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I got a "serious" position

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:18 pm
by Ollie Saunders
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I'm happy today!

Why you may ask? Well.... I've got myself my first serious development job! Y :-D A :-D Y :-D !
Not only will I be paid to write PHP on a full-time basis but the position is [s]very[/s] seriously good. I mean serious. Are you smiling? STOP IT! I'm trying to be serious here god-dammit >_<!

OK, check this, I've been doing freelance work on and off for about a year with this a video production company. They employ about 16 people and their major clients include BP (for a couple of years) and Castrol (more than ten years). I've had the pleasure, previously, of slapping nice BP logos on sites I've done for them. Chris and Nick chair the company in partnership and they do a really good job. The atmosphere is relaxed but motivated, they told me about how they ensure things are managed to people don't have to work "stressy hours", they are always concerned with improving practises within the business and they are honest and ethical.

Previously when anything web related that they needed to be done somebody around this office would handle it. A lot of them have the standard 90s HTML knowledge. Nobody knows a [s]word[/s] token of PHP so nothing could be automated. Although I was around as a freelancer I tended to be a little be a little bit, ok, a lottle bit, inaccessible. What with failing to write OsisForms and basically spending six months of my life learning OO and TDD.

Anyway the corporate video production world is changing. No longer do companies have 1000s of DVDs produced and distributed within the company. Oh noooo! Now they want smart websites that do the distribution, cheaper, faster and more reliably. Not only this but people are starting to offer complete media front-ends that integrate corporate knowledge in a very powerful way with video, photos, articles, blogs, linked resources and community generated content. My company (ooh I can say that now :)) is in the position where it has to compete or run the risk of being relegated.

Soo... that's my job! I am the only, lead, developer responsible for taking the company in a new direction. I get the best of both employment and self-employment. I can choose to use agile development without an ill-informed manager breathing down my necking telling me I'm wasting time writing unit tests and I'm in a workplace with cool people!

For a position like that you might think I'm going to be earning BIG bucks but its actually quite moderate. Don't get me wrong is pretty damn good for a 21 year old but I'm going to be on a 6 month contract after which, as long as I have been successful, I'll be able to call the shots.

All this, I'm sorry to say, will probably have implications on my level of contribution here at DevNet. True to form every time I pop in with a problem of my own I'll help some others where I can but I probably won't be as prolific.

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:20 pm
by feyd
I think this thread may be best served in The Enterprise.

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:34 pm
by Kieran Huggins
Sweet...Congrats ole! It will be a shame if you're not around much anymore, but I'm sure we're all thrilled you've landed a good position :-)

At this rate you'll have your own flat in no time... with multiple sofas! ;-)

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:37 pm
by daedalus__
Congratulatioanstoinas!

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:43 pm
by Ollie Saunders
Thanks Kieran and Daedalus. :)
Yeah, I can't wait to MultiSofa it large!

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:48 pm
by Kieran Huggins
I can see it now... a veritable sofarium!

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:48 pm
by Luke
RIGHT ON! :mrgreen:

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:24 pm
by Buddha443556
Congratulations on the new job!

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:46 pm
by DaveTheAve
That awesome dude! Now you know the next step right? After a few months ask & see if they'll pay for your Certification ;)

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:03 pm
by alex.barylski
DaveTheAve wrote:That awesome dude! Now you know the next step right? After a few months ask & see if they'll pay for your Certification ;)
Why would he want a certification now that he has a job???

Papers are usually only good when you don't have "real" world experience...I guess it wouldn't hurt...but it probably won't help either... :P

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:10 pm
by Kieran Huggins
I'm with Hockey on this one... people only look at certs for entry level jobs in my experience. Even in our field, being able to name some projects you've worked on will go miles beyond any cert... which is a good reason to make shareware or contribute to open source!

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:11 am
by Buddha443556
One of the few perks of being a maze mouse ... I mean employed ... is getting your employer to send you off for certification, conferences and other diversions preferably to locations like Las Vegas, San Fransisco or even out of the country. All expenses paid. Of course only the good little mice need dream of such perks.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:35 am
by onion2k
Nice one Ole, I'm happy for you.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:40 am
by Oren
Congrats ole! :wink:

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:44 am
by Gordman
The first thing's first, congrats! A good job requires a high stress, did you thought about that? I don't want to write a discouraging comment but every little thing has two sides: a good side and a bad side.