xset

Looks like this is it for the next 3 months

// July 31st, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

Part of the problem I face with the new job is that my role as head of their marketing efforts should really have begun a good six months ago. They have a fantastic product, an amazing opportunity, and absolutely no market presence whatsoever. Not a sausage!

So yesterday we had a 4 hour session outlining the basics required to airlift the product. These include a brochure campaign, a website for the company and the product (they hadn’t even got that far!) and a separate “hard-sell” brochure for the Jersey market.

The trouble is that I don’t officially finish at MegaComp until 14th October which is going to be far too late to get the product to market for Q1 2006. So it looks like I’m going to be spending pretty much all of my free time at New Job for the next 2.5 months.

It’s going to be a lot of work and a lot of fun at the same time. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to keep you up to date on what’s going on over the next 3 months but if things are a little sporadic then I’d beg your forgiveness.

Rob

Thanks and answers

// July 31st, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

I’d like to say thanks to all you lovely people who commented to tell me I was making the right decision or just to wish me luck. I really appreciate it more than you know!

And to answer a couple of questions / correct a couple of points:

I’m not on gardening leave … I wish I was but MegaComp has decided that my leaving is not a large enough threat to their core business to warrant it.

I’m also not leaving to join another web design job. At least not initially. I’m joining the new company to head up their marketing and PR strategy and whilst that will involve a little web design it’s going to cover a heck of a lot more.

So thanks again for all your best wishes.

Rob

Moving on # 2

// July 27th, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

Apologies to those who were left concerned by the non-committal tone of my big announcement. Yesterday was all a bit of a blur and I didn’t really consider the implications of such a brief post. Hopefully all follicles are intact?

So …

Yeah …

I quit my job.

Let’s start with a bit of background:

• I work for a large IT company (the largest in the Channel Islands by quite some margin) who we shall refer to from this point forward as MegaComp
• I have worked for them since November 2002
• This was my first proper job since graduating
• I was hired as a web designer
• I have since extended my remit to cover a whole load of things from Intranet implementation through, document management and out the other side.
• About 8 months ago I became aware of a nagging feeling of non-satisfaction*
• About 7 months ago I was offered an opportunity that was very difficult to turn down… but turn it down I did.

I turned it down partially out of loyalty to my current employer but mostly out of fear of change. The opportunity was risky. If it worked out then all involved stood to be very busy (and more than a little well off) for the next 5 years. If it crashed then I would be without a job.

I’ve spent the past 6 months wondering if I made the right decision.

MegaComp then began to work on refining their business objectives and drivers and an awful lot changed. Our target verticals and core competencies had shifted (and rightly so) in such a way that I found myself wondering if I would still have my job in 12 months time. Not to say that I was going to be “let go”, when I say my job I mean the one that I was hired to do, which, coincidentally is also the job I love doing. I would almost certainly be given the opportunity to retrain in a different field but really didn’t find the idea all that appealling.

Then I heard that MegaComp was planning to outsource the development of their internal website.

*snap*

So I made a few calls. The moderately risky but potentially wonderful opportunity was still an option and they were still very interested in bringing me on board.

So I jumped.

I haven’t formalised the details yet but have a 3 month notice period and will be looking to leave MegaComp in October. In the mean time I will be writing rafts of handovers. In my evenings and weekends I will be undergoing an airlift for the new job as I will have to hit the ground running when I start.

And it’s all seriously exciting!

*where as dissatisfaction refers to a negative feeling non-satisfaction is simply the absence of being satisfied

Moving on …

// July 26th, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

Today is a bit of a milestone.

Because today, 26th July 2005 I have done something I’ve never done before.

Today I resigned from my job of 2.5 years.

More later.

Give the people what they want

// July 25th, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

And they’ll love you forever.

Or at least that’s the theory.

Certain people made certain suggestions about what this blog is lacking and, for fear of being branded an uncaring, non-communicative host, I’ve done my best to provide.

So for Helen we have kittens sans chow mein and a glass of red

For Celeste, a very nice cuppa.

And for my sister, a loud mouth lizard

Next up, some actual meaningful content!

And for the lads

Welcome one welcome all …

// July 21st, 2005 // No Comments » // Tech

…to Dry the Rain, the new weblog run by a guy with another weblog.

The emergency exits are here, here and here. Please take time to familiarize your self with the nearest exit, bearing in mind that it may be behind you.

I’d like to post the answers to a couple of common questions before you get chance to ask them.

1) Why Dry the Rain?

Well I was after a name that didn’t mean an awful lot to the rest of the world but meant a lot to me and so settled on the title of one of my favorite songs of all time ever. Dry the Rain is the first track from the 3 EPs by the Beta Band. If you’ve watched Hi-Fidelity then you’ve already heard it and have seen just how good some people think it is. Moving from an understated, country-esque opening the song builds and builds to a surging climax, complete with mournful, vocal harmonies and muted yet triumphant horn section.

2) Where’s your blogroll and why aren’t I on it yet?

The blogroll is coming … jeez … and you may well be on it but only if I read your site. I’m also trying to work out how best to sort the ‘roll. It will be up in about a week.

3) Nice design!

Thanks!

4) Did you do it yourself?

Nope… I will be but wanted to get something up and running first so I borrowed it from brokenkode.com, hence the credit in to footer.

5) Where’s the sidebar stuff?

Again it’s coming. Look if I’d known I was having visitors I would have spruced the place up a bit.

6) I posted a comment / track-back and it hasn’t shown up? WTF?

This site is running a serious quantity of anti spam software (not least of which being Spam Karma) and as such may, occasionally, once in a while, give a false positive. I do review the spam though and it will show up eventually. If you’re getting real problems then please email me. Unless you’re trying to post helpful links to Internet Poker sites in which case you can bite me!

7) I hate your site and I hate you!

Well that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. Now don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out…

Any more questions? The comment box is right there.

That’s decided then

// July 21st, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

The new site is now up and running.

Now here’s the deal … if you want to know what it is then all you have to do is leave a comment. This is in an effort some way to ensuring that the new, personal site, remains slightly more annonymous than this one.

In the mean time you may see odd things happening at XSet as I tidy up the posts, migrate content and generally spring clean the bit of the server that it inhabits. XSet is nearly 2 years old as a blog and is over 4 years old as a website and has grown rather organically… in short the folder structure is a bit of a mess.

I’ll do my best to ensure that your permalinks don’t get broken too badly

Rob

We love the MOON!!!

// July 20th, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

And it seems we aren’t alone…

Google’s gone Lunar!

See the full story over at Google Blog

Michael Jackson – Look what you did

// July 20th, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

Let’s kick off Wednesday with a giggle shall we?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present for your viewing pleasure:

Michael Jackson’s Chocolate Factory – flash movie

(kind of safe for work ish)

Now that’s what I call a transformer

// July 19th, 2005 // No Comments » // Personal

Anybody who’s used a computer will already have a fair portion of their memory given over the various keyboard shortcuts used by different applications, from the common or garden CTRL-C, though to CTRL-SHIFT-J to make a new layer from the selection in Photoshop.

It doesn’t matter how good you are with an application, you’ll still have moments of key blindness. You know what the shortcut is but just can’t conjure it up at the minute. Enter the Optimus keyboard. Each key shows you exactly what it does on a per application basis.

Not only does this thing look seriously cool but I should imagine it would also empower more and more users with the time saving shortcuts that are built into almost every single application.

Unfortunately it’s not available until 2006 but I can wait that long for something that has such a potentially massive impact.

(Hat-tip: SimpleBits)