Curved balls and luck

I wrote on this here blog not 3 weeks ago about how I had landed a new job that was a similar commute to my old job (and current assignment) but was a perm job in one location without the hassle of a consultants "might be anywhere next month" concerns.  Well err.. I got offered another job this week.  I am so privileged.  I read, hear, see plenty on the news that this recession we are in is hard for people and unemployment is rising and many are really struggling to find any employment and here is me now with a job with a company that don't want me to leave but which I have a major lifestyle choice issue with, another company locally offering a really good job and now a really exciting opportunity in London!

I'm taking the London based one - firstly it is right in the centre and a few mins walk from a terminus with a regular service from my local station.  It is with a top university and is at ground zero today - i.e. they are transforming their IT function and have started to create the new one from the top down, I'm the next in at the management layer and have to define the shape, strategies, culture etc. of an entire new group.  Working with top notch researchers in many disciplines is going to be a challenge but also what a fantastic environment to be privileged to be in.

I am very very blessed at the moment.  Luckily as well this has all come through just before we head off to the Lakes for a family break together - so I can go into that relaxed that I have a future shape that fits me very well and will provide me with some unbelievable opportunities.

There is also a bit of irony around this for me.  I never went to uni myself, I flunked at A levels through starting the course late due to a daft idea to try and get a job at 16 which my Dad finally talked me out of, then I was only there until the big record contract was landed with the band, so too much time spent playing the guitar than working and finally I didn't really pick the right subjects for me.  But the one A level I did get got me into a training scheme with a local firm and a place on an HND course in Computer Studies... always been a bit of a chip on my shoulder that I'm not a graduate, and I know I've been rejected for jobs even now in my late 40s because of that.   And now here I am joining a leading university as part of the IT management team - I should lay that monkey totally to rest shouldn't I?  A dear friend and old boss of mine is similar - i.e. came from working class background and no university... he made it to VP in my old company and reports to the CIO in a worldwide respected very high profile organisation whose opinions are considered globally when given.  So anyone out there who knows someone who is struggling to find a placement after A levels - point them at us two, you can achieve without a degree you know. :-)

Comments

  1. Nic 19 August 2011 at 21:22

    Good for you, F'on! That's great. :-) P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shawn19 August 2011 at 22:21

    Congratulations! Sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Enjoying your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Liz Hinds21 August 2011 at 21:41

    What fantastic news! Well done. You are - for many reasons - a great example!

    ReplyDelete
  4. JohnJayJay23 August 2011 at 23:36

    Actually, here in America, where the costs of a university education are skyrocketing, there is a discussion as to the real value of a degree, especially if one is saddled with crushing debt after graduating. I know some very successful people who never went to college, and I know many more, like myself, who have degrees in fields that have absolutely NOTHING to do with the careers they ended up in. For instance, my job, and the advancement I have had within it, have had nothing to do with me possessing that almighty piece of "sheepskin" (does that slang translate? If not, it's just Yank slang for college degree...).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nic 27 August 2011 at 08:05

    Quiet F'on. Hope the F'ons are okay. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Furtheron27 August 2011 at 18:32

    @JohnJayJay - with the costs rising here you have to think - it is nothing like the USA I hasten to add... it'll be £9000 a year tuition fees from next Sept.

    Soon we'll face this with my daughter... I'm sure for my son it was the obvious thing to do, he wants to be a research physicist - tricky as a hobby in your shed without any uni training :-)

    My daughter... I don't know, more than bright enough, another string of A's at GCSE this year shows that but again depends on career which she still isn't certain on...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Laura28 August 2011 at 03:21

    Congratulations! You are indeed blessed... :)

    ((Hugs))
    Laura

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fantasy Signature Guitar

Image
I got this from IHeartGuitarBlog who got it from the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum Here are a set of questions to answer about your own fantasy signature guitar... Q1: Which company called you? Q2: Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? Q3: What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours? Q4: What other customizations do you make to the guitar? Q5: What special piece of “case candy” goes with it as a collector’s item? Right here goes... Q1: Which company called you? Fender Q2: Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? Strat. Q3: What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours? Ash body, rosewood fingerboard 12" radius, large 70s style headstock but four bolt neck joint. Non trem! Twin humbuckers, with tone and vol each and coil taps on the tone controls. Q4: What other customizations do you make to the guitar? Locking machine heads - not really needed but make string chan
Read more

12 String Guitar - Bridge Doctor Installation

Image
Remember my 12 string needing to have it's overbelly reduced?  Well I ordered a Bridge Doctor  from StewMac in the USA which arrived in a couple of weeks. Here is the bridge doctor before installation Here is the action before - about 5mm on the bass side and about 3mm on the treble. The guitar on the workbench Hole drilled - I got a 1/4" brad bit for the outer hole and used a cocktail stick marked at 1/8" as my depth gauge.  You get a little plastic dot you can inlay over the screw once finished - I may do that later when I get happy with it.  Luckily I have a local little hardware shop that stock imperial drills and are cheaper than the big stores... no doubt as the stock has been there 20 years! Set the doctor to the best width - the circular plastic bolt holder has three settings - I used the widest you can see to allow string clearance on the 12 string - on a 6 string the middle would probably be best setting.  The doctor installed - t
Read more

Let's talk plectrums...

... or should that be plectra I'm no good at that kind of English... to boldly go and all that. (If you are not a guitarist here is a health warning about this post, it may lead to you attempting to chew off a limb to retain conscious or keep your sanity...) My history of plectrum use is... Bloody huge triangular Gibson ones, heavy, I used to wear them out so they ended up pretty much circular in a matter of days/weeks. Odd at that time I had a Strat copy and used Gibson Strings and Gibson picks - I even went for Gibson strings with a wound third at one point after reading heavier strings gave a better tone... yes but you can't play the damn thing and could never get the intonation sorted out after an older mentor showed me what that nonsense was all about. For a long time there after I used Fender medium the hard once, often in tortoiseshell as I thought that classy for some bizarre reason. "Hello darling look at my tortoiseshell picks." I never had many girlfriends
Read more