Tough times ahead.....

I am not talking about ailing US economy or 125,000 job losses in last 2 months in United States but about the on-site interview I have next week for which I would be flying to Boston, MA. This company has already taken 4 telephonic interviews, totaling 210 minutes and now they would be taking 9 interviews at their office on the very same day. I have no idea how I would be surviving 9 interviews, in January I went for Network Appliances onsite interview to Pittsburgh, PA and they took 8 interviews there (on the same day) and trust me, I literally passed out.

The position I applied for is Software Development Engineer, the job description states one should be proficient in C++, COM, MFC, ATL, Win32 programming. I am very unsure and surprised at the same time how I cleared telephonic interviews since I didn’t knew MFC at all and this COM stuff which includes COM, ATL and Win32 I didn’t remember much after I finished my CSE 775 Distributed Objects course in spring 2007, may be being proficient in C++, OOD and Design Patterns saved my butts but now the question is for how long?

Talking about this company, I haven’t met with anyone till now but the HR lady with whom I spoke to on telephone seemed very hostile and straightforward. She told me that if next year I am not able to get H1 visa they won’t be doing anything, I said isn’t your company enrolled in E-verify program and she bluntly said ‘NO’. Plus she also said we will review your performance before sponsoring your visa, which means there is no security in terms of job and visa sponsorship. Though this company is offering good amount of money but I will talk once again with them if they extend an offer to join and if things remain the same then I will not be joining such a company which doesn’t keep good care of their employees and leave them on their own fate. There are always other options to overcome this visa problem, one is, this company has offices in India also, therefore they can always bring me back to States on L-1 Visa if my H1 is rejected next year and they are still not enrolled in E-verify next year. But I admit one should be worth it, if company is willing to do so much.

Right now, I am not thinking much except preparing for the interview, getting excited to fly 4^th time this year, did I mention I love planes and free flights!, someone standing at airport with my name on ply card( it's very gratifying indeed) and a limousine waiting outside to pick you up though you are not a celebrity or a beautiful blond girl.