So, another update on the state of play
So.
There's a few folks who have been wondering how I've been getting on, what with the utter lack of talk - heck, I haven't logged into LJ in 70 days. There's sure to be something that has happened that I'll forget, but the important bits are kinda neat, so I'll at least cover those.
The story goes as follows. Most of you will be aware that I left my last job in February, and haven't done anything but a little light windows support stuff since then; and just a week's worth at that.
I also spent May in NZ with $wife and Tornado, so that was that out. If nothing else, it delayed looking for work until after we got back, what with the way most companies will look at you and laugh if you walk in, say "hiya, I just started, can I have a month off?". So, with that and all, I haven't been earning as much as I might otherwise have done.
Anyway, what with the market picking up a bit of late, things have been busy. Back on the 20th or so, I got a call from a consulting company - call them, oh, I dunno $co_one [0]- who were looking for an admin. They asked me to come in and fill out a test. So I did; they handed me a stack of paper, said it'd take about an hour and a quarter, and left me to it. I looked it over, thought to myself "that's an overestimate - I reckon about 45 minutes." Three quarters of an hour later, I was back on the street.
So much for that. That was at 11am. That afternoon, they asked if I could come in on Friday at 3:30. To speak to the MD.
So I did. He and I chatted things over for a bit, explaining where they needed me (mostly in-house, but some work at clients) then I went on my merry way. I also had a number of other things on the boil, so it wasn't like I was being picky or anything. (If you're really interested, contact me privately, and I can waffle about this at great length; the file listing what I was doing is at 330+ lines...) I didn't think much of it, and wandered off up north to take Tornado off to see a couple of his friends for Wednesday and Thursday, it being half term that week.
On Wednesday, I got a call from the HR person at $co_one asking me if I could start work on Thursday. I couldn't, being out of town, but I did say I could make it back for Friday, if that was suitable. It was, and we moved on.
So. I now had a job. I turned up on Friday, and got handed a laptop (4G RAM, 1280x800 screen, 1.8G Core2 duo, 128M intel graphics - so my personal laptop beats it hollow - and installed with Windows Vista Home Premium. 32bit. On a 64bit, 4G machine. So Windows could only use 3G of the 4G of ram. Yay...) and told that on Monday, I'd be down at a client.
Erg. Okay, if that's what you want. So... went down to $co_one[$client]. Got access, got given all the bits and pieces, and set up with access, introduced to their systems (Solaris 10, across the board. No NIS, no LDAP. 50+ servers, each individually set up with access. Different config on each. Security varies. One machine has root ssh keys set up to allow access to all the other boxes, with no passphrase, etc etc. Interesting...) and given a place to sit and work. Apparently, according to what I'm told at this point, my task is to shadow the admin there, and do basic support. Good pay, but... not exactly stretching my capabilities. And... there's not a lot of "in-house" stuff as part of this. The in-house admin is leading a team of four. One of whom is present, but has been given marching orders, and hence, understandably, doesn't have a lot of enthusiasm for the job. The other three are seats, with nobody in them. Yet. Despite being looking for some time... I think HR has been given impossible requirements, and is hence looking for people who will look at the job and go find something interesting, or alternatively look at the money offered and think the reqs are more than they can manage. Trivial work, really. Just need more hands on deck to allow the bright folks to get things done.
So. This is my situation, when I have an agent call me, and tell me that he has a job he'd really really like me to go to an interview for, at another company - call them $co_two. And, earlier, I had had an organised phone call from $co_three who I really wanted to work for, because it was a big networking company, and would have offered me a lot of space to learn and grow. Being... slightly bored with the situation, and not, at this stage, seeing the point, I went along with it; a pay rise isn't to be sniffed at, and it wasn't like I was losing anything. So I went along to an interview. And then to another one.
And then they offered me a role, at an advertising company - directed, rather than shotgun - running the servers. Hrm.
So I went to my boss at $co_one, and asked him for a meeting. During which, I told him I'd been offered a role. We talked for a couple hours, and he explained a lot of stuff he'd been planning for me, where the company was going, and all this sort of stuff. Apparently, I'd already got a lot of positive commentary from $co_one->[$client]->[management], and I was only where I was in order to placate them that I could manage to tie my shoelaces without falling over, sort of thing, before being given the whole huge upgrade project to run with. For about a month or so, since they want to go live with it before Christmas. He also had some internal plans, and a bunch of other stuff, some more clients, etc etc.
So there was a whole list of interesting, difficult projects he'd like to get me involved in, even after the current one. And he offered to match their rise in 3 months, if I stayed. And increase twice as much, again, 3 months after that.
I tell you, that made me think hard about what I wanted to do.
I went with $co_two, though. For reasons I'm not sure about, but I felt a lot happier when I'd decided. I think the deciding factor was just how much I dislike being kept in the dark, although I didn't think about that at the time - other than that, I wasn't hugely sure I like the idea of doing a bunch of installs, and leaving them slightly incomplete, which is what he was planning, I think. At least, not what he was planning, but what he was going to get, with the time available.
So, yeah. Handed in notice, he's got me for another two weeks, then I move to $co_two at the end of November. Nice to feel wanted, but... yeah. Lots of things going on, and I'm not sure I liked the hole I was being put in. It might have turned out okay, but it might not.
If nothing else, I'm going to keep $co_one's number, so I can call them if I find out things really aren't as good as they originally seemed. Which will suck, but at least they know how good I am, which is a start...
So I have work. And am being paid. Better than nothing, and I might even enjoy the work...
[0] Let's not put names where google can index them, hmm? Just in case someone gets upset - either client or company.[1] Or the other companies, either.
[1] There remains the possibility, after all this, of working at or with these folks later. More on that later.
There's a few folks who have been wondering how I've been getting on, what with the utter lack of talk - heck, I haven't logged into LJ in 70 days. There's sure to be something that has happened that I'll forget, but the important bits are kinda neat, so I'll at least cover those.
The story goes as follows. Most of you will be aware that I left my last job in February, and haven't done anything but a little light windows support stuff since then; and just a week's worth at that.
I also spent May in NZ with $wife and Tornado, so that was that out. If nothing else, it delayed looking for work until after we got back, what with the way most companies will look at you and laugh if you walk in, say "hiya, I just started, can I have a month off?". So, with that and all, I haven't been earning as much as I might otherwise have done.
Anyway, what with the market picking up a bit of late, things have been busy. Back on the 20th or so, I got a call from a consulting company - call them, oh, I dunno $co_one [0]- who were looking for an admin. They asked me to come in and fill out a test. So I did; they handed me a stack of paper, said it'd take about an hour and a quarter, and left me to it. I looked it over, thought to myself "that's an overestimate - I reckon about 45 minutes." Three quarters of an hour later, I was back on the street.
So much for that. That was at 11am. That afternoon, they asked if I could come in on Friday at 3:30. To speak to the MD.
So I did. He and I chatted things over for a bit, explaining where they needed me (mostly in-house, but some work at clients) then I went on my merry way. I also had a number of other things on the boil, so it wasn't like I was being picky or anything. (If you're really interested, contact me privately, and I can waffle about this at great length; the file listing what I was doing is at 330+ lines...) I didn't think much of it, and wandered off up north to take Tornado off to see a couple of his friends for Wednesday and Thursday, it being half term that week.
On Wednesday, I got a call from the HR person at $co_one asking me if I could start work on Thursday. I couldn't, being out of town, but I did say I could make it back for Friday, if that was suitable. It was, and we moved on.
So. I now had a job. I turned up on Friday, and got handed a laptop (4G RAM, 1280x800 screen, 1.8G Core2 duo, 128M intel graphics - so my personal laptop beats it hollow - and installed with Windows Vista Home Premium. 32bit. On a 64bit, 4G machine. So Windows could only use 3G of the 4G of ram. Yay...) and told that on Monday, I'd be down at a client.
Erg. Okay, if that's what you want. So... went down to $co_one[$client]. Got access, got given all the bits and pieces, and set up with access, introduced to their systems (Solaris 10, across the board. No NIS, no LDAP. 50+ servers, each individually set up with access. Different config on each. Security varies. One machine has root ssh keys set up to allow access to all the other boxes, with no passphrase, etc etc. Interesting...) and given a place to sit and work. Apparently, according to what I'm told at this point, my task is to shadow the admin there, and do basic support. Good pay, but... not exactly stretching my capabilities. And... there's not a lot of "in-house" stuff as part of this. The in-house admin is leading a team of four. One of whom is present, but has been given marching orders, and hence, understandably, doesn't have a lot of enthusiasm for the job. The other three are seats, with nobody in them. Yet. Despite being looking for some time... I think HR has been given impossible requirements, and is hence looking for people who will look at the job and go find something interesting, or alternatively look at the money offered and think the reqs are more than they can manage. Trivial work, really. Just need more hands on deck to allow the bright folks to get things done.
So. This is my situation, when I have an agent call me, and tell me that he has a job he'd really really like me to go to an interview for, at another company - call them $co_two. And, earlier, I had had an organised phone call from $co_three who I really wanted to work for, because it was a big networking company, and would have offered me a lot of space to learn and grow. Being... slightly bored with the situation, and not, at this stage, seeing the point, I went along with it; a pay rise isn't to be sniffed at, and it wasn't like I was losing anything. So I went along to an interview. And then to another one.
And then they offered me a role, at an advertising company - directed, rather than shotgun - running the servers. Hrm.
So I went to my boss at $co_one, and asked him for a meeting. During which, I told him I'd been offered a role. We talked for a couple hours, and he explained a lot of stuff he'd been planning for me, where the company was going, and all this sort of stuff. Apparently, I'd already got a lot of positive commentary from $co_one->[$client]->[management], and I was only where I was in order to placate them that I could manage to tie my shoelaces without falling over, sort of thing, before being given the whole huge upgrade project to run with. For about a month or so, since they want to go live with it before Christmas. He also had some internal plans, and a bunch of other stuff, some more clients, etc etc.
So there was a whole list of interesting, difficult projects he'd like to get me involved in, even after the current one. And he offered to match their rise in 3 months, if I stayed. And increase twice as much, again, 3 months after that.
I tell you, that made me think hard about what I wanted to do.
I went with $co_two, though. For reasons I'm not sure about, but I felt a lot happier when I'd decided. I think the deciding factor was just how much I dislike being kept in the dark, although I didn't think about that at the time - other than that, I wasn't hugely sure I like the idea of doing a bunch of installs, and leaving them slightly incomplete, which is what he was planning, I think. At least, not what he was planning, but what he was going to get, with the time available.
So, yeah. Handed in notice, he's got me for another two weeks, then I move to $co_two at the end of November. Nice to feel wanted, but... yeah. Lots of things going on, and I'm not sure I liked the hole I was being put in. It might have turned out okay, but it might not.
If nothing else, I'm going to keep $co_one's number, so I can call them if I find out things really aren't as good as they originally seemed. Which will suck, but at least they know how good I am, which is a start...
So I have work. And am being paid. Better than nothing, and I might even enjoy the work...
[0] Let's not put names where google can index them, hmm? Just in case someone gets upset - either client or company.[1] Or the other companies, either.
[1] There remains the possibility, after all this, of working at or with these folks later. More on that later.