I Have A Contract-And-A-Half
On nearing completion of my 3rd week at new contract, my head is spinning with tasks I have to accomplish by Monday, and then by next Monday, and next, etc up until ultimate roll-out on 12/15/09. The first week I was hired I was told by project manager I was only budgeted for 40 hrs/wk, so that is what I did and billed. Last Friday, when deliverables were slipping, the project manager looked at me in a team meeting and said “You are taking your laptop home this weekend, right?”. Of course I got the company-issued laptop configued for me right away, and kissed-off my weekend. This week was crazy- I worked at home after 8+ hours at least 2 hours every night, and I HAVE to work Saturday and Sunday (at home, at least). i will have over 60 hours this week, and probably many more weeks like this. Thank god I have no life now other than gym and dog walks - Yan and I are done 
On a similar note- another new team member (the ETL/Data Staging “expert”) was walked out the door today, after less than 2 weeks n project. This client is pretty ruthless- you can talk all you want but if you don’t produce results, you are GONE! This guy was given offer on Thursday (he was in Chicago), flew to LA on Sunday and started Monday. Similar to the guy I replaced- he came from Dallas but lasted a little longer - 6 weeks. Funny thing is they were both H1-B INDIANS that talked big but didn’t do shit. Left family behind, came to LA and worked for cheap while living with friends… Before you think this is racist, my boss, the CTO, is INDIAN and an amazing person and talent. And he fired both these guys (and he fired the Oracle DBA that lasted about a week, but he was Russian).
I honestly think I’m going to go far with this company- I SO enjoy my work and when I like work, I kick ass. I wish I had a girlfriend but right now it is probably best that I don’t as I have no time for anything other than work, dog walk, sleep, and gym 3 times a week. But I would not change anything right now.