Me, The Professional F...ellow - The beginning

I had the interview, the one mentioned few days ago, earlier today. I felt it went quite good overall. On my way back home, thinking about it, I was pleased with my performance, happily leaving 'the ball on their side of the court'. Once I got home, I learned that the feeling, regarding how well the interview went, was mutual. The interview went for two hours and 15min, and it can be broken down into two distinct stages:

WRITTEN  

First, I had to fill in the form with my personal info (why, it's already all on my CV!?), and  how much I have been earning, how much do I expect to earn once I start, and when would I like to start. Following this, a surprise came along: I was given a written test. It included exercises on Java and SQL, and a general question on the understanding of the Web 2.0. I grade my self - once a teacher... - on that part as B+. I messed up on some Java and SQL. I haven't been 'getting my hands dirty' with those sort of things all that much - pardon the teaching - for a long time now; well, to be exact, since I finished my CS degree from The Uni of Auckland back in 2000.

ORAL

Second part of the interview was conversational. Initially, after the test, I had quite a nice chat, the usual interview things, with one guy. One of the questions that I didn't get to ask him, before the CEO joined the chat, was what exactly is it that he does... I'll find that out next time. Lastly, as mentioned, the CEO joined the interview. And inevitably, the focus of the conversatio

n shifted towards him - to his credit, he did apologise to his subordinate. Again, this was a continuation of the good chat that I started off with the initial interviewee. Looking back at it, I feel I interviewed the CEO as much as he interview me - apparently a good thing (ref). On this note, Thanks YoonHin for giving me the advise during the brunch before the interview. The list of questions to ask came in very handy. As part of his answers, the CEO shared his view on the company's maturation process and the vision for the future. As I side note, he also said that my expected salary fits in nicely within the range of what they give to System Analysts, as well as that just last week he was at The Poly to meet up with his uni buddy, my ex Director. Apparently she told him 'to make sure to check me out'. Regardless of what happens at the end, I will definitely thank Director in person with some nice prezo (e.g. a basket full of juicy Apples).  

Once I got home, I called the HR to get the email address of the two people

 whose email addresses I didn't have: the guy who greeted me and got me comfortable to do the test, and the guy that started off the interview. By the time I opened up the mail to send out the four 'thank you for the interview' mails,  I already had a response from the HR Executive in my inbox, with the request to come for the 2nd interview this coming Friday the 10th. She sent out the invitation for the next interview just 40min after I left their office.  

That favorite line that echoes through the school's corridors comes to mind...

soFarSoGd...!   

Ps: events of the day leading to the interview worth mentioning:

• slept for 4 hours.
  
• talked to the Spanish neighbour, on my way home after the lunch with YoonHin, for far more than I did during all the conversations put together we had in the last two years since I've been here. I felt like I would have preferred to snooze for half an hour or so before getting ready for the interview, but chatting with him got me even more into a conversational stage, which turned out to be quite good. 
  
• this left me with little time to iron my shirt - a 1st time ever for me - shave, shower and dress up. 
  
• was tucking in the shirt, buckling the belt (not of the safety kind), and tying the shoes, all while the taxi driver was tying up my tie around his neck. Once he tied it up, he passed it to me - of course lah.
• There was a heavy rain at the time, and the Mercedes taxi came to pick me up. I love the tropical rain (as some of you would know). And the Mercedes taxi gave me the confidence that the driver will know how to tie the tie. Also, the fancy taxi can be seen as kind of symbolic to professionalism and all (yes, I think so :). 
• we left the apartment building at 2:35pm; 20min later then I planned for. Interview was scheduled for 3pm, we arrived in front of the office building 5min ahead; about 10min later then what I planed. Just-in-time; just the usual.
• the taxi driver actually drives only part time, he is also a real estate agent. MrDon, you can expect my call, as discussed, in the early November, to show me what kind of apartments you have available for me.
  
• what a great day. Guess the stars must have been nicely aligned... thanks Universe...!