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October 2025

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Uzz919 (29), FlowingEye (36), Karthus (35)
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Upcoming Birthdays: Uzz919 (29), FlowingEye (36), Karthus (35)

[ISPY]

I think we should have a car thread, I like cars.

[Berath]

I think we should have a car thread, I like cars.

Start one!

[Artanix]

Oohh cars.

And I'm sad about vanilla, he/she looked awesome. I want one now!

[Millicent Bystander]

In an effort to raise funds I bought 4 clearance Velux blinds for £6 each after my employer lowered the cost to get rid of them.

Have already sold 3 of them for a total of £120 + postage.

[Berath]

In an effort to raise funds I bought 4 clearance Velux blinds for £6 each after my employer lowered the cost to get rid of them.

Have already sold 3 of them for a total of £120 + postage.

Result!

Could this be new career.......?

[ISPY]

Well, the idea of a nice monday without major work was blow out the water this morning. Hahahahhahahaha  water, We had a flood on the roof and it brought about 4 ceilings down, ruined about 150 carpet tiles, and may have ruined 2 lighting desks and a sound desk, of about 4-5,000 each. Thank god it didn't damage any of the 100 theater lights, or the theater and sports hall floors we have just had sanded and are waiting to have re varnished.

[Zarf]

Got offered a position as a trainee telecommunications engineer - basically a subcontractor for BT doing broadband installs as far as I can tell. Bit wary as it's a pseudo self-employed paid by the job type thing rather than secure employment, but I don't see a catch yet as all the training, equipment and expenses are paid for.
Not really the sector I planned on or gained any experience in, but the money seems (suspiciously?) good. There's a 2 week training course in a couple of weeks that they'll pay me £30 a day + accommodation to attend which beats the dole.

Remembering Ripsaw's tales of woe makes me a bit nervous as I think it'll be a similar kind of job driving to multiple sites a day at the behest of a PDA, hopefully I'll stay sane. Guess it'll buy me time to find a desk based IT job again.

[Artanix]

I'm a network consultant doing wireless mostly, and I can say that at the moment there is a fairly large shortage of network engineers (including DSL). Its pushed the wages up considerably. A CCNA will pretty much guarentee you at least 25k a year, pushing 30k in London. Networking is where its at

I've spent most of my time in 21 degree comms rooms the last few weeks, its awesome.

[DeadlyAvenger]

Got offered a position as a trainee telecommunications engineer - basically a subcontractor for BT doing broadband installs as far as I can tell. Bit wary as it's a pseudo self-employed paid by the job type thing rather than secure employment, but I don't see a catch yet as all the training, equipment and expenses are paid for.
Not really the sector I planned on or gained any experience in, but the money seems (suspiciously?) good. There's a 2 week training course in a couple of weeks that they'll pay me £30 a day + accommodation to attend which beats the dole.

Remembering Ripsaw's tales of woe makes me a bit nervous as I think it'll be a similar kind of job driving to multiple sites a day at the behest of a PDA, hopefully I'll stay sane. Guess it'll buy me time to find a desk based IT job again.

It's probably suspiciously good because you'll be contracting instead of employed (I guess?) - you won't get paid holidays/sickness and you'll have to submit your own tax returns / pay your own NI contributions (about £2.50 a week or something last time I checked?). Contractors always tend to get paid more on the face of it but you lose out in other areas (especially if you think you might have periods of no work - maybe not the case in what you're doing but if you're doing design/development then it's good to have a bit of money to last you through a quiet period).

Anyway - good luck with it! Like you say, if nothing else then it'll help tide you over until something else comes along. Glad you managed to find something so quickly!

[Berath]

Excitement at the Resource Centre today.

Got a phonecall from one of the team, a bailiff had turned up because our rates hadn't been paid, apparently, and he had orders to take stuff of equal value.

Much running around with phonecalls to our Finance to get proof of payment, I knew we'd paid it. We would have been stripped bare.

Eventually the bailiff left with said evidence to follow up. He'd been quite a nice chap, a bit taken aback when he arrived and found out we were a charity with all our various service users wandering about busy being and looking vulnerable; and some of them are definately 'care in the community' vulnerable. He'd had lunch with the team and a bit of a chat.

[Millicent Bystander]

Got offered a position as a trainee telecommunications engineer - basically a subcontractor for BT doing broadband installs as far as I can tell. Bit wary as it's a pseudo self-employed paid by the job type thing rather than secure employment, but I don't see a catch yet as all the training, equipment and expenses are paid for.
Not really the sector I planned on or gained any experience in, but the money seems (suspiciously?) good. There's a 2 week training course in a couple of weeks that they'll pay me £30 a day + accommodation to attend which beats the dole.

Remembering Ripsaw's tales of woe makes me a bit nervous as I think it'll be a similar kind of job driving to multiple sites a day at the behest of a PDA, hopefully I'll stay sane. Guess it'll buy me time to find a desk based IT job again.

Good going finding a job so quick, even if it is self employed.  I take it you've googled the company.  

Just remember to keep receipts for everything, you can claim back at least part of almost everything and a good accountant is worth their weight in tax returns.  In my year of self employment I earnt a pretty good wage but only paid £200 tax.  Oh... and tell the tax man.

[Zarf]

I'm a network consultant doing wireless mostly, and I can say that at the moment there is a fairly large shortage of network engineers (including DSL). Its pushed the wages up considerably. A CCNA will pretty much guarentee you at least 25k a year, pushing 30k in London. Networking is where its at

I've spent most of my time in 21 degree comms rooms the last few weeks, its awesome.

That's where I want to be really, got my ICND1 / CCENT qualification a couple of years ago, missed out on the ICND2/CCNA exam by a quarter of a percent (Grr) didn't bother paying to try again since I got offered a job which didn't have any Cisco kit.
Had a promising call today about a local 1st/2nd line position, will probably take that if I get through the interview. Whatever I do I'll be looking to get complete my CCNA and do a Server MCSA so I can get into those 25-30k jobs. I've got 3 years commercial experience now at 1st/2nd/3rd line which is the main hurdle for most decent IT jobs.

[Allytk]

good luck man

[Artanix]

Yeah, experience goes a long way, the cisco qualifications are good to back it up. Shows alot about your personality and stuff, its more than just a piece of paper

[Millicent Bystander]

Went to the bank today to sort out my spare (ie; secretish from the wife) bank account, went in a foul mood as I only opened the account 9 months ago and they were changing the T&C so I couldn't have a Debit card.  Opened the account and they do the usual life insurance/home insurance/mortgage sales pitch so I ask how much a few extra tens of thousand of pounds would be on top of our existing mortgage.  They didn't laugh me out the bank and for what a one bedroom flat costs to rent each month where I live we could pay off all our debts, put 2 extra bedrooms in the loft, probably sort the kitchen and bathroom too and have more free money each month.

Shiny new mortgage and building site home here we come.