The One, True Job

I’ve mentioned “The One, True Job” a couple of times in the past, and it occurs to me that I haven’t really defined it here. Since this is a blog, and thus must be filled with bloggishness on a semi-regular basis, here I go with a definition of The One, True Job!

The One, True Job (TOTJ) is a job I am hoping to find and actually land some time in the near future. It will have the following characteristics:

• It will be full time (40-50 hrs/wk)
• It will pay well enough for me to move out (with student loans and all that jazz, that translates to about $20/hr, minimum).
• It will have benefits (or pay well enough for me to both move out and pay for them myself).
• It will make use of my talents – either writing or web design or both.
• It will be somewhere in the South SF Bay Area.
• It will hopefully not involve interacting with The Public ^TM too much.

Those’re pretty broad requirements, I think. Getting hired full-time at almost any decent newspaper or techie company would work. Ideally, I’d love to get hired as a not-too-techie technical writer or as a film reviewer.

Please take note that teaching is not anywhere on this list. I have nothing but respect for teachers, but am not going to be able to be one myself. Not full time. See that whole “interacting with The Public ^TM” thing. I’m good at being a team player with an established team and all that, but interacting with large numbers of people and having to motivate and excite and influence them is not my bag.

As near as I can tell, my ideal work enviroment is one that involves me, a computer, semi-isolated personal space (office or cubicle), and a continuous stream of iced Diet Coke.

I’ve been hunting in a steady, low-key way along these lines, and networking as much as possible with my insane work schedule, but with no luck. If anybody’s got suggestions for other fields that might be good to look at, I’m all ears.

Better yet, if someone wants to point a recruiter at me: my web portfolio is here and my clip file and writing resume is here. :D