The 2025 Bum Thread

If your title was wrong just change it so it better describes what you did. It's not lying to present yourself more accurately.

As for the skills question, I think your AI course is more than 99% will have done, but the question isn't really about that - they want to hear about ongoing stuff a Dev would do, conferences, books, YouTube, etc. It's a stock interview question for a hands on role, somehow you're ending up in the wrong room.
 
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throwaway4372 said:
If your title was wrong just change it so it better describes what you did. It's not lying to present yourself more accurately.
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True. I may try that. Portfolio Product Lead for example.

throwaway4372 said:
As for the skills question, I think your AI course is more than 99% will have done, but the question isn't really about that - they want to hear about ongoing stuff a Dev would do, conferences, books, YouTube, etc. It's a stock interview question for a hands on role, somehow you're ending up in the wrong room.
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Precisely my point.
 
My contract ends end of Jan 2026 and due to a weird rule where I am only allowed to work for 9 years at this company I am losing my job then.
No idea what I will do next. there are very few jobs in my field I am interested in and a lot of them want a PHD which I don't have. I am only looking for something for 10 years and considering a total change and maybe driving an Uber or getting licence to be driving instructor if I can't get a job in my field.
fortunately I have no mortgage and make around £6k PA off passive earnings so I don't need to earn a huge amount..... that said my pension isn't massive even tho it pays out at 60.
 
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bigmike20vt said:
My contract ends end of Jan 2026 and due to a weird rule where I am only allowed to work for 9 years at this company I am losing my job then.
No idea what I will do next. there are very few jobs in my field I am interested in and a lot of them want a PHD which I don't have. I am only looking for something for 10 years and considering a total change and maybe driving an Uber or getting licence to be driving instructor if I can't get a job in my field.
fortunately I have no mortgage and make around £6k PA off passive earnings so I don't need to earn a huge amount..... that said my pension isn't massive even tho it pays out at 60.
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That rule is quite often 3 or 7 years depending on the company, it's to prevent the company from being nailed by HMRC and for limiting risk.

An option could be contact third party vendors that are partners of the company - they'd love your insight for an immediate contract option.. or.. work in a competitor - there's plenty of contractors that bounce between competitors (just because you know the landscape rather than insider secrets).

You have a benefit that you can say your contract was limited by policy which prevented a further extension.

Use your contacts in the industry/ex-colleagues.
 
NickK said:
True. I may try that. Portfolio Product Lead for example.

Precisely my point.
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On this - I've decided to adjust the title on the most recent role, it doesn't reflect the role and hence causing an issue. I believe this is a cause of some of the issues.

The second is I'll subscribe to coursera - start walking through a number of courses, specifically around senior leadership and some of the technology (such as cyber). The idea is that will continue to exercise my mind and language to prevent them from degrading. I'll share the time with job hunting (oddly recruiters seem to think job hunting isn't a full time job *boogle*), from there I can start building my own brand further - I'm starting to think the older you get the more your personal brand becomes more important that the companies and roles. I have some reputation I can start bringing out more in the CV and applications too.
 
malachi said:
Doesn't make sense to me if you have enough experience working in IT already.

All that stuff you can self learn off the internet without going to the uni route just for a piece of paper.
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From this forum it seems the UK values experience over qualifications. I'm my experience increasingly it's the opposite. I'm blocked often because of lack of paper qualifications.
 
Calpol said:
I'm almost 9 months into my "bum" period.
I describe myself now as semi retired on account of being almost 55 and not seriously looking for another job. Financially things are ok as my wife works albeit as a nurse so hardly lifechanging salary. However we aren't quite shed of our parental duties and funding of further education. If that were the case I'd probably be "retired". I struggled the last few years with motivation for work despite being in quite well paid roles. I think I struggled to balance the right level of challenge and achievement with the stress of getting things done. To be fair I always had one eye on not working to say 60yo but it's quite a transition and not one I am fully adjusted to yet. Finding yourself potentially at the end of you career and reflecting on what you actually achieved that mattered is a weird place and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Physically and mentally I feel a lot better. Working full time took it out of me to the extent I was pretty exhausted by a Thursday evening. My tolerance for stupid people and their decisions also went from low to non existent.

The biggest struggle I have for now is coming to terms with the financial reality of not having a monthly wage which results in not having to think too hard about where we spend money. In theory I have more than enough to bridge the period between now and an Ok DB pension at 65 + state pension at 67 but the saving habit is truly embedded and I've worked out I don't really like spending! Tried reading Die with Xero but it hasn't clicked yet!

Hope you are all doing ok.
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I feel a lot like that. A long time ago I left a long term job then went contracting, it completely detached me from any ownership of projects and job. I'm in another place now a long time, and a few times now I've been switched away from areas or projects I used to own. I still like to do things properly, but I can walk away at the drop of a hat.

At the same time kids becoming and parents no longer around and then COVID means you start looking at your life goals and past achievements differently.

That line from goodwill hunting hits hard "...Cuz tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and I'll be 50..."
 
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OspreyO said:
From this forum it seems the UK values experience over qualifications. I'm my experience increasingly it's the opposite. I'm blocked often because of lack of paper qualifications.
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It really depends on the company and what IT sector you want to go in.

We have a bunch of Computer Science graduates who are struggling to find jobs. But thats also because of the overstatured market.
 
malachi said:
It really depends on the company and what IT sector you want to go in.

We have a bunch of Computer Science graduates who are struggling to find jobs. But thats also because of the overstatured market.
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The IT senior leadership market is saturated with low demand high volume as companies have little to no investment from boardrooms.

I’m currently chewing through the cybersecurity coursea. I’ll start with some executive points too along with lower level AI. Not because I need a qualification as such but to keep my brain active and tuned. Doesn’t help I’m going down with a cold, wrapped in two duvets and still freezing.
 
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Currently part way through the cybersecurity professional course.. it gives a decent overview but after building owning cloud platforms it’s adding more confidence in that I know a lot more than I thought, confidence booster if you will.

I’ve got plans for AI and organisational management .. given I can hold my own in discussions enough for COO to spend 4 hours venting about their organisations on a friday night.. ai think it will be a nice reminder and keep the brain going.
 
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Had to say no to an approach by a recruiter for Brunei, flight+accom covered, decent day rate. They want to make a data centre and commercialise it in 5 months.. I know how that will go.
 
As of today I'm on gardening leave for the rest of the year. No idea if that's gratitude for 19 years work or they just want me out of the way.

Got up at 10, ran 15k at lunch. Looking forward to BF6 tomorrow...
 
Still going on the cybersecurity course.. just going through linux and SQL. I'm kind of loosing the will to live through the mandatory repetitive nature of this part of course. I was doing unix and SQL when AltaVista ruled and Google didn't exist..
 
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Today..
* cybersecurity course - just want to crack on and get this done. It's been interesting except for this section which is all my first steps in linux/SQL/scripting.
* an application - to keep that skillset and profile alive..
* order bits for mrs's birthday - I've been discussing sewing patterns all week with some home sewing friends to go alongside her xmas pressie of some sewing gadgetry.
* compile bits for my birthday - the mrs has given me a budget and this will go towards building an acoustic guitar (I've designed and build a solid body from scratch 2 years ago, will use up some of the leftovers too)

Once the CS course is done, I'll move onto another which will be more senior (shorter course), ramp up the CVs again and I'm considering maths/statistics (given the speed of AI tooling evolution) after that.
 
I'm on my second 13+ hour day on the trot. This job is not for me, I just don't give two ****s about the world of finance. I don't mind putting in the hours working in games because it's something I care about and brings joy to people, but this fintech stuff is just......meh. And I do not miss this world at all, everyone just works themselves to death and is obsessed with money.

Think I will be resigning soon and taking my chances with the games job market. Can't do it right now as it's a critical time trying to land a customer but soon as it calms down I think I'm done.
 
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