Woo-hoo. Employed again!

Not enough, else they'd have called him Myles.

 

Well, to tell you the truth, when I finished my PhD I had $400
in the bank and no debts. I figured I was rich -- I could buy a plane
ticket to anywhere in the world! (Note I said to, no "and back".) That
despite being born with a wooden spoon in my mouth and existing at one
stage of my first degree on a $2 note my mother mailed me every week
(accommodation was already paid for). I guess scholarships were worth
a bit more in those days (my fees were always covered by scholarships).

I'd bought a few bikes along the way, too, including some new -- a
TC185L, a GT380M, and a GS550B as a graduation present to myself.

Then, my first job was in Adelaide, for the Mawson job, so I didn't
immediately need the $400, so I bought a 14" colour TV instead.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Heh. My knowledge extends only to the IT industry, so I can't find you
any cheap trains.

Service levels based on usability and response times however...

 

I suppose a better question to ask, and one which puts things into
perspective is does your job ever bore you, or is it constantly
challenging and rewarding?

 

You want it in octal? £020000 -- even I wouldn't work for that!

But, no. Unfortunately this isn't Switzerland where academics are
considered part of the Public Service and paid accordingly (i.e. somewhere
within shouting distance of commercial rates). Here it's all laid out by
deadly bureaucrats and fought over tooth-and-nail between unions and
vice-chancellors. But, as someone said, the conditions are a little bit
more relaxed. Indeed, some (I don't think I'm one) are allowed to take
on up to one day a week in paid consultancy. You just don't take the piss
_too_ much regarding attendance and work results.

Oh, and the URL I posted about the vacancy in our group was not
for the post I mentioned above. Nor indeed was the second position
mentioned as a possibility in that ad. This one will be advertised very
soon though, to start as early as the end of October, and a knowledge
of particle physics in itself is not required, as it's for DQM rather
than discovery physics. Some very relevant experience, comparable to
a recent PhD's, will be required, though.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Get through? $1000 and a few details submitted via a webpage?

Hardly one of the seven labours of Hercules, is it?
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..78875.../...19634.../..30836.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned.

 

Bore me? No. There are times when I'd rather not go into work,
but that's part of my current lethargy that would see me sleeping around
the clock if I didn't have to get out of bed.

Constantly challenging? Rather! Part of the "problem" of
becoming an expert (on anything!) is the time you spend fielding other
people's enquiries and helping them make progress. This week I've spent
more than 50% of my time helping other people -- and sometimes learning
something myself in the process (yesterday morning I knew nothing about
sstream in C++, by lunchtime I was an expert. OTOH, the distraction
from what you'd rather be doing eats into your efficiency.

Rewarding? Yes, when you pull it off. I find 3 or 4 "miracles" a
year keeps you in the spotlight and reinforces your expert status. Lord
knows, though, I desperately need to pull off a miracle in the next few
weeks, I've been stuck on one problem for far too long at the moment.
Lacking any real insight, I'm taking the hard, slow slog at it (diagnostic
print statements everywhere...). But, when I do crack it, a dozen or two
scientists in our world-wide collaboration will all make the big leap
forward alongside me. And it will mean a 20-minute presentation at one of
our regular meetings in Geneva -> more exposure for me and Brunel[1].

[1] This is important. Our contribution to the collaboration had become
invisible to the point that people thought we weren't doing much, tho'
there was a lot of behind-the-scenes grunt work going on. I've changed
that, and our improved visibilty has been leveraged into several grants
for new positions like the three we are currently about to fill. Which
increases our visibility...

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

I didn't necessarily mean LU - more generally the "opposite side" being
procurement and contract management but with a technical edge to it.

You couldn't do any worse than the baleful idiots we have who procure
and manage our outsourced IT services.

I nearly threw my computer out of the window last week. It would work
faster while crashing three floors down to the street than it does
powered up on the mains with a network cable in the back.

I caused a minor chuckle in the office when I said to my guys "I really
should complain to the head of IM about the PC. Oh dear I can't do that
because I can't send him an E Mail because my PC isn't working."

 

Sounds like a scene out of a Dilbert cartoon. Does the IM have pointy
hair?

 

Mark and Colin were most intrigued during your conversation last
Thursday, but have confessed to not understanding a word of it.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..78875.../...19634.../..30836.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned.

 

No - psychotic tendencies is probably a better term.

You can tell I like him can't you?

 

Just a little.

For a week, try repeating the last word of every sentence he directs at
you, quietly.

 

<fx: watches this space>

 

No they weren't making money. Gate's et al were the first bright kids
to make money out of it and it took them a few years of hard graft to
get going. Until them and Jobs/Wozniak starting Apple is was all IBM,
Zerox and the like. Personal computers didn't exist and nobody was
doing anything other than playing with electronics in their garage.

Ballmer got into it because Gates was incapable of doing the marketing
side of things, he could barely wash himself. Neither of them
expected to make millions though.

 

BPs are the way forward. All the advantages, none of the shit.

 

Dunno, I wrote this then 20 mins later found a job advertised on half as
much again as I'm on, with all the same benefits on top. It's *exactly*
a match for my experience, but with some scope to learn new things too.

It'd involve a house move long term, but is just about still in the
midlands, I'm going to ponder applying over the week end.

 

Remembering our discussion at the weekend that's worth going for.

North, south , east or west? You're barely in the Midlands as it is

 

That's mostly my thinking.

Would be interesting to see how much of a perpspective of life on the
outside world I've maintained too.

 

Mostly south.

 

It's blue skies that got me into this shit... that, and blue suits.