It has been an interesting week for me.
Started off with an old coworker IM'ing me and asking if I'd be a reference for a job he was interviewing on. I certainly said yes, and last word I got is that he got the job. The email I sent in reply to the email looking for feedback was a glowing recommendation for somebody who is a very skilled developer, and my first mentor in the trade. Its good to be able to give back to him at times.
Then I was tasked with tech interviewing a candidate for a job at my employer. First real interview I've had to do. Was fun. In the end I love programming and talking about programming is pretty fun as well.
Next I was talking to a dad of one of my daughters friends. He was recently back from a 10 month tour in Iraq. He is a true, decorated war hero. But now he has to reintegrate back into the real world. Part of that is him wanting to get an IT job in the area. He is interested in a newbie position, but some of his skills are a bit above that as well. He has secret security clearance. He'd be good for any company that needs general IT help (server setup, maintenance, deployment, help desk related work). So if you work for a company that could honor one of our war hero's AND get a new worker at the same time... let me know and we can talk. I have his resume on hand.
Finally came the most interesting part of the week. We needed another .NET developer (we had hired the one I interviewed previously) for my employer and I recommended a former co-worker whom I helped train in what was nice and good about programming. This is a guy who at one point thought x was a valid variable name.... still can't believe that first code I saw from him... From what I can tell salary arrangements have been agreed on and if the owners of the company approve, me and this fellow will be co-workers once again.
This final guy is one where I put my reputation on the line for him. I am very tight lipped about my recommendations. There are just four guys who would get my unequivocal recommendation. There are many others who would get a recommendation on their work ethic, ability to learn, etc... but just four who I would recommend for ANY job they were going for. He is one of them.