The Most Magical Job on Earth

How I got my Software Development gig at Walt Disney World

I normally ignore unsolicited emails from recruiters. They are almost never a good match, and feel as though they are “shotgun” email blasts sent to hundreds or thousands of people. This one was different, though. It had the word “Disney” in the subject line.

A Little Background

Let me set the stage for you so that you have some context. The first thing you need to know is that my entire family consists of what we lovingly call “Disney nuts.” For years I had a Spaceship Earth antenna topper. We were Disney Vacation Club members (Saratoga Springs, 2004). We tried to visit the Walt Disney World Resort at least once a year. We used to say that we could drop any of our children blindfolded in any random part of Disney property, and they would be able navigate to any other part. No, we never actually tried that.

In December of 2010 I was in the 11th month of a 9-month contract with Dell. 2010 had been a stressful year. I was laid off from my work-from-home software development job in October 2009. We were living in Central New Hampshire, where the biggest employers were the local grocery store and McDonald’s. The nearest software development gig would most likely have me driving an hour to Manchester, or worse, 2+ hours in traffic to the Boston area.

In late January 2010, after about two months living off savings and food storage, I finally got a job offer, but it was not in New Hampshire. It…