Stuff to do with me and about me
Today I start my new job as I.T. Technician for the local College.
Last time I started a new job was well over 16 years ago. Have to be a bit honest and say that it`s a bit daunting as well as exciting.
It looks like I have a massive learning curve a head of me, not only new systems and up to date software to get used to, but also new working procedures, new staff, new buildings new everything.
Today I had a job interview for the job role of IT Technician at the local College.
Again I was stressing about having to go somewhere and have an interview, even though it was only a few minutes down the road. I was last at the College some 30 years ago when I used to go swimming, and from what I have seen today and have been told a lot has changed there.
I had my test, in which time run out far too quick, and then my interview with the Head of IT and the Head of HR, which was more enjoyable than I was expecting, and lastly a quick chat with the Bursar. I then left to go home after being told that I would hear by the end of the day if I had been successful or not š More stressing!
While I was at home with T later in the evening my VoIP phone rang, my mind went into immediate `Is it the College or is it another recruitment agency ?` over and over what seemed like thousands of time. The phone had a local area code number on it so I picked up and said hello ā it was the College offering me the job!!!!!
After my verbal acceptance I was told that the job was subject to two things – the second reference being received and a CRB check being completed.
I put the phone down and sat there not knowing what to do for a few minutes! I was well chuffed to say the least and didnāt have long to wait until I could tell someone as the wife had just come home. I then proceeded to tell everyone that I had got the job š
Christmas is back on.
Today I had my second interview for a job ad IT Technical as a company in Harlow again. This time it was for a job at a reptile live feeds company. Seeing as I am a proud owner of a reptile, Yoda the Green Iguana, I thought it might add a bit of weight to my application.
I had to sit through a quick test answering some questions so they could build up a profile of me and then I have an interview with one of the Directors and the Head of Finance. The director seemed like a very nice chap.
I left feeling much better than the first interview I went on, but will have to see what the outcome is and if they want me back for a second interview.
Today I had my first interview for a job as IT Manager at a company in Harlow. This will be the first time in almost 16 years that I have had an interview and to say that I am not looking forward to it would be an understatement š but as I have been told loads of times, itās always good to get the first one out of the way so you know what you are going to go through after that.
I doubt that I will get the job but I have to try, as I want to get back to work ASAP.
I had the interview with an External IT Consultant and the HR Manager; both of them were very nice people. Had to answer a few interesting questions about what I would do in certain scenarios but hopefully I didnāt come across and a complete bumbling idiot!
I will wait to see what the outcome of that is and see if they invite me to a second interview.
Today I finish my job as I.T. Manager for the company that I have worked at for the past 15 years.
I have had a great time while I have been working here.
I have worked with some great people including Proper Boss Man, Matraco, Dick Thick, Doughnuts, Barry, Tasty Stella, DMTH, Bustit, Mrs G,Ā M25, Brown Owl, I Don`t Eat Cheese Ever, BV, Pid, Blakey, Tripes, Hammond, Freya, Polgara, Mi Lady, Aubergine Hair, Patsy, Henry VIII, The Muffin Lady, Derek Trotter, RFER, The Hacker, Smiler, Work Shy, Granny Banger, FatLad, The Hottest Female in the Office, St Wood, The Village Idiot, Cookie, El Tel, Pod, Junior, Brother Brown.
Unfortunately, I have also worked with some not so great people – I won`t name those idiots here as they deserve no recognition at all!
I was asked if I wanted to go out for lunch with 2 of the Directors, as a way of saying thank you for everything I have done in the past and also to say thank you for being adult and mature about the situation – unlike other people I am always mature about things.
I thought about that and took note from what one of my old bosses of several years ago used to say `Never turn down free food`. According to him lots of the business decisions and what software we would be purchasing was decided on how good the business lunch was.
So I headed off to have my lunch with them, it was nice and I got a lot of advice from one of them, while the other one spouted on about him and what he had done and money! Needless to say that part was not enjoyable.
When I got back, I was asked loads of times `What would I be sabotaging when I leave??` Sabotaging – do people really do that?
“Can you make the whole system fail when you leave”, one person said to me
Well the system has not had any money spent on it for over 2 years due to the idiots running it and given who is taking over from me it won`t be long before that happens anyway…..
“Are you going to delete all your documents” said another
No, they are stored in an encrypted drive volume (due to the nature of some of the work I was asked to do) as well as the file system on that volume being encrypted with EFS, as soon as they force change my password, which they should do as soon as I walk out the door, they will not be able to recover any of my files.
“Are you going to take any laptops when you leave?” I was also asked
No, there are no descent laptops, they have all been taken or have disappeared without anyone updating the asset database.
As the day came to an end I finished up my work, well when I say work I don`t really mean work as I`ve not really been doing anything since I got my electronic redundancy letter, I have however been typing a very frank and honest hand over document, well I say hand over document, its more things I can remember, and want to, tell them that they will need.
I also got sent an email by one of the above non mentioned who were taking over from me asking me all kinds of questions that really should have been asked by now. After typing and very loud `Fuck Off`, I deleted it and answered the questions as best I could, after all I am always adult and mature about things. I was honest though š
I then zapped my computer, after all it had been running an operating system that was not licensed and as I had been trying for over 2 years to get that and other licensing issues sorted with no joy I wasnāt going to expose the company to any risks that I could get blamed for, even though I have email evidence in my 3 cloud storage accounts to cover me š
As I was trying to leave, I noticed that pretty much all of the Directors had disappeared, with the exception of just one, who doubled for the HR Director. When I say HR Director I do mean that in the loosest terms possible! She wanted to speak to me and I just wanted to get out, but IĀ decided to be pleasant. It was suggested to me that I should try and get a job with one of our software suppliers, the same software suppliers that had not been paid for over a year and who were with holding support until they did get paid. Hmmm I don`t think so.
That over, I done the off as quick as I could possible do.
I have no idea what I will be doing next, or when I will be getting another job, or what it will be, but what I do know is that it won`t be the last time that I will be hearing from the company I am leaving today š
Goodbye everyone, good luck!
Well today I had my consultation meeting! Well when I say consultation meeting I mean more of a farce than a meeting.
I had the opportunity to take a representative in with me, so I chose to take my friend and college š Patsy. I thought if it all starts to kick off she would be the best person to help me out and wade in.
I only really had 2 questions to ask the person taking the meetingĀ – how much redundancy money would I be getting for my 15 years? and how quick do you want me to go?
Now, given that I had been with the company for that long, surely they would want to extract as much information from me as possible to make sure the company carried on working?
Hmmm no, I was told that I could go whenever I wanted, which suited me perfectly to be honest as i had well and truly had enough now.
As for how much, it was the bare minimum that they could get away with, and not only that they were going to spread it over 4 months as they could not afford to pay me it all in one lump – sounds about right!
The farce came in the form of the person taking the Consultation Meeting, the HR Director, who kept asking my representative about her Accounts job and talking to us about stuff going on that she is doing and other such topics that were nothing to do with the meeting in hand.
Now I am pretty sure that she should not be doing that, I know I am not a HR professional, but seriously….
So I left the meeting, another 54 minutes of my life wasted with the answers to my 2 questions.
I now need to go home and ponder on the following points from the meeting –
1) I can leave as soon as I want.
2) I will have enough money to last me 6 months.
3) There is no other job along the same job spec as I am currently doing as they do not need an I.T. Manager any more.
4) I want out of there as soon as I can.
Not sure there is much thinking to do there to be honest………
Today I got told that I was being made redundant! It was also one of my very few holiday days that I was going to spend with the family as it was a Friday off before a weekend, but it didn`t stop my employer doing things oh so wrong!!
Believe it or not I got emailed my redundancy notice, along with a very nice email saying
“I personally wished to be able to hand this to you in person. But I understand you are on leave.
I very much hope & I`m sure that in the proposed meeting, All options that are currently available will be discussed.”
Strange as I`m pretty much on 24×7 support for them and get calls for some of the most stupid stuff, so why not call me for something so very important?
Anyways, reading the email that I got and the attached scan of the letter that was posted out to me this evening, I have simplified the hidden meaning to the following
“Here is your `You have been selected for possible redundancy paperwork` which you know means that we are going to get rid of you, even though you are the I.T. Manager and run the I.T. Department on your own, but we need to make room for people that have nowhere near the skill set that you have and that we need to run the company, and who have experience of the organisation and its workings.
I would have called you in person but as you know I don`t do confrontation due to not having a pair!”
UPDATE – 19/08/2011 Since receiving this email, the sender has not said one word to me about the email he sent me, he has only looked at me once as he walked passed my desk!
I can honestly say that this is no surprise to me, and to be honest I am surprised that it has taken so long, but I am glad in a way that it has happened as it will give me the push that I need.
Today I received what I am going to call an `anonymous communication` detailing to me that I will soon be out of a job.
It was made quite clear to me the circumstances that it was mentioned in and the said person or persons are a trusted source to me. I was told under no circumstances not to repeat this information to anyone it would be obvious where it came from, which was fine with me.
So, with that in mind, I have scaled back my job seeking tasks and will sit back and wait for the said deed to happen. I stand to lose a fair bit if I desert the sinking ship now and I donāt really want to do that.
I just need to get on with my job and try and ignore the people who are making it unbearable and hell.
Oh what joy……
I was called into a meeting today, to be introduced to a couple of new subcontractors that will be working for the company. Was told that these 2 contractors had a huge knowledgebase if I.T. information and experience and that I could call on them for help when I have problems or need to know how to do things properly (Yep I was really told that!!).
Ignoring that I don`t do things properly I welcomed the help as I had been working on my own running the I.T. Infrastructure for several years now and this was the first sign of any help coming my way.
So, putting that vast knowledgebase of information to the test I thought I would ask a few questions
Q) Do any of you have VB.Net or ASP.Net programming experience? As we do a lot of development in apps and websites.
A) No
Q) Do any of you have experience with IIS?
A) No
Q) Do any of you have experience with JRCS and the software that we use for our Service Management Needs?
A) No
I can see a pattern forming here
Q) Do you have any experience with Mitel 3300 and Teleworker VOIP phone solutions?
A) No
Q) Do you have any experience setting up and maintaining Private mobile APNs and the network infrastructure?
A) No
Q) Can you install an operating system?
A) Yes
Thank fuck for that!
I was also told that they would not, and I repeat not, be taking my job. Strange that they should want to tell me that as that….. But I was told that 5 times throughout the course of the meeting, which only made me think one thing ……
As soon as I get home tonight I will be signing up to Monster, Reed and anyone else ….