Dynamic scenery and more to think about…
Some of you may recognise the term dynamic scenery from Flight Simulator and X-Plane, it refers to generic things that happen around you while you taxi on the ground or you fly through the skies seeing hot air balloons.
I was driving to Lancaster on Wednesday, and there was an unusual amount of dynamic scenery. Things moving in fields as I went up, I raced along side a train as I went up the M6 past Preston, then another one when I came off the M6 at Lancaster.
People doing things about the place, etc. Maybe I’ve just never traveled during the day to Lancs to notice all the details, maybe I just haven’t been mentally aware of what has been going on.
Other things happened too, I drove up to Lancs, and got to Sara’s then drove to University. Once I parked there my speedo was on 99.9 miles, there have been other things that have gone well and have been noticably more conveniant.
So on Wednesday I attened my first interview session, this involved taking a test which concentrated very much on networking and basic problem solving rather then pure Windows directory technologies which I expected it to. So the interviews went well, the technical services meeting was good with Ian Norton (Systems) and Mark Jameson (Head of Networking). I was asked the question of which job I would take if I got offered both, I said networking.
Well, next day I was sat with Sara drinking coffee in GZ coffee bar, I got a call from John “The Director” Gallagher and was offered the first post, I told him I’d think about it and that I’d like to attend the second one that day.
So at 14:20 I went to Computing, got a nice tour of the network facilities and server room. Got a grilling by the networking team, and I think I was able to handle all of their questions nicely.
Went up to the main interview, couldn’t answer a stupidly simple question due to a mental block, on which I felt very silly. But otherwise it went well. I was worried I wasn’t gonna get the job, as in the long run I guess that’s the job I wanted most of all.
Oddly I had gone out for a curry with Sara, Kimball, Graham, Rich and Paul (from networking and systems respectivly), Rich had said it was a good sign going out for curry as he did the same thing the day before being offered the job.
But just as I was about to leave Lancaster I checked my mobile phone and found I had missed a call, I rang it back and it was John offering me the network job. So I told him I’d think about it over night and get back to him as soon as possible.
So this morning I rang him and told him I’d like to accept the Networking position. He said I’d probably be disapointing the head of systems who was looking forward to having an OSS influence, but he understood what direction I really wanted to head into.
So at 10:30 I was called into my bosses office and asked how things went and I told him that I had been offered both jobs. He then suprisingly explained that it was going to be able to offer me a position in consulting for the FlexNET product range, it would be significantly more money then the Lancs position but it would involve a lot of travel, a great way to see the world.
It took me aback a bit, I didn’t expect that kind of offer being made from them. It would be an excellent opertunity, not to mention a huge pay rise. But I’m not sure I really want to do it.
Consulting essentially means that you never settle down for the next few years of your life, you go to a location to do work, you stay in a hotel. You aren’t home, you don’t have your belongings surrounding you.
Thinking about all my personal projects, I’m not sure I’d really be able to keep doing all of them if I had to move about all the time, there certainly wouldn’t be internet access constantly. I’m not really sure I want to abandon my life that I have so far in favour for that.
So I think that I’m deciding that while it’s vastly less money, the networking position would do more for me. I would be able to learn about networking, something I’m interested in anyway, and settle down for a year or so. After three years networking I should be in a position to move onto a higher paid job if I need to be.
However I don’t believe that what lancs are offering me for the networking position is a small amount, especially considering the only formal qualification I have in networking is as part of my degree.
I’m not sure that money brings happyness, sure it helps us live, but if I have enough doing the networking job, staying in lancs all the time, with friends. That should be enough, what’s the point of having all the extra money if you arnt about all the time to enjoy what you’ve used it for.
So I guess I have decided, it’s going to be the networking position. But about the light hearted start of this blog, it’s interesting the way things have coincided.
TTFN,
D.