Job woes/wins

[Jimbob]

The facebook community page we have for the town was (and probably still is) having an argument over the snow and school closures.  I thought it was pretty funny reading some comments.

Still, was an hour late in this morning due to the snow.  Got up 6:30am, first thing i did was check the trains.  The Cross Country train services were cancelled due to the weather and the Arriva at 8.30am was running late due to the weather.  Luckily my manager was snowed in, so she at least understood why i was late.

[Happenstance]

Just got the text I was dreading. The school is reopening tomorrow so its back to work

[Charlie]

On 11/12/2017 at 12:35 PM, Jimbob said:

The facebook community page we have for the town was (and probably still is) having an argument over the snow and school closures.  I thought it was pretty funny reading some comments.

Still, was an hour late in this morning due to the snow.  Got up 6:30am, first thing i did was check the trains.  The Cross Country train services were cancelled due to the weather and the Arriva at 8.30am was running late due to the weather.  Luckily my manager was snowed in, so she at least understood why i was late.

My local Facebook page is hilarious. THe number of petty arguments that get way out of hand is incredible.

[Ashley]

Mine just appears to be full of racism and scams from what I gleam from others responding to it.

[Goafer]

Mine alternates between "Which git is parked in my space?", "Which git let their dog shit on my lawn?" "Has the postman been?" and "My cat's gone missing again".

[Ashley]

And the answer is always you.

[Charlie]

Been getting absolutely rammed at work the last few months (hence not being here as much).

Day and a half until the Christmas furlough...

[Goafer]

I feel my work based news requires some background.

 

I used to work as a graphic designer for a school photography/design company. The environment was fairly chilled, but the owners placed very little value in design, so the pay was shit and we were regularly patronised (being told we weren't worth a pay rise, as there were loads loads of people out there who could do our job was a choice quote). The place was also looking a bit shaky financially and people I liked were gradually leaving, leaving few people I actually got on with.

 

So I found a other job at a print place. Initially, it was ok. The boss believed in paying someone what they were worth and was quite generous. I was a bit unsure of the type of work, as there were a lot of walk-in customers, which I'm not great with, having been very shy as a kid.

 

But I figured it couldn't be worse than my previous job and I'd maybe stick it out for a year or so, as it would give me experience working with Macs.

 

However, I now (9 months later) hate the place. I'm stressed to the point that I almost fear going in. I've been making mistakes, which has only made things worse and also resulted in texts from the boss out of work hours, meaning I can't even get away when I'm not in the office. Plus, it's a 40 minute commute, which sucks.

 

So that's the background, now for the news: I just got offered a potentially great job. It's for an adult/workplace learning company, working mainly from home. It pays the same, but with a few perks in top, the main one being they pay for any travel (the job requires some travelling to various places when not working from home).

 

So now I have to convert the games room/mancave to my new office. I had been considering going freelance, but this seems a more secure alternative.

 

I'm so amazingly releived to have been offered the job. I had to take time off for interviews and a few other house things, so if I didn't get this job, I was super worried about making excuses for time off for more interviews, but I couldn't stay here either. I wouldn't say the job was giving me anxiety, as I'm sure it's far worse for people who genuinely suffer from it, but it was certainly bringing me down and making me stressed.

[Ashley]

3 hours ago, Goafer said:

Plus, it's a 40 minute commute, which sucks.

You're just trying to piss off us Londoners aren't you?

I'm sorry to hear the job ended up sucking.  I know you were hoping it was going to be a positive change when we were organising the marathon.  Glad to hear about the new one though!  *celebrates by dancing like the thing on the right end of your signature*

[Goafer]

30 minutes ago, Ashley said:

You're just trying to piss off us Londoners aren't you?

I'm sorry to hear the job ended up sucking.  I know you were hoping it was going to be a positive change when we were organising the marathon.  Glad to hear about the new one though!  *celebrates by dancing like the thing on the right end of your signature*

Always. You bloody city folk, with your horseless carriages and yer fancy words.

I don't actually mind the commute too much. 40 minutes is a good amount to be able to listen to a podcast, but it's a bugger in petrol and wear and tear on the car (just had a £450 bill for brakes). Out of curiosity, how much does commuting in London cost?

I was never entirely sure about the job, but I had just had enough of the previous one and figured it couldn't be any worse. I was wrong. Very wrong. On the upside, the new place seems pretty good. Mainly good reviews on Glassdoor, plus the perks make it seem like they actually care about employees. From memory, the perks include: a day off for your birthday, Perkbox, petrol paid for when I need to travel, £500 referral bonus if I refer someone to a job advertisement and they're successful and a few other things I forget about. Plus, I can submit training course requests on anything relevant to my role. None of the perks are groundbreaking, but it's way more than I've ever had before. 

Also, the biggest perk for me is working from home. It's not something I'm taking lightly, as I know it won't all be sitting around in my underwear, eating Doritos and slacking off. I'm actually a bit nervous about the idea, but the thought of no daily commute, being in to sign for parcels/let people in to fix stuff and having complete control over my "office" is a pretty big winner for me.

I've already got my first referral lined up:

[MoogleViper]

16 hours ago, Ashley said:

You're just trying to piss off us Londoners aren't you?

I thought one of the benefits of living in London was "having everything on your doorstop"?

[Ashley]

 

18 hours ago, Goafer said:

Always. You bloody city folk, with your horseless carriages and yer fancy words.

I don't actually mind the commute too much. 40 minutes is a good amount to be able to listen to a podcast, but it's a bugger in petrol and wear and tear on the car (just had a £450 bill for brakes). Out of curiosity, how much does commuting in London cost?

I was never entirely sure about the job, but I had just had enough of the previous one and figured it couldn't be any worse. I was wrong. Very wrong. On the upside, the new place seems pretty good. Mainly good reviews on Glassdoor, plus the perks make it seem like they actually care about employees. From memory, the perks include: a day off for your birthday, Perkbox, petrol paid for when I need to travel, £500 referral bonus if I refer someone to a job advertisement and they're successful and a few other things I forget about. Plus, I can submit training course requests on anything relevant to my role. None of the perks are groundbreaking, but it's way more than I've ever had before. 

Also, the biggest perk for me is working from home. It's not something I'm taking lightly, as I know it won't all be sitting around in my underwear, eating Doritos and slacking off. I'm actually a bit nervous about the idea, but the thought of no daily commute, being in to sign for parcels/let people in to fix stuff and having complete control over my "office" is a pretty big winner for me.

I've already got my first referral lined up:

It's just a weird thing because a friend back home a while ago was talking about a potential new job and said it was a 30 minute commute and that is too much.  I used to commute 2 hours each way for a job back home (mind you I wouldn't do that in the long term).  I think under an hour is okay, although I miss the days when I had a 10 minute cycle.

Cost depends on your route really (and a little bit if you travel off peak, but that's 9:30-4pm so not really relevant).  My commute is about 40 minutes too and I pay just under £6 a day.

3 hours ago, MoogleViper said:

I thought one of the benefits of living in London was "having everything on your doorstop"?

How big do you think our doorstops are?

[bob]

Everyone knows Londoners have huge doors and need even bigger doorstops to hold them open.

[Charlie]

On 20/12/2017 at 12:04 AM, Goafer said:

Also, the biggest perk for me is working from home. It's not something I'm taking lightly, as I know it won't all be sitting around in my underwear, eating Doritos and slacking off. I'm actually a bit nervous about the idea, but the thought of no daily commute, being in to sign for parcels/let people in to fix stuff and having complete control over my "office" is a pretty big winner for me.

I've already got my first referral lined up:

 

I love working from home. It's definitely the biggest perk of my job and I have actually seriously considered not going for jobs that pay better because of it. If I had to go back to the Edinburgh commute that would be 3 hours in total each day, £15 of fuel and wear and tear on the car. For an extra £50 on the day rate it's barely worth it.

I tend not to get distracted while at home and probably do more work than if I was at the office. I start earlier and finish later due to no commute and I rarely take long lunch breaks. The second best part is the days you are quiet you aren't killing time pretending to work. You can do stuff around the house while keeping an eye on the computer in case anything comes in.

 

[Mr-Paul]

Fairly big change at work for me coming in the New Year. Not so big in that I'll be doing almost exactly the same job, and for the same client, but the client has moved the contract over to a new supplier, and asked that I move over to the new supplier. My current employer has obliged, so I'm technically starting a new job on the 1st January! Got a nice pay rise to go with it, though my current employer said I should have asked for even more (even though they were paying me peanuts!)

Going to have Manager in my job title for the first time

And it's likely that i'll be off to New Zealand for a month too! 

[Ashley]

3 hours ago, Mr-Paul said:

Going to have Manager in my job title for the first time

 

Congrats!

[MindFreak]

On 21/12/2017 at 11:28 AM, Charlie said:

I love working from home. It's definitely the biggest perk of my job and I have actually seriously considered not going for jobs that pay better because of it. If I had to go back to the Edinburgh commute that would be 3 hours in total each day, £15 of fuel and wear and tear on the car. For an extra £50 on the day rate it's barely worth it.

I tend not to get distracted while at home and probably do more work than if I was at the office. I start earlier and finish later due to no commute and I rarely take long lunch breaks. The second best part is the days you are quiet you aren't killing time pretending to work. You can do stuff around the house while keeping an eye on the computer in case anything comes in.

 

 I agree, working from home is awesome. I'm doing it a lot since getting my son in July and not having much to do at work was perfect for me, though a bit boring.

[Ashley]

Trying to fill out an invoice for the first time for this consultancy stuff I'm doing and I'm trying to not look like a complete idiot but also...

They gave me a template which ends with what I assume is their bank details, but unsure if its supposed to be mine (not even sure if I've supplied my details to them as this all started ages ago).  

[Mr-Paul]

39 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Trying to fill out an invoice for the first time for this consultancy stuff I'm doing and I'm trying to not look like a complete idiot but also...

They gave me a template which ends with what I assume is their bank details, but unsure if its supposed to be mine (not even sure if I've supplied my details to them as this all started ages ago).  

You usually need to put your bank details on it. They already have their own bank details! Happy to send you an example of one I've used for freelance work if you need any help. 

[Ashley]

I've sent something off anyway cheers. I did put my own details, but wasn't really sure if that was a standard part of the form for their own sake. It's Christmas, I can't think. 

[nightwolf]

Nice to hear you should be sorted now @Goafer they always say the grass isn't always greener for good reason.

I must say, if you'd asked me about my own job 5 months ago, I would have been in dire need of leaving the job, I was deeply unhappy and part of that was obviously because how ill I've been. Being off for three months and really looking into my career really put things into perspective and whilst I still hate the building we work in and sometimes my colleagues can be bloody idiots, its not quite as bad as I ever recall it being.

I do miss having a more "exciting" job, I will always admit, I miss traveling and all that jazz, but this pays well, gives me 30 days holiday a year and my boss is pretty sound. 

Thought it might be nice to put a job "win" for the same job in here for a change? 

[Goafer]

14 hours ago, nightwolf said:

Nice to hear you should be sorted now @Goafer they always say the grass isn't always greener for good reason.

Coincidentally, I found out a few days ago that not only was the grass greener on my side, but the old grass no longer exists. My old work place filed for insolvency just before Christmas. 

 

Everyone who still worked there were told the Wednesday before Christmas that they no longer had jobs and that they would not be receiving their December pay (they were scheduled to be paid on the Friday).

 

It's weird to be right about the situation. One of the reasons I left was due to the place looking financially insure, but I'm no business expert and just figured I was being pessimistic. I did say to someone who still worked there that if the head of finance ever quit, to look for a new job ASAP,  as it was a sure sign that the company was going under. Lo and behold, the head of finance quit a few months ago.

 

It's a weird feeling being right about a field I know little about. I wish it was a good feeling, but people, some of them friends, got thoroughly fucked just before Christmas.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Goafer

[nightwolf]

What a shame! At the very least to the staff left who had to deal with no job before Christmas - something far too common. 

 

 

[Jimbob]

Latest goings on.

There are two teams doing the work i'm doing, one is in Swansea and one is in Cardiff.  Based on where i live, it's logical i'm based in Cardiff.  But, i get all my work from Swansea as they are the same grade as myself (and by that, it's the work they don't want to do and i don't get a say currently).  I've asked to be more involved with the Swansea team and have made attempts to arrange a weekly tele-conference between me and the Swansea team.  So far it's to no avail, and the one person who i was speaking to has left the company a few weeks ago.

The Cardiff team is the more technical team, so they do the current work and the more challenging work (so they get paid more to do it).  I made attempts to get a promotion over the years, but due to circumstances i'm not allowed to go for a promotion (and haven't been able to go for one in nearly 2 years).  I'm part of this Cardiff team in all bar work (so that's HR stuff and performance).  My work i do feeds into the Cardiff team as well.

Late last year, the Cardiff team all got a shiny pre-Christmas "thank-you" which was basically a financial bonus for smashing targets..............i didn't get one, and i asked about that.  I was told because Swansea didn't smash the target.  Seeing as my work feeds into Cardiff, i thought this was slightly unfair as my hard work was not being recognized.  And now, the Cardiff team are potentially being offered overtime (meaning more pay).  Everyone bar me again that is, and again this is due to by work coming from Swansea.  Again, i think (and those i spoke to, including my manager) thinks this isn't fair on me.  But they are tied with the decision on the higher manager.

Ah well.

[MindFreak]

I've just been assigned to a new project. I work on Mainframe systems and that's not the most modern solution to work on but it's manageable. However, the new project is on an even older version of the system which basically means that half the tools that I'm used to working with and using frequently are gone, and then the architecture is hopeless - and defined in 1990 and not really changed since. I hope I'm wrong when I suspect that it's going to be a bit of an uphill struggle.

However, I applied for a position as back-end .NET-engineer back in July but had to take down the application again due to my son not being well. Now he's well again and the same place just put up a new job advert for the same position. So I'll just apply again and hope that they don't really need someone too experienced even though the advert states it.