I interviewed for a job recently, and this is the first time I was ever myself in the interview. I don’t know if I will get it (I think I am perfect for the position), but I have a 33% chance of getting it, statistically. Who knows. Interviews are the worst. You have to be yourself, though, I guess. I think the difference between this interview and the ones before it was that in many previous interviews I was desperate to find a better job, a job where I can grow and learn and get somewhere. I’m at the top of my game at the school where I teach. And I am a contractor (ick). *Pant pant pant*, gimme the job!

This time, there was less salivating and less fear and less desperation, not because my situation has gotten any better, but because I was confident I had the skills they needed for this job, confident I could do the job, and confident that if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. No amount of lying at the interview about my skills, pre-interview coaching, etc. would change anything. If I was the right person for the job it would work out. If not, it wouldn’t.

Now, I’m not saying that I think I got the job (the wait is excruciating), but I think I have a shot because I was just me, told the truth, and was myself. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t manicure, lint-brush, breath-mint, and iron myself into a “perfect” candidate. The agony was the graphics test at the end. I had to use Photoshop, and it was my first time in years to use it, and I had to finish an assignment on time, in Photoshop. An assignment which would be easy in Paint Shop Pro was difficult for me in Photoshop.

I know, should learn Photoshop, everyone else uses it, and it’s a more powerful professional tool. But I have used PSP for YEARS now, and…oh well, I didn’t know Photoshop at the interview. I think I turned in a few OK pieces, but I didn’t show my true potential because, well, I was tense, nerve-wracked, a little tired, and that part of the interview will be the part that kills me if I don’t get the job. I hope they saw my portfolio, really saw it.

On the way home from the interview I kicked myself because there was so much more I could have done, but at the end of the day, after a long interview process, I just didn’t squirt it out in an hour and a half. Dude.

Also, must tell about a silly in class this last semester. How goofy did I feel.

The class was about visualization and design and human factors, and each week we have to bring in a set of images that exemplifies this week’s theme theories. I brought in a screenshot of Bejeweled, a simple, mindless computer game. Said computer game uses various effects to emphasize its 3d images, even though it is displayed on a 2d surface. Then my professor asked me a question.

“Do you think starburst has anything to do with it?”

I said, with a confused look on my face, “No, not really…” I was thinking Jeez, like, where’d that come from? I immediately thought of Starburst candies. In my mind, the square jewel looks like a red Starburst (my favorite one) and I was wondering what my professor was getting at. Starburst candies didn’t make this game, or they’d have ads all over it. What’s his deal?

A few minutes later I realized he meant the “starburst effect” where something shines bright, as if a star were being reflected from its surface. Of course the starburst effect contributes to the 3d. As you laugh at me, I must remind you that the class is held early on Saturday morning. It’s a challenge to perform on Saturday morning, people.

I sounded like that one girl in our class for whom every answer is a non-sequitur. As such:

Prof: “Does this image look confusing to you?” (pointing to the projected image)

Girl: “I’ve never seen that picture before.”

Prof: “Yes, but does it look busy and confusing to you?”

Girl: “Well, I don’t know what to say because I’ve never seen that picture before.”

Prof moves on to another subject.

That happened to me, but mine obviously wasn’t that bad. I’m just glad that I now know what was happening. Better than being oblivious.