Rolling Water

Well, the jig is up. The folks at Omniture found out that I have spoken French at certain points in the past. So, on Wednesday or Thursday of next week, I will be presenting the SiteCatalyst Implementation strategies to a client from France…in French. When they approached me with this opportunity (and I say opportunity because they didn’t force it on me–they are very good about making you feel comfortable here), I had a fleeting glimpse of possibilities for the near future.

There are few French speakers here, and the need is growing. I might be a guinea pig for this program–I don’t know. I have been assigned to the Media vertical in the Implementation department, but this client is a Retail client. What that means is that (if this goes well) I may be called upon to handle Francophone clients in all verticals. Will that make me more valuable to Omniture? I hope so. I really want this experience to be one of the great successes of my life.

You know, I had a very strange experience during the second week of training here. I dreamed I was at a family reunion in Idaho. One of my cousins approached me with a young boy, whom he introduced. The boy spoke nothing but French. From the point of my introduction to the boy, the entire dream was in French.

Now, here are the funny parts.

1. Working at Omniture is like a family reunion. There are three co-workers from 10x Marketing here, my two brothers work here, and two of the IC’s in this department remember working with me on the 10x account.
2. My boss is the spitting image of my cousin David. They seriously could be twins. David was the one who introduced me to the young boy in the dream.
3. This client is new to Omniture; young, if you will.
4. It has been nearly 20 years since I had a dream in French. In fact, I had the dream in August, 20 years to the month since I left the MTC for the mission field in Montreal, Canada.

Did I see what was coming three weeks ago? I can’t really say for certain, but the similarities are striking.

I got my final Omniture certification test results back yesterday. I am not one of the anomalies. I passed, and can now put Omniture Certified Professional:Implementation on my biz cards and in my email sig.

The news gave my confidence a huge boost. And I needed that–I’m giving my first presentation today.

Well, I got an 80% score on the second half of the Omniture Implementation Test, which means I passed. I will know how I did on the first half in a couple of weeks. According to Omniture, only two people have passed the second half, but failed the first half. I hope I’m not the third.

A passing grade on both halves means I would be certified. A failing score mean I would have to take the test over again at some point if I wanted the certification.

This week I am in “Omniture University,” which is another name for SiteCatalyst User Training. More of review than actual new knowledge, but still informative and good to fill in the gaps caused by my undirected self-study.

Whether or not I stay at Omniture for a long time, and there’s no reason not to, I will have some very marketable skills to take with me.

Today is the big Omniture Implementation Test. I’ve had the SiteCatalyst code crammed into my head over the last three days, and now it’s time to see if I remember any of it.

It has been nice to get the missing pieces filled in, to finally understand how SiteCatalyst works. Now, if only I can put it all together and make it work. I have to pass by at least 80% to be certified. That would be a nice addition to my resume: Certified Omniture Implementation Consultant.

Wish me luck.

Hey, everything’s cool. My concerns were unfounded. I have long held fears of working for a large corporation, due to the political atmosphere that usually evolves inside large companies.

While Omniture is large and has it’s rules, it doesn’t feel like a big company.

I may stay for a long time.

This is my last entry as an entirely free man. Tomorrow will find me chained to an office desk for an undetermined duration of time, a fate I have freely chosen.

But I do it for the good of those around me for whom I care most. My family finally deserves the good things of life–things my previous choices have denied them. My will is bent toward their happiness and security.

Oh, and by the way, I just finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” I loved it. I’ll have to write about it some day.

Well, I have a decision to make. I was just offered a position on Omniture’s implementation team. It’s a job I am familiar with, having done essentially the same thing for another company called 10x Marketing.

10x was purchased by a larger company called Innuity, which ended up laying off the local employees and moving operations to Redmond, Washington. Since then, I have been doing contract PHP/MySQL development for Develligent.

The decision I have now is whether to focus on PHP development in earnest, or to make it a secondary pursuit. My schooling is also a factor. I will need to let them know tomorrow.