Lack of opportunity for engineers, craftsmen etc. to me stems from a lack of real entrepeneurship in this country. People are very risk-averse it seems to me, and very unrealistic about time-frames to achieve success - so often, giving-up too soon, too easily and not using the experience as a learning exercise are seen as positive things…
That said, the other side to it is that small and medium sized businesses are to FAR too great an extent this nation’s taxation cash-cows - it is ruthless 100% commitment from the start - blink and you will be fined massively, and there is absolutely no help without paying insanely highly-priced specialists. It is VERY little wonder that so many small and medium business fail within a year - just as evolution is not just about survival of the fittest, so too this ruthless system means that a LOT of babies go out with the bath water. Government rhetoric on this is - and always has been - completely and utterly empty.
Nonsense. If you are a PhD qualified Computer Scientist, Electronics Engineer or Mechanical Engineer, you would fall over job opportunities at the moment.
Companies are screaming out for them and salaries are going through the ceiling.
I work with a number of UK and US start-ups, early stage companies and R & D companies, primarily in Machine Learning, HPC and nanotechnology, identifying and hiring PhD qualified staff for them.
I have never had so much work on and it has never been harder to find really good talent.
I always wanted to work as a dealer (no not that sort) and started working as a positions taker in an FX room during the summer holiday at the end of the 2nd year of an Economics degree. By the end of my first fortnight I was was also trading odd lots and was asked to stay on as a junior as the summer drew to a close. I did the first term of my final year by Fax while surprising myself at (i) how much money I was making (ii) how interesting it was and yet (iii) how much I hated the environment and the people I worked with. I went back to University for the final 6 months of my BA but returned to the trading room immediately after my finals. A couple of years and a move later I was trading spot DM against the USD. This lasted until I took sabbatical to do an MA. This was driven by the fact that I hated the people I worked for and despite having money had no life as I was doing 70-80 hours a week (unlike all my mates who were broke but seemed to be living a great life). At the end of my MA I was offered a PhD scholarship so I simply never went back to the bank.
I met a nice Australian girl during my PhD and when I graduated I was hired to work in Melbourne. I discovered that (i) I loved teaching (ii) I loved research (iii) I loved my discipline and (iv) I liked the people I worked with and could see a point to it all. The downsides were crap money and massive hours. Being an ambitious fucker I was always away from home; for the last 8 years we were living in Oz I spent about 5 months a year overseas either in the US or in Cambridge. I also got heavily involved in a technical role with a fund manager in Oz that has been tremendous in every way you could hope for. Eventually, the kids got older, and my first cancer diagnosis made it clear that I should cut back on the travel. We decided to accept a job in the UK, and despite the difficult academic environment here, I don’t regret the move at all. I absolute love my job and my colleagues.
A couple of years ago I had a second cancer diagnosis (Donald) which is a recurrence of the original tumour. Unfortunately, this has spread to my liver (the yellow). It has become apparent in the last month or so that I am not going to be able have surgery to deal with the tumour in my liver as the risk of the operation outweighs the rewards. It looks like I may have to take early retirement, which will take my career away. I learned all this on my 50th Birthday. I shall fight this for another year or two, but the writing is on the wall and, in reality I am too ill to operate at a standard I am satisfied with. My youngest is only 8, so I have to focus on making old bones. On the upside, I have managed to make enough to retire so it is not an economic disaster, but it is really frustrating at present. The thought of taking glivec for the rest of my days isn’t much fun either as it probably means that I’ll never really be able to have a long afternoon in the pub again. I’ll have some work done to take away the worst of the pain as the opiates I am taking deal with the pain but leave me like a cabbage for a lot of the time.
I can’t emphasise how important this place has been. Being unwell, having an outlet where I can have a bit of a laugh on a daily basis has been a Godsend. I’ve spent the last week mainly in oncology wards sniggering at the nonsense on here. Fucking marvelous medicine that.
What? I’m good for years yet. I just need to dial back. There is no reason why I can’t make it to 70-odd. If the tumour shrinks and moves a bit while doing so, it’ll come out.
Thanks but fuck off with that kind of thing. Laugh and point is the best medicine. Never take the fucking thing seriously.
Laugh and point is the best medicine. Never take the fucking thing seriously.