I just got a job at Stack Exchange. The experience was interesting enough and I learned a few things that could be valuable to others.
We are still hiring another developer if you are interested after reading.
Motivation
My previous job was good. Some interesting work, some boring work, and a potentially awesome project coming down the pipeline. I was making internal web apps for the firmware department of a hard drive company, and had opportunities to do anything I wanted (stay, work on firmware or other cool stuff). However, the town I was living in (Longmont, CO) was downright boring for a single person, and I wanted to leave as soon as possible just to get out.
The Bug
I visited a friend who lives in New York City over Thanksgiving. I visited Top of the Rock, which is an observation deck on top of one of the taller buildings right in the middle of the city. You can see almost all of Manhattan up there, and it's mesmerizing. While I was there I decided that New York was the place for me. The next few weeks I became more and more convinced that that was where I wanted to live. I decided to start applying for jobs at the start of the new year. And I had to get out of my city.
(This is not a plug)
Being a programmer, I use Stack Overflow. I had thus seen the displays for the careers site. Hey, why not use that to find a job? Ok. I made a profile, which I got to do because of my github activity, and started applying for jobs. (Yes, I ended up finding a job on the same site I am currently employed to work on. I thought it was the best way to find an awesome job, and it was. So, this isn't a...