A LIFE WELL-LIVED...

NEW ZEALAND Aotearoa (The Land of Long Clouds) TORN BETWEEN GRATITUDE AND OPPORTUNITY

After my gig at Farmers Trading in Auckland, I moved to Invercargill in Southland, South Island for employment at New Zealand Aluminium Smelters, Ltd, as a senior programmer. I was hesitant at first because what they were looking for was a PL/1 (Programming Language/1) programmer, something I wasn't. Part of the offer though was PL/1 training, hence the move. Being a seasoned COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) programmer, I landed there on my feet, running. As a senior programmer, I was tasked to convert legacy COBOL programs to PL/1. The company also sent me to an in-house training in ADABAS/NATURAL II, and to Sydney, Australia for SAP functional and technical training. I was also instrumental in the design and development of Milling Applications and Barcoding, that were installed at NZAS and at its sister company in Australia. And there never was slack time, I was also mentoring junior programmers. Not only that my technical skills grew leaps and bounds, I also developed close kinship with my co-workers and superiors. But a few months before the move, Reliant Consulting Group (RCG), a New York City-based company was in Auckland recruiting programmers for the States. Michael Altmann was the guy giving the exams and interview. I was so confident that I even suggested to him the inclusion of some technical stuff to the questionnaire. He was pleased that he told me to just complete the exam for formality, and wait for the issuance of my visa (H1B), techical-work. Needless to say that at NZAS I was already an integral part of the team, and by any measure, we were like a family. Then, the promised visa arrived. I was in a dilemma, and who woudn't be? It's just been recent that my application for Permanent Residency (PR) was approved through their sponsorship. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to have my family join me in New Zealand, and live in the house they pulled some string for us to have as soon as I joined the company. On the other hand, it's an H1B visa. Thousands upon thousands from all over the world spend fortunes just to have tourist/visitors visa. Whereas, with H1B visa, work is waiting for me ... in AMERICA! In the end, the bald EAGLE prevailed over the flightless KIWI.