This Business and Moment...

I'm on the bench this week so took the VCAP Deploy exam yesterday, which renewed my VCIX.

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It was interesting doing it from home, the larger screen real estate definitely helped with the lab compared to those at the test centres. However it being a ~3h30 exam and not being able to go for a pee made me wish I was in a test centre so you can at least go to the toilet. :cry: I also find that going to the toilet at a test centre really helps in terms of getting away from the screen for a few minutes, something you might have blanked on before comes back to you.

Nice, I did my VCP-DCV last year from home. Since 2019, I do all my exams from home now. So much better than going to the exam centre.
 
I keep saying I'm going to grab my VCAPs but the sheer thought of a 3hr30m exam makes me question life. Can't decide if I want it in NV or DVC either.
That’s why I only do them every 3 years or so, which means my VCIX gets renewed. I might have a go at the NV one, I’m pretty confident I could do them both with little revision.

Although I do more NSX than DCV nowadays, even though I’m not in the NSX team. I’m more multi cloud now.
 
That’s why I only do them every 3 years or so, which means my VCIX gets renewed. I might have a go at the NV one, I’m pretty confident I could do them both with little revision.

Although I do more NSX than DCV nowadays, even though I’m not in the NSX team. I’m more multi cloud now.

I do just about everything other than Carbon Black and Tanzu atm - just coming off some NSX-T design/deployments though so wondering if I try for it whilst my brain is still in that mode, gotta figure out if it's worth it as I'm not sure the next role will be VMware focused, waiting to see what the BC M&A brings.
 
First two days this week were induction, training and paperwork for my new job. Today was the first day proper, albeit shadowing a current worker to learn the job. Straight into the deep end - hour an half transporting a patient from the CCU to CT and back to the CCU. Man, that was a real eye opener.
 
It was interesting doing it from home, the larger screen real estate definitely helped with the lab compared to those at the test centres. However it being a ~3h30 exam and not being able to go for a pee made me wish I was in a test centre so you can at least go to the toilet. :cry: I also find that going to the toilet at a test centre really helps in terms of getting away from the screen for a few minutes, something you might have blanked on before comes back to you.

I 100% agree with this, sat the AWS SA Pro exam from home a few weeks back which is a 3-hour exam.

My bladder was about to pop and I could barely see the words on the screen to review by the end. Next time I have to sit a long exam, I'll definitely be doing it from a testing center!
 
As a limited company, how would one tactfully announce a rate rise to a client?
You don't, you discuss it. Otherwise they could (and would likely) say no and source a replacement.

I asked the question a while back to my agency, we discussed it, agreed on a figure and went from there. It's very similar to asking for a pay rise in a PAYE scenario.
 
I was contacted on Linkedin about a role and I normally pie them off or don't reply, but this one seemed pretty interesting. It's Director of Product Operations for a company called Scandit. They have no product operations at current but have just taken series D funding of something like 240m and want to try and standardize some of their approach to product. It's Zurich based, but hybrid. Maybe more Zurich at first to build up the presence and then could be more home based. Would be working for the VP of product, who is one of the original founders.
Spoke to the internal talent acquisition people, who is arranging for me to speak to the VP. If that goes well it'll be 24hrs to work on a case study and present to them. Then it would be 2 weeks to work on a case and then again present it to them. Half of me is like meh, seems like a lot of work, but would be nice to have a day job where I felt I could actually provide value and get stuff done.
 
You don't, you discuss it. Otherwise they could (and would likely) say no and source a replacement.

I asked the question a while back to my agency, we discussed it, agreed on a figure and went from there. It's very similar to asking for a pay rise in a PAYE scenario.

I guess that is also potentially smart as they don't necessarily need tell the client anything... in some cases the agency might be billing the client say 900 and paying you 600, if you decide you want 650 they could just decide to simply pay you that upon contract renewal while billing the client the same amount.

On the other hand, if you're friendly with the client it can cause shenanigans, I know of one Irish guy at a European bank who was drinking buddies with the relevant director and got wind of the daily rate being paid for him... decided he wasn't being compensated fairly and had a big shouting match with his agent, agent threatened that he'd simply replace him he replied that the agent can **** off and [director] was sat with him right now... either they give him a higher daily rate/reduce their cut or he quits, waits a while then comes back without an agent.
 
I was contacted on Linkedin about a role and I normally pie them off or don't reply, but this one seemed pretty interesting. It's Director of Product Operations for a company called Scandit. They have no product operations at current but have just taken series D funding of something like 240m and want to try and standardize some of their approach to product. It's Zurich based, but hybrid. Maybe more Zurich at first to build up the presence and then could be more home based. Would be working for the VP of product, who is one of the original founders.
Spoke to the internal talent acquisition people, who is arranging for me to speak to the VP. If that goes well it'll be 24hrs to work on a case study and present to them. Then it would be 2 weeks to work on a case and then again present it to them. Half of me is like meh, seems like a lot of work, but would be nice to have a day job where I felt I could actually provide value and get stuff done.

I had an interview with Scandit last year for an Systems Engineer. At the time I think they got some funding from Google due to using GCP.
 
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I had an interview with Scandit last year for an Systems Engineer. At the time I think they got some funding from Google due to using GCP.
I know someone else who interviewed for them last year, too! But for an internal technical recruiter role. How was the process? I'm not massively fussed to be fair. It would put a lot more on my plate with all I do, so the offer would have to be pretty mega to want it. Although, Zurich tax vs. France is sooo good haha as it's canton based, it would be taxed there, not Basel (which has a French agreement, so I pay in France). Meh, will see what the process is like!
 
I know someone else who interviewed for them last year, too! But for an internal technical recruiter role. How was the process? I'm not massively fussed to be fair. It would put a lot more on my plate with all I do, so the offer would have to be pretty mega to want it. Although, Zurich tax vs. France is sooo good haha as it's canton based, it would be taxed there, not Basel (which has a French agreement, so I pay in France). Meh, will see what the process is like!

The interview was ok, at least they called me and gave me feedback why I didnt get the role, they needed someone with GCP experience. Instead of ghosting me like plenty of other companies I have interviewed for in the past.
 
You don't, you discuss it. Otherwise they could (and would likely) say no and source a replacement.

I asked the question a while back to my agency, we discussed it, agreed on a figure and went from there. It's very similar to asking for a pay rise in a PAYE scenario.
I didn't get a notification for this, sorry for late reply.

Our standard rate has gone up and only one of our clients is on the old rate. I will aim to mention it tomorrow.

I don't want to repeat a scenario we have experienced previously where a client paying much less than the rest somehow has the project that takes most of our time.
 
I didn't get a notification for this, sorry for late reply.

Our standard rate has gone up and only one of our clients is on the old rate. I will aim to mention it tomorrow.

I don't want to repeat a scenario we have experienced previously where a client paying much less than the rest somehow has the project that takes most of our time.

Ah, I think Maccy is talking about being an individual contractor for a particular client - basically like an employee but with some differences.

Surely you've already contracted with the client for some work? Or is this for a new project?
 
Been having fun - classic financial budgeting.. and…it also appears, 2 days from a planning deadline, that one BU has decided to resurrect a programme than has been officially dead and archived.. should prove interesting in the conversation on wednesday.. i dont think they could even muster their own teams in time.. hardlock being two weeks time.

Let’s see what comes along this week..
 
Ah, I think Maccy is talking about being an individual contractor for a particular client - basically like an employee but with some differences.

Surely you've already contracted with the client for some work? Or is this for a new project?
We've had the purchase order for support on a few projects but the work that they need our help with will keep coming in with the assumption of our rate being last year's unless something is said.

I have contracts with a few clients going on at any one time, working from the home office. I have subcontractors helping out as and when I need the support too. I am not dependent on any one client.
 
I think there's a very good chance I'm going to get an offer for a job in Sweden in the next day or so. I hadn't planned to move abroad again so soon but an opportunity came up that was too good to pass up.

Big decision coming up!
 
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