Today is the inaguration of the 44th president, Barack Hussein Obama. 

I need to read through my emails better. Especially when it’s written in Korean, I tend to just glaze over and that gets me into trouble. Anyhow, there was an email from Bayarea K Group about some economic forum being held in SF, sponsored by a so-called “Wall Street Journal of Korea.” I didn’t realize what it was about, but I later found out that it was a part of annual meeting by KAEA (Korean American Economic Associations).

The forum was a panel discussion and there were three panelists, one Korean British and two Americans (one of them Berkeley professor). They all talked about what went wrong and what “definitely” caused today’s economic downturn. Though, it was quite educational, none of the three could predict when and how the economy would get better. They couldn’t even agree on what monetary or federal policies should be implemented to jump start the economy. When economists do not know, then you know we are in deep sh*t. There were a few things they agreed such as stimulus plan, what kind and how. But, I wanted to ask about rising national debt and falling value of dollars in the Q&A time. When it was over, though, I became completely disinterested in what they had to say. Because it doesn’t matter how intelligent they sound if none of their suggestions didn’t get executed and most likely they weren’t.

Funny thing was a survey questions by KAEA (or could be that newspaper). It was asking very specific questions about exchange rate, gas price, when the economy would turn around, etc. Geez. When even economists do not know, how can we? But, I also found out that that only applied to us.

The rest and majority of participants were all “distinguished” economists from Korea. I didn’t know that, and I certainly wouldn’t have guessed it from their conversations. They all just talked about each other’s hair style, alma mater, etc. Really? Is that why you flew all the way from Korea? I did ask a few folks what they thought about the whole economy, but they had the typical “you are not worthy of my conversation” attitude. Wow. Most of these guys were from higher education institutions and public research groups, and none came with their own personal money. At the end, they all talked about where to go and drink. No wonder Korea’s economy is so f-ed up (well, besides the whole global recession thing).

That phrase, Never Give Up, is so simple and commonly used that it is beginning to lose its meaning after several times hearing it. A few weeks ago, I saw a glimpse of Randy Pausch’s last lecture on PBS. The title of slide was “Never Give Up”. I have heard about his last lecture at CMU before, but never actually watched it. For strange reason, it piqued my interest this time and I decided to search it on YouTube and watch it fully. It was a bit long, but didn’t feel like it. I strongly recommend it.

What a great speech! On the face of death, he stared at it squarely and decided not to let it control his life. He was making the best out of the hand he was dealt with, and having fun at the same time. He actually lived longer than doctors predicted. I think it was because of his positive attitude even in the face of death. There are many memorable moments in the lecture, but I just wanted to mention a few things.

Brick Wall

He said he’d faced many brick walls in his life. Interestingly he said that a brick wall is not there to stop us, but to test us how badly we want it. It’s a natural elimination process. Those who don’t want it badly will give up easily and go away. Those who want it badly will find a way to get over the obstacle. That is so true. It goes with what he said about never giving up. He mentioned a few times when he faced a brick wall, but did not give up. Eventually things worked out, and it taught him tremendous lessons.

Luck

He also said that luck is where preparation meets opportunity. An opportunity can come from anywhere at any time, and those who prepared will reap the benefits. He attributed a lot of his success to luck, but he also worked very hard, often till wee hours of the day. It is the very same thing many founders of successful startups mentioned in Founders at Work. They all worked hard, but there were many external forces they couldn’t control and thus things could have gone any direction. The reason why they were successful and many others who were equally smart and worked hard didn’t was because of some lucky chances and opportunities.

My personal story

I definitely feel lucky to have found a job in this economy. I thought I was one of a few unlucky ones to be unemployed at the worst possible time, but it looks like there are many that have been affected. While I did my best everyday searching for a job, my new employment definitely has a lot to do with luck, having a good friend and being at the right place at the right time. However, until I signed an employment agreement, it was complete emotional roller coaster ride.

The previous company I was working for closed its doors in August 2008. I took a few weeks off, playing with kids and decompressing from the hectic start-up life, and started to look again since early September. Things went down south really fast in October when stock market started to tank in the wake of bank failures. Recruiting activities suddenly came to a halt, and response rate dropped significantly. All existing conversations stopped because many companies froze hiring. I had a director position I was interviewing for, and while the VP of marketing at the company kept dragging me along and telling me I was the “leading” candidate, they finally dropped the position in November. The first interview was in early September, and quickly I went through the second and third round of interviews successfully. In the beginning, the VP promised he’d make a decision by the end of September. When September passed, he said he had a problem scheduling interviews for a few folks. Mid-October, we even negotiated salary level, and he said he should have been able to make an offer soon. Then he wanted to check with the board of directors since economic condition had deteriorated. He came back saying the board was negative about hiring more, but when I asked about possibility of contractor position instead, the VP said it would be possible since he had marketing budgets to use. Then finally, VP never got back to me, and that was the end of it. Throughout the whole process, I was quite anxious to land something and I tried really hard to control my urgency to call or email every five minutes. It was tough, and when it didn’t finally come through after all that time, it was quite devastating. While I was going back and forth with this company, I had gone through final interviews at a couple of different places, but they didn’t work out either. I also had a few opportunities to lead very early stage start-up companies (a few people, in need of funding) where I’d have to work without salary for sometime while raising funds in this tough time. But, just as in my last start-up I founded, supporting family took precedence, and I had to turn them down. After watching Randy’s video though, I wonder if I had given up on the first start-up too early. I hit a brick wall (actually several of them), but I gave up at the end. 

Anyhow, everyday was quite hard. Whenever a recruiter called, a bit of hope sprung up, but it quickly died away when I didn’t hear back from them further. I sometimes got several calls from different recruiters for the same job. Since companies stopped hiring or slowed down dramatically, recruiters were hurting, too. I frequented local libraries, looking at different job boards and applying to various positions. I tried to utilize this time to get back to programming, but I couldn’t focus with this dark cloud hanging over me. I reached out to everyone I could think of. Many tried to encourage me by saying kind words such as: “Hang in there, it will work out”, “You will find something soon”, “Unemployment does not represent who I am”, “It’s good time to spend time with family and kids”, etc. But, deep down, it still hurt and I could not help but feel I was losing my mojo. It was just bad timing, but blaming everything on external force would only make me complacent. I couldn’t allow that. I had to be on my feet, always proactive.

However, more than anything, it was a learning opportunity. It was an opportunity to appreciate many things I took for granted, learn how to live frugally, and be thankful everyday.  You realize how many things you don’t really need. We had to cut down our expenses drastically and live in a very lean way,  but it was definitely manageable. I also found out who my real friend was and who was not.

I can’t sugar coat current condition and say things will get better soon. I don’t believe, as many experts agree, things will get better soon. Definitely not for a while. I can’t offer advice on what would work and what would not, since I was a complete nerve wreck myself and couldn’t keep positive attitude during the whole time. But, if I could offer a bit of advice to those in the job market, it would be the followings.

1. Never Give Up, because things will always work out at the end if you keep trying.
2. Keep positive attitude, which goes a long way when talking to a recruiter or during interviews. If Randy Pausch was able to keep positive attitude and had fun in the face of death, I think we all can.
3. Look in not so well-known job boards in addition to Dice, Monster or LinkedIn: Craigslist, KITList, KITList-Tech, and Jim’s Jobs.
4. Cut down all unnecessary expenses
5. Utilize local library, where you can get free Wi-Fi, free electricity, free DVD rental, and quiet environment
6. Find bargains at Garage Sales
7. Find free or low-cost entertainment: Free museum admissions sponsored by Bank of America or Target

Never Give Up! I can’t say it enough. 

I am in mid-30’s and along the way I’ve made my own share of mistakes. Of course, in retrospect if I knew differently or better, I wouldn’t have made those mistakes. A wise man once told me that a smart person would learn from others’ mistakes, and it is so right. Come to think of it, I used to discount most proverbs and old sayings as whatever, but now I think they are true in general cases (perhaps more than 70% of time). They had become what they are from hundreds of years of observation, and I think that’s pretty powerful.

So, I just wanted to warn people, especially those who may want to work for a local company in mother land (non-American descendants and/or 1.5 to 2nd, 3rd generations), about possible consequence of their action. If you plan to move there permanently, none of it would matter.

First and foremost, don’t do it unless there is a good reason for it. Chances are you will be faced with vast corporate/local culture shock. Unless their culture could be considered positive or you are sure that you can spin it positively or you can be completely submerged in the culture and later plan to work for a company that targets the market, don’t do it. In addition, if you want to come back and get another job, it would be hard to conduct phone and/or face-to-face interview from overseas.

Second, make sure it is a world-renown company where you are absolutely sure that skill sets and experiences can be viewed positively when moving back to US. Remember, how the company is perceived can be very different from views/experiences inside. It is crucial,

Third, if you really want an international exposure, go to an American company who is looking to send someone there so that you would at least be guaranteed a job in US. Like I said, it would be though to arrange and do phone and/or face-to-face interview from overseas, and you are likely to have to come back and start looking. It wouldn’t apply if you have rich parents or uncle from whom you can live off for a while.

Remember. Always learn from others’ mistakes.