So i've been working for myself coming for the past 2 years now and decided i'm fed up with the day to day stress of finding new commissions, advertising etc and just want to go back to a nice 9-5 in a small but growing company that i can stick with.

 

Had a job agency ring me up out of the blue and tell me they had found my cv online and thought i'd be suitable for the role in this organisation.

 

They basically provide schools with online learning aids and tasks that the teachers can manage.

 

To actually get an interview i had to complete a task, to create a basic stock control system in php that held items and as people bought them it stopped other people from adding the same item to the cart. I took it to the next level and added stock quantities, lead times etc and made it completely robust and when i say robust apparently their php developer guy tried to break it for several hours and couldn't :D

 

Anyway so finished that, had a 30 minute phone interview with the managing director when i submitted it, waited for a week for their developer guy Tom to test it and report back to Simon the manager of the company, finally got them to offer me an interview yesterday and went in.

 

I'm the ONLY candidate to get this far, most people gave up with the assignment or messed it up.

 

Had the interview, went fine with no problems. so thought:

 

"Phew that's it! all i've got to do is wait for the yay or nay in the next few days"

 

WRONG

 

Had a phonecall today from Henry the guy who was scouting for them to say Simon was ringing me back with a couple more questions he wanted to ask (this is after a 2 HOUR interview and a previous 30 minute phone call interview) at half eleven today.

 

Not only that but he also wants me to meet the php developer Tom in person but he wouldn't be able to come up till the 20th of December because he works from home in Gloucester! I'm going to ask him if he'd like me to drive down and meet him in person this week instead after this guy's finished work.

 

Is it me or this a little OTT for a £27k a year job?????? :headvswal :headvswal :headvswal

 

I'm tempted to just go and work in a factory if it's this hard to get a proper job! lol

 

I passed my degree with a high 2:2 after being hospitalised for 4 weeks in my final year but i think i've more than made up for it in the past 2 years by running a successful business and my interview technique is flawless i've been told by several people. What more do these people want?!?!?!??!?!?! :nono:

That's what i said, he was complaining i only had a 2:2 which i followed up by saying as the end of the day what would he prefer:

 

- Someone with a perfect 1st but lacked any self motivation and had no proven track record

 

OR

 

- Someone that has a 2:2 but that's built a company from the ground up, had a proven track record with a good business sense and self motivated and has an indepth knowledge in PHP/MySQL, a years experience in server management for Barclays security and also has 2 years experience in professional graphic design and marketing?

 

He shut up after that :D

 

I think 27k is fair for what i can give him but if he's souly looking for a candidate who has a perfect 1st, programs in actionscript and php and had 1 zillion years of experience but is prepared to spend 3 days effing about on a silly project for 27k he must be having a laugh

27k isn't a great wage in the IT industry - but it isn't the high earning place some folk think it is. A Traffic Wardern in Farnborugh can earn 20K a year plus bonuses and overtime for a 30 hour week.

 

Some train drivers are on 37K!

 

As for the degree thing - I don't have a degree, and when attempting to get a job in the past I was told I would have trouble holding my own against the other staff members who were more qualified than me - I then pointed out that I worked in a school, where just about every member of staff had a higher qualification on paper than myself - yet they were coming to me for advice on Computer, Networking and Electronics questions - go figure.

 

Agencies talk a load of Pap Nick - so be careful who's not telling you the whole picture. As for that company - it's quite likely that as their market is Schools/Academic Software - the founders may well be ex Education - and therefore perhaps a little more anal about qualifcations. As for me, I think experience and ability are far more important, and have made decisions on staff members at Symantec based on that rather than what someone has on paper.

 

You've done their tests, sat their interviews - it's time to call them out and say - your chance is now - I have other irons in the fire.

 

All the best with whatever the outcome - you will get the right job mate - just don't sell yourself short.

 

Good to see you and Jon over the weekend ! :cool:

Cheers folks i'll inform as i find out more :)