Sitting at home

[venta]

This entry is very dull, I just need to record some stuff somewhere.

It's now two weeks since I've been in work - the week before the company folded we'd been sent home by the Administrators while they counted things and archived hard drives. Two weeks off work is nearly half my annual holiday allowance, so that'd be, like, loads of free time. So I can do all those things like tidying my room that never quite happen, yeah ? Well, no, I seem to have been really busy. So I feel I ought to keep track of what I'm going with my time before it all slides away from me.

Week 1
Mon-Tues: sitting at home trying to write a CV. Deeply unpleasant experience. Ended up with a first draft.
Wed: Early morning meeting at work, employees decamped en masse and spent the rest of the day in the pub.
Thurs: Helped Frances make banners. Painted a flag to take to Glastonbury (which reminds me, must sew it up and find a flagpole).
Fri: Travelling to the Lake District.

Week 2
Mon: AM - filling in redundancy forms at work. PM - futile trip to jocentre.
Tues: AM - on phone and on hold to jobcentre and various other people who want to know I'm out of work. PM - Reading a write-your-CV book and applying for BCS membership.
Wed: Rewriting of CV in accordance with feedback from various sources. Much gnashing of teeth.
Thurs: AM - Further CV rewriting. PM - sold textbooks to Blackwells, made quiche/cake/brownies.

Comments

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

Why the BCS and not the IMIS? http://www.imis.org.uk IMHO the IMIS is more appropriate as an organisation for real practitioners rather than ivory-tower dwellers. YMMV.
Also, if you want an example of a CV I paid real money for from a CV writing company, let me know and I'll email you a copy.

[pm215]

"Management of Information Systems" sounds to me like systems administration and corporate IT departments, rather than anything to do with software development. Are they just hopelessly misnamed?

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

Are they just hopelessly misnamed?
It would seem that the answer to that one is, unfortunately, "yes". From their "about" page:
The Institute for the Management of Information Systems is the leading independent professional association for both users and developers of today's information technologies.

IMIS is known for its focus on the practical issues involved in the application and management of information and communication technologies. These issues are now moving into the forefront of public awareness and debate, demonstrating the importance of the work of the Institute and its members.

And from the current journal's contents page, if it survives the journey through cut and paste...

4 The Big Debate ~
Computerising National Healthcare
A healthy future?
Shirley Redpath looks at the issues which
make this so contentious
8 Taking care
John Riley talks to industry leaders and
analysts about health insurance
11 Watch out for skullduggery
Professor Dan Remenyi investigates the
latest ‘boiler room’ internet scam
14 Technical hitch
Terry Riches looks at technology and
small and medium-sized businesses
16 Store wars
Patrick Dowling explains the benefits of
protected data lifecycle management
18 The final frontier
Keri Allan reports on the amazing deep
space InterPlaNet protocols project
21 Virtual solution
Paul Klinkby-Silver on virtual storage
22 Be prepared!
Steve Wallis deals with the Database
Development module of the IMIS syllabus
25 Refreshing change
Part six of Chris Tiernan’s series on
accounting for IT in the 21st century
IMIS REGULARS
27 IMIS update 31 Legal Notes
29 ETHIcol 32 Class Act

[pm215]

It would seem that the answer to that one is, unfortunately, "yes".

Hmm. Not convinced; looking at that contents list, none of it particularly sounds like the sort of thing venta or I do (er, did), and indeed it sounds roughly like what I'd expect a MIS journal to be dealing in. It's all about use of technology rather than creation of it.

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

That's fine. Personally, I have found it a more useful organisation for what I do/did than the BCS. On the other hand, I am probably more of a MIS sort of guy that a bleeding edge developer.
I found after years of BCS propaganda that IMIS was much more what I was looking for. But as I said in the first comment, YMMV.

[pm215]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a BCS enthusiast either. The IMIS web page is at least a little better than the BCS one at answering the key question "why should I give you my money?", although I'm still far from convinced -- a subscription to Dr Dobbs or similar looks like better value to me :-)

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

As I said earlier, I found the IMIS more to my taste. (Personal disclaimer follows:) My dislike of the BCS also stems from the fact that after gradating and working in the industry for two or three years, they wouldn't upgrade my membership beyond student member.

In other news, have nothing to do with the IAP.