Had another interview with Caltrans in Sacramento last Thursday. I felt like I did well, so that probably means I didn’t get it (I’m really, really hoping for the reverse jinx).

I almost didn’t even apply because I thought it was the same position that I had interviewed for back in December, where they never got back to me at all (no calls, no responses to my emails). But one of my co-workers said just to apply anyways, that there wouldn’t be any harm. And I’m glad I did.

The interview was in the same office building in downtown Sac as last time, but this time it was conducted by two different people. It turns out it’s for a different position in a different division than last time. But this time, there’s a hiring freeze in place, so they can’t hire anyone from outside the state, and from the looks of things, there aren’t that many applicants. I made it a point to not ask any details on other applicants or a time frame on when they’d get back to me, cause last time I had asked those questions and they had just lied to me and got my hopes up. No way I was doing that again.

Like my last interview, the questions they asked were not technical, they were more experience-based questions. I feel like I did well, only missing on a few of them that weren’t too major. Most of my answers came from my experience with Pronto. They pointed out how working for the state must seem boring compared to the video game industry, and I hadn’t really realized that up till then. And speaking about my experiences at Pronto, it made me realize how much I miss that job, working on cool projects and working with cool people. Those were definitely good times, despite how that all ended.

So now it’s Monday, and the guy I interviewed with has been in contact with my current boss, and I’ve already had 2 separate talks with my boss updating me on the whole process. From what he’s telling me, it’s looking very good for me. But I’m still trying not to get ahead of myself and planning ahead or anything like that. It’s not a done deal yet, but from the way things are progressing so far, I’m thinking I should know by the end of the week. If not by then, then my the end of the month, cause I figure they’d want to get this straightened out before the end of the fiscal year (which is the end of this month).

If I were reading a Magic 8 Ball, it would say: “Outlook looks good” or “Signs point to yes”.