August 4, 2009 at 12:21Notes of a workaholic, or how I looked for work
Good day to all.
I want to tell you about my work experience in different periods of my life and about what things I had to face at the same time. Perhaps this will be useful to someone when looking for work and help to avoid mistakes at the initial stage of a career. And so, let's go!
As a student, I decided to get a job. Searching for vacancies in newspapers and on websites with advertisements did not yield results. However, I did not despair, and once work literally found me. I sat in an Internet chat (old-style html chat) and someone wrote to the community that I was looking for a Delphi programmer for permanent work. I responded and after a short chat in private I received an email address, where I sent my resume. The requirements for a future employee of P (let's call it that) were much higher than my modest capabilities, but I still did not lose anything. To my great joy, they soon called me and invited me for an interview. As a result, after two interviews and a test task, I was hired. I was in seventh heaven! I was not even embarrassed by the meager salary, I was ready to plow for nothing, if only to work. Workdays began ...
Here the most unpleasant was discovered. As it turned out, the average age of an employee in a company was well over 30. There were few young people, and uncles who were already over 40 and who didn’t understand how to manage the development team stood at the helm. Terrible bureaucracy reigned. The working day began at 8.00 and ended at 17.15. Arrival at 8.00 was regarded as a delay, and these are payroll deductions and reprimands. Lunch lasted 45 minutes, and despite the fact that there was no kitchen in sight, I had to go 7 miles to the dining room. As a result, the whole break essentially consisted of going there, eating and returning to the workplace.
But the worst was different. After I was hired, they couldn’t find my workplace and computer for about 2 months. Every week I moved somewhere (usually in the place of a colleague who was on vacation at that time). Accordingly, the computer changed each time, sometimes being replaced by a laptop (this is so that I would not be bored, probably :)).
Another test was begging for work. I did not want to sit idle, but I was in no hurry to hang tasks on me (although I had to write weekly and monthly reports). As a result, I begged for at least something and every time I received completely diverse tasks from different people, which did not affect the results of the work in the best possible way. Fortunately, then a bright streak nevertheless started, they gave me a workplace, a computer, and a pack of work into which I plunged with my head and did not want to crawl out - it was so interesting until…
The financial side of the issue began to be felt. When asked about the promotion, the boss at first pretended not to know the word “salary” at all, and then when I persistently repeated that I wanted to raise, I said a completely brilliant phrase: “you're young, you don't need money yet” (cool sense of humor: )).
Having worked in this office until the pre-diploma period, I took leave at my own expense, and after graduation I left there. I have no regrets.
Conclusion.
Beware of firms where old-tempered people, inclined to bureaucracy and accustomed to doing everything the old fashioned way, are at the helm. Carefully monitor how quickly and efficiently you will be provided with a workplace and loaded with work. If there are hitches in this process, then be sure - otherwise the company has a complete mess. This option is suitable as a first job, but no more.
Rejecting the offer to return to the company P, I again began to wool newspapers in search of work and found a job as a technical translator. As it turned out, it was a remote work, the essence of which consisted in translating technical texts from English into Russian. With English, I was all right (despite the fact that a little dumb at the university) and I decided to try. Successfully completed the test task and I was hired.
The employer was cool. He paid not so much, but he was not greedy. Always rounded the amount up. And the work at first pleased - was interesting - all the same a new direction for me! And the most important advantage is a flexible schedule and the ability to work just at home at the computer. It was ecstasy! But…
Ecstasy did not last long. Soon the monotonous work began to bother. Orders did not differ constancy. That they were not there at all, it was a complete blockage. Sometimes I sat for a week without work, but on the weekend a bundle of orders came - a weekend down the drain. Quarrels with households became more frequent - is it a joke all the time looming before each other's eyes. So a new fresh wave was replaced by the stuffiness of the apartment, boredom, lack of communication. And when I suddenly received a proposal for a new job, I grabbed onto it like a sinking straw.
Conclusion.
Work at home in freelance mode is what so many dream of. Free schedule, unlimited income, a kind of romance. Do not build illusions. You have to pay for everything. In this case, the price of the issue is the lack of lively communication, the instability of income, not official work, the need for strict self-discipline. I don’t argue - someone liked this approach, but not to me. So decide for yourself. And I shake hands with all freelancers (after all, they fought on one front :)) and we move on.
Having accepted the offer, I got a job in a large western outsourcing company in which I work to this day. A young team, a good salary, business trips, a modern office with all the necessary infrastructure. I like it here and I’m not going to change jobs in the near future. One way or another, there are drawbacks and various kinds of jambs in the work process (the youth of colleagues is affected), but in general, everything is not even bad.
Conclusion.
Currently, a lot of Western companies open their branches in the regions of the CIS countries. Do not miss this moment until you grab the most delicious jobs.
That's it! Thank you for reading to the end. I hope it was interesting and useful.
Good luck with your job search!
I want to tell you about my work experience in different periods of my life and about what things I had to face at the same time. Perhaps this will be useful to someone when looking for work and help to avoid mistakes at the initial stage of a career. And so, let's go!
1. Work in his student years. Starpersky softdev.
As a student, I decided to get a job. Searching for vacancies in newspapers and on websites with advertisements did not yield results. However, I did not despair, and once work literally found me. I sat in an Internet chat (old-style html chat) and someone wrote to the community that I was looking for a Delphi programmer for permanent work. I responded and after a short chat in private I received an email address, where I sent my resume. The requirements for a future employee of P (let's call it that) were much higher than my modest capabilities, but I still did not lose anything. To my great joy, they soon called me and invited me for an interview. As a result, after two interviews and a test task, I was hired. I was in seventh heaven! I was not even embarrassed by the meager salary, I was ready to plow for nothing, if only to work. Workdays began ...
Here the most unpleasant was discovered. As it turned out, the average age of an employee in a company was well over 30. There were few young people, and uncles who were already over 40 and who didn’t understand how to manage the development team stood at the helm. Terrible bureaucracy reigned. The working day began at 8.00 and ended at 17.15. Arrival at 8.00 was regarded as a delay, and these are payroll deductions and reprimands. Lunch lasted 45 minutes, and despite the fact that there was no kitchen in sight, I had to go 7 miles to the dining room. As a result, the whole break essentially consisted of going there, eating and returning to the workplace.
But the worst was different. After I was hired, they couldn’t find my workplace and computer for about 2 months. Every week I moved somewhere (usually in the place of a colleague who was on vacation at that time). Accordingly, the computer changed each time, sometimes being replaced by a laptop (this is so that I would not be bored, probably :)).
Another test was begging for work. I did not want to sit idle, but I was in no hurry to hang tasks on me (although I had to write weekly and monthly reports). As a result, I begged for at least something and every time I received completely diverse tasks from different people, which did not affect the results of the work in the best possible way. Fortunately, then a bright streak nevertheless started, they gave me a workplace, a computer, and a pack of work into which I plunged with my head and did not want to crawl out - it was so interesting until…
The financial side of the issue began to be felt. When asked about the promotion, the boss at first pretended not to know the word “salary” at all, and then when I persistently repeated that I wanted to raise, I said a completely brilliant phrase: “you're young, you don't need money yet” (cool sense of humor: )).
Having worked in this office until the pre-diploma period, I took leave at my own expense, and after graduation I left there. I have no regrets.
Conclusion.
Beware of firms where old-tempered people, inclined to bureaucracy and accustomed to doing everything the old fashioned way, are at the helm. Carefully monitor how quickly and efficiently you will be provided with a workplace and loaded with work. If there are hitches in this process, then be sure - otherwise the company has a complete mess. This option is suitable as a first job, but no more.
2. A breath of fresh air. Freelance.
Rejecting the offer to return to the company P, I again began to wool newspapers in search of work and found a job as a technical translator. As it turned out, it was a remote work, the essence of which consisted in translating technical texts from English into Russian. With English, I was all right (despite the fact that a little dumb at the university) and I decided to try. Successfully completed the test task and I was hired.
The employer was cool. He paid not so much, but he was not greedy. Always rounded the amount up. And the work at first pleased - was interesting - all the same a new direction for me! And the most important advantage is a flexible schedule and the ability to work just at home at the computer. It was ecstasy! But…
Ecstasy did not last long. Soon the monotonous work began to bother. Orders did not differ constancy. That they were not there at all, it was a complete blockage. Sometimes I sat for a week without work, but on the weekend a bundle of orders came - a weekend down the drain. Quarrels with households became more frequent - is it a joke all the time looming before each other's eyes. So a new fresh wave was replaced by the stuffiness of the apartment, boredom, lack of communication. And when I suddenly received a proposal for a new job, I grabbed onto it like a sinking straw.
Conclusion.
Work at home in freelance mode is what so many dream of. Free schedule, unlimited income, a kind of romance. Do not build illusions. You have to pay for everything. In this case, the price of the issue is the lack of lively communication, the instability of income, not official work, the need for strict self-discipline. I don’t argue - someone liked this approach, but not to me. So decide for yourself. And I shake hands with all freelancers (after all, they fought on one front :)) and we move on.
3. The great outsourcer.
Having accepted the offer, I got a job in a large western outsourcing company in which I work to this day. A young team, a good salary, business trips, a modern office with all the necessary infrastructure. I like it here and I’m not going to change jobs in the near future. One way or another, there are drawbacks and various kinds of jambs in the work process (the youth of colleagues is affected), but in general, everything is not even bad.
Conclusion.
Currently, a lot of Western companies open their branches in the regions of the CIS countries. Do not miss this moment until you grab the most delicious jobs.
That's it! Thank you for reading to the end. I hope it was interesting and useful.
Good luck with your job search!