So, I've been going back and forth with myself for weeks now on whether to truly get the wheels moving with a job hunt and find a new place, or just stick things out and make it work. The most recent problems with my current employer made me frustrated enough to give the wheels a good kick, just enough to roll them forward a few inches, and so I put my feelers out for a few days and then I just stopped. I got an opportunity from one of my favorite recruiters for a great hourly rate with American Airlines. The distance was too far, and I doubt I would be happy in such a corporate environment. So I chilled on my search and held my breath in hopes things would get better here.

Well, a really cool friend I met at the recent Dallas Barcamp pointed me to the job boards once more. Except this time, it was to Authentic Jobs, which instantly adds credibility in my book. If your cool enough to post an ad there for help wanted, and your description is something that fits in there, with words like css-ninja and such, then you get lotsa points from me. Not only that, but these are the guys that did the designs for Honda and Acura news sites that I did the css for. I've already done work for them, how cool. Small shop. Sweet. RD2 was my dream company, if I do say so myself.

I called them up, shot them an email afterwards, and they shot me back a test, my favorite way to apply somewhere. I cranked it out in a couple hours, chock full of CSS coolness, trickery, and ninja-ness along with tons of great organization, and they called me in to talk. I interviewed my way through the office place, and finally got to the budget talkers. I'm telling you guys, RD2 is a dream place. It's downtown, theres a bar on the bottom floor, even the elevators reek with designer creative juices. But after 10 minutes with the head budget talkers, I had that bitter sweet feeling come creeping in and I knew that I wouldn't be able to work there.

This happens to me so often. I love the place, they love me, they love my work, we've got great chemistry, and then they tell me my rate was too high. So frustrating, because the offers I'm getting from the recruiters are 40k+ more a year, and I already took a dive in my salary at my current job by 20k+ per year, and then I was being asked again to drop it another 20k+. It's like, I'm sure they are thinking, "Jeese this kid's expensive, why can't he just drop his rates," while I'm thinking "We're perfect for each other! Please just shell out a little bit more so we can work together, and I'll happily churn out reams and reams of quality, organized, web standards compliant code!" And then we both bitter sweetly part ways, lol, and they always ask me to point other css guys i know to them.

I gotta hand it to RD2 though, they're the only people that made me even think twice about giving up 40k / yr of my target salary just to take a job. If anyone in the dallas / ft worth area has CSS chops and are good, give them a shout, they're definitely worth the visit. I walked out of there saying to myself, "That boss, and that team, is how a small interactive shop should be run."