More Change
Posted: Mon 7 October, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Work-related | Leave a comment »Following on from last week’s post about change, today is the start of a new job.
The previous contract was OK, but really wasn’t working for me for lots of reasons, mainly related to the work involved. (as I’ve said before, it turns out I really don’t like working with pure data, I find it boring and uninspiring) Coupled to that, I didn’t overly like the company, or the way they did things. The final bit was the commute (and yes, this is me, the King of Idiot Commutes saying this) which just pissed me off. The route from home to Cambridge is just shit at busy times, being all single carriageway, and prone to absolutely solid traffic the entire way along it, so I’ve been leaving home earlier, and leaving work later, spending the ‘spare’ time reading, as the workplace won’t let me do flexi-hours. If the job itself were fun, interesting or challenging, the commute and extra time wouldn’t be an issue. But because the job isn’t/wasn’t fine, that commute just became the final straw.
So anyway, I got a call two weeks ago about a job that was closer to home, much more my type of thing (eCommerce portals, creating stuff from scratch, integration with existing processes, etc etc.) and based in an office on the grounds of one of the local stately homes. Spectacular stuff.
They interviewed me by phone last Monday, and offered me the job by the end of the day. I’m starting today, and I haven’t even met these people yet. That’s kind of scary, but it’s also pretty cool, being hired for my skillset rather than how I look in a suit.
Whatever happens, this means I’m getting back about three hours a day in travel time, getting paid about the same, and getting my life made easier and happier. It really is a no-brainer as far as all that is concerned.
We’ll see how it goes – all I know right now is that I’m just so pleased to be finished with the previous one. And I’ve kept my 100% record on successful interviews for this year, which is even better.
Q4 – Plans
Posted: Tue 1 October, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2012/13, 2013/14, Creativity, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related, Writing | Leave a comment »So here we are, the start of the final quarter of 2013. Where has the year gone? It’s been pretty busy, but hard to believe that we’re already three-quarters of the way through the year.
Anyway, such is life. Onwards and upwards, and all that rot.
The final quarter of my 2013 is going to be used preparing for 2014 – at least that’s the intention so far. Whether or not it happens in the way I hope, well, time will tell.
The main things I want to do are about preparation, about going into 2014 with some finished developments, stuff to build on/from, and see what happens. There’s likely to be a fair dollop of work being done, and it feels like the right time to be doing it.
Along with the new contract, which should take me through to the end of the year, I also want to :
- Form up a new limited company for some of the business stuff I’ve got in my head and…
- Write the primary framework for at least one of the ideas
- Write the primary business site to attract attention to the products
- Possibly attend a couple of related exhibitions and trade-shows, in order to drum up some more interest
- Also do some maintenance on stuff I’ve inherited (well, been asked to keep on working on) from Previous Employer
- Get on with some writing – there’s one idea in particular I want to work on
- Continue to work on the losing weight / gaining fitness thing
That’s the ideas, at least. It’s going to be a varied three months, I think, but that’s the basic framework…
Missing the M1
Posted: Thu 26 September, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Charm School, Commuting, Driving, M1, Work-related | Leave a comment »I have to say, because of this I’m very glad I’m not commuting via the M1.
It wouldn’t have affected me directly, but from the traffic reports, the closures and rubberneckers were screwing things up for everyone else, so I’m pretty pleased that I was commuting in the opposite direction, away from the M1 entirely…
Oops
Decisions, Decisions
Posted: Sat 14 September, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2012/13, Bankruptcy, Business, Domestic, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »So, as well as everything else, I’ve got a number of projects ongoing for which I’d now (I think) like to form a limited company again.
I know the company name is available, I already own the relevant domains etc. It’s just a question of whether I actually do go down the route of limited company – which has its own issues with paperwork, accounts etc. – or whether I just do it as a sole trader.
In general, I prefer the limited route, and I’m safe again to be a director now the Bankruptcy has discharged. But I need to decide which will work best, and how it will all combine to work. I know that with a Ltd. I can also use it for my contracting etc., although that tends to make the company very profitable very quickly. Might be a good thing, might not.
And of course some of it will also come down to whether any of the main banks will let me have a business bank account, what with only being a month out of Bankruptcy.
It makes more sense (kind of) to start on this kind of venture in January, start of a new year and all that. I need to think about all of these things for a while before making the decisions on where I’ll be heading. And that’s some of what this weekend will be about, I think.
Traffic Bulletins
Posted: Thu 12 September, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Weirdness, Work-related | 2 Comments »On my commute, I have the travel bulletins set to be on, which means they interrupt whatever else is playing. (radio or CD) That’s fine – the travel reports are occasionally useful (although more often not) and can give me some warning if the roads are screwed. Mind you, most of the time they don’t do the warnings until I’m already in the jam – although that’s a separate issue.
What does grate though is that my commute appears to be in the footprint of no less than three local radio stations, so I end up getting all of the broadcasts, at roughly the same time. Which usually means that I miss the one I want.
It would be really useful to either
- Be able to ‘mute’ certain stations from the travel report or
- For the stations to have an ident at the start, telling you which station’s broadcast you’re listening to. Then I could quickly cancel the ones I don’t want, in time to hear the one I do want.
Of course, it would also be useful if the presenters weren’t sometimes complete dickknuckles, and manage to screw up the use of the “Travel Alert” button like they did this morning. At some point they’d obviously missed pressing the button, so when they pressed it at the end of the bulletin, it was actually the ‘start’ trigger. Which meant it was screwed for the entire morning. Bell-ends.
B-O-R-E-D
Posted: Wed 11 September, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Business, Geeky, People, Work-related | Leave a comment »More and more I’m coming to the realisation that I am so not a data geek. I use data and databases all the time, but I don’t usually deal in big data systems that need epic sizes of database and insanely complicated methods of getting that data in and out of those systems.
This current role is now my third over the years where I work with exactly those types of system. Crapco back in Bracknell/Wokingham – and in a weird coincidence that’s also where I last did any intensive cycling – were the first. A duller bunch of people you couldn’t want to meet, and I hated it. The second was about 2, 2½ years ago, an educational company in Cambridge. And now a tech company in Cambridge.
The thing is, they’re all very similar – as are the people who work in them. In all three cases, the people involved were (in my eyes) ineffably dull – all had been with the company for at least five years – and deeply insular about their work. They didn’t want to teach anyone else how to do stuff on ‘their’ system, primarily (it seemed) because they thought their own jobs would be at risk if they told someone else how to do things, or were in any way helpful at all. It’s just a mindset I simply don’t understand. After all, if you’re swamped enough that you can justify an extra person, surely it makes sense to then get that person up to speed so you can reduce that work pressure. But no. And it’s all so “This is *my* section!” and cliquey that it just does my head in. No-one wants to teach how to figure out where things are going wrong, it’s like a “oh, figure it out yourself” type thing. And don’t get me wrong, most of the time I can evaluate how things are working, and where things are going wrong. In environments like these though, you can’t do that. It’s been made so insanely complex over the years, anyone coming in new is effectively fucked from the start. And that’s the position I find myself in. (Again)
Couple that with one simple fact from my side – which is that when it comes to these kind of companies, I simply don’t care enough about their data to want to work with it and worry about its accuracy. “Oh, but it’s 0.001% out on those figures.” And?
All told, it’s a lesson I need to learn, I type of place I no longer wish to work in. I’ll be OK here for the remaining five months of the contract – but I won’t be renewing after that. I’ll probably keep my options open too, by keeping on looking for other roles…
You Shall Know Him By His Scent
Posted: Fri 6 September, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Charm School, Health, People, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »At the new workplace, there’s one particular individual who – to be blunt – stinks. It’s so bad that you can tell when he’s been somewhere, the smell lingers for a good ten minutes or more once he’s been in a room.
Personally I’m just thankful that I’m not sharing any space with him, and at the same time feeling true pity for anyone who does have to.
But what blows my mind is this : if you smell that damn bad, then
- Surely you can smell yourself, or at least be aware of that odour issue? and
- Surely someone else has mentioned it to him?
With Option Two in particular, I really hope they have – I’d hate to have to be the one that breaks it to him. After all, I’m not the most tactful of people…