This week, I spent a somewhat relaxing time at home with my parents. After I got unjustly fired, I just needed to take a break from everything and think about what I really wanted to do. Like any unemployed person, I started looking for a suitable job, which is not easy for several reasons. I’ve been searching several job websites including Seek, My Career, CareerOne and Candle Recruit, but only came up with a handful of jobs that sound even remotely interesting.

I’m looking for a job as a web developer. I’m finding it hard because many of the jobs either want several years of commercial experience, which I don’t have; knowledge and experience with the disastrous .NET technologies, which I don’t want to touch; or don’t focus on, nor care about standards compliance, which is a requirement for any job that I will consider. I realise that may sound quite picky, but why should I bother trying to work with a company that I know I’m not going to be happy with?

Searching and applying for a job is as much about the company trying to impress me, as it is for me to impress them. Being as talented as I am, that is not so difficult, but as many of you know, only a handful of sites even come close to validation, and even fewer companies care about validation and standards compliance, so finding an impressive employer is big challenge. It is an unfortunate reality, but until I have the experience, knowledge and skill to start my own business, I have little choice but to work in the very corporate environment I am morally against.

My moral dillemma is that far too many decisions are based on marketing or financial reasons, rather than what is valid, and what is the right thing to do. I prefer to make decisions based on what is the most ethical, and valid reasons. I try to avoid making decisions based on personal gain. I’m in this to make a difference; to improve the quality, usability, and accessibility of the web as a whole – I am not in this for personal gain, as so many are, and I will not be corrupted. I realise how idealistic that sounds, and I have been told on many occasions that I have a lot to learn and that I must accept reality.

Having said that, I have managed to be called back for two jobs that I applied for, and I will most likely make it to the interview stage. One of the questions I asked on the phone was whether or not they focus on standards compliance, and I did receive a somewhat comforting yes, in reply. However, I was only speaking with their recruitment managers, and neither of their web sites validate. But one, at least, does use reasonably semantic HTML, and insisted, in the job advertisement, that candidates do not use tables for layout – that one looks the most promising for me!

In light of a previous post of mine, entitled ‘Stupid Bosses’ – a rant about how my boss was forcing me to invalidate all HTML by removing the required encoding from all ampersands in URIs – for a reason that I believe is invalid (and a task that I had not yet done). This morning, I found my boss had actually read it, and I have been terminated. Out of respect for the company, and my boss, the article is now 410 Gone.

In a way, although this is devastating to my career, it does provide me with the opportunity for a fresh start. This job was very much a learning experience for me and I will take a lot from it. I hope that in the future, I find work with a company that can utilise my skills as a web developer, and allows me to do what I do best – advocate and conform to all applicable standards and recomendations to produce the best possible results.

So, in conclusion, I would like to publicly apologise for any offense caused. I would also like to say that my boss was not as bad as I made him out to be in the deleted posting. He does have many good qualities, and is quite experienced with what he does. There just appear to be irreconcilable differences between us. So, in a way, this is best for both of us. It is a time to move on to bigger and better things.