Life Update

Yes, It's been a while.

In the last few months I've been through the painful experience of trying to keep a company running despite the best efforts of the directors. Realising that the odds were stacked against me I decided to throw in the towel and relocate back to New Zealand.

So farewell England! I arrived as a graduate programmer, with a bit of open source hacking under my belt, and left with several years programming experience, a whole ton of knowledge that could not be leaned through any means but hard work, not to mention a few (emotional) scars. It's been a great experience, and one I encourage any graduate to do.

So now I'm back in Dunedin, what am I doing? Well, I've taken a 12 month contract to teach at Otago polytechnic; I'll be teaching third year programming and database papers. I've also completed a short stint programming for ARL and fixing the Survival Factor exhibits at Otago Museum. I'm hoping to set myself up as a contractor, so I can take on any odd jobs that I see.

My hope is that I will be able to return to more open source hacking now that I'm in a more flexible working environment. I'm not sure what project I'll end up helping - perhaps KDE, perhaps something new.

Will write more soon.

A New job

It's been a while since I had the time to post here. In the last few months I've left my old emplyer (Pebble Beach Systems), and joined AB Software Consulting. Why the change? I've always maintained that the best way to keep your skills honed is to keep moving. ABSC requires a completely different skill set to Pebble beach. It feels like the next logical step in my career progression.

It's very easy to stay in a job that isn't giving you what you need. Don't make this mistake! If something isn't right, and you've tried fixing it, it may well be time to move. It's a very hard thing to do, but in my case it's been worth it.

Cheers,

Jop Opening at Pebble Beach Systems

We have a couple of job openings available here at Pebble Beach Systems, due to expansion of the programming team.

If you know C++, a bit of SQL, think you know how to handle a thread, and think you have a handle on programming in general, feel free to contact me and I can pass your CV and cover letter along to the big boss-man. The best way to contact me is via email: thomir gmail com

We're looking for a graduate and a senior developer. Pebble Beach Systems is a great place to work - very friendly relaxed atmosphere with a great bunch of people.

Cheers,