2022-03-26 Saturday
Yesterday the 5th colleague in that many months resigned. That makes about half 
our department in the last year. It isn't the greatest morale booster. For some 
reason we have only replaced one of those who resigned. I got into a new job 
frenzy as well. I spent five hours on Thursday in the final round of technical 
interviews. I didn't nail it, so I'm assuming no job offer will result from the 
effort. I am glad that I persisted and survived my first experience live coding 
during interviews. With the screening interview that makes 6 technical 
interviews. 

I'm tired of job hunting so I think I might take another break from it. During 
this round of applications, rejections, and technical interviews I've learned a 
few things that might be the basis of a plan. First, react.js seems to be a 
really big deal right now. Second, practicing algorithms on leetcode might make 
for stronger live coding. Third, my object oriented design decisions need 
maturing. Fourth, get involved in an open source project.

So if I'm given a thank you for your interest but we are pursuing other 
candidates letter, then I think I might focus my energies on the following plan:

Create an open source repo on my GitHub profile for a Lab Info Mgmt Sys (LIMS). 
Rewrite my previous professional work from scratch on my own time and open 
source it. Focus on using react.js for the front end and push my self further 
in proper object oriented design patterns. If needed, pursue formal study 
beyond reading the design patterns book. 
I am reminded of a conversation I had in COM a few months ago. There was a book 
suggestion for me then. That book was, Clean Code by Martin and Continuous 
Delivery by Humble and Farley. These books were recommended by Spring. I think 
I've got my work cut out for me but it is a reasonable project that will 
hopefully improve my professional software development.

So the plan is to kick off an open source LIMS project. Rebuild what I already 
have built and let it be free. Hopefully it will be a good example repo for 
future employers. I think these were the biggest takeaways from this round of 
rejections and interviews. So if I can stick with my current job and turn 
something around in 9 months I can be on the road to a new future where I'm not 
the last person standing on a sinking ship. I'm glad I had that talk with 
Spring in com. Too bad I didn't act quicker on their tips. So it is thus.