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Your job, is it worth it!

Discussion in 'Serious' started by Mr Happy, 31 Mar 2010.

  1. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    Another bump!


    Job Title: Still Data Engineer, but this time it actually means Data Engineer, not just "SQL Server developer with a pretentious job title"
    Salary: £noice
    Worth it?: Hell yes.

    I moved from my last place because they couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery and they were turning the role into something I was emphatically not interested in.

    The technology here - at least from a DB point of view, I'm not really qualified to talk about web/backend stuff - is miles ahead of the competition. Automation and CI/CD pipelines are in place and pretty much everything uses them. For a database developer that is a totally alien concept: my weapon of choice is SQL Server Management Studio, not Visual Studio & Azure DevOps! My targets for this year are basically enough to warrant a promotion to a senior dev position, and management are fully behind it because they're the ones pushing me for it. The new starter experience was a little... rocky... to say the least though. Lots of the existing stuff that's in place relies on institutional knowledge, so it's not really the sort of thing that can be easily taught - you have to live it to learn it and there's a lot of infrastructure to learn... I'll be badgering people to help me understand things for a while yet.

    In business terms, things are progressing very well indeed. In my last place I was on an employee engagement committee; in one of those meetings, I recall our CEO saying that he's always been a salesman but in the 20 years he'd been running that company he'd never hit a single target. Where I am now, however, the business was already exceeding targets and then went on to exceed the stretch target at year-end. I've been here about 7 months now and in that time I've spoken to the CEO maybe two or three times, every time she knew my name and knew what I do here. I don't think I met the CEO even once in my last place. The difference is night and day.

    I also did get a pay rise this year; it's not quite the £4K pay rise I had in my last job, but it's well above average and makes a tangible difference to my net pay every month. But I also got a bonus for last year, despite only having been there for half of the year, and if personal & business target are met this year then that bonus amount will double.

    Leaving that big equine bank was one of the best things I've ever done for my career. In the two and a half years since I left, my annual salary, excl. benefits & bonuses, has gone up by nearly £10,000. I don't often think about it but when put into that kind of context... that's ****ing mental.
     
    Yaka likes this.
  2. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Job Title: Principal Technologist
    Salary: Yes
    Worth It: I like to complain, but absolutely

    The role is a mixed bag of internal enablement and thought leadership, marketing, content creation, speaking at conferences/events, some "customer liaison" work, and generally whatever else needs doing. This is 75% a good thing because there's an ability to decide what needs doing and how to do it, and 25% frustrating because of regular shifts in priorities often mean things that I've been doing become irrelevant. In reality, that's just the way it's going to be, wherever I am though, and whilst moving companies has crossed my mind in the last year or two, the reality of actually going somewhere else isn't something I'm up for. I'm home based which gives a lot of flexibility in how and when I work (most of my team is in the US anyway), and the requirement to travel isn't too regular, so get a lot of family time, and moving companies could impact this significantly in the short term.
     
  3. Jangalit

    Jangalit What's a Dremel?

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    Job title: bingo palace seller

    wage: part time it’s €8400/year

    kinda cool new job, just one month since I started working there so I’m kinda still learning

    I basically have to sell the cards to players before each game, it’s a pretty hard and complicate task since you have a lot of human interactions and you use a lot of money
     
  4. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Slight update, been at my current role for over a year and have been enjoying it, however due to intending on moving over the summer, sadly am starting the job hunt again!
    Anyone got recommendations for software engineering type roles over the border? :D
     
  5. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Which border?
     
  6. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Moving up to Scotland :)
     
  7. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

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    You probably want to be looking around Edinburgh, pretty much Bank central and then there’s the likes of Sky, big employer with main IT departments based in Livingston.
     
    Last edited: 9 Mar 2020
  8. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    And everyone else. Loads of huge IT employers around there.
     
  9. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

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    Very true dat.
     
  10. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Yeah Edinburgh area was the most likely candidate :)
    Got family in Fife and my brother is in Stirling, and then some cousins in Edinburgh itself.
     
  11. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Aye, Edinburgh is financial services central and there always seem to be hunners of software engineering roles floating about. It's also an awesome place, albeit expensive (for Scotland).
     
    adidan likes this.
  12. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    The only problem with Edinburgh is walking down Princes Street in a headwind and/or when tourists are about - apart from that a cracking place to live.
     
  13. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Er, don't walk down Princes Street? Absolute shithole.

    And the thing about the whole of Edinburgh is: it's always a headwind. Always.
     
  14. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    Ah well I had to sometimes for work but that was long before the trams were even a thing.

    But yeah must be the only City where no matter which way you're walking the wind is in your face :happy:
     
  15. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    Bristol feels like this too! I always call it the windy city!

    Job Title: Development Engineer
    Salary: Urg, 1/3 as much as it should be! -_-
    Worth It: I utterly love the work, I just wish it paid more!

    I have a really broad skillset, mech engineering, electronic engineering, system engineering, coding, data shaping, manufacturing of hardware, testing, the list goes on! I'm really glad I'm in a role where I get to use most of these skills and I'm always moving onto new things! Its poart researcher part concept designer, from prototypes through to full system rollout! Unfortunately where I work has dug itself into a bit of a hole so funds are limited! Can't have it all I guess!
     
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  16. deathtaker27

    deathtaker27 Modder

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    Job: DevOps Team Lead
    Wage: £70,000
    Bonus: Stupid. (20%)
    I spend less time coding and more time in politics but ah well

    Edit: just to add if you are curious about devops feel free to drop me a pm
     
    Last edited: 6 Jul 2020
    Mister_Tad and MLyons like this.
  17. Valo

    Valo Minimodder

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    Job: LM/Tech Lead
    Wage: $
    Bonus: Maybe?

    As above. I run an engineering productivity team and manage few devs. Even though something that sounds so straightfoward - "can you make builds faster and more reliable" gets fraught with so much politics I sometimes just get jack **** done. They officially allowed everyone to WFH last week and it's been glorious, finally time to do meaningful things.
     
  18. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    Job: Treasury Manager
    Wage: Decent enough with training package - no commute which helps massively when thinking about overall take home figures.
    Bonus: What's that?

    Been a very interesting start to my new role. I moved internally from the Tax team where I was Customs operational lead / custom compliance lead - basically dealing with all things duty and hence Brexit was a major day to day headache. Went on holiday for a week and came back to a direct WFH scenario with everything else going on. To say it has been a trial by fire would be an understatement.

    I am enjoying getting my teeth into something new (although I have experience of the role in a more junior capacity from the past), although the challenge at the moment is no one really knows what is happening so trying to pull together forecasts is proving a bit of a headache.
     
  19. Pete J

    Pete J Employed scum

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    Job: Senior Project Leader (additive manufacturing: laser metal powder bed)
    Wage: Decent - could be higher, but don't care
    Bonus: Dunno yet, haven't been there long enough to be there during the bonus payout time
    Satisfaction level: Best job I've ever had

    I started this job last September, after deciding to leave my previous job owing to a hostile (blame culture) working atmosphere and a horrible, incompetent manager. A few months in and I'm absolutely loving it. What makes it are the people: everyone is so nice and reasonable, a real feeling of 'we're all in it together' and that everyone has each others' backs. Working flexibility is great too - my manager is happy to bend the rules to allow people to fit work around their lives - I guess what I like is that we all trust each other and are treated like adults, no feeling of constantly being watched for having a lunch break that's 'too long' and the like.

    The icing on the cake is that I can also do what I love - running around, finding interesting things to look into and proposing research projects as a result. I don't do much overtime (unpaid), but when I do, I don't mind as everyone I work with is worth the effort.

    It's taken me probably eight years to find a job I love since finishing my PhD, but I'm so happy I found it. Having experienced how bad a workplace can be, I don't think there's any amount of money (well, short of being paid millions a year) that would tempt me away. Hell, even if I won the lottery, I'd probably still work part time there simply to keep me sane!
     
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  20. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    Just seen this. My company has a base in Edinburgh and is always looking for talent (and has a bounty scheme for me). PM me if you are still looking. :)
     

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