So, there have been many things going on in my life right now and I have not really had the passion to write about it. My relationship with Amy Fox has come to an end and sadly the circumstances that lead up to the break-up were not good at all. There was a lack of trust on both sides and it just fell apart from there. I have been having a hard time adjusting to being single again but I know that given time I will be a better person and be able to walk away stronger and with the knowledge that I will some day find someone that loves me as much I love them.
Also work has not been going as well as I would like I feel like I am at a dead stop and not able to move anywhere. I have still be applying to jobs on the market, but I have yet to get a call back from any potential employers. So I am thinking that if this keeps up over the next couple of months, I might end up going back to school and moving out of Kingston as there just are not the tech jobs like in Toronto or Ottawa. I’m even thinking that I might not even stay in Ontario and go where the jobs are. Now that I am single, nothing is holding me to a particular place. I have also been flirting with joining the Military as an Officer but right now I am in a holding pattern as I have to wait until September before I can start applying to Civilian Universities and to the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) to see if I would be eligible.
Work seems to be getting the best of me. It is draining, even though I don’t do a lot and working shift work is just not for me. The constant switching from 12 hour day shifts to 12 hour night shifts just does not work with my body. Some people are cut out for it, but I am not sure I am. Well, not in this position anyway. I have been getting out and about Kingston more as I no longer have a desire to sit at home and watch TV or play on my computer for long periods of time. I have taken up biking and I am really enjoying it. It allows me to get around town in a decent time and with all the hills in Kingston, gives me one hell of a good work out. If it was not for the winter months, I think I would have no need to buy a car.
I’m really hoping that I can get out of this funk in my life and go meet new people. Start doing the things that I enjoy and try to ignore all the shit that is going on in my life. I really need to start enjoying life and what it has to offer.
So I have been working at Empire Life for 3 months now and I am no longer on probation. I can now take full advantage of the benefits and the sick time if I need them. I doubt I will since I get a week off every 5 weeks. I am still no working alone, but I kind of dread doing it. It’s not that I am under trained or anything, I just fear messing something up or missing something when I work my over night shifts.
Short of that though, life is going really well. I have been trying to get out of my apartment more and been trying to pry myself away from sitting infront of the computer as much as I do. I want to get into golfing and into shooting for sport, aka Target practice. I am also working on some other ventures that would help me get back into flying again as well as doing some things around the house to make life a little more enjoyable.
Today for instance I went to Home Depot with my Grandmother and ended up getting two large totes and filled them with soil so I can start a garden on my balcony. I don’t too many plants in them right now as it is still the very beginning of spring and there is still the occasional frost warning. But I’m hoping that in about a month or so I can get my hands on some baby veggie plants and grow them. Hopefully this summer will be better then the last!
So Empire Life hired me on as a Computer Print Operator and so far, there is a lot of learning to do but the job is going well. I am currently working 7.5 hour days, Monday to Friday, but at the end of my three month training, I will be working 12.5 hour days or nights. it’s shift work, so it’s something I have to start getting used to again, but I think I can deal with it. Empire Life seems to be a great place to work. Tones of friendly people, and so many great things I can learn while I am there. The great thing about working at Empire Life is they really like training their staff. So I can apply for courses related to the insurance field, or anything else that might help their company out, and they will pay for the course and give me a bonus after I finish the course. This place is wonderful.
So what does a Computer Print Operator do you ask? Well, I am responsible for looking after the 5 huge printers we have, that combined, print over 8 million pages a year. I am also responsible for looking after the mainframe and the servers. Among the many things I do on the server, the one that takes up most of my time is running COBOL and JCL jobs for the other departments working at Empire Life. it’s neat being able to have so much power and yet at the same time it worries me because I don’t want to mess up and do the wrong thing and cause a huge problem for Empire Life. I have some pictuers of my work place over on my flicker account. (Empire Life has kindly asked me to remove my pictures from my flickr account. Sorry everyone)
I’m sure I will be making more posts about this place as time goes on. I also want to start posting more on this site as I feel like I am letting my cousin David down by not putting this site to good use. Since he is paying for the server and I think still is paying for the domain name, I feel like I need to keep this updated to show him I am getting value out of this site. Thank you very much David!
With so many people being laid off in the first recession of the new century, many people are in the market for a permanent job. This means that the competition is fierce for any company looking to hire. With the Bank of Canada officially calling the recession over, there are still many companies that cannot afford to hire their staff back. This means that many are looking for jobs else where. Some are having no choice but to take lower positions just to make an income. Some people are even going back to working at places like McDonald’s or Starbucks. People that, just the last year, were working as entry level software programmers or any other such entry level positions.
Many have even given the thought of being there own boss. I have started more and more thinking that this might be a good way to go. But sadly, I don’t know if I am willing to put in the 10-13 hour days, 5 to 7 days a week, in order to get my name out there. I am by no means a business man, so I would not be starting a store front business of my own, but rather as a freelance writer/ web specialist. After knowing two people that have been doing this sort of thing for years and both of them telling me how hard and frustrating things are, it really makes me wonder if this is something I want to do.
I have also given the thought of possibly doing this as a side project and still trying to find a job working part time somewhere. But after putting out at least two dozen resumes to different companies and not hearing a work back from ANY of them other then to let me know they received my electronic application, I am starting to give up hope of ever finding a job. I know that a majority of my content on this site has been all over the place and about my personal life. This is mainly because I can’t think of one thing I am really good at that I might be able to capture a niche market’s attention with. I think what I need to start out doing is possibly picking two or three topics that I like writing about, and try finding which one I have the most success with and go with it. I know that in order to get my name out there I will need to use application such as Twitter, Facebook, del.icio.us , digg, reddit and many other social media/bookmarking sites. I don’t know if I want to start doing that though. It all sounds very easy, but to put good content out into the world that people are will to read is another story. So the question is, should I start small, only working on one site and get that up and running while I continue to look for a new job, or should I just go all in and work on two sites and promote the heck out of them and see about making that my permanent job?
With the economy not looking that great in both Canada and the U.S, things for me are not looking that great when it comes to getting a job in my field. Yes, Canada is barely going to scratch by with a growth this year, but not much, and this makes many business owners nervous and still very apprehensive in hiring new employees. I have looked all over Kingston and sent out many resumes to jobs available in both Kingston and Ottawa and have yet to hear back from any of them. This has really started to put a damper on my spirits. I have not given up hope, but it feels like there is going to be no end in site for my unemployment.
My ONLY grip about sending out resumes is that employers do not need to contact potential employees if they are not selected. This means that I could apply for a job and never know if anything went wrong with my application or if I was not what the employer was looking for. I really wish it was mandatory for employers to contact ALL potential employees that submit a resume and let them know either way. This would eliminate the constant worry that I have been doing something wrong. I mean, I have taken the time to apply to your company, the least you can do is give me a 5 minute call stating that, “Sorry, we are not interested in continuing with an interview.” Give a very brief explanation why: “Over qualified”, “Not enough experience”, “Not the right fit”, etc. This would cut down on people calling in to the company to find out what is going on. Yes, I understand that not everyone takes rejection well and might have a million questions as to why they were not considered, but then the employer can just say that they wish not to discus the issue further and wish the now unsuccessful candidate a good day and hang up. This way people are not left hanging in nowhere land.
I applied for an Systems Officer level 2 (SO2) at the Ministry of Health almost a month ago now. I have yet to hear anything from them and am beginning to lose faith that I will even get an interview for the experience. I would love the job as I am doing ok for money, but am not able to get a part time job as there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
I know they said they will only be contacting those candidates that they have selected, but I have not heard any buzz around the office of any interviews in process. Hopefully things have just been slowed down by bureaucratic crud and I will get an email or phone call some time soon.
Getting this position will give me one of a few options. Either I take the job full time and forget my last year in CPA and everything else. Or I try and work something out with them so I can still go to school and finish my last year and still work as many hours as possible the rest of the week. This would mean I would have to drop my position as Director of Tech and Trades, but I would be willing to do that as getting a job with the Government is more important to me.
I just hope they call soon and it does not get to late.
Update: Does not look like I will be getting an interview. Guess I will have to keep trying.
The past four months work at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has been the greatest time of my life. I have learned many new things and a completely new language. I came into MOHLTC not knowing anything and really feeling like I was out of place and not suited for the position. Over the past four months I have thought my self how to code in WebFOCUS and the ins and outs of some of its features. I have also learned how to write technical, architectural, business and system documentation. The past months have been a great learning opportunity for me. I have also been involved in many meetings and it really feels as though the rest of the staff have come to treat me as one of their own. They all know that I am still very young, (21 is young when it comes to programming computer programs) but they have all been there themselves and are helping me along as much as they can.
I have also strengthened my use of SQL as I have had to do some SQL pass-through for some of the programs I was writing for a particular project. I was nice to get to know something better as I was forced to use it even though I did not know it that well. I still feel like there is so much more to learn but it will all come with time and there is only so much I can learn at one time before I start overloading myself.
I would just like to thank everyone on the HNS team that I have been apart of for the last 4 months. Thank you.
Things have been going well since I started April 30th. I have been here a month and a half and I have learned a LOT of things while I have been here. I am always busy doing something for the proof of concept and for stuff moving forward. I am working with WebFOCUS which is a new spin on an old language. The mian purpose of WebFOCUS is creating reports to send out to clients that want them. Having no previous knowledge of this program before starting here, I think I have got the hang if it for the most part.
I am really enjoying the 8 to 4 work hours and having the weekends off. It lets me see Amy when she is not working on the weekends.
My boss is great. He is very laid back and very personable. I could not have asked for a better position for summer employment. I love coming to work and I get paid really well for being a new employee. I know it’s all the hard work that I have done over the years is starting to pay off and it feels good.
Well, my lunch break is over and I must get back to the grind of trying to build a new application. I will hopfully be updating more as I get more free time to myself. I am really busy with school and a possible move (I will talk about those in another post when I get the time to talk about them.)
