From Fortran to Forking
My new career as a jobbing gardener has begun to gather pace. I've carefully cleared the overgrown bank of a small brook, savagely slashed back two hundred yards of weed-choked ditch, and will set off this afternoon to introduce the idea of control and restraint into the unruly geraniums in a lady's garden. The weather, of course, has tried to persuade me that I still really belong back in the software business. So too has an agency.
I had a phone call the other day, something about embedded C and Linux on the South coast. C beside the sea, I thought, and without really thinking, said I didn't mind if they put me forward, knowing that my work history is so varied and unusual most recruiters put the CV aside after the second page and move on to someone who's done nothing but C and SQL for the past twenty years. Something in my past must have looked promising, because I came home last night, still green with grass powder thrown back by the strimmer, to find a request for me to go for an interview. Well, if nothing else, it's an excuse for a trip down to somewhere I've only visited briefly in the past.
And my dilemma is this. Supposing I land this work? It might indeed be a smart idea to have an inside job through the winter months, but could I then get back into the great outdoors when the spring returns and the software is commissioned? I do like the feeling that builds up inside me after several hours of physical work, and I do like to look over the results of my efforts and actually see something. The trouble with software is that it's usually invisible, unless it goes wrong. I can't point to things and say to people "I worked on that, that's my handiwork."
I thought I'd made my choice, but something inside of me still wants to have one last software contract, it seems. But I shall have to make my mind up soon: do I throw the interview? Do I give it my all, and then if I am offered the role, stick out for an improbable rate? Or do I say, quite firmly, "No, I'm not that person any more."
Goodbye C, hello seeds?
I had a phone call the other day, something about embedded C and Linux on the South coast. C beside the sea, I thought, and without really thinking, said I didn't mind if they put me forward, knowing that my work history is so varied and unusual most recruiters put the CV aside after the second page and move on to someone who's done nothing but C and SQL for the past twenty years. Something in my past must have looked promising, because I came home last night, still green with grass powder thrown back by the strimmer, to find a request for me to go for an interview. Well, if nothing else, it's an excuse for a trip down to somewhere I've only visited briefly in the past.
And my dilemma is this. Supposing I land this work? It might indeed be a smart idea to have an inside job through the winter months, but could I then get back into the great outdoors when the spring returns and the software is commissioned? I do like the feeling that builds up inside me after several hours of physical work, and I do like to look over the results of my efforts and actually see something. The trouble with software is that it's usually invisible, unless it goes wrong. I can't point to things and say to people "I worked on that, that's my handiwork."
I thought I'd made my choice, but something inside of me still wants to have one last software contract, it seems. But I shall have to make my mind up soon: do I throw the interview? Do I give it my all, and then if I am offered the role, stick out for an improbable rate? Or do I say, quite firmly, "No, I'm not that person any more."
Goodbye C, hello seeds?
posted by Sopwith-Camel | 9:54 am
8 Comments:
I prefer the seeds. Although I'm also an Internet addict. So I have no answer, as it seems...
My rule for this dilemma revolves around choices. At all times I endeavour to give myself as many choices as possible. This may sound selfish or insensitive but after 18 years of IT contracting (also in C & SQL among many, many others) I have encountered clients who invite me to interviews for contracts that don't exist, or haven't yet got budget approval, or that have already been offered to the CEO's daughter.
If you turn down the interview you will instantly restrict your choices. By attending the interview you are making no commitment but you are keeping potential choices open.
To me it's a no-brainer. Why would you not want to keep your options open for as long as possible? Until the moment you actually sign a contract you're free to revert to the outdoor life.
Now tell me I'm wrong!
Taiga, how about some internet seeds that you plant in your computer and they grow into flowers around the borders of your screen?
LS, I'm going to have to go along and go through the motions, if only to say farewell to the contract scene. I've had enough of being turned away from potential work because I don't have the particular version of Oracle that the client is (apparently) stipulating, or don't have 4 years experience of Vista :)
God, you mean Vista's been plaguing this world for 4 years? Jesus christ. Four years and it's still a fuckup.
I was digressing, wasn't I?
It's commutable, isn't it? Lanky Streak speaks a language I like - keep those options open, S.
Not that I'm any judge but I think you want to take the software job so do it.
P, The Vista joke is an old one, based on an apocryphal agency posting in 2001 asking for someone with 4 years experience in Windows 2000
LS, I should have guessed you were anither IT person the moment you mentioned the distance you commuted :)
Ziggi, I know I want to do it, the issue is that it's an old habit; should I give in because it's a safe way out, or should I break new ground and charge boldly into an acre of unknown undergrowth?
Manual labour isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially on a cold January morning and the wet stuff is filling your boots as it runs out of, in turn, your hat,your coat and your trousers.I suppose at least it will be a half a degree warmer by the time it gets to your boots so, hey, every silver lining has a cloud.
Kev
Well Kev, it's still better than clinging to the rails waist-deep in water on a deep-sea trawler, which is where I started out, so I'll see what the winter brings. I was going to say at least you can;t drown on dry land, but the last few weeks have shown otherwise, sadly.
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