Since I haven’t updated for a while, I figured I’d share what is going on.

As of yesterday, I have been working at my new job working at Coaxis (aka. Viewpoint Construction Software). I started on April 19th after leaving IGT on April 9th. The new job change was due to IGT deciding to close the Corvallis location and my desire to stick in Oregon. So far, it has been a wise decision.

Read the rest of this entry

It sure has been some time since I’ve posted and figure it is time I do so.

Last time I posted I was talking about some documents I’ve been reading. Well since then I’ve made a number of changes.

With the closing of IGT Corvallis at the end of June, I’ve decided that instead of moving to Reno for IGT, that I would interview around and see what I can find. In the few months I applied I was able to get three confirmed offers. Two in Reno and one in Portland. I almost had one in Corvallis, however they failed to get permission to seek a new candidate before they began interviewing candidates…silly companies.

Though one of the offers in Reno was great, I decided to stay in Oregon and accept a position in Portland with a company called Coaxis. They deal mainly with their software called Viewpoint Construction Software which I hear is quite popular with construction companies; which is a good thing for me that I get into a business that is still growing. It is quite exciting and I will be able to contribute quite a lot. The great thing about going to Coaxis is that I get to work with a couple of co-workers from IGT that are already there.

Moving to Portland will also be quite fun and exciting. I’ve been interested in getting up in the Portland area so I am happy to have the chance to move up closer to friends I don’t get to see as often as I would like. Though this means I’ll be farther from friends, girlfriend included, in the Albany/Corvallis area, it just means that I’ll have to make lots of visits to the area.

Lucky for me, I really like to drive my car and really enjoy spending time with friends that it’ll be a great time.

With this whole move and starting a new company it means the end to a current one. I am leaving IGT for the right reasons (for me), and because of this I do not think it will be difficult to go. I will definitely miss working with all the great people I have gotten to know over the couple years I have been there, but the work itself I feel satisfied with. I was able to see my work running in a casino, and the current projects I was developing passed off into good hands. Hopefully I hear from the folks working on the project I spent so much time on and how successful it will turn out for them.

IGT was a great starting company after graduating and I will always remember the experiences with such great people. I look forward though to my next adventures which are starting quite soon.

This Friday (April 9th) will be my last day with IGT, I am then taking the next 9 days to just relax and move up to Portland. I then start day one at Coaxis on April 19th (a day after my birthday).

Here is to exciting and wonderful new changes. And here is to hoping that the people I meet at Coaxis will be as wonderful as those I met at IGT.

Jason

Well, it’s about time for a change. Just never figured it would be caused this way.

Read the rest of this entry

Today has been a pretty normal day. Woke up, got ready, picked up Manfred, B.S.ed a great deal, arrived a work, etc. etc.

The big difference with today vs. any other day, is that I’m going to do something I have never done before after work.

I’m not going to say what it is because I want to make sure I go through with it before actually stating that I’m going to do it.

Quite exciting.

In other parts of today, at work (IGT), I was able to finish up merging the changes I have done for one of our services into the build branch so that I can take the DLLs that I’ve built and send them over to another engineer. Once the database script is ran to get the new tables inserted, and the new DLLs in place, then I’ll be able to find out if my changes do what they are suppose to do (add and retrieve items from the database in one service, and send them back to the calling service (UI) so that we can see the pretty new items).

Always nice when things work.

Jason

I’ve decided that I could be of help to those who are wanting to build their own website or blog.

I don’t mind answering questions, so please contact me if you would like any help.

If you would like more than just a few questions answered, then please let me know and I’ll let you know how my prices vary.  From Basics to Complete Awesomeness!

J

Well I’ve been here at IGT for a week and two days.  So far it has been up and down.  At first I was told that I wouldn’t be receiving my computer for a couple weeks, then I got it the second day.  Then I was told that I wouldn’t be receiving my signing bonus until the end of August, then I got it the first Friday after I started!  I was also told I’d be receiving my badge which lets me into the labs and the entrance to the building we’re in on Friday…well I still haven’t received that.  That is mainly due to the fact that they don’t keep track of paper work they have people fill out too well.

That was a big frustration at first.  I was sent a packet of papers to fill out, however since I didn’t have the address of where I would be moving, I had to put down my parents’ address.  That works, but it isn’t quite accurate.  When I got here I then had to fill out a few pages that I already did, but it wasn’t too big a deal.

Outside of the stresses of not receiving things on time, things have been better since I did receive the important things early.  I’ve been working on learning about what it is I was hired for.  I can’t tell too much, however it is the future of IGT, which is a pretty great feeling that I’m on such an important project.  It has been quite boring, frustrating, overwhelming, and interesting since I’ve been here due to everything I have to know.  Most of what I’ve been doing has been dealing with learning about the new system and trying to get it all understood…well there is much more than I was ever expecting.  Hopefully things will sink in soon and I can get onto helping my colleagus out.

Well that’s work stuff.  I’ll post later on how things are outside of here.

-Jason!

Wow what has happened since I last posted…

Well I finished my senior project, Piratopia.

I finished all of the required classesI needed.

I graduated from college with a BS in Software Engineering, an AE in Computer Engineering, and a minor in business.

Went to Washington and Canada for fourteen days.

Watched a couple weddings.

Moved into my new appartment in Corvallis.

And now today I start the first day (at IGT) of my lasting career.

Hopefully everything goes well which I am sure it will.

I’ll post later.

Jason

After six whole months of interning here at Garmin AT, I’m finally heading out.  I’ve had a fantastic time being part of the Garmin team and will definitely be looking this way in the next few months as I get closer to graduating.  Hard to believe that the internship has come and gone already.

I’ve learned a lot throughout this ordeal and am extremely glad I took the time out of my sequence to partake of it.  I gained a lot while I was here and have given my fair share of help throughout this internship.

For all those Garmin people who take a look at this, thanks for all the good times and for making me feel like an actual part of the team.  Who knows what will happen later down the road, I may just end up sitting next to a few of you.

This entire internship was totally worth while and I would do another one with Garmin any time (Cept I’d rather have an actual job with them for better pay if nothing else).

I recommend Garmin AT to anyone with an interest in aviation who wants a fantastic job, so go apply as soon as you can!

I’m going to miss this place for sure!

Jason

At 5pm today will be the end of yet another day with Garmin AT. I am reluctant to say that I only have 10 days left with them before heading back down to Klamath Falls to finish my degree. I’ve had a fantastic time working here at Garmin and am looking forward to what possibilities lay in front of me over the next six months of job hunting.

This last Friday I had an on-the-phone technical interview with Microsoft. Received a call at 2:30pm introducing myself to a fella named Vijay. The interview was surprisingly not as difficult as I was expecting. I’ve heard all the nightmare stories of the “evil” questions MS asks, and didn’t get any of them except for asking me how I would go about designing an alarm clock for the visually impaired. Other than that the questions were somewhat technical, but not as technical as I was expecting. The email I received said it would be a “very technical interview“, but I can’t say it was. Only pseudo-code answers were asked for and nothing programming language specific. Oh well, at least it went very well and I was able to answer each of the questions I was asked. I was told I should be hearing something in the next two weeks, so I’ll let you know how that all goes.

Last Friday I also had my final MECOP appraisal which went very well. A multiple number of Met and Exceeded Expectations. I was quite glad it went well and really feel that this internship has been a great experience.

Until I write again…

[UPDATE] Instead of the two weeks I was expecting till I heard back from Microsoft, I received an email within two days of the interview on Tuesday from them.  I guess I did well in my phone interview cause they want me to go out to the Redmond, WA location for an on-site interview with them.  I’m looking forward to it, however it’ll be quite nerve racking.  I’ll meet with 3-5 people for a one hour interview with each.  This one will be way more complex than the last, so be praying for me and wish me lots of luck that things go well.

Tomorrow I take off down to Klamath Falls to visit my school, Oregon Institute of Technology. This time I’m not just going down as a student, I’m going down as an employee representing Garmin. Funny thing is that I’m going without being an official employee. I’m an intern and will be for another two months. After that I’ll be in the process of finishing school and looking for a job.

Though I am really looking forward to representing Garmin at the career fair and in the classes we go to visit, I find it kind of nerve wrecking since it will leave me little time to visit potential employers. I think Garmin is a fantastic company and would love to work for them, I just want to keep my options open at this point in time though. Representing Garmin tomorrow and the day after will consume my time to mingle with the other companies since I will be manning the Garmin booth telling students about Garmin. How crazy is that. This is MY career fair as a student, yet I’m going like I am already employed. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. For all I know, I may have the opportunity to drop off a few resumes after all.

I’m looking forward to the next couple days and hope to see a number of fellow students apply and get interviewed for Garmin. After this I come back for work on Wednesday, and then take off that evening to Spokane, Washington for NACA West representing OIT as the entertainment coordinator for Campus Activites. I’ll then return back to Salem next Sunday. What a busy week!

Read the rest of this entry