IRL Job Searching to Freelancing

Alright Patrons, get ready for some IRL non-Egee stuff. The past few weeks have been crazy and I think today might be the last of it.

So a bit of history - I was working for this super cool company last year called Aula but I got laid off in October. I started low-key job searching & freelancing as a consultant by December or so (bad timing due the holidays).

Consulting is cool but because US benefits are expensive, full-time gigs are generally preferred because the employer handles all of that. Being self-employed means that I had to pay for and manage my own healthcare plans which isn't fun.

Fast Forward to today - a friend of mine referred me to the company he's working for and I applied, interviewed, and got hired. Yay! Well, sort of.

See, I'm consulting on two different projects, as well as doing the YouTube thing which I run as "business", which my consulting stuff also falls under.

As part of the Background & Reference check, the company called my clients because they wanted to make sure my contracts wouldn't interfere with me working as a full-time employee. This resulted in my clients asking the same questions - if my full-time job would affect them.

The result was a big giant mess. The company that offered me the job withdrew their offer because they felt I wasn't forthcoming about my prior obligations. In the meantime, they sent me computer equipment (it was a remote position) and promptly demanded me to return it ASAP.

The whole ordeal has been frustrating & embarrassing.

I understand both sides of the coin here but the situation could have been resolved via open communication. I was never asked about my consultancies or anything. They discovered them via my background check and contacted them independently without even telling me.

I'm going to continue to freelance and probably spend more time making videos. The audience retention on the Distro Delves videos is quite good and that translates into better ad revenue. It's not much at this point but it certainly helps!

Anyway, I thought you guys might be interested in some real IRL stuff. I don't cross over into IRL land very often but I figured you guys might enjoy it once in a while ☺️