You probably aren't going to believe this. Be shocked, be startled, be amazed... Yes, I'm a full time working man once again. Some of you didn't think it would happen. I was even beginning to have my doubts. But, assuming hell doesn't freeze over anytime soon, the winner of the Employed Eli Pool is Lenise Dudman. Congratulations, Lenise. You win a free meal with your favorite brother next time I'm in Las Vegas.
The job is a consulting gig with ThinkTank23. I don't know too much about what I'll actually be doing besides knowing that I'll be programming. The interesting thing about ThinkTank23 is that everyone works from home. I'll be working with one guy in Seattle, another in Denver, and a third guy who I'm not even sure where he lives yet. Anyway, it's not incredibly long term -- definitely through mid-April and most likely through mid-June. So I might be doing all this job searching over again before you know it.
Dave Thomas, one of the authors of The Pragmatic Programmer, has some more practical advice that's very applicable to the great many who are out of work: how to keep your day job.
Dave also has some other interesting commentary on the state of the software engineering profession that makes for interesting reading.
Mark Pilgrim is having work from home burnout: No clock [dive into mark].
Since I've started working from home, I know what he's talking about. If a client has a question, they call me on my cell day or night, or multiple times day and night. If something breaks, it sure would be nice if you fix it before anyone notices. I used to only look at work email at work, but now work email is home email. I've started finding that I need to turn off my email client, shutdown YIM, and turn off my cell phone during the day just to end the day feeling like I accomplished something instead of switching between tasks and jobs all day long.