How did you get there?

Nix

Nix

Nix

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
Posts
19,841
So, I've just spent another morning exploring my options for employment and as a consequence found myself once again being shot down as I painfully stumble across more avenues where the doors are closed then there are windows open. Of course, it really doesn't help that there's the recession, but it's simply the reality now; it's not going away anytime soon. This rejection has been the story for quite some time and now I'm well and truly in a rut: I'm becoming apathetic and my life lacks any purpose. I'm now at the point where I just can't be bothered to apply anywhere anymore as I already know it's not going to help; it's simply a wasted effort on my part. It's unhealthy thinking, but it's what I've been left with: ladies and gentlemen, it seems I've fallen through the preverbial cracks. :(

I know this probably sounds a little melodramatic, but it does feel like the whole world is trying to crap on me at the moment as nothing ever seems to work out. At 23, I should have the world at my feet and everything within reach, but I might aswell be an animal in the zoo. I'm on the bottom rungs of a society which is entirely geared towards keeping me there. I've tried so hard to grow into what I thought was a decent person, but objectively speaking it really does feel as if it's been for nothing. I'm not a cog in the machine, I'm a spare part that no-one has any use for.

Anyway, I thought I'd try and flip this on its head and turn it into what I thought might be an interesting thread. I don't want people trying to 'mother' me or entertain their pedagogical impulses so as to explain to me those painfully obvious lessons which I'm already well aware; I'm not an idiot and I'm not a child, I'm just a little short on luck presently.

So, with that in mind, my question is simple: what is it you do career-wise and how did you get there? Did you imagine yourself where you are today or has it been a wild ride finding your feet? Has the journey been an easy one or did you have to explore some 'untraditional' routes? For those of you who've been in similar situations as myself: how did you escape (if at all)?

There is naturally an element of practicality here, but I am genuinely curious too. Cheers.
 
Sounds like you are aiming too high. Start at the bottom then, once you are working, apply for better jobs. If you get one then great, if you don't then you still have a job.
 
I work for General Motors as a third line support analyst, am I happy? yes, and it could be worse, the thing about it is that I have been offered 3 jobs but when I have to weigh up the pros and cons of the new job I have stuck with GM...

The stress at the moment is shocking, but the new Astra is getting good reviews so I'm happy, at the moment if one of the major IT systems goes down it cost GM 8k a minute so as you can guess thats pretty stressful too...

Did I imagine myself here... hmm... I guess so, but I didnt know what I wanted to do untill I was 17, I love computing, and all thinkings Data Systems related, and I guess thats a problem on the GF front as she says that I spend too much time on my computer and in Technical books...

I'm still looking for new jobs, ones that pay more... I love the whole process of how a car is created, and I think that I have unique experience, as I dont think that there are many people in thie country that can say that they have working in the IT industry in a car manufacturer and experienced the pressures to deliver that I have in an industry that has to cut costs, find new processes that include IT heavily and manufacture something like car companies do...

On the down side I have seen so many people lose their job due to under performance and failure to deliver on projects and just doing their job, I can count 5 shift managers and 2 plant managers in about a year and a half... its such a high pressured job that you have to get right first time!!!

Stelly
 
Nix said:
how did you escape (if at all)?.
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I haven't yet, but currently planning to though, just gathering funds atm and I'll be on my way, heading back top LDN town, tired of Cornwall, hardly any serious job prospects down here, the kind of work that I'm doing is what I enjoy but I don't really get along with my current employer, so once I head back home I'll take anything I can get and work my way up, I don't mind taking a pay-cut tbh, I only have myself to look after.
 
What is it you do/want to do?

I currently run my own business for similar reasons to you. Finding a job was so hard I just decided to give myself a job.

Myself and a fellow graduate set up a wedding videography business before graduating as we knew getting a job in the media industry would be hard even without the recession. This has now turned into a very successful venture - enough to live on at least.

I was also lucky enough to get a full-time job for a media/copywriting agency. I was underpaid so now left I've decided to set up my own media agency. Got my first commission last week and all is looking good.

The business is still out there, so if you can't get a job then employ yourself.

Did I imagine myself here? Not doing exactly what I'm doing, no - I only picked up a video camera two years ago and now I'm an award winning videographer. But running my own business? Probably, I've always been quite entrepreneurial and enjoyed having lots of fingers in lots of pies rather than doing the same thing day in, day out.
 
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mame said:
Sounds like you are aiming too high. Start at the bottom then, once you are working, apply for better jobs. If you get one then great, if you don't then you still have a job.
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Honestly, I'm not aiming too high. I'm looking for anything and everything. Situation is this: graduate jobs want high flyers and local jobs want people with years of experience under their belts. I lack both and I'm just trying to find somewhere to fit in. I have absolutely no financial backing or savings to draw upon to help out or further myself. I am well and truly stuck in this circumstance until I can find employment to change that. I've applied for countless jobs which technically I should've at least been invited to interview for but I might aswell have not bothered. It's ridiculous.

dangerstat said:
Nix what did you graduate in and where from (it'd help me answer)
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Plymouth, Geography, Second-Class with honours. I have bad A-levels due to depression a few years back but I don't admit to it on application forms because I can't stand the stigma attached to it.

rghjones said:
What is it you do/want to do?
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This is one of those things I've never really known, but I've had some idea since I've graduated and after some gentle pushing from teachers, friends and lecturers. In an ideal world I'd like to be a writer of some sort. I have every intention of sitting down and doing this in my spare time a little further down the road, but this road requires a lot of patience and luck and I simply cannot put all my eggs in one basket.
 
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I'm currently the Network Administrator/IT Manager for a large mobile phone recycler, and I guess my last hop in the career ladder was quite simply down to luck (being in the right place at the right time, with the right contacts), rather than through hard work on my part.

It's taken me just over 6 years to work my way from 2nd line tech support monkey up to management/seniority, and whilst I did work hard for perhaps the first 4 years, I really lost motivation with the company I was with 5 years into my career (third company I had worked for).

I was at the end of my tether and about to just walk out with nowhere to go, when coincidentally on the same day I had written my "notice" (notice used loosely, it was more a letter slagging the MD off and saying I won't be back come Monday), I got offered my current job. This was completely down to personal reference rather than my skillset, but I slotted in nicely, and now have a good 3 projects on the go at once, keeping me not only entertained, but also up-to-date :)

Moral of the story: It's better to be lucky once than to work hard and get nowhere :p
 
Hope this isn't "mothering", but there are plenty who are "there" career-wise and are just as unhappy overall. It's shouldn't be your foremost measure of success..
 
wush said:
Hope this isn't "mothering", but there are plenty who are "there" career-wise and are just as unhappy overall. It's shouldn't be your foremost measure of success..
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I am indeed aware of that and it's something I'm desperate to avoid, hence the current difficulty.

I very much fall into the 'I wish to work to live' rather than 'live to work' demographic. However, I will be spending a large amount of my life at work, so I might aswell try and make it something enjoyable.
 
I'm in the same situation as you Nix, 23, graduated last year from Goldsmiths (History). The problem I find though is that I simply have very little idea what I want to do at the moment. I really want to apply to join the police, but Kent isn't recruiting at the moment, so Im kinda looking around for jobs that will tide me over in the meantime. But, like you say, lack of experience can be an issue, so I kinda feel like Im just coasting at the moment. It's quite disconcerting.
 
I'm a software developer and had a reasonably unconventional route of getting there.

I was always into computers as a kid and taught myself how to program BASIC on my Amstrad CPC. For whatever reason, I never really had any sort of formal education in IT though, never even did a GCSE or anything in it and ended up doing a maths degree.

My work ethic at the time was pretty much non-existent and I came out of uni with a 2.2 and never bothered to apply for any jobs. I went back to live with my parents for a while and bummed about for several months. Eventually when the lack of money and constant nagging from my parents got to me I walked into a tempting agency - it was about 7 months after graduating by this point.

I did a typing test and they said I had good speed and accuracy and they could probably get me a data entry job. I started doing data entry for an insurance company the next Monday and did that for a few months.
The bosses there seemed to like me and I got things done well with little complaining so they offered me a permanent position on the mighty salary of £10,800 (in 2002, and was still pretty crap then!) but I had nothing else on the horizon so took the job.

Fast forward another couple of months and I saw an internal vacancy for a junior software developer. I applied, did an aptitude test, which went pretty well, and then they invited me for an interview down in London (I was in Manchester at the time)

I went down had a chat with them and was offered the job a few days later. It was a pretty big risk by the person hiring considering at that time the only real programming I'd done was a few tiny little things on my own. Didn't even know what a relational database was!

Anyway, I accepted the job and moved down to London a few weeks later. It was a massive learning curve considering what I was before I started, but I took to it well and think I've done OK for myself.

Fast forward 7 years and in since then I've worked in front office IT for a leading investment bank and am currently contracting at an oil and gas major.

So, that's how I ended up where I am.
7 years ago I was entering insurance claims full time - if you want something then put your mind to it and go for it.
 
Nix said:
Plymouth, Geography, Second-Class with honours. I have bad A-levels due to depression a few years back but I don't admit to it on application forms because I can't stand the stigma attached to it.
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But I take it your after a technical career? Certainly don't worry too much about Alevels and your degree (though it will limit all sorts of graduate positions).

My opinion is to be very proactive in terms of what you are learning. Learn a relatively broad range of topics at little depth and a few at an advanced level. Try to pick some "up and coming" technologies, GPU computing for example. Put up a website and show how you can use them to solve problems. Submit papers to tech journals - even if they're really basic - say you've written something to highlight the most popular threads or topics on OCUK for example.

This might sound like a ball ache - but it will separate you from the 1,000s of other graduates who are stuck in the same position. Firstly it demonstrates that you can and do use technology to solve problems, that your proactive, and you'll find it easier to get a job in the up and coming areas with less experience.

I think a lot of graduates (and this may be in no way yourself) think that after a degree they are some how skilled and ready for the workplace. For the majority couldn't be further from the truth. If I was employing graduates for a technical role at my place I'd be looking for skills in these areas:

Scripting: Decent knowledge of using Unix / Linux, Unix scripting (sh etc.), Perl, Python, SQL

Base programming skills: Decent at one of C#, C, C++, Java

Extended topic: One particuar area of computing that they have an indepth knowledge of (High performance computing, Visualization, Maths / Stats computing, new technology types - SSDs/clusters/GPUs).

And remember you don't need to be employed to get experience. There's a myriad of GNU projects you could help out on, most of which are crying out for people to help. It might be that you start out just testing a product, but it's still experience.

Good luck with it Nix
 
I was lucky. I graduated with First Class (Hons) BSc Internet Computing. I found a job straight away, after A LOT of time spent searching. Eight months later I found a better job for a lot more money, and I've been there about a year an a half now. I'm 23, and I can see myself staying in this role for many more years. I am happy with my job.

It's much easier to find the 'right' job, when you have an income. Take any money you can right now, something better will come along.
 
Thanks dangerstat. I'm currently doing a work placement somewhere although I was told before I started not to expect any job from it, although the ladies I've worked with can't quite fathom why I haven't even had an interview as they think I'm lovely. In terms of my degree, I'm more geared towards the social sciences (history, politics, economics, psychology, sociology, etc.) than the hard sciences. However, I have studied modules for the latter too. My degree by its very nature is fragmented; one minute I was talking about AIDS in Botswana, the next about colonial history and developmental theory, then the next discussing climate models and their projected findings, etc. I took the degree for the very reason that I just wanted to learn and didn't know where I was to end up. Since I've graduated I've sped through several books (philosophy, history, etc.)

billysielu said:
It's much easier to find the 'right' job, when you have an income. Take any money you can right now, something better will come along.
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That's the problem, there isn't anything. Not too long ago, a member who lives locally on these boards (who I happen to know from many years ago) said he'd try and get me an interview where he worked. I had something to cling to at least, then the following week in the local paper his employer laid off over 200 jobs. The market here is terrible and what's more I can't apply for a good 50% due to not having a driving license.
 
Nix said:
I'm becoming apathetic and my life lacks any purpose. I'm now at the point where I just can't be bothered to apply anywhere anymore as I already know it's not going to help; it's simply a wasted effort on my part. It's unhealthy thinking, but it's what I've been left with: ladies and gentlemen, it seems I've fallen through the preverbial cracks. :(
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Don't give up mate, i've been looking for work for what seems like forever, but believe me something will come up, even if it's only cleaning loo's for the time being it's a job and money.

My ideal at the moment would be getting in at the bottom of an accountancy firm as thats what i'm training for. But I'm currently waiting to hear about a suopervisor position in a Tesco cafe.

Just keep searching mate something will come up, honestly.
 
The thing is, silly little things are really, really getting to me at the moment. I've moved back home (something I don't like to begin with) and I'm stuck in a small room which can be best described as a cupboard in a town I absolutely loathe - it's incredibly depressing. Couple that with the fact my social life has taken a complete nose-dive, I have practically zero disposible income and absolutely no sense of control: I hate everything about where I am at the moment. There's this absolute unbearable desire for change which I'm having to ignore and push to the back of my mind and it's horrible. My daily life has become the most mundane of battles from which there's no respite. I try and look for work now, and it mentally exhausts me as if I'm on some sick game-show where the things I didn't win are paraded out in front of me. :(
 
Im a funky happenin second line tech support guy at a Mobile operator. My parents way back when thought it would be a great idea for me to take Maths Physics and English literiture A levels.

I failed all except english lit. I then cut my losses and went to a technical college basically because I installed Quake 3 and it wouldn't work. I became frustrated and deleted the Quake 3 file on my c drive in the hope of reinstalling. Windows 98 decided this was a bad move.

I was so annoyed taking my computer to get fixed I decided I wanted to fix the damn thing myself. I joined the technical college and did computer maintenance. After leaving college having enjoyed a 2 year period of extraordinarily poor break dancing and smoking weed somehow I left with an understanding of building computers, installing stuff and networks. I promptly ustilised my skills to apply for a fitting job in a hotel where I waited on people. I got bored and then became a pot washer as I didn't have to wear a white shirt. This also got boring so I applied for a job with an ISP in that well known heartland of technology 'Middlesbrough'

I joined up and did lots of registrations and billing issues. I was happy. I was making the most money I had ever made. I bought many items and trinkets which I can't show you now as they were all either crappy or perishable. I was getting bored again and my coach's and or managers were a bunch of tossers mainly who had inflated ego's.

One day this bloke came round asking if anyone wanted to do nightshift and for some reason I jumped at the chance. I joined and was elated to find that everyone was down to earth and you had time to properly deal with customer issues. This was a revelation for me. Plus for the first time since leaving college I was doing a tech job and it felt good. It was just talking people through dial up connection issues with ADSL but it was my tech job and I liked it.

I was there for about a year. During that time we played football in the empty call centre, had boucy ball wars and I saw a UFO from the roof of the CNE building in middlesbrough. I also learned a lot. Then they decided to throw the night shift over to india. I left soon after. I then got fired twice. First from Virgin and then from BT. Then I got a job with the mobile provider im with now. Again I was stuck doing registrations. Then I bumped my self up a few times over a couple of years and now im in second line tech suport for Mobile's, Broadband and Mobile Broadband. I never get bored but I could always do with some more cash.
 
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