Interview update

So yesterday I had the interview with ITN. I met with the hiring
manager and 2 biostatisticians and then with the hr lady I had talked to
the day before to arrange the interview. The time spent talking to the
3 guys seemed to go quickly and I think they all went well. They talked
about some of the work they would like the position to do and about some
of the problems they were having. Yesterday afternoon I got a request
for script/program examples so I sent 7 files that I had written in
various classes and supplied a brief description of each. They were in
perl, python, matlab, and R, so I was satisfied that that showed enough
breadth. I was pleasantly surprised to look at these old files and see
how complicated they were, I never realize how complicated the
coursework is until I see it again.

So now I'm waiting to hear back from the hr lady. She had said
yesterday that I would hear from them by friday because they wanted to
fill the 2 open fulltime positions quickly. There are also 2 intern
positions open. She said they had 2 more people to interview.

I'm hoping the ease of the conversations and my script examples win the
day.

As it turns out they aren't very big but are trying to accomplish a
lot. They were 11 ppl, or so, 7years ago and are now 70. They call
that fast growth, heh. ;) I wouldn't say its fast if the workload and
expertise of the workforce has increased.

Apparently ITN is part of the university of california at san francisco,
it was mentioned that they are all UC employees. They are a
non-profit.

Oh, the hr lady didn't balk when I told her my salary requirement, so
that's good, or just good hr pokerface. ;)

All 4 people asked about my school situation and what arrangements I'd
need for that. I explained to each one that I wanted to progress thru
the phd program part time and would only have 1 afternoon a week that I
would need to leave early. Everyone seemed fine with that and the hr
lady commented that they are flexible with schedules and keeping a
work/life balance.

The hr lady did say as we were talking that people only tend to stick
around ITN for 2yrs, which seemed odd to me. She said that they hire
good people and thru working and interacting with the clinicians and
groups around the country are seen to be competent and produce good work
and get snapped up. I was surprised to hear that since the work
environment seems good at this office but it would make sense if people
are offered more money.

My plan would be to accomplish as much as possible there in the time it
took to finish my PhD. Then I could decide what to do after that, so
I'm looking for someplace I can stay for 1.5-2.5yrs.