Back to Work
Last night I accepted a job offer in London. The offer was unexpected - it was made about two hours after I'd finished interviewing there - but a very pleasant surprise.
I hadn't expected to take a job in London. My original plan was only to accept contracting opportunities. However, the best opportunities I've come across have all been for permanent positions, and I ended up thinking, why not? I wanted to contract for some of its advantages: I'd get to see a variety of work environments, and the pay is better. But a permanent job also has advantages: I'll make longer-term friendships, avoid fresh job searches every few months, and get paid vacations, bonuses, and other benefits. Another big advantage with a permanent position is that I have more opportunities to learn new technologies; in a contracting situation, there's more of an expectation to already have the required skills. And, I can leave a job at any time should the need arise.
On Monday I'll be starting work with GDC (www.graphdata.co.uk), a firm providing geographical information solutions. They offer several Java-based web applications and web services, mostly to government clients. It feels like a good fit; their development team shares many of the same philosophies that I have. Because of this, and because of the location, I declined to wait on some other opportunities I've been pursuing.
They're located in central London on its eastern side, a few blocks from the landmark Swiss Reinsurance building (also known as "The Gherkin") and not far from the Docklands. Their site is also a few minutes' walk from London Liverpool Street Station, where East Anglia trains like mine terminate; this means I don't need to use the Tube to finish my commute, making it substantially shorter.
There's a lot of recent office development right around the station, in addition to several lovely plazas, one of which includes an ice rink, and lots of retail. I think it's all very attractive and will share pictures eventually. Unfortunately the GDC office is a few blocks past this development in an older building.
GDC has casual dress (well, casual for London: jeans are OK, but dress shirts are standard; I wouldn't imagine wearing a T-shirt). It's nice and it's what I'm used to, but I am a bit disappointed in that I was looking forward to playing dress-up with a few extra suits. I still get to indulge in spread collars and French cuffs, though. And my shoes will be more comfortable ...
I'm thinking my day will look like this. I'd get up around 5 am, prepare for the day, and take a taxi to the train station (about a 5 minute trip with good traffic) for a 5:53 train to London; this would get me to my office around 7:15. At 4:15 pm I'd leave and catch the 4:30 train to Norwich, arriving in Ipswich at 5:33. From there I'd join the taxi queue and get a taxi to Sarah's after school club by the 6 pm closing time.
I may find a better solution for after-school care for Sarah. At the moment, I've been unable to find a child minder who picks up from her school and also has evening hours (we only need coverage until 6:30; Margo is typically home by then). I may look into hiring a nanny, or, better yet, as we make more friends in our neighbourhood, we may be able to work out other arrangements.
The train is not cheap. The line charges extra for London travel (since it's in higher demand) and charges more for peak hours, so I'd be paying the maximum standard fare, about £440 a month. But this is expected; a lot of people commute from outlying cities to London, and Ipswich is considered by many to be one of many bedroom communities to London. I returned from my interview on the 4:30 yesterday and all the seats were taken, with perhaps a dozen people per car standing.
I may also buy a (preferably second-hand) bike and ride to and from the Ipswich station, saving myself about £20 per day in taxi fares.
I'm very, very happy to be going back to work. I was glad to sacrifice my time to take care of Sarah so that Margo could develop her career, but I was still hoping to find some way that I could still have a career, so I'm very glad to be able to have worked out this situation. Not working, it felt like part of me was sleeping, so it will be great to be fully awake again.
I hadn't expected to take a job in London. My original plan was only to accept contracting opportunities. However, the best opportunities I've come across have all been for permanent positions, and I ended up thinking, why not? I wanted to contract for some of its advantages: I'd get to see a variety of work environments, and the pay is better. But a permanent job also has advantages: I'll make longer-term friendships, avoid fresh job searches every few months, and get paid vacations, bonuses, and other benefits. Another big advantage with a permanent position is that I have more opportunities to learn new technologies; in a contracting situation, there's more of an expectation to already have the required skills. And, I can leave a job at any time should the need arise.
On Monday I'll be starting work with GDC (www.graphdata.co.uk), a firm providing geographical information solutions. They offer several Java-based web applications and web services, mostly to government clients. It feels like a good fit; their development team shares many of the same philosophies that I have. Because of this, and because of the location, I declined to wait on some other opportunities I've been pursuing.
They're located in central London on its eastern side, a few blocks from the landmark Swiss Reinsurance building (also known as "The Gherkin") and not far from the Docklands. Their site is also a few minutes' walk from London Liverpool Street Station, where East Anglia trains like mine terminate; this means I don't need to use the Tube to finish my commute, making it substantially shorter.
There's a lot of recent office development right around the station, in addition to several lovely plazas, one of which includes an ice rink, and lots of retail. I think it's all very attractive and will share pictures eventually. Unfortunately the GDC office is a few blocks past this development in an older building.
GDC has casual dress (well, casual for London: jeans are OK, but dress shirts are standard; I wouldn't imagine wearing a T-shirt). It's nice and it's what I'm used to, but I am a bit disappointed in that I was looking forward to playing dress-up with a few extra suits. I still get to indulge in spread collars and French cuffs, though. And my shoes will be more comfortable ...
I'm thinking my day will look like this. I'd get up around 5 am, prepare for the day, and take a taxi to the train station (about a 5 minute trip with good traffic) for a 5:53 train to London; this would get me to my office around 7:15. At 4:15 pm I'd leave and catch the 4:30 train to Norwich, arriving in Ipswich at 5:33. From there I'd join the taxi queue and get a taxi to Sarah's after school club by the 6 pm closing time.
I may find a better solution for after-school care for Sarah. At the moment, I've been unable to find a child minder who picks up from her school and also has evening hours (we only need coverage until 6:30; Margo is typically home by then). I may look into hiring a nanny, or, better yet, as we make more friends in our neighbourhood, we may be able to work out other arrangements.
The train is not cheap. The line charges extra for London travel (since it's in higher demand) and charges more for peak hours, so I'd be paying the maximum standard fare, about £440 a month. But this is expected; a lot of people commute from outlying cities to London, and Ipswich is considered by many to be one of many bedroom communities to London. I returned from my interview on the 4:30 yesterday and all the seats were taken, with perhaps a dozen people per car standing.
I may also buy a (preferably second-hand) bike and ride to and from the Ipswich station, saving myself about £20 per day in taxi fares.
I'm very, very happy to be going back to work. I was glad to sacrifice my time to take care of Sarah so that Margo could develop her career, but I was still hoping to find some way that I could still have a career, so I'm very glad to be able to have worked out this situation. Not working, it felt like part of me was sleeping, so it will be great to be fully awake again.
posted by Michael Nelson at 11:53 am
1 Comments:
Hey Mike,
Congrats on the job. Sounds like life is getting full and to a new normal. Good luck and have fun.
Brenda
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