[EN] My new job
Most of you guys know it but i haven’t given you further details yet. Well, here we are. I have decided to find a new job.
Why changing it?
Well first, let’s set the context. Since the end of June 2009, i am working for a French consultancy, also based in Spain. My mission is for a big french Insurace group. My work basically consists in corrective and evolutive maintenance of Web applications. Before i had never done any maintenance work, i kind of knew i wouldn’t like it, but who never tries never knows…
Looking back on it, i never really liked my job. Technically speaking, i almost haven’t learned anything (i am working with old applications and technologies – Java 1.4, JSP, Servlets). I am more attracted to recent and reusable technologies, those that will add some value on my resume and that i will enjoy working with.
Most of my work is technical: analyse a bug, find the piece of code to change, do some copy and paste (the framework is unfuckable), try to add some value… And that’s all. No time for refactoring, either in the code or in the class structure and inheritance. So it is the most frustrating thing ever, cause i was completely stuck
Sometimes i get to do some task planning, JIRA issues scheduling, and it gets interesting… After 8 months, i kind of understand what i’m doing and all the input and output of my applications/batches, so the analysis part becomes more interesting (cause less frustrating)…
However…
I never enjoyed my work. Well, i know, many people don’t enjoy their work. But after 2 years in Belgium with amazing projects and interesting things to learn, i’m somehow trying to find this situation again. I have been remembering this for the past months… those belgian mornings when i used to wake up with enthusiasm, knowing i was about to create something with my own two hands. So, obviously, here, i was suffering.
And there are more reasons than that, among which, the limited perspective of evolutions inside my company, the physical environment (10 people closed openspace), the Internet limitation, the hierarchy, the financial condition, ….
Anyway, it was time to change.
My new job
To say the truth, already back in September i was thinking about changing, but i never found the guts to start looking for a new challenge until very lately.
After coming back from Sweden, i finally decided to start searching for real. After updating my Web page, my resume and applying on dozens of offers on InfoJobs, i finally had my shot on several interviews… most of them for consultancies, but obviously i was trying to find a final client, not a consultancy (i’ll let you know why in a future article)…
And…
Well, i finally found something. I decided to join a final client (in other words, i don’t have any intermediary). I won’t name my new company, as well as i haven’t named my current company. I won’t enter into details now, the truth i haven’t yet caught all the inputs and outputs of this company and of its activity. Let me just tell you its an italian multinational (more than 1000 people over 5 continents), that started ten years ago with emailing and newsletter and that is now dedicated to users captation via Web and WAP. On a Web page, when you see a shiny blinking Flash ad banner , kind of « Enter your first name and the one of the person you like, and we’ll tell you if you are made for each other ». You are supposed to click on that link, a Flash page opens, asking several stuff and ending on asking your mobile phone number. Well, maybe that’s my company who offers that service and that ad. They are working in several areas: B2C (Business to Customer – they directly offer the ad banners on the web), B2B2C (Business to Business to Customer – they offer their platform to tierce company, that use it to put ad banners on the web) and B2TV (when you are asked to vote on 84215 for Micheal in Big Brother).
The main idea of their business is to convince people to enter their phone number (using games, free ringtones, …) and then frequently send to that person text message or MMS with new gifts, links,… Obviously the user will pay these messages. I have to admit i don’t really like this marketing system (and don’t understand that people are actually interested in receiving every now and them non-free stuff on their mobile); but it seems to be working very well.
What i’ll be doing
What i’ll be doing? Well, Web developer, obviously! What else?
Right now they are industralizing their marketing tools (among others, one tool that helps them to create splashs, those Flash screens that ad banners links to, and that at the end ask you for your mobile phone). They recently acquired several companies and in one of the company, have to install a brand new version of that tool and develop new modules and new portlets : for a start, i’ll be working with Mexico and Brazil, as a Java/J2EE developer, with technologies such as Liferay, Ibatis, Maven, Velocity, portlets, … I’ll have a special schedule, working from 11 to 20 from Mondays to Thursdays and from 9 to 16 on Fridays during at least the first two months of this project.
That will be such a change. They do have their own framework, which scares me a little, but based on that framework i’ll get to create new portlets from scratch, and deploy them. I’ll be working with new technologies, on a new business model, so i’ll get to learn a lot. The offices are big giant open-spaces; and atmosphere seems young and dynamic. Everything seems possible on my workstation (no more restriction to email or Youtube, and i’m sorry, but when you work 8 hours a day, its nice to be able to have proper distraction).
My economical situation has significantly improve and career plan opportunities seems more interesting: this company is located everywhere around the world, and my evolution inside the group relies a lot on my own work and my own implication. On my proactivity….
So, yes im happy. I’m scared also. Changing is never easy, but it can’t get possibly worse anyway. And after looking for some time for a job, i am now aware that perfect jobs and perfect projects simply don’t exist. I had this amazing chance for 2 years, back in Belgium, where i got to learn so much. So let’s be happy and not hope for this again cause it won’t happen.
I’ll try here to get the best out of my new work and try to learn as much as i can and quickly prove my (added) value to my new company. I will be in a motivating environment, with very little hierarchy, dynamic, and technically interesting; so i guess i’ll cound find back the necessary motivation i used to have every morning back in Belgium…
The start is planned on 3rd of May….
[FR] Depuis le jour où j’ai accepté le contrat et donné ma démission, je pensais vraiment trouver du temps à consacrer à ce blog, notamment pour vous parler de mon nouveau travail, du monde du consulting et de ce que je pense de l’informatique en entreprise (croyances vs situations vécues). Mais il se trouve que j’ai encore beaucoup à faire : je dois à la fois préparer la personne qui va me remplacer sur mon poste actuel, avec plan de transfert et écriture de divers documents à la clé. C’est crevant et çà me demande d’arriver à 8h le matin et sûrement à partir de la semaine prochaine quitter vers 20h. De l’autre côté, j’ai déjà eu quelques formations avec ma nouvelle entreprise, on m’a parlé de plein de nouveaux concepts/technologies (Liferay, Ibatis, portlets, WML, Velocity, …) que je dois regarder d’ici à mon entrée effective dans l’entreprise (début mai). Autant dire que Avril ne sera pas un mois facile, mais je tâcherai de consacrer un peu de temps à ce blog néanmoins…
A bientôt!
[EN] Since the day i’ve accepted the contract and resigned, i really thought i’d be able to find spare time for this blog; in particular to talk to you about my new job, about consulting/ICT world and about what i think about IT in the profesionnal world (beliefs vs real life). But the truth is, i still have a lot to do : i have to prepare and train the person that i will soon replace me at my current position, which involves a transfer planning, writing some important documents… It’s quite exhausting and it implies my working hours are a bit larger than usually (from 8am til 8pm). On the other side, i already had a few trainings with my new company, they told me about new concepts and technologies (Liferay, Ibatis, portlets, WML, Velocity, …) that i have to check before actually starting in my new company (start of May). So clearly, April will not be an easy month, but i’ll try to find time for this blog…
See you soon.
[EN] Stockholm – Vasa museum
[disponible ici en français]
Vasa museum is one of the most interesting museum i’ve visited in my life. It is all about a huge 17th century Swedish warship, restored 95% similar as the original.
Vasa warship
Here is the text you can find on the leaflet (translated from the leaflet in french):
On August 10th, 1628, the Vasa entered the sea for its first journey ever and sank in Stockholm harbour. The wreck was rised in 1961 after spending 333 years at the bottom of the sea. This warship was restored similar 95% to the original, is wonferdully decorated with hundreds of sculptures.
Vasa is now one of the biggest touristic attractions in the world and offers a unique journey through Sweden during the 17th century.
This museum really amazed me. Besides the opportunity to see and visit an original warship, a real one; the Vasa museum offers multiple stands and little exhibitions explaining various things, such as:
- navigation of such a big warship,
- daily life on board this ship
- naval battles at this time
- the rescue of the wreck
- the different theories about the shipwreck
- a sight of the life in Sweden in 1628
- the conservation of the ship nowadays
- the story of some people that died during the shipwreck (some skeletons were pieced together)
- the construction site of the ship
- …
Model
The ship is now very old (more than 350 years) and ways need to be found to keep it preserved as long as possible. Therefore, for obvious reasons, it is not possible to actually go on the boat itself. However, with his 5 opened floors, many angles and many views of the ship remain possible. From the left, from the right, from the top, from the bottom, almost everything can be seen.
A model at a real scale of one of the upper deck even got reconstitured; where you can see many kids.
If this ship is so important, it is because the shipwreck made a lot of noise at this time (a bit like that of Titanic in 1912). Many years of constructions, hundreds of workers, square kilometers of construction sites, hundreds of cut trees… for only 1500 tiny meters in the sea.
There are multiple theories to explain that shipwreck; among them:
- Crew members was not prepared enough: more than sailors, they were villagers looking for a nice amount of money,
- the ship was way too light: at the departure, the tons of food were not yet on board; therefore the ship was really light and more sensitive to the wind,
- the ship was built and finished very quickly; probably too quickly. The king pressured the construction so that the ship would be finished quickly; for political and image reasons,
- …
Ok i hope you liked this presentation. I’m not a sailor, neither do i have a particular passion for ships or 17th century history; but i think it is not possible to remain insensitive to that amazing and huge ship.
From an other angle
I strongly suggest you to go.
Nicolas.
Some links:
[available in english below]
[FR] La vieille ville
La vieille ville, ou Gamla Stan pour les suédois, est située sur l’île du même nom. Très typique et très bien conservée, on peut s’y balader dans des rues pavées et parfois étroites, longeant ainsi des maisons aux façades de multiples couleurs. A côté des traditionnelles boutiques de souvenir, on peut croiser quelques cafés accueillants où vous pourrez partager une fika avec vos amis (équivalent du goûter, mais par fika les suédois évoquent également l’acte de se retrouver ensemble, et non pas uniquement le fait de manger quelquechose de sucré).
Sur la vieille ville, vous trouverez le Palais Royal (Kungliga Slottet), et sa place semi-circulaire où vous pourrez assister à la relève des gardes. Le Palais Royal mérite également une visite, même si ce n’est pas celle que j’ai préféré. Vous aurez notamment accès aux chambres royales, très bien conservées mais un peu trop dorées à mon goût, ainsi qu’aux joyaux de la couronne (plusieurs couronnes de roi et reine, des sceptres, …). Pensez à prendre un billet multiple, qui vous permet d’aller à la fois au Palais Royal, aux joyaux de la couronne et à l’Hôtel de Ville.
Vieille ville / Old Town
[EN] Old Town
The old Stockholm town, or Gamla Stan for Swedish people, is located on the homonyme island. Very typical and in a very good state, this part of the city offers the opportunity to have nice walks on cobble-stoned and sometimes narrow streets, along multiple-coloured houses. Next to the usual gift shops, you will find very welcoming and warm cafe where you’ll be able to share a fika with some of your friends (equivalent to goûter or tea time, but fika also means the act of gathering along with some friends, not only the fact of eating something sweet).
Inside this old town, you will find the Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet), and its semi-circular square where you’ll have the chance to attend the guards change ceremony. The Royal Palace also deserves a visit, even though its not the one i prefered. You’ll be able to visit royal chambers, very well conservated but a bit too full of gold in my opinion. The crown jewels can also be seen (king and queen’s crowns, sceptras, …). Don’t forget to take a multiple ticket, which will give you access to the Royal Palace, the Crown Jewels and the City Hall, all this for a reduced price.
Wandering in the streets / Errant dans les rues
[EN] Stockholm
[disponible en français ici]
During my trip to Sweden, i spent 4 days in Stockholm, a city that i appreciated so much that i actually fell in love with it.
There would be many things to say about Stockholm, whether it is about its history, its culture or its geography. But let me skip this part, because i’m sure specialized web site will teach you much more than me about these subjects.
On a more touristic point of view, Stockholm is a city that deserves to be seen… at least twice. Let me explain.
I went there a few days ago, which means in full winter. Currently the city (well, the country) is covered with snow. I had the impression to be in a Christmas tale. Lakes are frozen as far as you can see, people wear many layers of clothes, families are enjoying some good time while ice skating, ice sculputres can be found in some places. All those Christmassy aspects give Stockholm an incredible charm.
Stockholm sous la neige
But obviously, most people that go visit Stockholm come in summer. Weather is better and warmer (25°C), days are larger (well, nights are shorter, which is something to see), bright colours, ships and boats everywhere you can possibly look at on the different lakes surrounding Stockholm, a list of activities almost infinite…
Stockholm durant l'été (Crédits photo Claudio.Ar @ FlickR)
So there are two Stockholm to visit, two different atmospheres and two ways of enjoy life.
Let me warn you: at this time of the year, its pretty cold out there, between -15°C and -5°C when i was where. But warmly dressed, with a cap, a scarf, some gloves, you won’t feel the cold. At least it didn’t prevent us from having walks in the center, on some islands and even to cross the bridge.
I leave you with those few photos, thanks to Eva to have taken them
Une maison suédoise
Stockholm et ses lacs gelés
Stockholm et son port enneigé
In one of my next article, i’ll tell you about 3 visits i’ve made here in Stockholm and that i really enjoyed.
Take care.
Nicolas
