When are you in a bubble?

I say you know you’re in a bubble when people stop talking about what they’re doing and start talking about money. In the last bubble you’d overhear so many conversations of going public, options vesting, and 16-month “exit strategies”—I used to get sick when I went out to eat at a decent restaurant.

Now it’s mostly about being bought out. I’ve been told by many people that it’s because Sarbanes-Oxley, but, since this is their territory, not mine, I have to accept that as the truth of it all—even if I suspect they have a strong libertarian streak. Or maybe this is the financial equivalent of “the troops” griping?

Another outcome of a bubble is getting slammed with requests for job offers. (During the last bubble they’d hire anyone and they’d like it.) I wish recruiters would take a moment to read my resume to realize that I’m either unqualified, overqualified, or simply have a better job. I used to forward this to my friends but the count has gotten so insane that I can’t keep up and respond politely anymore. So instead I’m creating a jobs section to this blog and posting them publicly. Don’t want your info posted publicly? Take the time to know me before you spam me.

(I’m not angry, I’m just an engineer and I have other things to be doing than trying to figure out which people might be interested or know someone who might be interested in the jobs you send me.)

As for what I think about the bubble, I think the e-mail address of bub.blicio.us says it best: dontpop [at] this place. 😀

[tags] bubble, boom, crash, options, money, bub.blicio.us, engineer, headhunters, jobs, resume, Sarbanes-Oxley, bought out, go public, exit strategy[/tags]