A Sort of Mystery

There really is something about me and getting weird interviews from companies. Here's the story...

On Saturday night at about 6:30pm, I received a phone call on my cell phone. The actual phone number showed up on my cell phone, meaning that it was not somebody I knew.

"Area code 609? Who could that be?" I thought to myself.

I answered the phone. A man with a heavy accent replied to my greeting by asking me if I was Alan. I said yes with a bit of hesitation, because I could not figure out what accent the man had. How did he get my number? Where did he come from? Why is he calling me?

"Hi, Alan. My name is [insert incomprehensible utterance] from "d[some letter] [something that began with "di"]
"Excuse me? I'm sorry I didn't catch your name or where you are from."
"This is [still couldn't understand] from [some company]"
(Repeat 3x)

After the fifth iteration, I felt that it was just rude to ask him to repeat himself again. His accent was so thick, and by this time I concluded it was an Indian accent, since he stated that he got my resume from a man named Abishek. Cool, you have my resume, but who is Abishek? And why are you calling me on Saturday at 6:30 at night?

"We have an urgent Financial Data Analyst position available and we'd like to offer you a job if you are interested."

What?!?!?
"Sure, I'd like to hear more about it."
He goes on to describe the job and the training. That lasts 5 minutes or so. His next question
"So tell me about yourself."
"OK, well I'm a senior at the University of Delaware. I'm a double major, Computer Science and Economics and..."
"GREAT! You match our position perfectly. Now what would a good starting salary for you be?"
"Well...anything between 40 to 50k would be nice."
"What if we offer you a starting salary of 55k with the chance to get a 10% raise every year?"
"....That...sounds great?"

Wow...sounds really good right now. There must be some catch, right?
"Now, your training will cost $800 upfront. It will include all manuals and training, food, internet, a computer, and living costs for a month. After 2 weeks of training you will go through 2 weeks of 'boot camp'. After your evaluation, your salary will begin."

WHAT? Pay $800 upfront? Start getting paid after that? I ask the question:
"Well, if I go to this training program, am I guaranteed a job?"
"You will have to ask my supervisor. He will call you in 30 minutes and I will send you an email with more information."

End of conversation. Turns out that I do not receive an email from this guy, and I do not get a call from his supervisor. Whatever, sounded like a scam anyways.

So Monday morning comes around, I still do not hear from this man. I can't look up the company because I did not understand him when he said it the first five times. I decided to put my e-stalking skills to the test. I googled the phone number he used to call me. Hit! Turns out the guy's name is Mark Li and he works for HD Dimension. So it wasn't an Indian accent after all, but a Chinese accent! AH HA! After looking through the website, I decided to do a little research on the company. Surprisingly, there is not much on them on Google. That could be a good or bad thing. Anyways, it still doesn't tell me how they got my number or resume.

So later that day, I go to lab. Everybody but 5 or 6 people decided to show up today, so I had a lot of free time. I went to the Career Services website to look for more jobs I can apply to, and as I was looking at my past applications, I noticed HD Dimension was on my list. After further investigation, it turns out the main contact for HD Dimension with UD is Avishek Mukhopadhyay. Mystery #2 solved. I emailed him back to ask him more about the job. A few hours later, Mark called me back to tell me that since I'll be in school until May, that he will contact me later in May about a job offer. He also stated that I should apply for an H1B visa. I'm not sure if he noticed, but my English is pretty good. Much better than an immigrant who is not a citizen of the United States. Why the hell would I need a visa to work in the U.S.?

As for the email, I did receive one finally. In the email, it states that they are looking for a Chinese consultant who is fluent in Chinese. Well, the last time I checked, Nguyen was a VIETNAMESE surname. I don't understand how they could confuse me with a Chinese person and certainly one who is fluent in Chinese. But they don't have to know that until I sign the contract and meet them in person ;-)

But anyways, weird scenario or what? More updates soon, I promise.

One last kick in the ass

Currently on month 17 of 19 (now 20...explanation later) straight months at UD.

Remember last semester when I said that if I get to the spring everything would be smooth sailing? Well, it hasn't. What was I thinking? Things don't go my way, things never go my way. In fact, if somebody told me things always went their way I'd probably laugh in their face and walk away.

Anyways, reverting back to a previous post of mine, I was quoted as follows:
"Two more months and I'm free. My future is in two months. In two months, I will be able to forget all about Computer Science and do what I like to do. It's like comparative advantage, everybody does what they are good at, and everybody benefits. I'm not good at programming, so I won't do it. I'm good at helping people, so I will do that."

Boy was I wrong.

Now nearly 4 months since I wrote that blog, I'm still have no idea what I'm doing. My future isn't in 2 months. I haven't forgotten about Computer Science yet. What do I like to do? I still don't know. I was at an interview for a equity trading firm on Wall St. the other day. Pretty cool job I was really pumped for it. After talking to the interviewer for a while, he noted to me that I belong in the tech industry, not the investment industry. So I'm thinking to myself, "No, I've been in the tech industry and I don't belong there," but now I'm starting to rethink it. After last semester, I've realized that I'm not as bad as I thought I was at programming, and in fact I'm pretty good when I work with other people. As for that whole financial advising gig? Maybe it's not for me. Getting paid like shit for the first couple of years when all I wanted to do was work and go back to school? No thanks. So now I'm back to square one...what do I want to do? Where do I want to do it? Stuff that I previously thought I figured out in my head is not materializing as it should be, but why would it anyways?

Speaking of stuff not materializing the way it should be, it turns out that I will not be graduating with what I had intended to graduate with in May. On the last day of drop/add, I get a notice from the College of Arts and Sciences saying that I'm 9 credits short of graduating. 9 credits? After further investigation, there is a minimum of 154 credits for a double degree, and I have 145, EVEN THOUGH I have completed all the requirements for both my degrees. What does this mean? In May, I can graduate with a Computer Science degree or a Economics degree, but not both. I have to go to summer school to get my other degree. Any 3 classes. Stupid, no? Anyways, after a lot of talking, it turns out that if I apply for a B.S. in Economics, I would only need 150 credits, therefore only needing to sacrifice the last 2 months of my summer instead of the entire summer taking classes. This leaves me with about a month to travel and hang out with my friends before they go off to grad school or work or something. Wonderful, could it get any worse?

Why of course! We're talking about me for crying out loud!

Let's revert back to another excerpt from the post in October, shall we?
"In two months, I will have a 12 credit semester for the spring. In two months, I may never have to program ever again. In two months, I will finally be able to relax and enjoy my last semester in college."

HAHAHA! Relax? Even though I'm taking 4 classes, these classes are some of the hardest/most time consuming classes I've taken since, my very first semester of college. Sure, learning about decision making under uncertainty is pretty interesting, but it's tough. Who really cares about the history of integrals. And who really cares that A* is optimal and complete if and only if the heuristic defined is admissible? This may be my senioritis talking, but this has not been a breeze. It's not only the academics, its just life in general. So many things have not gone my way since the semester started, and it just keeps piling on. Stuff that has never happened to me before is all happening to me at once, and it sucks. I guess I am still stuck in jail.

But on the other hand, I am trying my hardest to just relax and enjoy the last semester. I may never see some of these people again, or if I do it'll be a rare visit. Why not make the most of it now? I've been snowboarding a few times, gone out to the bars with some people, and just enjoyed the company of others. Yet, I'm still not where I want to be.

Hopefully, this is the last kick in the ass, the last test to see if I can make it through "the real world," because seriously, if I can make it through what I've been through the last 19 months, I can make it through just about anything.


If you are still reading this, I am truly amazed and I thank you for taking the time to hear what I have to say. To reward you, I have an interesting/bad/semi-racist story to tell you. So today, I had an interview at a financial sales company, Hennion & Walsh. If you click on the link, you may or may not notice, but that is a pretty CRAPPY website for a company that is suppose to be handling your life savings. Anyways, the woman who was interviewing me, in my opinion, was being too much of a salesperson. For example, when she told me that my wage was going to be $125 a week for the first 2 months and $1250/month for the next 12 months, she tried to justify that by saying that you don't get to be successful without taking risk. Risk? Getting paid $1000 bucks for 2 months and then $15,000 for the first year is not risk, its poverty. Especially for a firm that's 30 minutes outside of NYC. Even with the bonus, its still a pretty low $30000, and that's not even guaranteed.

Anyways, the interview goes on, and by the end she comes back to the whole salary thing and she says "Yes, it'll be a lot of tough work, and there will be nights where you'll be..." *slight pause* "...you know eating rice for dinner. Or eating..." *another pause* "...ramen noodles for dinner but it all comes with the territory." WHAT?!? I understand that she's trying to make a point that I won't be eating filet mignons for dinner, but come on? Rice and ramen? You know I'm Asian, I eat that shit every night, and I'm not poor. You know, mac & cheese is pretty cheap too. PBJ sandwiches are cheap, pasta is cheap to make too. Hell, chicken's only 2.99 a pound! Why does everything have to be about race?? That's my racist story for the day, good night.