Well I have to say that everyone waits until the last minute to turn in their applications, so much so we were asked to accept a late one and had to turn them down. Because of this I will suggest for next year that there be more time between the application deadline and the first round of rankings being due. I got mine as I was walking out the door for a trip to Indiana for SQLSat 242. I was scrambling to get those done Monday and there were only 9 can you imagine if there were more? I also recommend not waiting till the deadline, this would give more time for your application to be considered.
How this part worked was we were all given the applications and recommendation letters to review and “rank”. But what I didn’t understand was that this rank wasn’t actually the public ranking it was more or less a yes/no for allowing the applicant to the interview stage. However we still have to go back and give a formal ranking on the applications. The NomCom decided that all applicants would be given an opportunity to interview however the decision was made that no public announcement would be made by PASS or the NomCom as to who the applicants were. There was however no request made to keep the applicants from making their own public announcements. This gives everyone an opportunity to withdraw without public notice. I appreciate this, as someone who will consider running for the board at some point in time I would like to know that if I had a low score I could withdraw without having to explain to everyone why I quit. I am not sure if you noticed but I saw very few public announcements that people were throwing their hat in the ring.
Feelings… I haz feelings. I am sorry to say I was quite taken by the list of applicants, 2 of them were near/dear friends and I was well aware of 3 of the others. This honestly made me scared that I would be judged by the masses for not being fair. But I calmed myself and determined that I can be fair and regardless of how I feel or would vote; and that I am well rounded and mature enough to see value. I mean for goodness sake I HATE BLUE CHEESE but will still taste it and can appreciate the creaminess and texture. I knew going into this that tough decisions would have to be made and that it might cause me to get sticks and stones tossed at me, but it is worth it.
After this we discussed the questions that would be asked and worked on a format for how we’d be conducting interviews. We record all the interviews but it is a matter of internal use only. Sometimes someone has to drop early or come in late due to other commitments, this affords them the opportunity to go back and listen to the recording and better make our rankings. We also decided that a chat room would be used to determine the order of asking questions and to point out follow up questions that should be asked.
This is a good group of folks that get along well, have different opinions and can laugh. It’s great! I hope to sit and have a beer with everyone in Charlotte.
Now the interviews begin.
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