An SMS that I have received twice today: Hello. R U Avail & Looking 4 work? I have a 3 mnth contract at the BBC – £310 P/Day 4 a good Perl Dev? If yes pls call ASAP at [removed] – Rgrds Kathe @ PCR Even if I was available and looking “4” work, I’d… Continue reading R U Avail?
Tag: work
Admitting Your Mistakes
When did it become unfashionable to admit to mistakes. We all make mistakes. Why not just own up to them? Yesterday I got an email from an agent asking if I was available for work. I replied pointing her to the page on my company web site where that information is always available. Just now… Continue reading Admitting Your Mistakes
Excuses
I have spent over a week waiting for an agent to get back to me with an offer of a contract. I saw this company last Tuesday and the manager is apparently very keen to get me working there. The sticking point seems to be the money. When the agent first spoke to me about… Continue reading Excuses
Anniversaries
It’s been a week of anniversaries. Wednesday was the tenth anniversary of the first London.pm meeting. And last night we had our tenth anniversary meeting. But for me personally, today is an even bigger anniversary. It was twenty years ago today that I started my first “real” job. I hope you won’t be too bored… Continue reading Anniversaries
Temporary Employment Setback
I’ve just heard that my current contract won’t be extended when it finishes at the end of this month. So if you are looking (or know someone who is looking) for a half-decent Perl, Unix, database contractor then please let me know.
Leaving the BBC
Seems like we’re approaching another of those periods when it’s fashionable to leave the BBC. This morning my RSS reader brought me “I’m off soon” posts from Tom Loosemore and Alice Taylor. Oh, and there’s me. I’m leaving (again) on Friday. Back in the City from Monday.
Perl Programmers in London
Judging by the number of calls and emails that I’m getting recently, the demand for Perl programmers in London is going through one of its periodic increases. Hopefully recruitment agents who are desperately googling for “perl programmer london” will find this entry and save themselves a little time. The Perl community likes to do what… Continue reading Perl Programmers in London
Technical Interviews
Nik talks a lot of sense about technical interviews. As a purely anecdotal aside, I’m pretty sure that the interviews where I’ve been asked the kinds of questions that he’s talking about have lead to some of the jobs that I have least enjoyed. And, as Nik mentions, this is all in the context of… Continue reading Technical Interviews
Contract Nonsense
This is really pissing me off. My current contract ended yesterday. The clients want to extend me for another six months. I’m happy to stay there for another six months. However, since I started there in April, the clients have outsourced the running of their temporary workers HR department to a third party. And that… Continue reading Contract Nonsense
Interviewing the Interviewer
This article contains some good advice about getting the most out of an interview. In particular it has some interesting sample questions for the “do you have any questions you’d like to ask me” section of the interview. How long does it take from the time someone identifies a need for a new piece of… Continue reading Interviewing the Interviewer