Jobs - A little bit about what you do and perks

Job

Medical Student

Company

Newcastle University & NHS


Day to day

Generally timetabled Monday to Friday from 9-4/5 (with Wed afternoons off).
A mixture of lectures, seminar groups, clinical skills, dissections, hospital visits and GP surgery days
Extra reading required pretty much every day


Perks

Learn stuff
Patient contact
Student life
The eventual privilege and honour of being a doctor

Downsides

Too much to learn sometimes!
Constant exams and assignments
4 years to go


Education?

9 A-B Gcses, Access to Medicine, various business & payroll qualifications


Do you like your job?

So glad I started studying again, and I find this to be the most interesting subject ever.
 
Job
Business Consultant

Company
An IT services provider

Day to day
Requirements gathering, data modelling, pre-sales support, general support, presentations, demos, producing/reviewing documents...

Overall Job
As above plus some more strategic planning input, suggesting product improvements, analysing data etc

Perks
Nothing worthy of mention

Downsides
Underpaid
No overtime for extra hours
Micromanaged at times
Often don't have time/budget to do a 'proper' job

Education?
PG Dip, BSc(Hons), AAB at A-level, bunch of IT industry qualifications (PRINCE2, ISEB, CSM etc)

Do you like your job?
Not particularly; most of the general tasks I have to do are fine but I think I need more autonomy / responsibility. The things I enjoy most tend to have more of a strategic focus but I'm not really in a position to be able to influence that enough.
 
Job

Student

Company

Hertfordshire uni

Day to day

Drinking, read something, facebook, cook some food, play poker, watch some films, write a few words on an assignment. drinking.

Overall Job

being a student

Perks

really cheap drinks, lots of lay ins.

Downsides

don't get paid to do it :(

Education?

Access to science with 100% distinction, btec computing etc etc

Do you like your job?

its awesome
 
I am about to annoy a lot of people here.


“Job”

I am a Computer Science Student.

Company

Aberystwyth University.

Day to day

Well I am currently in the middle of my first year, which means examinations. So I'm a bit stressed and I need a break from it all, hence the reason I'm doing this.


I usually wake up around 8am, shower, grab something to eat, and then make my way down to whatever lesson I have by 9/10am.


We have 10 minute breaks between lectures and sometimes we're in until 6.

Perks

Well the 'freedom' from parents is a big one for me, I didn't realise how much I appreciate freedom in a sense of not being told what to do all the time.


I'm learning about a subject which I absolutely love, the people who I share my dorm with are fantastic and I finally have a bit of income that I can spend.

Downsides

Well Mathematics is a big one for me, I'm absolutely awful at Maths (only got a C in GCSE, and that was last year) – so even doing the 'Driving License' part of the course is hard for me.


The long and tedious walk up Penglais Hill can also be incredibly frustrating, as well as my socially-crippling Aspergers' making ordinary situations awkward and horrible.


I also miss my family a lot, even though I'm only around 150 miles away from home I still get homesick on a constant basis.


Examinations are an absolute killer for me, I don't do stress well.


Money and time management is near impossible, and I'm not sleeping well – at all.

Do you like your “job”?

Yeah, I think it's fantastic – even if it's not a real job. It can be stressful and hard at times, but it's challenging me in a way that I've never been challenged before.


No pain, no gain.
 
Job


Project Procurement Supervisor.

Company

I work for a company called Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR). Their main areas of business are Oil and Gas/Hydrocarbons and Defence. I work in the Hydrocarbons division.

www.kbr.com

Day to day

KBR has recently (unofficially as of now) secured a big Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) project from BP for the development of the Shah Deniz Phase 2 project in Azerbaijan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Deniz_gas_field
I've been seconded to BP in their subsea GPO division, currently working on several high expediture packages.

Overall Job

My job with KBR has been great since I joined in 2011. I have responsibility and get to travel a lot, and whilst the company is huge, our team in the UK is very close knit and friendly. I'm glad I made the choice to leave my last company and join.

Perks

No extra special perks other than pension, health care, etc. I get to travel and I work a 9 day fortnight (with KBR; BP is only 1 Friday a month) so have every other Friday off.

Downsides

No big downsides other than the commute from Reading to Staines/Leatherhead/Greenford/Sunbury.

Work wise; subsea is not my area of expertise so it's been a steep learning curve being seconded to another company and whilst I'm enjoying it, I'm looking forward to my next role within KBR.

Education?

I did a degree in Manufacturing & Materials Engineering at Brunel. Plus some other internal and external qualifications such as MCIPS. I started out in materials engineering for Alstom and as a graduate, but decided on the supply chain management route.

Do you like your job?

I love my job and for what it has given me; foremost, my wife who I met at my previous company. The pay is really good for someone my age in a staff position.

Workwise, the work is enjoyable because I get to make big decisions, meet new people, negotiate high value contracts and orders.
The travel has also been excellent. I've lived and worked in Thailand, Australia, Kazakhstan and India. I've also made short term business trips to numerous countries around the world.
 
“Job”

Project Manager

Company

MoD

Day to day

I can't say too much, but I'm the point of contact for all day to day business and management for a communications system used by the military.

Perks

While the pay in outside industry for the same work is better, I still get a good wage and certainly don't complain about it. Good Pension scheme and I don't have to work long hours (flexi time) if I don't want to plus good amount of holiday each year.

Downsides

The work is always very similar, there isn't much variation in what I do. I still enjoy it though. There is also a lot of negative press about what we do which can suck at times.

Education

9 GCSEs A*-C, 3 Year MoD apprenticeship which we finished with a foundation degree in Electronic Engineering. I plan to finish this in the next 2 years.

Do you like your “job”?

Yes I do enjoy it, it can be very 'samey' but it is good work. I work with good people to which makes the job better and easier. There are always opportunities to move around as well if I choose to.
 
Job


SharePoint Consultant / Project Manager / Business Analyst / Guru

Company

Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research currently. Contract here. Been here a year and a bit. Contract until the end of this year.

Day to day

Varied role really, supporting the business in their customer (user) based SharePoint needs. Supporting the environment, to large SharePoint projects, which I'll take a full project life-cycle role of doing the lot, which is nice. It's busy. Ever changing and can be tough to keep up in that respect.

Overall Job

Travel back and forth to the US (Boston) or some other sites, as well as supporting me in my personal growth, which as a contractor is unheard of. New technologies, new science and varied work. I have one project which is like an internal YouTube where I've spec'd up a bloody massively angry physical box, where I'm going to do some GPU processing. If they sign off my 10k GPU I asked for :P not really SP related but it was interesting so I took it!

Perks

As above. New technology (we're working on our SharePoint 13 upgrade project at the moment), always have something for me to test, gap analysis on etc. I have work phone, MBP, Laptop, iPad etc. They're very flexible, and as long as I get what I need to done I could work from anywhere in the world really. I have to spend time with my customers, which is the business, so I can't all the time but to WFH for a week is fine, flexible hours too and the pay is better than anything else I could imagine at 27. (Gross is like 180k CHF/ 120k GBP)

Downsides

Not a great deal. Hard to keep up with it all, but what job doesn't have that? Being in another country to your friends and family gets lonely at times, but even when in the UK it was hard to get to see everyone anyway.
My only issue at the moment is where to go next? I may get another extension end of this year, but I'll get my PMP done first half of this year and might consider full PM, not SP specific. Overall aim I think would be to go PM> Programme Manager/Director > Board. That's the 5yr plan anyway...

Education?

You don't really need anything, experience is more key. I picked a good technology early on with SharePoint and so I had more experience than most, and now still do. I dropped out of uni due to a car crash, got a D,E,E on my A Levels but worked my way up from support to here.
I started my career in Headhunting.

Do you like your job?

I do, yep. I never thought at 26 (when I got this role) I'd have come so far in such a short space of time. I love what I do, overall, it's varied and keeps me learning.
 
Oxy said:
I was meaning process losses from the actual plant and equipment. I guess it wouldn't happen so much as treating water where everything needs to be super clean and uses a lot of water to do so.
Click to expand...

Normally less than 5%, but could be up to 10% depending on the exact system and plant. More than 10% and you should probably start investigating. Although it does very much depend on the metering you have available and how accurate you think it is (this normally refers to well and separator meters as the export metering is legally obliged to meter within an uncertainty range).
 
randomshenans said:
Job
SharePoint Consultant / Project Manager / Business Analyst / Guru
Click to expand...

The down-side to your job is you're working with SharePoint. Pretty much every developer I've worked with who has worked with SharePoint has hated it! I've worked with it and really not enjoyed it either, so I find that a lot of jobs are going in this area as a result.

I'm not putting you down though - You're making a mint and you love your job! WIN! :)
 
SharePoint is ace, so :P and I don't do any dev work, so I don't look at it from that prospective. We have a massive need for collaborative working, that works well, across thousands of people, and SharePoint is great for that. We also use it as a tool to bring people with relevant (to what the user is looking for) experience together to aid speed of research. With over 9000 people just here on site, there are often people that know things (about equipment, compounds etc.) that would have never met x person, looking for advice.
 
Job

Business intelligence analyst (data mining)

Day to day

Our team does general statistical analysis work, propensity score matching/predictive modelling, working with R&D on energy usage trends for our domestic & corporate customer bases & energy usage analytics's to assist forecasting with hedging.

Overall Job

Working for one of the big 6 energy companies.

Perks

26 days annual leave + bank holidays.
35 hours a week.
10% (ish) average pay rises per year.
Apr 15% off energy bill/phone/broadband
Cheap private healthcare/insurance & various other discounts
No dress code

Downsides

Not the most glamorous industry.
Workload is a little OTT at times.
Victim of our own success (everybody wants something).

Education?

Music.
Fine art & Design.
Computing.

Do you like your job?

Yeah, work with a great bunch of guys.
 
Job

Technical Analyst

Company

a group of IT and Radio telecommunications companies.

Day to day

Single handed IT for a group of companies in the UK, Australasia and Americas, everything from password resets to exchange servers, sharepoint unix, linux, networking with mainly juniper and cisco kit.

support some of the companies customers also, an emergency service in Ireland and a nuclear facility being the main ones, I put in remote support solutions for both those customers, from specification and planning to final deployment and ongoing support.

Perks

As I work alone in my own office I can pretty much come and go as I please, I study a lot and the company pays for my materials and exams. No real benefits, been here 5 years and only just got 25 days holiday.

I sometimes get team members from acquisitions but they soon get laid off and I pick up that support.

Started on £16k now on £34k, feel I could earn more at the right company but happy with the responsibilities I have here and the projects I get involved in are interesting along with being seen as professional and knowledgeable in my areas.

Downsides

Holidays are a pain to book as they don't want me off as single point of support!
Underpaid
overworked


Education?

pretty much all the standard Certs MCSE, A+, Network+ Sec+, Server+, CCNA, RHCSA, Degree in IT and Business 2:1.

should probably upgrade that MCSE but not sure of the reason!

Do you like your job?

Yes, most of the time. Takes me to interesting places and get to play with cutting edge technology, can be rather lonely working on my own and often lack other IT minded people to bounce things off.
 
Job

Chemical Etch Operator/Grinding, polishing and Scurfing.

Company

I work for one of the biggest aerospace company's in the world, making parts for all Boeing planes, military etc.

Day to day

At the moment i am the leading hand for a team of around 30 people, my day consists of checking what work we have available, setting up our grinding/polishing wheels and working the chemical etch.

Overall Job

Our factory has over 40 departments, ranging from Inspection, blade forging, dye forging, and too many to list!

Been here for just over a year and landed the leading hand position, so great oppertunity for promotions through the whole factory.

Perks

As much overtime as i want, full benefits package which includes gym membership, Full health care ( Dentist,hospital,Doctors).



Downsides

No downsides, my job is awesome.

Do you like your job?

Yes i love it, best job i have had and i have a job for life.
 
I start this in September after graduation:

JOB - R&D (Software Developer, Graduate)

COMPANY - BT

DAY TO DAY - (Going off what I did at Sage, which was also development) scrum morning meetings. Depending on the part of sprint either working on new functionality, or bugs (usually both). Regular meetings with business analysts, team leaders, training.

OVERALL JOB - (Going off Sage again) start at 8, finish at 4. It's something I enjoy doing and you learn new things every day. In development you are creating new things (especially at a place like BT where you innovate). Therefore work rarely gets old.

PERKS - Pension, Dental, Health, Gym, Good salary as a graduate.

DOWNSIDES - Relocating?

EDUCATION -
7~ GCSE C+
BTEC National Diploma for ICT Practitioners
BSc Computer Science (on track for 1st, still working on it)

DO I LIKE MY JOB? - Most of the time yes, it's great. But like any job it has its days (usually near release of a product when all you're doing is sniping bugs). Also even bug fixing can be fun :)

SALARY - £30.5k (Graduate) starting
 
Job

Diagnostic Radiographer

Company

NHS

Day to day

X-raying people - inpatients, outpatients, A&E, theatre cases

Overall Job

As above but expected to undertake continuous professional development which can be checked by the Health Professions Council to make sure I'm doing it.

Perks

Pretty good pay, holidays etc. Get to irradiate members is the public lol.

Downsides

More physically demanding than my previous job (desktop support) but more rewarding. Get to see people at their best and worst. Having worked now in both the public and private sector it annoys me when one side thinks the other is better off - each side has its good and bad sides but in my opinion it all evens out.

Education?

BSc Computing
BSc Diagnostic Radiography after doing a Science Access course

Do you like your job?

Yes, as mentioned a big change from my previous career and if anyone had told me five years ago I'd be doing this I would never have believed them.
 
Job

Current job title is third line technical engineer (i know it is not real engineer) I prefer systems administrator.

Company

A relatively large IT managed services and software company

Day to day

I work 35 hours a week. I support 4 sites with 60-100 users each, each site has full time 1st/2nd IT individuals and I work with another third line IT individual and another, my boss, who is a senior technical manager, he manages 8-10 sites. I work in the operations side of the third line team with my colleague more focused on projects. Recently I have built dms and bes servers and currently working on office 2010 roll out and assisting my colleague with a full infrastructure refresh at one of the sites. I also have to assist with escalated problems day to day and maintain uptime across all sites.

Overall Job

I have worked for a managed services company before but they did not sell software and were not international. What I like about managed services companies and similar is that there can be a lot of scope for progress, as for example the technical manager role could definitely be something that my colleague or myself could slowly start to move in to as managed services departments grows. You also have good drink meet ups because the large pool of engineers across all the sites, who you rarely see, are all similar and can be a good laugh. Working internally you definitely get better benefits but sometimes you can get a bit pigeon holed and there can be less freedom. The company just got purchased by another company which i dislike a lot, so i don't know what will happen in the coming months.

Perks

I work flexi time. It can be a relaxed environment to work in, when it is all working correctly. I also have a blackberry, with reasonable usage allowance.

Downsides

Not paid enough in my opinion. No benefits like free gym and private healthcare. Having to support terrible IT systems and take the blame for "being the captain of the sinking ship".

Education?

I have high school level education.

Do you like your job?

Yes it is ok, could be worse.
 
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