As you may or may not know, I’ve been looking for a new job over the last few months. I have actually had four interviews of which two are no go’s and two are as yet undecided (either that or the recruitment agents haven’t told me about the rejections – a distinct possibility).
Before going to one of my more recent interviews the recruitment agent sent me a list of possible interview questions and recommended answers (or at least the form your answers should take).

One in particular caught my eye:
Question: Are you a leader?
Suggested answer: Yes, (give examples)

Immediate flashback to an earlier interview
Questioner: Do you see yourself as a leader?
Me: No I’m more of a follower …

Doh.

Although having said that I do feel that this is pretty much the truth and lying in an interview’s not going to get you anywhere.

Having just blogged about getting new housemates and signing contracts on this very evening, guess what comes up.
One of the recruitment companies I contacted has found what sounds like the IDEAL job (see below) the problem? It’s in Oxford.
After a lot of thought I’ve decided to apply, I am not too keen on moving but if I don’t get offered the position I won’t have to worry about it.

Electronics Design Engineer circa £22k

Graduate/Junior role requiring Hardware/Software knowledge & experience

Solid State Logic has secured an unrivaled reputation as the world’s leader in design, development and manufacture of professional audio production systems for the music, broadcast, video and film industries.

Our products are comprised of high speed multiple processor systems, designed using the latest technology and components.

It is with this in mind that our R & D Department now have a vacancy for a Design Engineer, a role that encompasses both software and hardware design. This challenging brief calls for a methodical and analytical individual with,

· An understanding of the requirements of a real-time system
· Experience of high level embedded software design and implementation
· A good understanding of digital and analog circuit design concepts
· Experience of using CAD tools for schematic capture
· Experience of VHDL design would also be advantageous.

To succeed in this demanding yet exciting post, applicants should be qualified to degree standard, possess excellent problem solving skills, be self motivated and have the ability to complete designs to the highest standard.

So I’ll have to see what comes of it, Oxford is about the same distance from London as Guildford so it’s ok from that point of view.

This always seems to happen to me, two weeks after signing the contract on the house last year I got a call from ARM saying there were now openings.

I’m not sure if I want to crosss my fingers or not, if I got it, massive dilemma. If not, then I’m stuck where I am.
It would mean I’d live in the same city as my cousin when she’s at uni, which can’t be a bad thing.

Mmmm, well I’ll keep you posted, gentle reader.

Never a truer work spoken (or written) in my opinion. Personally I love giving, because when I get it right, the look of gratitude and appreciation gives me a nice warm feeling.
Of course you could argue that this is a selfish reason to give people gifts, and I wouldn’t disagree with that argument. However the main thing is that the person on the receiving end doesn’t see it like that. ‘Wow what a fantastic present, it’s exactly what I wanted, you selfish bastard’ is not something you’ll hear very often, if ever.

The reason I’m sharing this is because yesterday it was Lucys birthday (my housemate) and I managed to get her a good gift that she wanted. Strangely in most cases I actually prefer giving to receiving, simply because I’m not very good at showing how much I appreciate things that people get for me. Or at least not at the time of giving.

Not that I’m saying stop getting me gifts or anything, I do really appreciate them!

…may have dropped myself in it there…