Category: career
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A Milestone
Last week I completed a consulting engagement with my 100th client since starting work in this field 5.5 years ago. Looking at these last few years in hindsight, it feels like an unfathomable point to be at. I am struck by how much I have learned and how my perspective has developed. It has been…
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Slapped in a Dark Tunnel at an Interview
The interview cycle is in full swing. I came across a post on Contractor UK about tricky questions posed by interviewers, which I think are just jaw-dropping. Someone needs to have a reality check and stop taking themselves so seriously. I have nothing against difficult, even impossible, questions in an interview situations. Most of the…
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Hiring Great Developers
Dr. Dobb’s journal has listed a great article on what it takes to identify great developers. Being in the market myself, and sitting on the other side of the fence it is interesting as to just how far this is removed from the norm. A few interesting tips? “Tell programmers in advance (at least a…
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Finding IT contracts in London
Over the last couple of years, I developed quite a strong professional network in Dublin, which was working quite well in getting contract IT work. With the recent move to London, I have found that I may now have to fall back onto more traditional forms of hunting for contracts, i.e. through agents and job…
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How to start your career in programming
I have been meaning to jot down my thoughts on this one for a while, but when I saw this article on First Steps into IT, I figured that there was no better time. Programming is a tough career to get into. When I was getting into the industry for the first time I was…
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Why my resume will no longer be in Word format
Another contract cycle approaches and the question of the CV/resume has once again reared it’s head. The job boards are full of agency ads with instructions that resumes be submitted in MS Word format only. Often when I have turned up to an interview, I have encountered printouts of my resume with my contact details…
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Web Developer rates up 26% in UK
Driven by new interest in Web 2.0 technologies, acquisitions by the New Conglomerates (Google, Microsoft et al.) http://www.contractoruk.com/news/003339.html