I have been working for over three months at CGI Federal.

From the start of the hiring process all the way through my orientation day, I was under the impression I was being hired as a C++ maintenance developer – which I can do but don’t particularly enjoy.

Fortunately, for me, I was assigned to another team that better fit my skill set and my preference for web application development (which I made painfully obvious during the job interviews).

I took a gamble on a job in a tough market and luckily got placed doing exactly what I was looking for – high-profile web application development that challenges me constantly, allows me to use my existing skills, and grows my skill set.

Let’s hope it lasts.

I delayed real life as long as I could.  With two degrees under my belt and still no debt, I decided to bite the bullet and start my professional career while I still had some money to help with the transition.

Recently, I accepted a consultant position with CGI Federal in Lebanon, VA.  I will most likely be doing software maintenance (in C++) at first.  As one may expect, I am a bit nervous and extremely excited.

Commuting to the job would be ridiculously expensive and painful; so, I had to recently do another expensive and painful thing – find an apartment.  Apparently, the apartment opportunities in the Lebanon / Abingdon Virginia area aren’t all that great.  Either the apartments smell like run down veterinary clinics or they are rent controlled by the Virginia Housing Authority and cost twice as much as they should for people in my newfound income bracket. To make a long story shorter, I found a place after over a week of searching through a lot of crappy places.  My new place is a bit smaller than I wanted but it is almost new, clean, and fairly inexpensive with community pool, gym, and laundry.  I got the last available apartment in the complex.

Hopefully, I can get everything moved soon and reset life back to a slower setting for a while.