Prospect of losing job looming due to lack of work

413x

413x

413x

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So life takes another dive

Looking for advice on this one

I'll do a summary before the drivel

-Likely that I will loose my job (or be moved internally) at this point I don't have a clue
-This is due to lack of work to fill my time
-Likely time is 3 months of pay left
-Within this 3 months I have loads of spare time evening and weekends (to do a course)
-Im not bound by location at all (can move anywhere within this time)
-I don't really fit into any job well due to career/education mix
-relationship breakdown + job worries + mental issues mean I'm basically have zero happy thoughts right now.
-is there anything useful I cab do with this spare time to help aid me (courses etc) if I do get redundancy?
-how do you present to your senior boss you don't think you have enough to do



The paragraph..

So I am working within a project within a company. Not really management side more the detail.
The overall project contains a number of smaller ones. Some insignificant with a couple of major ones.
Problem is one is becoming apparent as unfeasible.
Thus there isn't going to be enough work for a full time job.

Also, in general no one really seems interested at senior level. I'm pretty sure I could do nothing for a week and nobody would know.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to talk to my bosses boss (the guy who is my line manager is off for months) who really doesn't know much at all. He is also new, doesn't understand etc.

Best (easiest) case seems to be an internal move (big enough company)
But I don't particularly see anywhere I can drop into

Worst case is obviously redundancy.

So following the ending of my 6 year relationship I could be jobless in 3 months.
Only benefit is that I'm no longer bound by location (short term rent, no ties to where I live, no friends). I'd go anywhere.
Down side is that I have a strange work/education mix which makes finding jobs very hard.


With now so much time day to day (alone, no friends, no partner) but potentially little time before I have no money (assuming 3 months left at worst case l
Are there any glaring free courses/self teach options I could make worth while in that time?

I obviously need to find out what the company is going to do with me, but I want to prepare for the worst.


If losing love of your life isnt bad enough (and those that know how bad I've been know) then the stress and anxiety of this.. Dunno what it could do
 
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I have a science degree (molecular biology) but never had a job utilise it
I worked in a dead end generic science job after uni for 3 years. Basically a waste of time

Took a project at a uni for 10 months on biofuel experiment from algae to get out of first job. This was also a bit of a failure as legal side held up the guts of the project for 6 months

Now I work with data/stats but no formal education in stats

Over 2 years with the company

Oh and I'm 29
 
Having a look around at 'data analytics' jobs

Seems a lot require excel/vba (which I am very good at) and sql (which I'm not)
The jobs aren't too badly paid and from what I gather sql shouldn't be to difficult to pick up to a good standard in 3 months?

Basically this is my thinking to at least have something to go to which is equivalent to what I do now
 
I'm now single al4x said:
Having a look around at 'data analytics' jobs

Seems a lot require excel/vba (which I am very good at) and sql (which I'm not)
The jobs aren't too badly paid and from what I gather sql shouldn't be to difficult to pick up to a good standard in 3 months?
Click to expand...

shouldn't be too hard - you can get the basics done in a couple of hours

'data analyst' roles can be very varied - it isn't a well defined term... some of them are fairly basic roles that require you to know excel/VBA + some SQL as you've seen... or maybe some basic stats, R programming etc... you can end up as a sort of glorified business analyst/business intelligence type person

others require rather more in depth knowledge - more advanced stats, good knowledge of machine learning, filtering techniques etc.. etc.. the sort of roles that might be taken by properly trained statisticians or that might be labeled 'data scientist' at other places... tend to require graduate degrees - though you can often end up with people with post graduate education doing the first kind of role anyway... or you can end up with people with not many quals doing the whole 'business intelligence' thing

either way there are plenty of free resources out there on udacity, coursera etc..

udacity runs a data analyst nanodegree which might be useful for you - does require a monthly fee
 
dowie said:
shouldn't be too hard - you can get the basics done in a couple of hours

'data analyst' roles can be very varied - it isn't a well defined term... some of them are fairly basic roles that require you to know excel/VBA + some SQL as you've seen... or maybe some basic stats, R programming etc... you can end up as a sort of glorified business analyst/business intelligence type person

others require rather more in depth knowledge - more advanced stats, good knowledge of machine learning, filtering techniques etc.. etc.. the sort of roles that might be taken by properly trained statisticians or that might be labeled 'data scientist' at other places... tend to require graduate degrees - though you can often end up with people with post graduate education doing the first kind of role anyway... or you can end up with people with not many quals doing the whole 'business intelligence' thing

either way there are plenty of free resources out there on udacity, coursera etc..

udacity runs a data analyst nanodegree which might be useful for you - does require a monthly fee
Click to expand...

I fit in that awkward middle ground
I do some quite complex stuff but only familiar with one software package. And it isn't R
And as you say data scientist often requires some sort of statistian

I don't mind paying a monthly fee at all if it is worth it.

I don't see why (being unbound by location) I couldn't at least pick up a 'analyst' role after getting a handle on sql and some R
I know what I need from statistical methods but not how to perform them in R (for example)
Which would hopefully give me a job at least and then see if I want to go either route?

Reasonable?
 
why not

also it doesn't have to be R.... matlab and python are rather useful to know too

and various stats packages - still seems to be plenty of work out there for people who know SAS for example
 
dowie said:
why not

also it doesn't have to be R.... matlab and python are rather useful to know too

and various stats packages - still seems to be plenty of work out there for people who know SAS for example
Click to expand...

Where I am at the minute I use a sas product but it's very gui driven. It's a great package but I never see it mentioned elsewhere.
Python seems to be used everywhere. I always see references to it.
 
As long as you know / understand the math behind the software, it shouldn't matter too much if you haven't used a particular software or not, unless you are going in for very short term gig.

How about going abroad? Go for a year or two and make a triumphant return to the UK job market with "international experience" under your belt?

Or maybe even apply for some Master's Programs in statistics, applied maths or whatever would make you suitable candidate for these analyst roles if you'd like to pursue that field? If you do this, I'd suggest choosing from countries that offer Master's in English and asks for no tuition fees like Nordic countries.
 
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surely the cost of living in a Nordic country for a year makes the tuition fee
savings irrelevant?

I don't think stats masters are too expensive generally, tis a good suggestion though

could also try distance learning - do one part time while working perhaps, the OU doesn't offer one but Sheffield has introduced one:

https://www.shef.ac.uk/maths/prospectivepg/taughtpg/pgstats/msc/distancelearners

there is also Georgia Tech - they offer an online MS in Computer Science with a machine learning specialisation:

http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/
 
I'm now single al4x said:
So life takes another dive

Looking for advice on this one

I'll do a summary before the drivel

-Likely that I will loose my job (or be moved internally) at this point I don't have a clue
-This is due to lack of work to fill my time
-Likely time is 3 months of pay left
-Within this 3 months I have loads of spare time evening and weekends (to do a course)
-Im not bound by location at all (can move anywhere within this time)
-I don't really fit into any job well due to career/education mix
-relationship breakdown + job worries + mental issues mean I'm basically have zero happy thoughts right now.
-is there anything useful I cab do with this spare time to help aid me (courses etc) if I do get redundancy?
-how do you present to your senior boss you don't think you have enough to do



The paragraph..

So I am working within a project within a company. Not really management side more the detail.
The overall project contains a number of smaller ones. Some insignificant with a couple of major ones.
Problem is one is becoming apparent as unfeasible.
Thus there isn't going to be enough work for a full time job.

Also, in general no one really seems interested at senior level. I'm pretty sure I could do nothing for a week and nobody would know.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to talk to my bosses boss (the guy who is my line manager is off for months) who really doesn't know much at all. He is also new, doesn't understand etc.

Best (easiest) case seems to be an internal move (big enough company)
But I don't particularly see anywhere I can drop into

Worst case is obviously redundancy.

So following the ending of my 6 year relationship I could be jobless in 3 months.
Only benefit is that I'm no longer bound by location (short term rent, no ties to where I live, no friends). I'd go anywhere.
Down side is that I have a strange work/education mix which makes finding jobs very hard.


With now so much time day to day (alone, no friends, no partner) but potentially little time before I have no money (assuming 3 months left at worst case l
Are there any glaring free courses/self teach options I could make worth while in that time?

I obviously need to find out what the company is going to do with me, but I want to prepare for the worst.


If losing love of your life isnt bad enough (and those that know how bad I've been know) then the stress and anxiety of this.. Dunno what it could do
Click to expand...

To your last point, no.

To your whole thing: speak to someone. I don't mean us. You should do this, champ :)
 
Moses said:
Not in my experience.
Click to expand...

well I've not been there as a student but have been on business before - hotels, restaurants and bars all very expensive... Big Mac index has Scandinavian countries at the top... we certainly had them down for the highest per diem rates

is the accommodation fairly cheap or something?
 
I'm now single al4x said:
Where I am at the minute I use a sas product but it's very gui driven. It's a great package but I never see it mentioned elsewhere.
Python seems to be used everywhere. I always see references to it.
Click to expand...

I am a "glorified business analyst/business intelligence type person" as dowie put it and I can assure you that SAS does get mentioned (it's not something I use personally though).

SQL is a good skill to have in the sense that many roles expect it even if it isn't going to necessarily provide a path to elitedom relative to more niche skillsets. If you are concerned that you don't have much in the way of transferable skills then it wouldn't be the worst thing to develop.

-how do you present to your senior boss you don't think you have enough to do
Click to expand...

You don't, at least not that directly. You can talk about wanting to take on additional responsibilities, get involved in new projects etc, but I certainly wouldn't approach a senior manager who is a layer removed and probably only thinks of you as a budget line on a spreadsheet and tell them your role is effectively redundant. You say you could do nothing for a week and no-one would bat an eyelid; assuming your pay is reasonable why not exploit that and keep coining it while doing some study or whatever.
 
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