Jan and Klodi's Party Bus - part II **off topic discussion**

LollipopJimmy

AstraMonti wrote: »

On the other end, I had a recruiter text me at 7am on a Sunday, then proceed to call me three times before 9am to see if I knew a specific technology because he had an "urgent" customer. I had only talk to this guys once, two and a half years ago.

IT?

The goings on in IT recruitment seem a bit nuts. I'm in a different market myself and when reaching out to somebody will drop an email first before a random call. It just makes for a better relationship all round. Had that recruiter called you or emailed you at a reasonable hour and not on a Sunday you most likely would have given them more time.

AstraMonti

Yeap IT, totally bananas, I receive 3-4 emails a day with job specs that don't even match a keyword in my profile, they are desperate.

LollipopJimmy

AstraMonti wrote: »

Yeap IT, totally bananas, I receive 3-4 emails a day with job specs that don't even match a keyword in my profile, they are desperate.

I see the tales of woe on linkedin. Thankfully I can fill positions with good candidates through traditional methods rather than ringing and hounding people.

seamus

AstraMonti wrote: »

Yeap IT, totally bananas, I receive 3-4 emails a day with job specs that don't even match a keyword in my profile, they are desperate.

They've gotten better for me since I stopped updating my LinkedIn profile about a year ago. Pure laziness. At least now most jobs seem to come in with remotely relevant keywords and are +/- 30% of my expected salary.

Before then recruiters seemed to just scattergun anything to people who have recently updated their profile. "I have an opening for a graduate Rust developer with an exciting startup!". Do you also have a time machine so you can send that to me 15 years ago?

Although the funniest one was a direct contact from a manager in Amazon who was contacting me for a perfectly relevant position, filled with, "exciting challenges", "flexible work-life balance", and "great working environment".

An email he sent to me @ 2pm on the Sunday of a Bank Holiday weekend. If the manager of the team is working at that time, I wonder what hours the actual team are doing. No thanks.

LollipopJimmy

Feck off with all the recruiter bashing :pac:

I could tell some stories about candidates though mind you. The latest is adding a page to the CV with a list of 'Keywords' and then turning the text white so it just looks like a blank page. The point being to appear on database searches you have no business being on. Now we don't entirely rely on these searches as people would believe but they can be handy.

RobertFoster

Ha! That's some early 2000s SEO manipulation bull****. Google don't permit it and penalise websites that do it.

LollipopJimmy

RobertFoster wrote: »

Ha! That's some early 2000s SEO manipulation bull****. Google don't permit it and penalise websites that do it.

It was always happening but of late it's happening much more often. These same candidates will also put 'N/A' in the box where they are invited to write a cover note.

I'm miserable today because I have 6 roles here with few suitable candidates and it's mid August which means half of the hiring managers I'm dealing with are also on holidays.

Idleater

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

.... adding a page to the CV with a list of 'Keywords' and then turning the text white so it just looks like a blank page....

L33thaxx0r 10x developer :-)

Vel

Jaysus, I'd love to be chatted up on my commute, in a non-sleazy way, by someone!!

Since becoming single almost 2 years ago, one of my favourite past-times is checking out hot men on bikes, be they lycra clad or just commuters. I pretty much find any man on a bike hot, so my commute can be pretty hairy with all the checking out I do :P

LollipopJimmy

Vel wrote: »

Jaysus, I'd love to be chatted up on my commute, in a non-sleazy way, by someone!!

Since becoming single almost 2 years ago, one of my favourite past-times is checking out hot men on bikes, be they lycra clad or just commuters. I pretty much find any man on a bike hot, so my commute can be pretty hairy with all the checking out I do :P

Really? Not that I care but I feel completely unattractive and exposed when on the bike

Vel

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Really? Not that I care but I feel completely unattractive and exposed when on the bike

Oh well yeah, there is that! Maybe at the very start of my commute when I'm as fresh as a daisy!

magicbastarder

i never feel sexier than when i've sweat dripping into my eyes and am having trouble maintaining a conversation.

eeeee

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Really? Not that I care but I feel completely unattractive and exposed when on the bike

I feel awesome on my bike

magicbastarder

i often find myself in my parents-in-law's house after a cycle. i think i've lost any sense of self-consciousness about how i look in lycra as a result.

LollipopJimmy

nee wrote: »

I feel awesome on my bike

Even with the dodgy tan lines?

eeeee

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Even with the dodgy tan lines?

Yup.
Man I couldn't do half the cycling I do if I didn't.
Due to a hip disability, I can't walk or stand for long periods of time, so I've always cycled everywhere. When I have a bike I don't need a stick. I can go almost anywhere.
I started racing my bike on track three years ago and I have two national medals now. I still find that ridiculous.

So yeah, even with dodgy tan lines, and even when my lungs are about to explode in a race, and my legs are just two sticks of pure pain, I feel awesome on my bike.

LollipopJimmy

nee wrote: »

Yup.
Man I couldn't do half the cycling I do if I didn't.
Due to a hip disability, I can't walk or stand for long periods of time, so I've always cycled everywhere. When I have a bike I don't need a stick. I can go almost anywhere.
I started racing my bike on track three years ago and I have two national medals now. I still find that ridiculous.

So yeah, even with dodgy tan lines, and even when my lungs are about to explode in a race, and my legs are just two sticks of pure pain, I feel awesome on my bike.

You know I was only pulling your leg right? :pac:

But that is great, I really love those kind of stories.

Doctor Bob

nee wrote: »

Yup.
Man I couldn't do half the cycling I do if I didn't.
Due to a hip disability, I can't walk or stand for long periods of time, so I've always cycled everywhere. When I have a bike I don't need a stick. I can go almost anywhere.
I started racing my bike on track three years ago and I have two national medals now. I still find that ridiculous.

So yeah, even with dodgy tan lines, and even when my lungs are about to explode in a race, and my legs are just two sticks of pure pain, I feel awesome on my bike.

Reminds me of one of my favourite cycling quotes. I posted it years ago, but it seems you weren't one of us at the time.

Here you go:

'I had never made a long journey by bicycle - this was the first. But Jasmin had given me secret lessons some time ago, and in spite of my bad knee I had learned how to ride. If an athletic youth can take pleasure in the possession of such a machine, how much more did it mean to one who after half an hour's walking would begin to drag a leg behind him in sweating misery! And now, to swoop down from a hill-top into the hollows as if on wings; to see a blurred landscape far ahead divide and make an aisle for you and burst into leaf as you passed; to slip through a village taking everything in at a glance... Only in dreams had I been wafted on such delightful flights.'

Alain-Fournier, Le Grand Meaulnes, 1966 (1913), Penguin, p.139.

Eamonnator

Doctor Bob wrote: »

Reminds me of one of my favourite cycling quotes. I posted it years ago, but it seems you weren't one of us at the time.

Here you go:

'I had never made a long journey by bicycle - this was the first. But Jasmin had given me secret lessons some time ago, and in spite of my bad knee I had learned how to ride. If an athletic youth can take pleasure in the possession of such a machine, how much more did it mean to one who after half an hour's walking would begin to drag a leg behind him in sweating misery! And now, to swoop down from a hill-top into the hollows as if on wings; to see a blurred landscape far ahead divide and make an aisle for you and burst into leaf as you passed; to slip through a village taking everything in at a glance... Only in dreams had I been wafted on such delightful flights.'

Alain-Fournier, Le Grand Meaulnes, 1966 (1913), Penguin, p.139.

WOW

Kav0777

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I was getting pissed off this evening by another cyclist on a BMX who kept going in front of me at each red light only for me to have to pass him again and again. I decided to have a word with him and explained to him that, as I was faster, it made more sense for him to wait behind me rather than going in front only for me to have to pass him again.

His reply (in broken English) was "You say you faster but I still in front".

I had no comeback on that!

If ever there was a situation where imitating a formula one car, i.e. "nnnnNNEEEEEOOOOWwwwww...." as you passed someone was appropriate. this has to be it.

dahat

nee wrote: »

Yup.
Man I couldn't do half the cycling I do if I didn't.
Due to a hip disability, I can't walk or stand for long periods of time, so I've always cycled everywhere. When I have a bike I don't need a stick. I can go almost anywhere.
I started racing my bike on track three years ago and I have two national medals now. I still find that ridiculous.

So yeah, even with dodgy tan lines, and even when my lungs are about to explode in a race, and my legs are just two sticks of pure pain, I feel awesome on my bike.

Great to read a story like this.

I suffer with Psosartic Arthritis and was told i wouldn't be able to do hard exercise etc for any period of time. I tried running and got 3 years before my right knee gave out so after a 1 year period of misery and depression i started cycling again and now race A4, sold my car and use a bike for commuting 99% of the time.
Hopefully this year i can get bumped to A3 and see how i go there but cyling has given me so much to look forward too and hopefully i can manage the Arthritis well enough to keep racing.

magicbastarder

dublin cycling campaign meeting tonight in the central hotel: "Lessons for Cycling Advocates from the 'Velo-city' International Conference 2017"

http://www.dublincycling.ie/events/lessons-cycling-advocates-velo-city-international-conference-2017

Wishbone Ash

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

....I'm miserable today because I have 6 roles here with few suitable candidates...

I envy you.

I have 72 positions with no suitable candidates no applications. I think we managed to fill 2 positions so far in 2017.

nilhg

dahat wrote: »

Great to read a story like this.

I suffer with Psosartic Arthritis and was told i wouldn't be able to do hard exercise etc for any period of time. I tried running and got 3 years before my right knee gave out so after a 1 year period of misery and depression i started cycling again and now race A4, sold my car and use a bike for commuting 99% of the time.
Hopefully this year i can get bumped to A3 and see how i go there but cyling has given me so much to look forward too and hopefully i can manage the Arthritis well enough to keep racing.

You're probably already aware of team RAD, but for anyone who's not,

https://www.facebook.com/racingwithautoimmunedisease/

http://www.racingwithautoimmunedisease.org/

Great bunch and very approachable and helpful to anyone with auto immune issues.

StevieGriff

Riding through a village today toward a group of youths, I see the planning and giggling start, expecting one of them to do something stupid I was pleasantly surprised when one of the youths extended his arm for a hi-5.
I was not so pleased when he retracted his arm and shouted something that rhymed with plastic.

Wishbone Ash

StevieGriff wrote: »

....I was not so pleased when he retracted his arm and shouted something that rhymed with plastic.

'Fantastic'?

When I pass a group of youths I'm occasionally asked to 'pull a wheelie', but I'm unable to oblige.

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

dublin cycling campaign meeting tonight in the central hotel: "Lessons for Cycling Advocates from the 'Velo-city' International Conference 2017"

http://www.dublincycling.ie/events/lessons-cycling-advocates-velo-city-international-conference-2017

ten speakers each with 4-5 minutes to sum up what they took away from velo-city; it was a little superficial as a result, as there was not much in-depth issues discussed due to the broad range of topics covered.
interesting that one of the biggest rounds of applause went to the quietly-spoken chap from dublin city council when someone asked 'why are dublin hosting velo-city when we've so little to offer compared to nimejen or copenhagen'.

Wishbone Ash

magicbastarder wrote: »

...interesting that one of the biggest rounds of applause went to the quietly-spoken chap from dublin city council when someone asked 'why are dublin hosting velo-city when we've so little to offer compared to nimejen or copenhagen'.

Was the applause for the chap from the Council or the person who asked the question?

magicbastarder

the chap from the council. basically explained that a lot of the point in inviting people to dublin is not to show a city which has reached cycling nirvana, but a city that a lot of other cities will identify with and be having similar struggles to; that the transition is more difficult than maintaining infrastructure in an already cycle friendly city. and that it will give extra impetus to cycle-friendly campaigns in dublin.

Chuchote

magicbastarder wrote: »

the chap from the council. basically explained that a lot of the point in inviting people to dublin is not to show a city which has reached cycling nirvana, but a city that a lot of other cities will identify with and be having similar struggles to; that the transition is more difficult than maintaining infrastructure in an already cycle friendly city. and that it will give extra impetus to cycle-friendly campaigns in dublin.

Any names of speakers?