Work

Job Change

Published on by Violetsteel

I’m changing jobs!

So I’ve mentioned I got a job transfer down to Milton Keynes at the end of last year because of Pete’s new job. I have remained a part of the Business Test Team based in Stafford, and have been the only member working away from the team. So I’ve been doing work as dedicated resource for another part of the company based in Milton Keynes. As such it’s been kinda difficult being away from my colleagues and the accompanying support structure, but it’s been OK and I’ve just got on with it. It’s actually been a great learning curve too and I learned that I can actually do this job. My confidence as a Test Analyst was definitely lacking when I was in Stafford and there a various reasons why, but the move down here pushed me so stand on my own two feet. It’s been good. Financially however, I’ve been struggling a bit. I had to buy a car so that I wasn’t dependent on Pete anymore and didn’t have to wait around after work for him, and likewise put pressure on him to finish at 5pm if he still had stuff to do. So I bought my BMW.  This meant I was financially worse of for the move down here. It’s not been terrible but each month I’ve been scrapping by.

Now the team I work for down here has two parts. One is the Customer Delivery Team that looks after our own internal systems and that’s what I’ve been testing the most, and then the E-Commerce Team which manages and maintains the bespoke rewards websites that we offer for our business clients. When I was first told about the job on the E-Commerce Team (directly by LS on that team) I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure is I wanted to be in Web Design and thought that the business knowledge I was gaining in my current role would fair me better in the long run. But the more I heard about the job and thought about it, I started to change my mind. I realised that even though I was fairly happy in my current job, I don’t want to do User Acceptance Testing for the long term. There are even aspects to the job that I hate (Documentation & scripting, I’m looking at you!), and the more I thought about it I knew I’d be much happier doing something more creative. The new job title is E-Commerce Web Content Editor and it’s helping to manage the general layout and content of the 60-odd sites we currently run and any new ones. The skills I currently have around the job requirements were a good fit and it’s not too intense that I didn’t think I was capable, plus the team itself is a great bunch of people that I already know I can work well with. It was also mean a nice little salary increase. Bonus!

So I decided to go for it. The Team Manager and LS who had told me about the position had already showed interest in me applying which helped boost my confidence, but I was still nervous for the interview. I needn’t have been. It went really well and lasted for nearly 2 hours which is always a good sign. It felt more like a relaxed chat with friends rather than a rigid formal interview. I walked out feeling good. The following morning LS asked for a chat to give me feedback on it, and I was told the job was mine if I wanted it! I immediately accepted.

So soon I will be moving over to that team and getting back into the swing of working on web content. I can’t wait! LS will be my line manager, who used to do the same job by herself, and I know I’m going to enjoy it. 🙂

House Move, Permanent Position @ Work, Persistent Cough & Running for Teenage Cancer Trust

Published on by Violetsteel

I have lots to blog about as it’s been quite a while since my last proper blog post, again. I don’t know if I’ll get it all down now, but will have a go.

We have moved! In 2008 we moved into a block of flats which at the time was an upgrade from the downstairs flat (aka bottom half of a converted house) we first rented upon arrival in England. But after living there for nearly 4 years, we were really sick of the sight of the floral wallpaper and stained carpet. So were decided to look around at houses for rent and it turned out that one of our colleagues had a 2 bedroom double storey house to rent that was just becoming available. We took a look and decided to take it. No letting agent to go through any more, bonus! We had to buy a few appliances, so now own our own fridge-freezer and washing machine. I feel so grown up. lol! We moved in on the 28th April. It was a huge amount of hard work but so worth it! We’ve been here 1 month now and already it feel more like home than anywhere else we have lived. It’s great to live somewhere that we genuinely give a shit about and want to improve. We have our own garden and thus private outdoor area, a fireplace in the lounge, a large kitchen, neutral walls, great bathrooms, a fantastic hueg open grass belt literally 10 meters from our front door, and I finally have my dream bookcase from Ikea. I seriously couldn’t be happier. AND we finally got to give our shit letting agent the finger. Those arseholes were less than useless and I’m stoked to never have to deal with them ever again. They totally tried to rip us off with our deposit with supposed repairs to the shit flat, but Pete negotiated with the fuckwit owner and got most of it back. Though I didn’t want them to have a single penny of our money but if I had dealt with them again I would have gotten too angry to be reasonable, and then we wouldn’t have got anything. lol. Though we are still waiting for our agreed amount back and I look forward to phoning then tomorrow and asking where the hell our cheque is. Phew! Rant over 🙂 So yes, moved, and very happy. 🙂

I’m still enjoying my new job. The only aspect I don’t particularly enjoy is test scripting! 😛 But I hear all my tester colleagues saying the same thing. Planning tests is fine, and probably the most challenging part of the job as I’m still learning, but scripting is just tedious. It basically consists of writing a set of instructions within the test management software. Depending on the type of test, it can be as simple as “click this, and this will happen”, and some tests can be so involved the script can end up quite lengthly. Then you may have over 100 tests to script for a particular piece of work. You get the idea. Running the tests themselves however I really enjoy. That’s when we actually get to find defects and report them for fixing. But I digress, I’m still enjoying it 🙂 I’m only on contract at the moment and my 6 month contract was just renewed at the beginning of May. Now 2 permanent positions have opened because of other staff leaving, so I am in the process of applying for that. It’s definitely stressful as it’s a full reqruitment process happening, including CV & cover letter application, then an apptitude test and interview; and I HATE interviews 🙁 but hopefully I will be successful and then I’ll be permanent and not have to worry about my job security, or doing another interview any time soon! *fingers crossed!*
Also work has been insanely busy and we’ve been doing loads of overtime. 2 weeks ago we worked until 9pm, and this was in the middle of dealing with the arsehole letting agents so I wasn’t such a happy camper. But the overtime pay certainly makes it worth while, and negates the pay cut I took for this job (which was worth it).

I have had a persistent cough for about 1.5 – 2 years. I had it once before and it lasted for about 2 years before going away. I’ve seen the doctor frequently about it, and had 2 endoscopies to check my throat and upper oesophagus, and tried numerous treatments without much luck. I went back again 2 weeks ago and requested to try a nasal spray (again) as I’m conviced the cough is caused by mucus. So I’ve been using it for 2 weeks and I dare say it seems to be working! I can’t express the relief I feel to be able to go through the day and night without coughing to the point of nearly vomiting. It’s great. So fingers crossed I’ve finally found a treatment that doesn’t involve taking morphine based pills 4 times a day. 🙂

Pete and I are taking part in a charity run with some of our colleagues (Please stop buy a sponsor me, every dollar, pound or rand makes a huge difference). The company we work for is teamed up with Teenage Cancer Trust as an official fundraiser, so a few of us that work together have decided to get our butts off the couch and do a 5 mile run to raise some funds. The run itself is happening on the 8th July, and I think Pete and I are the only ones who have been properly training for it. Christ, I NEED to, I’m so unfit! Since we now have a lovely area of open grassland next to our house it’s easy to go running after work, so we’ve been trying to run a few times a week. The first few runs we did I thought I was going to die, but slowly it’s starting to get easier and I’m starting to enjoy it! Hopefully I’ll improve my fitness and loose a few kgs for our wedding in September! Not long to go now!