“They told me I interviewed well and went with someone more junior. The second time, the recruiter said it out loud, then caught herself.”

Fourteen years shipping infrastructure. I have been the person you call when the thing that cannot go down has gone down, at three companies, on four continents.

I have been told twice that I interviewed well and they went with someone more junior. The second time the recruiter said it out loud, then caught herself, and we both sat there in it for a second.

I have started leaving the last four years off the top of my CV so the first thing anyone sees is not how long I have been doing this. It feels like lying. It is not lying. I do not know what to call it.

The healthcare ran out in April. My wife is on her employer's plan now, which means she cannot leave a job she wanted to leave in January. That is the part nobody counts.

I am not writing this because I think it will get me hired. I am writing it because I looked for the number of people in exactly my position and could not find it anywhere.