This boy is back in town (soon)
So almost out of nowhere I have got myself a job in London working for Tube Lines, one of the London Underground PPP companies. I start on the 5th of Sep and handed in my notice to my current employer last week. It based in Canary Wharf (not the actual building), but rumour is they will have to move as the rent there is too high. Wherever they go it will be in London tho, so I am not that bothered, even if it does end up being somewhere like Acton. I will become a graduate again, three years after leaving uni and take a pay cut. The savings I make on travel should offset things enough tho I hope, altho I will miss all the overtime cash I've been getting recently. Overall I think it is the best thing to do and hope things work out for the best.
I say this has happened outta nowhere, but really it has been a fairly drawn out affair. I sent my CV to these guys after receiving an e-mail back in March. I heard nothing for a month and sent them a mail asking what was happening, to which I got I no reply. By this time I was concentrating on my Network Rail application and waiting to hear if I would get off the reserve list for a job offer. So eventually almost 3 months after I sent my CV I got a phone call on a Friday afternoon asking me if I would come in for an interview. This was after Network Rail had told me that nothing was going and was pretty surprising as I had assumed the jobs were taken. This is where things felt like they happened fast, the other jobs I went for had practically three stages you had to get through to get the job, usually with loads of other candidates about. The effort involved in this was annoying, especially with the Network Rail where I came so close.
This time I had just one interview, with just two people assessing me and no other candidates about. It took only half a day as opposed to a whole day and I have no group exercise, which seems to be my weakest as I get too aggressive apparently (bloody fags, if someone is saying something stupid I'll tell them are). I did however have to prepare a presentation again, but they would be no powerpoint this time, just an OHP, pad and a whiteboard. This meant I could do things the way I like it and I spent a few hours casually noting down ideas in front of the TV about Station Computer Control interfaces. It was the first thing I had to do on the day and really went much better than it had any right to. I had read a couple of press releases on the website that mentioned electronic info boards and a self diagnostic and failure dectection system, which I incorporated. The guy basically asked me where I had done my research because he thought I may have actually spoken to someone who knew about the plans they had for stations. He said I had basically drawn out what they were actually now putting into places at stations. I think I got pretty lucky here.
The interview itself went well, they guy could tell I had a genuine interest in the underground and some of the info from my Network Rail research came in useful (such as the failure of moving block signalling on the Jubliee Line). I got lucky again in that I was able to draw parallels between what I had done in my current job and problems they have on the underground (lightning strike protection was surprisingly one of them). I don't think the interview could have gone any better by this point. The last thing to do was the maths test, which I think I did not do well in and was worried would be what meant I did not get the job. However it seems I had done enough and a week later they offered me the job and kind of bizarrely the day of the first tube bombings my offer letter and contract arrived. I should have been relieved (after Metronet offered me a job last year, only for the paperwork never to come), but the whole bombing thing meant my mind was elsewhere really (on BBC News 24 mainly).
Still it couldn't as simple as that really, now came arguably the biggest test of all, my medical, including full on drug and alcohol test. Now this should have been fine and not stressful at all as I was pretty sure I was clean, but they wanted to have it the week after the Glade festival. I had been planning to have a full on swan song at Glade, my goodbye to sweeties, weed and truffles (which are illegal now anyway). I thought the medical would either be before Glade or not happen at all (as the letter seemed to insinuate). But no it was planned for 3 days after. Damn. This basically meant I had to show restraint at a place where the word really had no meaning (meaing I only had two tokes of a joint and some truffles). In the end I managed this, but was worried I'd still fail and delayed the test till the following week. After much worrying I had the medical and was given the all clear a couple of days later. Handing my notice in was tough, but not as bad as I thought it might be. My bosses were v surprised and disappointed, but they understood my reasons and have been fine about it in general.
So that's it basically, assuming nothing goes wrong (yes I am still being paranoid, but until I start the new job I think I will not fully believe it) I'll start on the 5th of Sep. I hope I have made the right choice to become a graduate again. It will feel weird I think, but I want to learn the industry from the ground up. I also hope the company is not gonna lose it's contract in 6 months as it is up for review then!
I say this has happened outta nowhere, but really it has been a fairly drawn out affair. I sent my CV to these guys after receiving an e-mail back in March. I heard nothing for a month and sent them a mail asking what was happening, to which I got I no reply. By this time I was concentrating on my Network Rail application and waiting to hear if I would get off the reserve list for a job offer. So eventually almost 3 months after I sent my CV I got a phone call on a Friday afternoon asking me if I would come in for an interview. This was after Network Rail had told me that nothing was going and was pretty surprising as I had assumed the jobs were taken. This is where things felt like they happened fast, the other jobs I went for had practically three stages you had to get through to get the job, usually with loads of other candidates about. The effort involved in this was annoying, especially with the Network Rail where I came so close.
This time I had just one interview, with just two people assessing me and no other candidates about. It took only half a day as opposed to a whole day and I have no group exercise, which seems to be my weakest as I get too aggressive apparently (bloody fags, if someone is saying something stupid I'll tell them are). I did however have to prepare a presentation again, but they would be no powerpoint this time, just an OHP, pad and a whiteboard. This meant I could do things the way I like it and I spent a few hours casually noting down ideas in front of the TV about Station Computer Control interfaces. It was the first thing I had to do on the day and really went much better than it had any right to. I had read a couple of press releases on the website that mentioned electronic info boards and a self diagnostic and failure dectection system, which I incorporated. The guy basically asked me where I had done my research because he thought I may have actually spoken to someone who knew about the plans they had for stations. He said I had basically drawn out what they were actually now putting into places at stations. I think I got pretty lucky here.
The interview itself went well, they guy could tell I had a genuine interest in the underground and some of the info from my Network Rail research came in useful (such as the failure of moving block signalling on the Jubliee Line). I got lucky again in that I was able to draw parallels between what I had done in my current job and problems they have on the underground (lightning strike protection was surprisingly one of them). I don't think the interview could have gone any better by this point. The last thing to do was the maths test, which I think I did not do well in and was worried would be what meant I did not get the job. However it seems I had done enough and a week later they offered me the job and kind of bizarrely the day of the first tube bombings my offer letter and contract arrived. I should have been relieved (after Metronet offered me a job last year, only for the paperwork never to come), but the whole bombing thing meant my mind was elsewhere really (on BBC News 24 mainly).
Still it couldn't as simple as that really, now came arguably the biggest test of all, my medical, including full on drug and alcohol test. Now this should have been fine and not stressful at all as I was pretty sure I was clean, but they wanted to have it the week after the Glade festival. I had been planning to have a full on swan song at Glade, my goodbye to sweeties, weed and truffles (which are illegal now anyway). I thought the medical would either be before Glade or not happen at all (as the letter seemed to insinuate). But no it was planned for 3 days after. Damn. This basically meant I had to show restraint at a place where the word really had no meaning (meaing I only had two tokes of a joint and some truffles). In the end I managed this, but was worried I'd still fail and delayed the test till the following week. After much worrying I had the medical and was given the all clear a couple of days later. Handing my notice in was tough, but not as bad as I thought it might be. My bosses were v surprised and disappointed, but they understood my reasons and have been fine about it in general.
So that's it basically, assuming nothing goes wrong (yes I am still being paranoid, but until I start the new job I think I will not fully believe it) I'll start on the 5th of Sep. I hope I have made the right choice to become a graduate again. It will feel weird I think, but I want to learn the industry from the ground up. I also hope the company is not gonna lose it's contract in 6 months as it is up for review then!