Job woes/wins

[nightwolf]

2 hours ago, Happenstance said:

I need to have a proper think about job satisfaction. I get that not everyone can have their dream job but I would like to feel something about the work I do. 

I had this in my previous position. I described it as "comfortable", but I was bored of comfortable and needed a purpose, whether that meant my dream job or not. I actually don't know what my dream job is, but this new job has purpose and challenge. I'm already doing better now, I didn't realise until I left just how just indifferent I felt. 

I'd say find something else, even just to give you some sort of reason to go and do the job. Good luck. 

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

Hopefully a promising new development for EEVIL, a job borderline identical to what I'm on now (due to end in Feb((and on more money)) doing same kind of consultant work was open and planned on applying during annual leave last week, but vacancy was closed. So I emailed one of the colleagues I've been chatting to previously about similar opportunities and she reopened the vacancy for me to apply.

It's another 12 month maternity cover - I can't seem to get enough of doing these kind of gigs. Current (and previous job) were these too, but it keeps me in the NHS doing shit I've been doing for 2 years. Just need to get an interview now. No special treatment sadly, which I wouldn't have minded as it would've been for me. Ah well

[Happenstance]

Wedding reception (not even service) held at my school this weekend. The vicar made us take down all the Harry Potter themed decorations because they were pagan 

[Cube]

3 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Wedding reception (not even service) held at my school this weekend. The vicar made us take down all the Harry Potter themed decorations because they were pagan 

I hope there were some subtle ones that were left up. 

[Jimbob]

Working my first Sunday shift in 9 years today.  My place got strict on people doing them whilst working at home.  They've said during this pandemic that WFH would be treated like working in the office, so shifts and working patterns remain the same.  Including alternative ones, which mine fits into.  Basically, until we move to the new building we're still based in the older one, meaning i can't get to it for the start time of 8am.  So put in an alternative pattern request, so i would not work a Sunday but work the rota'd day off as if it was a Sunday, in this case would be either a Tuesday or Saturday.  They decided to scrap these alternative patterns and not tell those affected, so cue some quite rude phonecalls from management asking why you're not working when you're rota says otherwise.

Going through setting an alternative pattern again, but when we get to the new building it won't be needed as business hours change to accommodate people more, meaning everyone should be able to work any day of the week.

[EEVILMURRAY]

With my contract due to end on Feb 18th, I've been given a 3 month extension while they still decide what's happening with our department. Which is nice, but wish the heels weren't being dragged so much. Still, means I can stick around until May

[Aperson]

Came to the realisation recently that after years of struggle trying to get a job that reflected my degree, that perhaps the degree was no longer valid for the type of jobs I was after and needed to find a change of career. But it's scary to think about :/

Edited January 7, 2021 by Aperson

[bob]

What's your degree in?

[Aperson]

2 hours ago, bob said:

What's your degree in?

Computers. IT jobs are still a possibility but technology moves along so fast that I feel that my degree is now outdated and I either need to take a new IT course or find myself a new job prospect.

[Raining_again]

39 minutes ago, Aperson said:

Computers. IT jobs are still a possibility but technology moves along so fast that I feel that my degree is now outdated and I either need to take a new IT course or find myself a new job prospect.

My father has worked in that sector for 25 years (transitioned from military) and he was never done reading books, learning new technology, protocols etc.  It's no different to being a doctor and keeping up with the latest medical developments. 

It was something i considered as a career but where i live (northern ireland) it involves commute and its very very difficult to get your foot in the door here (my dad did based off his very high security clearances). 

You absolutely 100% CAN do it.  Its tough, but its rewarding! Don't give up!

[EEVILMURRAY]

2 hours ago, Aperson said:

Computers. IT jobs are still a possibility but technology moves along so fast that I feel that my degree is now outdated and I either need to take a new IT course or find myself a new job prospect.

Could be worse, you could have a media studies degree.

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

Could be worse, you could have a media studies degree.

I have one of those and now I'm a software consultant...

[EEVILMURRAY]

25 minutes ago, Ashley said:

I have one of those and now I'm a software consultant...

So have I, by this I mean - is your consultant stuff related to your degree or did you have to find something better?

[Raining_again]

I dont think that having a degree not related to your current field of work is neccesarily a bad thing - surely uni taught you more than just the very specific subject, life skills, living by yourself all that carry on?  

A surprising number of folk do work completely unrelated to their degree, wether its just no longer having a passion for that subject, or not finding work, or completely shifting what they wanted to do.  I honestly dont know how people expect a 15/16 year old to know what they want as a career path.   A lot of young guys do IT related education, and in this country there is just no demand for tech staff... unless of course you don't mind wasting away in a shitty tech support call centre for min wage using none of your skills

I'm 34, i dont have any degrees, fell into my job by pure chance. story of my life lol

[EEVILMURRAY]

1 hour ago, Raining_again said:

A surprising number of folk do work completely unrelated to their degree, wether its just no longer having a passion for that subject, or not finding work, or completely shifting what they wanted to do.  

I get that completely. There was fuck all I could find that I could use my degree for, in the end I just had to accept the reality and go into retail. Not what I wanted, but it's all about the money in the end

[Will]

7 hours ago, Aperson said:

Computers. IT jobs are still a possibility but technology moves along so fast that I feel that my degree is now outdated and I either need to take a new IT course or find myself a new job prospect.

I’d say your degree has relevance for the first and maybe second job you have, and probably a limit of five years before the work experience completely outweighs it. Certainly by mid-career it doesn’t really matter, I don’t even look at education stuff on a resume when I’m hiring.

6 hours ago, Raining_again said:

My father has worked in that sector for 25 years (transitioned from military) and he was never done reading books, learning new technology, protocols etc.  It's no different to being a doctor and keeping up with the latest medical developments.

Totally agree with this. You need to keep up with advances in your chosen field, if you go to an interview and have no idea what is going on in the industry it will not look good at all.

“Computers” is a fair wide subject, it would definitely be a good idea to do as much as you can specifically related to the area you want to be working in.

 

 

[Aperson]

Honestly the issues are probably job motivation/pickiness and also the fact I have autism. I need to be able to do the job and I would ideally like to stay around the Swindon area. The type of jobs people with Aspergers are good at usually tend to be the robotic computer like jobs and companies are using, well, a computer, for that sort of thing

 

When the pandemic started it was something of a massive turnoff as I was looking at office based jobs, I am not that great at taking the initiative it seems because lockdown deterred me from looking at jobs... which made me feel silly when friends were working from home instead.

 

I have lost faith in recruitment agencies as they have not done enough on their part to help me get employment, university set me up pretty poorly for going into work years ago as they didn't realise I wasn't someone who could sort out a year's worth of Work Experience by himself due to autism. I have had one full time job since graduating from uni which came about due to family connections, everything else is either work experience or volunteering. I am trying to learn how to drive as that will help me with employment and open up possibilities but the pandemic set that back as well, last year was supposed to be the year I took my driving test, but the pandemic disruption meant by the time I could start seriously consider booking a driving test, my previous Theory test ran out and I had to retake the theory test again... which I then failed and then another lockdown started so I am currently on hold as to when I can do the theory test again. My plan was to book it for this month but with the whole country in lockdown again I assume that isn't happening any time for the forseeable future.

[nightwolf]

Honestly it just sounds like you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Which, fair, I probably would too (and have. *cough*), but you've got a solid plan here: 

- Try a find a job in your current area
- Try to pick up driving again

Great, there's nothing wrong with being picky! Also, facts, not everyone passes their driving lesson first time and turn out to be perfectly fine drivers. 

I would absolutely encourage you and others to jump on or keep on Linkedin, it truly is the worst at times for wading through, but when you find certain folk, like recruiters who get everything (instead of the recruitment agencies) they are worth their weight in gold. 

I have all my fingers crossed for you, be kinder to yourself, its a really shit time right now. 

----

In my work life, things have picked up, its now been two months since I started my new role and man  its been a whirlwind of emotions. But I think we're finally getting there. The new title has meant stepping in and really giving opinions in a way I haven't professionally before and its so weird to be sat in the back just listening, now there's a whole team of people doing that to me instead. 

I'm enjoying it though, the team are great, the hours are normal (thank fuck) and I'm no longer bored out of my brains like my old role. So fingers crossed for the 6 months mark so I can breathe a little. 

[Will]

I’ve just had confirmation through that I’m now a board member of the Singapore Games Association! 

Just before Christmas a few things started moving around and I got asked by work to apply for the role, just before I was about to officially apply they got in touch with me separately and asked if I would interview for the position. A few chats later with other board members and people involved and I got offered it.

It’s all voluntary and additional to my regular job but a really cool thing to be involved with.

[Happenstance]

So because our school has joined into a group with two other schools some of the jobs are being shuffled around a bit. At the moment I am the MIS coordinator for one school but it looking like as the other schools don't have one that I'm gonna be made into the MIS Overlord (my choice for a new name badge title) for the three schools which will definitely come with the hours bump I've been angling for and hopefully a pay rise.

Will be nice to finally get back on track job-wise.

[Happenstance]

On 29/01/2021 at 10:30 AM, Happenstance said:

So because our school has joined into a group with two other schools some of the jobs are being shuffled around a bit. At the moment I am the MIS coordinator for one school but it looking like as the other schools don't have one that I'm gonna be made into the MIS Overlord (my choice for a new name badge title) for the three schools which will definitely come with the hours bump I've been angling for and hopefully a pay rise.

Will be nice to finally get back on track job-wise.

Ooof. You ever go into a meeting and realise immediately that you are in over your head?

I may still be able to do the job and may still get asked but it was obvious immediately that my working knowledge of databases and how I use our current school's one is tiny in comparison to this other bigger school and the amount of coding I'd need to know.

My problem is that apart from my A levels from college a lot of my IT knowledge is just self taught. We'll see though. Hopefully it's not nearly as complicated as they were making it out to be and I actually do know what I'm doing, even if I just do it a different way.

[Mr_Odwin]

On 03/02/2021 at 12:44 PM, Happenstance said:

Ooof. You ever go into a meeting and realise immediately that you are in over your head?

I may still be able to do the job and may still get asked but it was obvious immediately that my working knowledge of databases and how I use our current school's one is tiny in comparison to this other bigger school and the amount of coding I'd need to know.

My problem is that apart from my A levels from college a lot of my IT knowledge is just self taught. We'll see though. Hopefully it's not nearly as complicated as they were making it out to be and I actually do know what I'm doing, even if I just do it a different way.

Hopefully just case of something like imposter syndrome - where you feel like someone in your position should know more than you do. I think it turns out that a lot of people are winging it in a lot jobs.

[Agent Gibbs]

A year ago i applied for a more senior position at work, but due to COVID they postponed the position. Well it came up again and i applied for it and got told off by my head of service, there was a higher post and he wanted me to apply for both, "what did i have to lose, you're more than capable of both and its a learning curve anyway"

Well had the interview for the senior post Friday and the 'lower' of the two today, starts off "right well we lured you here under false pretences, we aren't going to interview you for this post, we'd like to offer you the higher one!"

13 years i've been here, been passed over for promotion for a few junior to me, well its come up milhouse, i'm higher than all of them now!

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 06/01/2021 at 8:48 PM, EEVILMURRAY said:

With my contract due to end on Feb 18th, I've been given a 3 month extension while they still decide what's happening with our department. Which is nice, but wish the heels weren't being dragged so much. Still, means I can stick around until May

With the changeover finally happening, it looks like I'm being made into a permanent PPA, which is pretty much the same duties as I am on now (I'm still working out the deets), but they've realised they've not been paying us as much as they should, so we're going to get backpaid from August, so that'll be just under a grand I think.

Also had an interview for a gynae/colp typist today, same pay as above but more on the typing, so kinda a step back, but equal money for less work... hmmm... Even though with my future pretty much assured I went to it anyway, just as a fallback or leverage. I think I did alright. I'm pretty sure I beat the lass who went in before me. There was a typing portion of the interview which they said would be 20 minutes. I get there and someone else is still doing theirs so I'm waiting outside, for about 30 minutes and I can hear periodic typing, sounds like slow stuff. So they drag me into the interview bit first. 

I get to the typing portion, wondering about my skills, as if this is meant to take 20 minutes and this other one took over 30, there's possible several letters etc. No. Two documents, one has 3 questions you write your answer to, the other was a 90 second dictation. I was out in under 5 minutes, and I only took as long as I did was because I Google'd the spelling of some conditions.

[Julius]

In the space of one week I've gone from my manager not signing me off in time for my grade increase and pay rise next month (next chance would be September) after completing hours of courses outside of work, to everyone in my department (hundreds of people) being given the same grade increase and pay rise starting from next month (nearly a 20% bump), regardless of whether you've been with the company for 6 months or 2 years, and regardless of whether or not you've completed the tens of hours of courses (this will now go towards putting 'Senior' in front of my job title in September and that's about it). And they managed to mess up the paperwork for all of this, so everyone has annual pay statements with the incorrect figure. 

I work for a bank, and the irony of this is not lost on me at all.

To add some more drama to this all, I first learned about this on Monday from a colleague on another team (who hadn't completed those courses I had for the grade and pay increase) where they were all individually called by one of the department heads and sworn to secrecy. My manager wasn't in on Monday, so yesterday was pretty awkward until after work, when another member of my team started poking at her for answers, and we all got called into a meeting individually this morning to confirm this all. 

On the one hand, I'm grateful to have a job with plenty of security which I can do from home, and obviously for the bonus and salary bump. On the other hand, though, it's hard to not feel somewhat hard done by after completing tens of hours of courses (much of that outside of work) over the course of the last year to learn that my manager hadn't signed off on things in time for me to get a pay/grade increase next month, to learn that not only am I getting it, but everyone else is too, regardless of their experience, and that's the part which kind of stings for me – my particular team does objectively more complex work (we've spent most of the last 9 months on rectifying payment holiday issues caused by the system we have in place, and the frontline staff who processed them) and yet we've ended up with pay on par with the people causing the problems. And we're talking people who can't do something as simple as consistently leave their staff ID in their notes in case of future issues, which has meant more work for us. 

I probably sound ungrateful, but I'm just confused by it all more than anything, especially when three months ago we were told we wouldn't be getting a bonus and now the entire department is getting a substantial bump in salary. It's tough to know what to make of it, especially it being my first full-time job (2 years completed in 2 weeks' time), but it's further cemented for me that this is a means to a financial freedom I want to gain before I go to university, rather than a career path I want to see through to the end. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Julius