James Titcumb

This won’t have been the first time I’ve written about degrees… But I recently noticed a job posting for a server-side developer at Headscape, and in just the third sentence it already got my back up:

We are looking for a graduate who is passionate about the web

This sort of thing in job postings really annoy me. The notion that a degree makes a person better than someone with 3+ years of experience to me is a very narrow-minded way of thinking. Many employers use this sort of thing as a “first line of defence” tactic – to eliminate applicants that are clearly not suited to the job. However, there are many great developers out there with no degree, but many years of experience.

I asked an employee of Headscape about this, and he summarised that he expects they would consider those without degrees. Perhaps because I don’t have a degree it touches a raw nerve with me, because I’ve been very lucky to get where I am.

I got on the “software development ladder” through a good opportunity, because I had zero “years experience” and no degree, and from an employers perspective, a pretty risky option. Because I was given that chance, I now have over 6 years of professional development experience. Others in my 2003 situation might not be so lucky, and because employers require things like degrees, it makes those starter developers chances of getting even a junior job even harder.

It seems an odd concept to me that to get on that ladder, you must spend 4 years at university, wasting money and time, learning what you already know… In this industry* I would disagree that a degree is required, so why do employers still require that candidates have degrees? To me, all a degree does is prove that you can think analytically, but to even learn a programming language properly, you have to think analytically and logically anyway, so surely if you can prove you know the language, you therefore also prove that you can think analytically…

I’d like to see what other people think about this, maybe I’m a minority on this view?

* I specify in this industry because certain other professions, such as medical, I would say that a degree is required.

I just don’t understand. It seems no-one will give Hannah a job! The interview she went for on Tuesday at the NHS in Winchester was for a student pharmacy technician. She was well over-qualified for the job with a pharmacology degree, and did really well in the interview, but they still found someone “better”. I say better in quotes because I doubt there really was anyone better. She’s been without a permanent job for absolutey ages, and no-one is giving her a break.

It’s really getting on my nerves as I know how much of a hard worker she is, and how she’d exceed all expectations if someone just gave her a chance. Not only that, but it puts more pressure on me as I have to pay for all the bills and rent etc., and support her as she doesn’t earn much here at Netbasic. Not only that, but we have a bloody wedding to save for, and they don’t come cheap. At this rate we won’t be married until 2018. It’s not even like we can afford a loan – between us we are just about managing to survive with food. It’s really bringing both of us down, so we wouldn’t be able to afford loan payments either.

I just wish someone would give her a job that she’ll enjoy. There’s gotta be someone out there…

So a few minutes ago, Hannah told me that LeRiche turned down her application. It’s really sad that she keeps getting turned down like this, she deserves much more. This is the second job she’s done really well at the interview stage and then got turned down, which is so disheartening. She’s a stupidly hard worker, and even if it’s a boring job she’ll work like heck to impress, and she delivers every time. When she worked at Velcro City council, she used to come home every day saying how someone had said how helpful and motivated she’d been.

It’s really getting her down, and there’s only so much I can say to comfort her at the end of the day. Someone please give her a job!! Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase!

So I have taken a bit of a direction change to something I feel more comfortable with and I’ll be starting my new job in Fareham on Tuesday. Rather excited to start, I went in a few days ago to meet the guys (and gals) there, they all seem pretty cool, so hopefully I’ll fit right in.

I went airsofting at UCAP for the first time in ages on Wednesday, it was nice to play again, except I did get utterly sprayed when a guy came round the corner all guns blazing… I now have a bruise on my chin, but it’s covered by my big beard. Matt was down there also for the first time in even longer, but thats because he’s got a little one to worry about! Congratulations to him and whatnot.

Signing out now, ta ta for now.

So for those of you who don’t know, I lost my job this week. I’m not that upset about it – I see it as a chance to do something better with my life. After all the work and effort I put in, going to California all the time, putting in countless hours of overtime (most of which I never applied for because I didn’t mind), it turns out that the company really didn’t appreciate me for how much I did for them. It was only in July that they started paying me what I believed was a decent salary for the amount of work I put in, and that was only because I found another (better paid, I might add) job somewhere else and they wanted to keep me. However, it was too little, too late. At the time I found that new job, I asked for three things to be changed, two of which they did not honour. Therefore, perhaps selfishly, the other I did not honour in return. Towards the last month of my employment there, I totally lost interest in the job. At the end of the day, in my opinion, they took the piss. I remember at my disciplinary my manager stating that he did not think I was committed, which enraged me totally. I really could not believe he had the audacity to say something so ridiculous, considering the immense amount of work I put in to them, which it turned out meant little to nothing to them. I was just a “resource” to them, nothing more.

Well, my apologies for that little rant. Anyway, now I am searching for a new, more rewarding job, hopefully closer to home. I have started tidying the house properly now, and gotten the months worth of washing out the way (eww!). The living room is looking a bit neater now, and hoovered. I intend to use this opportunity to sort a few things out, including our finances, as well as generally living a bit better.

I’ll be going to France next week to see my parent’s new house, as well as to chill out for a bit. Me and Marc will be filming a little horror short tomorrow which should be fun! Also, tomorrow evening is Turisas, and hopefully I’ll see lots of people there. However due to the stupid no re-admission policy that the Wedgewood Rooms frivolously maintain, I’ll probably be staying in the Edge of the Wedge until Turisas play – no offence to Abgott you must understand.