If you want to see my happy side
Jun. 11th, 2007 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaA few days after I handed in my masters' thesis and blinked uncertainly at the real world, I accidentally fell into a job in Reading. Within a few weeks I'd decided that the real world wasn't too bad after all; the work seemed interesting, I liked my colleagues, and the atmosphere wasn't that different from university anyway.
In fact, the only real downside was the commute - two hours of my life every day sacrificed to the A4074. Living in Reading didn't appeal, but leaving and getting another job appealed even less. I've trotted backwards and forwards every day for nearly eight years.
Since the beginning of March, the company's future has looked a bit uncertain.
There was the will-they-won't-they of investment to deal with - a situation we've been in before, and only just escaped albeit with massive damage - and the ever-present risk of not being paid. Around the time I went up to Whitby for the goth weekend, time seemed to be running out. In the end, I spent an hour and a half on the way back in a layby near Ferrybridge on a conference call finding out about our future. For a while it seemed that the day had been saved, everything would be ok, and people relaxed a little.
However, some things didn't get signed, other things didn't quite work out, deals were on then off then on again. On Friday I got The Call from a member of management to tell me that the company was closing down. (OK, technically I spent most of Friday waiting for The Call. I finally got The Call much later than expected while I was out of signal in an obscure corner of the Lake District. I came back into signal, and got a message. I then had to phone from the world's filthiest phone box, because my mobile battery was flat. By filthy I mean completely covered with cobwebs, grass cuttings and mud. It was not filthy in the style of a Soho phone box.)
The company has a product which people want to buy - there was a deal with a major player on the table, just awaiting a signature. There was another guy with money, who wanted to fund the company. It seemed like everything should have come together, but in the end we were deliberately run into the ground by some venture capitalists with motives far too impenetrable for us to understand.
Today I went into work to sign the forms to claim statutory redundancy pay. The fat lady is in the dressing room, taking off her make up.
So, anyone want a programmer ? Seven years experience writing/maintaining an embedded RTOS kernel in pseudo-assembler, six months writing mobile applications in C++, three months MOT and tax. GSOH, housetrained, all own teeth. One careful owner.
In fact, the only real downside was the commute - two hours of my life every day sacrificed to the A4074. Living in Reading didn't appeal, but leaving and getting another job appealed even less. I've trotted backwards and forwards every day for nearly eight years.
Since the beginning of March, the company's future has looked a bit uncertain.
There was the will-they-won't-they of investment to deal with - a situation we've been in before, and only just escaped albeit with massive damage - and the ever-present risk of not being paid. Around the time I went up to Whitby for the goth weekend, time seemed to be running out. In the end, I spent an hour and a half on the way back in a layby near Ferrybridge on a conference call finding out about our future. For a while it seemed that the day had been saved, everything would be ok, and people relaxed a little.
However, some things didn't get signed, other things didn't quite work out, deals were on then off then on again. On Friday I got The Call from a member of management to tell me that the company was closing down. (OK, technically I spent most of Friday waiting for The Call. I finally got The Call much later than expected while I was out of signal in an obscure corner of the Lake District. I came back into signal, and got a message. I then had to phone from the world's filthiest phone box, because my mobile battery was flat. By filthy I mean completely covered with cobwebs, grass cuttings and mud. It was not filthy in the style of a Soho phone box.)
The company has a product which people want to buy - there was a deal with a major player on the table, just awaiting a signature. There was another guy with money, who wanted to fund the company. It seemed like everything should have come together, but in the end we were deliberately run into the ground by some venture capitalists with motives far too impenetrable for us to understand.
Today I went into work to sign the forms to claim statutory redundancy pay. The fat lady is in the dressing room, taking off her make up.
So, anyone want a programmer ? Seven years experience writing/maintaining an embedded RTOS kernel in pseudo-assembler, six months writing mobile applications in C++, three months MOT and tax. GSOH, housetrained, all own teeth. One careful owner.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 07:29 pm (UTC)I'm not sure exactly what the 'GUI' and 'Usability' ones entail beyond the obvious. :) As for 'Programmer Test Engineer', well, I think that might be more 'Test' than 'Programmer', as I think that very vacancy was created after the rest of my team and I kept hassling our manager to get someone who could do testing in the team before sending the stuff to the Test Department. (Long story. Ish.) So, um, I'm not sure I'd recommend that one. :)
Or, of course, there's the Virus Lab. I've never been in there, and I don't know what they do exactly, but they always seemed to radiate this aura of mystery and cleverness, much like the Kernel team at Tao. It's possible that the whole kernelly-assemblery-thing might be applicable there, but it's also possible that I'm talking rubbish about that. Really, I have no idea what they do in there!
Ahem, anyway... ^_^; C++ would be a good thing to stress, I think. On the upside, it may help to talk about mobile phones and embedded systems, but on the other hand, there actually are some mobile projects going on and planned, so the bluff might be called... :)
Is there anything more helpful that I can say? Or more specific, anyway? :)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 08:25 am (UTC)I don't think I could apply for a 'Senior' post - I've got no experience of the 'lead' aspects they're talking about and I doubt my C++ is good enough (yet). When I get my proverbial in gear, I think I'll definitely try Sophos... should I apply direct, or do you get a nice juicy bonus if I go through you ?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 05:35 pm (UTC)I hope everything goes well!