This past Monday, I started a new exciting, but short chapter in my self-employment. A few hours after I had posted my last entry, I received an email from a good friend down here in PR, asking if I was doing contract work.
I am now working on my first for pay Ruby on Rails project. I’ve been learning Rails on my own time and dime for almost a year now. This will be a good opportunity, and good for the résumé. Self-study doesn’t amount for much in a job interview without real work to show for it. This should help me find more Rails work after this project is done.
The skeleton for the project is mostly done, but my friend has run out of steam after working solo on it, part-time, for many months. He has a two-person IT services company to run. His wife does sales, contract negotiation, marketing, chamber of commerce stuff, etc., while he is the only technical employee, servicing many customers, and integrating solutions for new ones.
As good Catholics, they also have three children to take care of, another full-time job.
He has hired me to help finish this new product, over two weeks. Considering he doesn’t have any comments in the code, it’s going extremely well. 
I work three days from home and two at the office with my friend. If only my broadband ISP had any decency and the cable modem didn’t loose signal often, everything would be peachy.
Meanwhile, I continue looking for work in the USA. Résumés have been sent out to all traveling consultant companies I know of, and a dozen more have been sent to companies in PA, including my ex-employer from 2001 (the bastards are still around! Ha!)
