Announcements Continued...
Okay, so I gave my notice at work so I can talk now - no nasty surprises for anyone here reading online (not that I think anyone reads my blog here at work anyways...).
So woohooo! Last night, the American company I talked about before called Orcom called me up and gave me the offer which I accepted. They had delayed a week or so because they were trying to figure out the best way to go about hiring me. Directly or through a Spanish agency, etc. It's not triple my salary, but it's definitely more than double and with bonus it comes pretty close (but you can never count on bonuses so I won't). The company is based out of Oregon and I'm going to be on a plane to Bend next weekend to sign papers, meet some of my new bosses and take my drug test (I know... what can I do?). The project I'm going to be working on is talked about in this press release from a company here called Soluziona. The short of it is that Orcom provides is an ASP for utilities companies in the U.S. and they are partnering up with a big Spanish company called Union Fenosa to develop the next version of their services based on Java tech. They've got two big development teams already in place in the U.S. and here in Madrid and my job is going to be as a programmer learning both the business processes and technical side of the app to help develop and bring back to the U.S. with me. The idea is that in 18 months or so, I'll be going back to the U.S. to live in Philadelphia where they have their development base. (Begin the countdown! ;-) )
The reason I say "Announcements" plurally is because my wife Ana ALSO just got hired yesterday as well! She worked for 6 years or so doing project maangement for the internet section of a Spanish bank called Bankinter before moving on to a marketing company called McCann Erickson in 2000 where I met her. A week ago an old coworker and friend of hers called and asked her if she was interested in working for a new investment bank here in Madrid doing similar work and arranged an interview. At first Ana wasn't sure if she was interested because of Alex, but decided to go to the interview anyways. It ended up being a perfect match for her and she realized how much she really missed working. But then they also delayed a week (probably to interview other people) and finally gave Ana an offer yesterday also! Which she also accepted!
Sunday night things were looking pretty bleak... it's amazing how fast things can change. With both our new salaries we should be able to pay off debts and build some sort of savings pretty quickly, which is very, very comforting.
We're already trying to figure out the logistics of both of us working... It's going to be the next step in our lives - work and children. Ana's Mom is coming up to stay in Madrid with her sisters to help take care of her grandchild when Ana starts work next Monday which will help a lot but should be interesting to say the least in terms of managing time, etc.
Stay tuned to this channel... I'm sure there'll be lots more to say in the coming months. ;-)
-Russ