's too much. But the point is that competition here is so important, that it's no wonder the US has good athletes in every single sport. Just check the Olympics.

I kind of got off-topic, but it's hard to talk about the city without talking about the culture it belongs. I'll add more about the culture later.

On blogs

I was never really into the whole blog hype, but ever since I read a friend's blog, I have to admit, it's really handy. She was away in a trip and insted of emailing everyone about her 'adventures', she'd just write them in a blog. She had to send its link just once, and voilà. No more emails clogging everyone's inbox with news from her trip.

And another reason for doing this is, because I'm living abroad, I figured this would be the best way to keep everyone informed of what I've been up to.

So, blogs are not that evil. There you go, I've said it.