Do you work? ... In work?

SCOOP 64

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

I studied it in college, and then did a ton of Udemy courses to help build up a portfolio on github. All they care about is your portfolio, although certificates and grades can help. In my opinion, Python is the way forward. But that statement has the potential to unleash hell in the coder's world, so maybe have a look and see what suits you!

Would you say its been genuinely hard work to get to were you are today?

runawaybishop

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

I studied it in college, and then did a ton of Udemy courses to help build up a portfolio on github. All they care about is your portfolio, although certificates and grades can help. In my opinion, Python is the way forward. But that statement has the potential to unleash hell in the coder's world, so maybe have a look and see what suits you!

Fair enough about the contract stuff, as long as you know what you are doing

Portfolios are definitely useful but I have found that a lot of senior management are overly concerned about certs. If you are thinking about moving some qualifications in agile/scrum project management will help and maybe PRINCE2 (if you are doing government work) or a PMP if you have someone in work willing to support you.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

AIG?

ryo.jodeci

siblers wrote: »

I don't really understand how you work in I.T but aren't able to do online courses that only require a basic IDE and access to YouTube. You must be using a very outdated system.

Why can't you do the course at home in your own free time

Sorry, I should have said that I am doing some home projects by myself in the evenings, but my problem is more whether I should move jobs or not. Only because I feel like I'm wasting time during the day. I have an IDE, and access to Udemy/youtube.. But I'm not able to scrape data off the web, or download data sets. That's the only issue really. Also, I'd feel a bit cheeky doing that beside my boss.. but sure if there's nothing else to do they can't complain.

runawaybishop

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

Sorry, I should have said that I am doing some home projects by myself in the evenings, but my problem is more whether I should move jobs or not. Only because I feel like I'm wasting time during the day. I have an IDE, and access to Udemy/youtube.. But I'm not able to scrape data off the web, or download data sets. That's the only issue really. Also, I'd feel a bit cheeky doing that beside my boss.. but sure if there's nothing else to do they can't complain.

Why would your boss have a problem with you increasing your skillset?

fullstop

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

It means you get 625 euros per day, but nothing else (such as job security/healthcare/bonus).

You'd hardly be expecting a bonus on top of €150k+ a year for doing no work would you?!!

ryo.jodeci

ExoPolitic wrote: »

Bring your own laptop in and code on that? Hotspot on your phone?... cant understand the problem.

The boss works from home 1/2 days a week so it's a runner. But I'd feel a bit bad on the days they're there. Also, I feel like I'm part of her game to make the team look busy so that I keep the job! There are seniors walking around and they might see the laptop and ask about it. Bit easier to minimise the chrome browser when they're strolling by.

ryo.jodeci

fullstop wrote: »

You'd hardly be expecting a bonus on top of €150k+ a year for doing no work would you?!!

Nah, we expect nothing. If we fall down a slippy stairs there's no chance of us suing either!

Bonus or not contract work is extremely insecure.
You could be out on your ass in a few months.
The good salary offsets the fact you have no pension, no health benefits , no increments, no job security.

Dav010

I feel your pain op, life is unfair.

ryo.jodeci

runawaybishop wrote: »

Why would your boss have a problem with you increasing your skillset?

I think because what I would be interested in studying has nothing to do with what we're doing in work currently. It's all coding, but I would like to get into artificial intelligence like image recognition, natural language processing, creative AI, or self driving cars type stuff!

scwazrh

its very surprising that someone who can earn €150k per yr with no effort cannot figure out a way to increase or continue to use their skill set during the 8 hours a day they are being paid to do nothing.

Dav010

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bonus or not contract work is extremely insecure.
You could be out on your ass in a few months.
The good salary offsets the fact you have no pension, no health benefits , no increments, no job security.

Most jobs have no pension, no health benefits, no increments and don't get paid &150k pa, do you realise how you post reads?

runawaybishop

Dav010 wrote: »

Most jobs have no pension, no health benefits, no increments and don't get paid &150k pa, do you realise how you post reads?

The op is earning good money, fair play to him. He is not happy at work. Money isn't the be all and end all.

ryo.jodeci

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Would you say its been genuinely hard work to get to were you are today?

Everyone sits down for the first time and are clueless. But eventually patterns emerge, logic is repeated, and a confidence grows. That's the coding side. On the contracting side, I always think your network is key, especially in Dublin. I enjoy it, but that's me.. courses for horses. I certainly think coding is a lot easier than what people think on the first day.

Edit: I'd recommend you take a look at some Udemy courses. They're 10€ and can give a great insight.

OU812

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

I'm not able to scrape data off the web, or download data sets.

Assuming you're doing the standard 220 days at your daily rate, that's a job paying circa €135,000 a year before taxes that you had such a strong skillset & were clever enough to get, and you haven't figured out you can bring in your own laptop & datasim modem to work on so you don't have to connect to the wifi ???

Honestly if you worked for me & I found out that you hadn't been clever enough to do that, I'd fire you.

Do some courses, skill up & then move on for more money elsewhere, stop bitching about it.

Dav010

runawaybishop wrote: »

The op is earning good money, fair play to him. He is not happy at work. Money isn't the be all and end all.

It's not "good money", it's great money for doing by the the op's admission, nothing.

And the op is complaining.

s7ryf3925pivug

Oasis1974 wrote: »

Python language coding is very advanced and most sought after for big pay checks.

Pretty sure its focus is readability - not more advanced than other OO languages, and intended to be easier to learn afaik.

...
I do work at work, and so do the other developers there. It’s the opposite extreme to the OP, instead of having too little to do, focus on throughput tends to affect quality and therefore skill development. My project is largely an exception to this because of various things including its scope, the customer being nice, me having a good relationship with them, and I’m greatly involved in determining requirements and design in an ongoing manner.

Every other project has greater pressure on throughput and it is common for people to work weekends as well as long hours during the week. The A&D is big design up front on these really, masquerading as scrum. That itself is done under pressure, and is focused on closing a sale more than anything else.

... anyway yeah I work in a company selling custom software development as a service and everyone in the department is kept very busy... We don’t get paid as much either (though the customer pays more for our time).

nim1bdeh38l2cw

delly wrote: »

I was all in until the rate was mentioned. While your issue is real and many people can experience it, not a hope in hell at that rate as an outsourced contractor. The rate may exist, but not for idle resource.

I can assure you that it does

ryo.jodeci

Dav010 wrote: »

It's not "good money", it's great money for doing by the the op's admission, nothing.

And the op is complaining.

Just to clarify - I'm not complaining. I can leave at an instant. I can stay at an instant. The purpose of this thread was purely to see if anyone was ever in a situation where they were paid well, but weren't growing in their role and had concerns of regressing as a result. But to re-iterate, I am in no position to complain and I know that. I didn't think that was necessary to clarify, but here it is for you.

Tell me how

Veda Calm Policeman wrote: »

I can assure you that it does

Well then, it's official. Celtic Tiger 2.0 is on the prowl.

ryo.jodeci

OU812 wrote: »

Assuming you're doing the standard 220 days at your daily rate, that's a job paying circa €135,000 a year before taxes that you had such a strong skillset & were clever enough to get, and you haven't figured out you can bring in your own laptop & datasim modem to work on so you don't have to connect to the wifi ???

Honestly if you worked for me & I found out that you hadn't been clever enough to do that, I'd fire you.

Do some courses, skill up & then move on for more money elsewhere, stop bitching about it.

Not bitching, and I'm sorry if the text came across like that. I wouldn't have spent two years there if it was something to bitch about. This is purely advice seeking only. I haven't brought in a laptop yet because nobody else has and it would raise serious alarm bells with senior mgmt if they saw someone sitting with a laptop when no one else on the open floor plan has one. As boring as the day can be, it's better than have that conversation with a senior.

Dav010

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

The only thing that's keeping me there is the day rate of 625 euros. But I'm losing my coding skills. I'm losing my mind. Is this normal nowadays

No complaining?

ryo.jodeci

runawaybishop wrote: »

No regrets in the slightest. Bit apprehensive that I would find the new job hard after having it soft for so long but realistically I was unmotivated, not lazy. Everyone told me I was crazy to leave my job ( I was in charge of international Xbox testing which was cool) but for my own sense of worth I needed something that challenged me. New job has a good bit for me to learn but I am loving being busy, learning new things and actually stretching myself.

I think a push like this is what I need. The stuff we're (supposed to be) working on in work will be small fish in the future when AI properly takes off. If I don't plan a move now, I feel I'll be left behind. I think I will pick a side of AI that I enjoy, and ramp up my home projects on the same before April (contract renewal). Then I'll start to look for jobs and make a move. Thanks Runaway Bishop.

s7ryf3925pivug

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

Just to clarify - I'm not complaining. I can leave at an instant. I can stay at an instant. The purpose of this thread was purely to see if anyone was ever in a situation where they were paid well, but weren't growing in their role and had concerns of regressing as a result. But to re-iterate, I am in no position to complain and I know that. I didn't think that was necessary to clarify, but here it is for you.

I’ve experienced that at different times for the following reasons:
- Being subordinate to someone who dictates bad ways of doing things
- Doing the same thing over and over.
I’ve quit jobs and taken pay cuts to avoid the above.

ryo.jodeci

Dav010 wrote: »

No complaining?

Ah sorry, I see how you read that. It was more about losing my ability to work - losing my mind was more related to dealing with new problems and how I'm not as sharp as I used to be when I was busy.

Wildly Boaring

ryo.jodeci wrote: »

Just to clarify - I'm not complaining. I can leave at an instant. I can stay at an instant. The purpose of this thread was purely to see if anyone was ever in a situation where they were paid well, but weren't growing in their role and had concerns of regressing as a result. But to re-iterate, I am in no position to complain and I know that. I didn't think that was necessary to clarify, but here it is for you.

I have been in the position twice in my career.

Outsourced in from a consultancy on one occasion, in on contract on another. Could do both roles in about 5 hours a week on a normal week.

In both situations my boss was playing the poor mouth. Very busy. Short staffed. Blah. Blah.

In both situations I looked for work. Firstly have you busy co-workers you can help out? Have you specifically asked your direct boss for more work?

It turned out once that there were subcontractors working for us with no body to report to. My boss asked his colleagues (not superiors) of they needed additional resource a day a week. Low and behold one admitted that these boys were doing whatever they wanted. Another time it turned out that my boss was genuinely worried about quality of one employee. Put me giving him a hand a few hours a day. Great for both of us. Yer man was petrified to admit he was over his head. I got work.

When I was in from consultancy they started to double job me. You obviously can't pull that stunt.

rd1izb7lvpuksx

delly wrote: »

I was all in until the rate was mentioned. While your issue is real and many people can experience it, not a hope in hell at that rate as an outsourced contractor. The rate may exist, but not for idle resource.

€625 isn't a particularly high rate for a contractor. Although his/her circumstances are odd, there's plenty of contracted devs on higher day rates who are so bad at their jobs that their client would be better off if they weren't doing anything.

StupidLikeAFox

I once worked with a SAP contractor who was being charged out at 1800 a day and think he saw about 66% of that. Recruitment agency got 33% which was money for jam. He was also ****ing useless - in 6 months he caused more issues than he solved.

OU812

delly wrote: »

I was all in until the rate was mentioned. While your issue is real and many people can experience it, not a hope in hell at that rate as an outsourced contractor. The rate may exist, but not for idle resource.

That rate is lower end of the scale where I work. There's guys in on €750-€950 a day, have one guy on €2,500 a day, only works four days a week; but he's extremely specialised.

And to be honest, we've had to pay them for several months to do very little between projects, because it would have cost us much more to go looking for the same skillset & experience if we'd jettisoned them when the previous project ended. Normally any delay between projects is outside of our control & the fault of third parties who have penalties so it doesn't cost us anything extra.

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

I once worked with a SAP contractor who was being charged out at 1800 a day and think he saw about 66% of that. Recruitment agency got 33% which was money for jam. He was also ****ing useless - in 6 months he caused more issues than he solved.

Man... the consultancy companies are creaming it off these guys, they take such a huge chunk & some of them have 10-15 guys placed. Literally money to send an invoice in.