attn: BigWallop - yer binary woes hopefully solved!

[Witchy]

Both of you have very valid and salient points there, as I'm finding out in meatspace. I've been in IT since 1985 so I've seen all the cycles and changes as they happened; most of the time they didn't affect us other than to bring in more business, but once the bigger acquisitions started more and more people I know have been laid off. IR35 didn't help for my contractor friends....

My own downfall came when HP 'merged' (yeah, right) with Compaq. Almost overnight everyone we worked with at Compaq was laid off and once that happened Oracle dropped us like a hot thing. All of a sudden, cashflow crisis, ie there wasn't any coming in.

At present I've been offered the possibility half a dozen jobs over my

11 months on the rock'n'roll, all of which wanted me to actually move before even considering interviewing me, so I'd be expected to move to Lodnon or in the last case, Warrington, before I'd even get a foot in the door!

PoP, what handyman services do you offer? If I'm going to follow the sparky route and get trained up I'll need something to tide me over, unless someone reading this has 500sqft of space they can let me have to open my computer museum to the public :)

cheers

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[fred]

In article , Witchy writes

[Grunff]

Don't talk to me about "recruitment consultants" - ughhh. I refuse to deal with them. I'm told there are quite good ones out there, but I just don't have the time to waste on sifting through the piles of crappy ones.

Very much so. I've known contractors on 100k equivalent with no discernable skills whatsoever.

That type of advert is usually written by a "recruitment consultant" who hasn't got the foggiest what any of these things actually mean. If they work for an agency, then the advert is best avoided. If they work for a personnel department of a big company, then one good approach is to contact said company and ask if it's possible to speak to the technical person associated with the vacancy. Ask them what their requirements really are.

I think that does happen, but only if your contact is purely with clueless non-techies. That's why it's worth putting a little effort into trying to get a phone conversation, however brief, with a technical contact. This won't always work of course, but it can prove very worthwhile.

[Witchy]

You're dead right there I think. Pity that 9 times out of 10 I get a badly spelt, incorrectly punctuated and technically inaccurate job description and when I ask to speak to the employer I'm told no.......

Maybe I'm the picky one?

cheers

w

[Grunff]

It's good to be picky - as long as your finances permit it.

[marika]

you were very close. but you did good!

:)

mk5000

"Thinking I'd found a bad time when the tree was broke, I've tried to upgrade by a snapshot. The main OpenBSD server is still serving files from October 11 at 15:42. This i about the same time I began having problems with my -current machine"--jeffrey ross

[PoP]

I'll do most things - plumbing, sparkyism, carpentry, tiling, painting, decorating, flatpack furniture building, other things I can't remember, etc. One area on which I do focus is kitchen refurbishment, I've recently acquired the big router and worktop jig for dealing with the worktop joins (going out to another one later today).

However I am very clear with potential clients - I won't take on big jobs like full CH install or complete rewire - even though I've done both in the past without problem. It hurts me financially to limit myself this way but at least I sleep comfortably knowing I'm not trying to take on anything beyond my reasonable competence level.

When you say "...sparky route and get trained up", what do you mean? Perhaps my experience with this might help.....

I'm an electronics engineer by training and experience (8 years in the field with HP computer systems). So last year when I was thinking about my options I thought that I could jump into the sparky route fairly easily. I got my C&G2381 (16th edition wiring regs) earlier this year, and plan on going back for the C&G2391 (Installation and testing) in the new year when the college has a place available.

But those two certifications equate to sod-all in terms of becoming a sparky. I queried this with the lecturer at college and he said I would need 2-3 years apprenticeship to gain NVQ's in order to call myself a sparky. I told him I had HNC Electronics - his reply was that HNC blew the socks off NVQ's in terms of its educational status, but it was non-transferrable - I'd have to do all the schoolboy physics and stuff in the NVQ's all over again.

I have one possible option on the horizon with regard to sparkyism, that being NICEIC registration next April. If I get C&G2391 then there should be nothing stopping me becoming NICEIC registered, then I could carry out certification tests on electrical installations. Might be a revenue stream for me there.....

PoP

[Witchy]

One of the things that stops me doing that for other people is liability.....I don't mind working on our own properties but other people's?

Got a question that I'll post in a new thread for that one......

[Fishter]

SWMBO frequently sends copies of the job description, with corrections, back to the advertiser, along with her application. Not sure it's got her anywhere, but she enjoys it!

[Witchy]

That's plastering off the list for me then!

Bugger - that's what I planned doing after reading around.

I can't mentally reconcile becoming an apprentice at my age, but won't the NICEIC registration need proof of experience and all the relevant bits of paper? Dammit, I can't afford getting 2-3 years experience unless someone pays me. Typically the job centre are totally useless when it comes to questions like this.....

cheers

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[Mike Faithfull]

Hmm .. good 'ere innit! I joined the IT industry with HP in er, .. (blushes) 1972, and left Compaq with a brown envelope in 2000. My own (IT Consulting) business has had peaks and troughs over the last three years, but it seems to have been getting more and more difficult finding suitable work during this last year. I think I'd make an honest and conscientious "contract DIY" person, and I'd enjoy it too, but doubt that I'd work fast enough to be able to make a living at it - too picky about the fine detail.

[PoP]

I have £1M liability insurance in place. In fact to work on buy to let properties (a potentially lucrative market) you won't be taken on without the cover in place.

The insurance application form asks "how much experience do you have for this type of work?". In my case, over 30 years since before I left school.

It does not ask how many years you have worked in the industry. I am aware of others who have circumnavigated their career from IT to handyman-type professions.

PoP

[PoP]

No. If you read their web site then there are 3 different ways you can join. The 3rd way (hello Mr Bliar...) is that you have C&G2381, C&G2391, and have been trading for 12 months. Nothing about being a time-served sparky in there.

PoP

[PoP]

'kin hell. You aren't THE Mike Faithfull who used to work at London Airport orifice and then CSC where I used to bolt together the HP1000's before they got shipped to my customer sites are you? You'll be telling me you are into ham-fisted radio next ;)

PoP

[Mike Faithfull]

Rats! I've been sussed ...

[PoP]

Na-na-na-na-nah! ;)

I always wondered what happened to you. You were one of the good old HP guys (emphasis on old) ;)

I guess you might still be living in the Thames Valley area then. Don't be forgetting that we've got a let's-have-a-pint session going on Nov 4th if you might be interested. Someone'll be along in a minute to remind me where it is.....please.....

PoP

[Witchy]

Is it as expensive as the news item I saw makes it out to be? Mind, said item was on self-employed windowcleaners so maybe the cover is different...

Would I get away with 5? Before then I paid other people to do it, and only started meself when I couldn't get anyone else in less than a month.

Judging by the likes of people here the cause of the circumnavigation has been Compaq/HP :o)

cheers

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[Witchy]

Right, so I've got to get the bits of paper whilst trading for 12 months. Bugger.

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[PoP]

I paid £277 for one year. I understand £45 of that was an outrageous arrangement fee to the broker (we only found out afterwards when we requested an invoice for tax purposes). The cover is provided via Fortis:

Would I get away with 5? Before then I paid other people to do it, and

It doesn't have a minimum, I guess you could try by stating zero!

No, no, no. You are reaching the wrong conclusions entirely. Only people that worked for a living for Compaq/HP can actually be counted. Those who propped up the desks don't count! ;)

PoP

[PoP]

I don't think you have to do any buggering to make an application, though I suppose it depends which way their inspector is inclined. ;)

The 12 months is if-fy, according to their web site they appear to suggest it might do to have 6 months.

Which possibly means I will be okay, in so far that by the time next April arrives I will have at least 6 months under my belt.

But I have to say that I'm not committed to this registration yet. C&G2381 cost me about £150. C&G2391 will be about the same. I can swallow those figures.

But then you need about £800 of test equipment for 16th edition certification purposes. And another £600 to get into NICEIC. Those sorts of numbers aren't comfortable for me right now. I can afford it as things stand but I'm wondering whether it is worth the investment.

Perhaps there is an opportunity herein to do certification jobs for others who haven't got the necessary equipment and qualifications. I'm looking at that option right now because when I phoned the local council to enquire about the new regs the suggestion was that the charge was most likely to be at least £70 (+VAT) and could be £250 depending on what needed to be done. So if I can offer that certification service for say £50 and do a couple a day then I'm healthy in a financial sense.

Whereas a "real" sparky offering that service probably wouldn't get out of bed to do a job for £50.

Maybe, just maybe, there is scope here for some of us local tradesmen to collectively work together on these sorts of things - remain independent but linked as needs arise. Maybe one who is corgi registered, another BS7671 registered, etc. Maybe it'd be a bit like herding cats - but I'd be interested in discussing further if others were.

Don't forget that to issue the BS7671 certificates (and I think this applies to corgi too) does NOT require that that individual has to perform the installation - the certificate just needs to be issued by someone who is considered competent to do so. In which case I think we'd all be daft to rush out and try to jump over the hurdle!

PoP