What's your Job?

[shadow`]

Originally posted by charl8tan

Good points were that I got paid to sit on my arse and play games all day long, free drinks, free food, and if I was lucky enough, free smokes of the management . Oh, and also looking back on each day and realised I'd managed to have the entire lab in fits of laughter due to my swearing vocabulary when on certain games .

fucks sake, sounds like paradise

 

[Ono]

Originally posted by old.Jas
Wooo Hooo! I can change my post in this thread already.

Just been offered, and accepted a job with Volvo near Cambridge. "E-Commerce Content Manager" - yeah baby!

Now time to work out how to get a new house and shift all my, and my girlfriends, gear down from Manchester. Fun!

Well done Jase.

Cambridge is nice but the property prices may kill ya.

 

[granny]

Damini should have a column and she should get paid to write it.

 

[MYstIC G]

Damini should get paid to erase all the DAoC threads for a laugh

 

[Munkey-]

let us have a read of some of your work damini? its amazing how many undiscovered writers are around, some really good writers

 

[Hashmonster]

Originally posted by old.Jas
Wooo Hooo! I can change my post in this thread already.

Just been offered, and accepted a job with Volvo near Cambridge. "E-Commerce Content Manager" - yeah baby!

Now time to work out how to get a new house and shift all my, and my girlfriends, gear down from Manchester. Fun!

congrats mate

must get round to updating my CV... getting itchy feet now!

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by xenon2000
So, my questions to all of you who work (or are looking to work), are...

1. What job do you have/want?
2. What qualifications/skills did the employers look for when you applied?
3. What does it briefly involve on a day to day basis?
4. What do you like about it?
   [/list=1]
   
   
   TY in advance to all who can offer help

1. 
   
   
   a; Mechanical Engineer, Shift Maintenance.
   
   b; 8 o-levels (grd C and above), ONC, HNC Mech Engineering. BA Hons degree Mech Engineering. 15yrs experience in Plant mechanical engineering.
   
   c; I run a shift consisting of 5 other technicians, responsible for 24hr maintenance of an Oil Refinery on the Humber Bank. Day to day activities depend upon which shift we are on, 7-3 is mostly meetings, nights is a doss . Also responsibe for Emergency Response on the Refinery (fire fighting, rescue's etc)
   
   d; Shift work suits my lifestyle down to a tee. Gives me lots of time with the family. Being a small team, we have a good laugh, also spend quite a bit of time out of work together. Theres no women on shifts. And the money is very good (for the North)
   
   
   
   
   Doubt much of that helps.

 

[lecter]

Status = Unemployed.

Unfortunately the IT market as it stands is crap. I got made redundant in a company bankrupcy and havent really worked since.

I aint stupid (10 GCSE's, 4 A-levels, Bsc (hons) etc.)
I aint lazy (apply for 10+ jobs a week)

However I'm looking for work in the unix/network/security type area and for every job that gets advertised there are around 100+ ppl (like me) going for it.

Sucks.

 

[FatBusinessman]

Just out of interest, and kind of job-related:

I'm planning to (hopefully) go and take a degree at Cambridge starting October. Now my question is this:

To what extent is this a "free job ticket" (as one of my friends put it), and how does it stack up against "real" experience?

 

[Summo]

I think Wilier has the most interesting job. If I cock up then a few people can't access their files. If Wilier cocks up the Humber residents hold a town funeral.

 

[Damini]

Originally posted by Munkey-
let us have a read of some of your work damini? its amazing how many undiscovered writers are around, some really good writers

I'm having a website made up for my writing, so I'm currently editing my appalling spelling, touching up some old stories, etc... If you give me your e-mail Munkey I will send you some.

This week I have been mostly trying to bludgeon myself to death with the book that tells me the price/weight ratios for vegetables though, which is why I have been a bit slow on the writing front.



And Mystic, I fear that if I delete DAoC threads, they will turn up on my doorstep with pitchforks and burning torches

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by fatbusinessman
I'm planning to (hopefully) go and take a degree at Cambridge starting October. Now my question is this:

To what extent is this a "free job ticket" (as one of my friends put it), and how does it stack up against "real" experience?

Well, Fatty... (can I call you that? Thanks.) Cambridge degrees are obviously a bit more special than your run-of-the-mill prefab university degree, but I have two graduate friends from Oxford and Cambridge and they're both struggling.

They've found you can't simply walk into a high-paid job (or MI5) and they do actually have to gain some experience first, same as everyone else. One is currently temping, the other is doing some assistant research work.

I dare say the time will come though when their spanky 'elite' degrees will pay off.

 

[FatBusinessman]

Damn. Ah well, looks like I'm going to have to get some experience then.

 

[charl8tan]

Originally posted by shadow`


fucks sake, sounds like paradise

Aye, it is. But then the bastards realise how much you're just enjoying yourself and you get promoted which means you have to actually do some work . Quite a few of the games developers give consoles and games n such like to their employees, no surprises that Microsoft didn't. We did get the odd free t-shirt.

 

[throdgrain]

Originally posted by MYstIC G
Damini should get paid to erase all the DAoC threads for a laugh

Seconded !

/sorry Damini, you're great ,but DaoC.....

 

[xenon2000]

Wow, all this feedback is amazing... I printed this thread off up until Wolfeeh's post last night and read it in bed; I didn't expect it to have doubled in size since then
(I did attempt a reply earlier today but lovely WinME crashed on a perfectly regular track change in winamp... this time I'm using notepad and saving every 5 seconds)

IRT various peeps...

Cage: seeing as you were the first to bring up A levels, it might be worth mentioning that I took half a Maths A last year alongside my BTEC; but failed it due to the computing course taking up all of my studying hours. Next year I really want to work hard on it and retake the first three modules as well as working on the next load. Other than that there haven't been many A-level subjects that have caught my attention, although if I am to progress on to fulltime employment next year then one subject should be enough.

Shovel: It's basically the experience stage that I'm looking to get into, starting at the bottom of the ladder & all that. It's really a question of choosing between a small basic techy job for experience means only, or looking for a full on-the-job training qualification. Whereas the latter would give experience AND a qualification in one, it would likely involve external work that could interfere with maths studies. Then I get anxious about putting something like that back another year, when the IT demand is getting increasingly smaller... decisions, decisions

Summo: The idea of suddenly wandering into a career without ever knowing you were going to have one sounds pretty reassuring . Did you have any ideas of what you wanted to do long-term when you started the entry-level job?

Damini: LOL, sounds like my part-time weekend job - I work in an Argos superstore.. if I had to retreive goods and serve customers every day of the week I'd likely go insane. Still, it's given me some experience in customer relations I suppose (ie. knowledge that 70% of customers are complete wankers and need showing who's in charge).

Hash: Which company is it, out of interest? Design is always something I had at the front of my mind back in year11 when everyone was taking those computerised "Which career is best for you?" tests. I asked about it at the job advice center (connexions west of england) a few weeks back and the woman basically told me I had bugger-all chance of finding anything remotely like that in this area... smashing advice!

Xtro: heh, I still have over three years before I can start an acedemic year at age 21, and that's quite a long time to go poncing off around Europe for - I'm guessing that was quite a while back too. Someone as careless as me can't really afford _not_ to keep one foot on the ground, it seems.

Wazz: That's pretty much the _exact_ same position as me, exchanging coding and design for accountancy and other similarly mundane things. I've already faced the 'dead-end job vs. getting educated towards a proper one' dilemma, and I'm kinda hovering between the two. Like I mentioned in my reply to Shovel's post, I'm looking at the possibilites of getting 'educated' through training in the workplace rather than at Uni; for now, anyway. Perhaps uni might be appealing in five years time. In fact I hope it will . But as far as straight out education goes, I really want to get this Maths A sorted out (primarily for achievment purposes) and be done with it for a few years... it's a bitch.

PR: Getting a job making a web-page? Pfft... I get so annoyed at hearing about people doing that! That's the one job clear in my mind that I'd actually be happy doing even if they payed shit. It incorporates a bit of design, IT knowledge and coding/concepts. I asked Connexions about it again, "Nope, you have fuck-all chance of getting anything like that and the only thing people are after is business admin"... I'm not sure whether they were desperate for business admin specialists themselves and were hinting at me to go get trained for it, or whether Bristol is a genuinely shit place to find work :/

To summarise, I'm after a year-long temporary slot in something IT related, in order to gain experience while I study Maths part time. After that, I want to try and get some work-based qualification of some kind, for about a year. Maybe. Then perhaps I might persue a decent job and consider Uni in the distant future. Any garingly obvious flaws or bad moves in this plan?
Saying that I could always just end up somewhere completely unexpected like where Scooba is for instance. IT isn't my ONLY interest..
Ideally though all I want is a rich girlfriend...


Still, thanks to all for your words, even if I haven't replied directly to them yet... there's one helluva lot of info to take in on these past few pages

 

[Munkey-]

willier. only thing holding my dad back from higher job in the NGL plant is lack of a degree. saying of which, he earns more than both his brothers who both have degrees

 

[old.Jas]

Originally posted by Ono
Well done Jase.

Cambridge is nice but the property prices may kill ya.

Cheers - and tell me about it. Coming down from near Manchester the prices are stupid!

In Warrington £50k gets you a mansion with an indoor swimming pool and butler

 

[old.Jas]

Originally posted by Hashmonster
must get round to updating my CV... getting itchy feet now!

Way to go . This should get you started, lots of them offer advice as well -

http://www.topjobs.co.uk
http://www.monster.co.uk
http://www.gojobsite.co.uk
http://www.fish4jobs.co.uk
http://www.planetrecruit.co.uk
http://www.totaljobs.com
http://www.workthing.com
http://www.CW360.com (IT)
http://www.quantumjobs.com
http://www.jobserve.co.uk
http://www.reed.co.uk

I got this job with Monster, although I used to work for TopJobs.co.uk

 

[bodhi]

I am a Professional Snowboarder. Not many qualifications needed, apart from the ability to stand up on a snowboard, the rest can be taught. Ah fuck it who am I kidding, thats just the dream job. In real life i'm a Motorway Welfare Consultant. I serve people petrol at Stafford services on the M6. Don't go there, it's shit.

I'm in the middle of a BSc in Management tho at St Andrews uni, hopefully that will lead on to a life of doing as little as possible for as much as possible. Management Consultancy sounds good.

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by xenon2000
Summo: The idea of suddenly wandering into a career without ever knowing you were going to have one sounds pretty reassuring . Did you have any ideas of what you wanted to do long-term when you started the entry-level job?

Absolutely none whatsoever. At that stage I fancied graphic design (and tried to tailor my pensions job to suit that - I designed brochures for them anything to prevent the actual pensions work) or fiction writing. Possibly becoming an actor, though that was always a pipe dream.

By chance I worked with a woman whose boyfriend managed the desktop support team where I am now. She suggested I applied for it, and I did.

Just to comment on a couple of other things you mentioned, remember that a dead-end job isn't 'dead-end' if you're planning on using it to gain experience before moving on. Then it's just a 'job'. Don't be afraid of going for a job with no apparent prospects if you're not planning on staying there anyway.

Also I wouldn't dismiss the web design out of hand. A guy I worked with left to start a company setting up networks and servers for small businesses. He says that almost all of his clients want a website but can't afford or justify the cost of producing one in-house. He refers them to some friends of his. I seriously considered building a portfolio of websites for these small business and working on a commission system - if you like it its yours for £x plus £x per month ongoing maintenance or £x per update, if you don't like it then I'll take it away and we'll never speak again.

Basically small business want websites. Make a few mock sites or arrange a page showing off your existing ones (if suitable), make some business cards and leaflets and ask for help at your local council. They'll be a able to provide a list of businesses in your area which you probably never even knew existed. Even if its not a career there's undoubtedly some cash up for the taking there. I promise.

 

[Ono]

Someguy (I hate the name *Summo* BTW) is TEH WANNABE ACTOR.

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by Munkey-
willier. only thing holding my dad back from higher job in the NGL plant is lack of a degree. saying of which, he earns more than both his brothers who both have degrees

TBH, the job Im doin atm doesnt require a degree, non of the other Shift Maint Leaders are Engineers, and I keep getting asked to go on days in an Engineering role, but the amount of time off I get on shifts is excellent (48 days a year + rest days) and the 5grand shift diffs nice too

Summo, we dont actually have that many fires, honest. Weve had 3 really major ones since Ive been here, the worst was last april when one of our LPG producing units sprung a leak and dropped its whole inventory (approx 25tons) in about 15mins. That blew the lids of the local residents houses.

 

[old.Jas]

Your local Business Link is a good place for advice as well. Meet thier criteria and you get a grant! Free money!

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by Ono
Someguy (I hate the name *Summo* BTW) is TEH WANNABE ACTOR.

I did one professional play a couple of years ago with a theatre company I started with two others. We did some stuff round here and in London. It was shit. We hired in pro actors and the atmosphere was rubbish. They were clearly just turning up to do a job and ambled through it.

It's a laugh with the non-pro comapny I do plays with now. We all like each other, we all want to do well, we socialise and there's some real talent here.

Anyway...

 

[Munkey-]

Originally posted by wilier


TBH, the job Im doin atm doesnt require a degree, non of the other Shift Maint Leaders are Engineers, and I keep getting asked to go on days in an Engineering role, but the amount of time off I get on shifts is excellent (48 days a year + rest days) and the 5grand shift diffs nice too

Summo, we dont actually have that many fires, honest. Weve had 3 really major ones since Ive been here, the worst was last april when one of our LPG producing units sprung a leak and dropped its whole inventory (approx 25tons) in about 15mins. That blew the lids of the local residents houses.

my dad had to deal with oil spills back in BHP. some reason they stuck him in the job, then sidetracked him. Liverpool bay oil spill. got to go down to the wet n windy beach. speak to some peeps in a porta cabin. muck around the dunes with their walky talkees then get to ride and then drive this 6 wheeled bike (quad bike stylee it was but with extra wheels at back) great fun playing "spot the oil"

 

[Summo]

See? There's a positive side to every man-made environmental disaster.

 

[Munkey-]

it was man made. they decided to check for leaks in the pipeline to shore by using.....SUPRISE. OIL!!!!!! retards. oil everywhere when they coulda just used water and checked for pressure drop

 

[Wij]

Originally posted by Damini
Well, nearly any job - to pre-empt the Wij smuttathon

but... but...

 

[xenon2000]

Originally posted by Summo
Basically small business want websites. Make a few mock sites or arrange a page showing off your existing ones (if suitable), make some business cards and leaflets and ask for help at your local council. They'll be a able to provide a list of businesses in your area which you probably never even knew existed. Even if its not a career there's undoubtedly some cash up for the taking there. I promise.

*Takes notes*
Ta m8eh