June | 2012 | Mike's Life

I’ve been out of work for a while. This is the middle of a recession but still, I think I’m pretty good at what I do so this shouldn’t be much of a problem.

I got turned down for another job today. I guess this sort of thing happens and this rejection wasn’t any more difficult than the prior ones. But it’s all just starting to wear me down.

I’m definitely regretting quitting my job a few months ago. I know getting a new job would be hard but now it’s just annoying. I’m wasting my time at home sitting on job web sites when I could be improving database systems and solving problems. Instead I sit on my arse at home.

It does make me think that there really is a problem with employment. I guess a hundred or two hundred years ago you would talk to someone you know mac they would sort you out a job. Now, I’m living in a city of about twelve million people. I’ve got great skills but the people in this city who should know about me just don’t.

What I deal with are recruitment consultants. They haven’t written a line of code in their life and can’t tell the difference between decent coders and charlatans. I’m not a charity and don’t expect to be given a job that I don’t deserve but to be ignored by recruiters who don’t even really know how to find what they are looking for.

Maybe that is a bit of an unreasonable rant but it seems appropriate right now.

Comments would be appreciated. Especially from recruiters trying to prove that they aren’t entirely clueless.

The most recent weekend in London had the celebrations for the Queen’s 60th Jubilee. 60 years is a long time to be doing any job.

Over the course of the weekend there were several major events. I tried to go along to the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. So did several million other people! This event consisted of about a thousand boats travelling down the Thames between Battersea Park and the Tower of London.

After heading down to the Thames embankment a couple of hours before the event was supposed to start, there were already thousands and thousands of people there waiting. I couldn’t really get a riverfront view because the crowd was already at least ten deep in most places.

I got myself in front of a large television screen which helped. I got to watch everything that was going on as the boats went down the route and approached my position. Unfortunately when the boats arrived I still relied on the TV as I couldn’t see the river at all.

All in all, it was probably a bit of a waste of time heading down there but I enjoyed the atmosphere. I don’t think I was willing to get there at 9am or earlier just to get a prime spot so I probably got the view i deserved.