>> Heh. Now tell me something I don't already know. ;-) [Such as how to
>> *find* a better job... that'd be useful!]
>
> Actually, with respect to finding a better job, the problem has less to do with
> *knowing* what to do (which isn't all that complicated) than with resolving to
> actually do it.

Probably not complicated if you know what you're doing. I haven't got a 
clue. Sure, I've tried the obvious things, but those haven't worked. So 
now I'm kinda not sure what's next.

> The work-a-day world can can easily leave one feeling drained
> and thoroughly disinclined to take on as demanding a project as conducting a
> proper job search.

Yeah, that's true enough. Sometimes I struggle to find the motivation to 
do stuff I *like* doing, damnit! (It can be very hard to try to motivate 
yourself to do stuff when you know nobody is actually going to care one 
way or the other.)

Actually, I've been thinking about maybe taking a week off work so I can 
spend some time doing this "for real". Unfortunately every place of 
business shuts 20 minutes before I get home. [Quite maddening really!] 
If I had a week, I'd be able to go places and speak to people and stuff...

> 1.  Don't wait until you NEED a new job to look for a new job.

Heh. I'm tempted to leave this job right NOW, even though I have nowhere 
else to go! But clueless as this company is, they've been around for 20 
years, and I don't suppose they're going anywhere real soon. They'll 
just continue to blunder on, making spectacular financial losses, as 
they always have.

> 2.  Make a short list NOW of places where you would like to be working in two
> years and establish communications with both the human resources department AND
> the department(s) that you would like to work for.  Be very explicit that your
> interest is specific, serious, focused and long-term and that you are NOT
> merely inquiring in regard to current posted openings.

OK, I fail here. I cannot think of *any* company I'd actually want to 
work for.

I mean, theoretically working for somebody like Yamaha or Korg or even 
Nokia "sounds" realy neat. But actually? I have no clue who would really 
be worth working with. My dad works in a laboratory, which "sounds" 
really cool, but actually... isn't.

I did look into a list of big-name technology companies to see where 
they have bases of employment. IIRC, Nokia, HP and Erricson have big UK 
bases, but they're nowhere near where I live. Yamaha has a big place in 
my city, but I think that's manufacturing not R&D. Korg has a base here 
too, but I couldn't find any data without speaking to a human. That's 
about as far as I got.

> 3.  Create and *maintain* a library of job search support documents such as
> resumes in various formats, references, recommendations. college transcripts
> and examples of your work so that you can take advantage of any opportunity
> INSTANTLY using top quality documents.

I have an up-to-date CV. Spent lots of money on consultants to help me 
sharpen it. It's currently available online at Monster.co.uk. Every now 
and then some random agency contacts me, asks me a few questions, and 
then is never heard from again.

It says on my CV "references available on request", but it strikes me 
taht I don't actually *have* anybody I could point them to. Nobody knows 
me! All the management in my current place of work recently changed, so 
nobody in management here really knows anything about me. My university 
shut down when I graduated. I don't have any "friends" or anything...

As for examples of my work... it strikes me that I've almost never 
produced a "finished" program in my life. That's not a good thing. And 
obviously, nobody is going to employ me to program in Haskell; they'll 
want C, C++, Java or VB (or maybe some scripting language). I haven't 
touched any of those in years now.

And then there's the minor detail that although I know a lot of stuff 
about stuff... how many people actually need to know what a Huffman tree 
is? None. Nobody needs to know this. It serves no useful purpose. And 
Warp is probably right: I'm not a very good programmer.

> 4.  Always send important communications in BOTH electronic and paper format.

You can't do that without a postal address. (And stamps. Do you have any 
idea how hard it is to purchase stamps?!)

> 5. Keep records of whom you have contacted and when.  Never allow more than
> ninety days to go by without renewing a contact.  Only make contact more
> frequently than this after you have established a relationship with a specific
> individual who has expressed a positive interest.

Fair enuf...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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