A day in the life

[dias]

It’s really annoying when they do not reply back after the interviews. I get it, I didn’t get the job, fine, but I would like to have feedback to see what I did wrong. I called the recruiter, the interviewer, I sent emails and they do not reply. But I do want feedback motherf*ckers. I understand that they don’t give a sh*t but I spent my holidays just for the interviews and I I don’t give a sh*t either, I will get on their nerves. Since August I have had so many interviews that I stopped counting.

 

I would be grateful if someone could answer this question: what do you do wrong when you can’t get the jobs you want and only receive offers for jobs you don’t want? The same applies with women but I assume it’s the same answer. On paper, I have all the qualifications so I must be doing something wrong. Or I am cursed, I am starting to believe it.

 

I find myself on a slippery slope doing jobs I don’t want to do. Daily life is not the problem. The problem is that I don’t have a goal doing these jobs. I feel like I am doing circles in my life. Everyday I sway between following my intellectual self and following my instincts. I don’t know which path to take. I think I need to have a sincere chat with myself.

[milly007]

Yeah, the lack of response from the recruiter, interviewers, is rude and unprofessional, imo.

 

It takes only a few minutes to provide you with the courtesy of a reply, so I can definitely appreciate your frustration, dias.

 

I’m honestly wondering what happened to common decency and professionalism these days.

 

Do you think they’d like a response from you if the roles were reversed? You better believe it.

 

I hope you find a job that you like and want soon!

 

Question: Do you send a thank you note to the interviewers after your interviews, emphasizing your interest in the position? I’d also be sending a thank you note to the recruiter as well for setting up the interview (and again, would emphasize interest in the job with them, too).

[dias]

Yeah, the lack of response from the recruiter, interviewers, is rude and unprofessional, imo.

 

It takes only a few minutes to provide you with the courtesy of a reply, so I can definitely appreciate your frustration, dias.

 

I’m honestly wondering what happened to common decency and professionalism these days.

 

Do you think they’d like a response from you if the roles were reversed? You better believe it.

 

I hope you find a job that you like and want soon!

 

Question: Do you send a thank you note to the interviewers after your interviews, emphasizing your interest in the position? I’d also be sending a thank you note to the recruiter as well for setting up the interview (and again, would emphasize interest in the job with them, too).

 

 

Actually, the recruiter invited me for a coffee after the interview. He told me that based on the feedback he got, I was the most suitable candidate as others were either too technical or had only client facing experience. I was the only one I had both and he also told me that I was the most confident. Dunno if it’s true but when you have practiced that much it’s easy to be confident. Plus, I am really good at presentations and anything that requires acting. I emphasized how much I wanted this job and I did pretty much everything that is generally considered to be the “right” thing.

 

Well, since they didn’t respond I guess it had nothing to do with the technical skills. It’s a comfort as it means I just didn’t fit in the team. Can’t do anything about that.

 

Regarding the thank you note, I did thank them in person many times. I’ve become more polite than the British (and they are very polite)!

 

I confess I like preparing for presentations or interviews because I love acting. When I was a kid I used to rehearse in front of the mirror Haha. People always tell me how confident I am when I am presenting. The truth is, I literally believe I am an actor during the presentation haha. If public speaking was a job I would be rich.

 

I have another interview today but it’s only the quick get-to-know-you 20 minutes interview. I consider it a hobby now.

[Jibralta]

I consider it a hobby now.

 

Haha

 

It's a good hobby to have. It's good practice, and (despite seemingly dismal results) it does significantly increase your chances of finding a good job.

[dias]

The manager called us today. I will not go into details but she thought we have communication issues. The problem was that something was not ready on time, I told her I followed exactly the instructions of my manager. She replied “yeah but if you see that something is missing you have to take the initiative”. When I take the initiative my manager doesn’t like it, so I just do whatever I am told. Honestly, if they don’t like it when I take the initiative, I don’t care if something is missing. She told me “you have to manage your manager”. I refrained but I wanted to tell her to f*ck off.

 

So I am expected to follow orders but also take the initiative when it’s “appropriate”? Sure, that will never happen. Or you give me the freedom to do my own thing or I simply follow instructions. This is how my brain is wired and will never change. I had the same problem in my previous job. I am not made for the corporate world. Period.

 

At the end of the meeting she asked me to stay. She said “you got a 35% raise. Hope you are happy. Keep up the hard work and you will have a larger raise in the future”. I don’t know. I found it patronizing. Like I am the little boy that you first rebuke and then you give him a candy. I think that was the last straw. I knew that my corporate “career” was coming to an end but now it seems the end is around the corner.

[Jibralta]

That’s a substantial raise. Are you hellbent on leaving immediately, or will you stay a while to rake in the cash?

[katrina1980]

Hi dias, long time no talk!

 

My thought on this, unless you absolutely loathe the corp world, you may want to rethink leaving it; you must be doing something right, very right!

 

Unless you were severely underpaid prior to your raise, a 35% salary increase is huge!

 

Here in the U.S., in 2018 the average annual increase was between 3% and 5%, 5% going to the top performers.

 

35%? Unheard of here, even when one qualifies for a market increase, usually after 5-7 years.

 

Is an increase that high standard in the UK? I almost took a job there, damn!

 

Anyway, congrats!!! You're obviously doing something right, and they're very happy with your work .

[dias]

Jibs: probably I will stay for a couple of months

 

Kat: I am still underpaid so it's not that big a deal.

 

I always wanted to do something on my own and I think this is the right time. If I stay in the corporate world I will make an "ok" living. But it's not what I want, it's not how I want to live my life. I have a business idea, I am working on it in my free time but it's not enough. I need to be dedicated full time for the next few years. Now what will happen if it doesn't work out.. well, in that case one option is to become a math teacher. The second option is to take my backpack, travel the world and work low paid jobs to support myself.

Recently, my mother told me that I am a very difficult person, I don’t listen, I don’t compromise and I live in my own world. Add instability and impatience and that’s me. But it is what it is and it will not going to change.

[DancingFool]

If you want to strike out on your own, then suck it up, deal with corporate bs for a few years and save up $$$$$. You will need every single dime if you want to succeed and grow your business well from the start. Trust me you don't want to do it by the shoelaces. Don't get fixated on just the short term thinking/feeling.

 

As for why you don't get hired where you want.....it's right there in your own post - you love to act and come off as confident, read that as cocky. The hiring manager will never hire a guy who he/she sees as someone who will career climb over their head and otherwise will be difficult to manage. Also, people can sense/smell an act and don't trust it. Chances are that when you interview for jobs you don't care much about, you actually tone that aspect down a lot and therefore come across much much better, so you actually get job offers from them. Basically, you are trying too hard.

[dias]

What an honor, the legendary unicorn from Texas in my thread.

 

I will take your opinion into consideration :)

[DancingFool]

...lol....

 

Btw, learn how to manage your manager is very pragmatic advice and blunt too. That's just the reality of working with anyone, be it your manager or your customer or your team of employees. Whoever this person is, pay attention to them. They sound like a good mentor who'll tell you how it is rather than what you want to hear.

 

Btw, btw - learn how to recognize a huge compliment when it's given to you instead of taking it as an insult, especially when that compliment is backed by concrete $$$, aka pay attention to actions.

[dias]

Friday was an interesting day. The CEO invited some of us for lunch during the break. I had the chance to ask him some questions I wanted. Mainly about how he found his first client, how he started etc. He was being evasive about how he found his first client so I asked him straight away “Did you go there and knock the door? How did you manage to sell the first time?” It took a few seconds to answer but he replied that he worked there before and had connections. I thought sh*t, I don’t have any connections and building connections is not my strength, I will have to to knock doors until I beat the odds. Anyway, it was interesting.

 

After work I joined a group of super extroverts acquaintances at a bar. Not the simple extroverts, the hardcore one lol. They were like “you don’t seem comfortable” and I was “yeah, it’s the bar, it is too crowded for me” (which was true). At some point they ordered shots and one of the women told me she has a surprise for me if I drink my shot. I did it and she showed me a picture of one of her colleagues saying “Do you like her, you would be a great fit, she doesn’t drink like you and she is not the most talkative person”. Apparently she was the only introvert in a department full of extroverts (most of them were colleagues). I had heard the name of that girl in another party and I remembered a guy saying about her “ she is ok but she doesn’t drink, like does she think she is better than us?” This guy was there yesterday. Whilst I was looking at the photo he asked me “do you like her?” with a grimace of disapproval. I replied “ she seems attractive, why?” He said “dunno, I don’t like blondes”. The real reason is that this guy has inferiority complexes he needs to resolve. Nobody seemed to like her in the department because she was not a drinker. I thought at least she is the only thin person among you.

 

Then a few of us went to a Mexican restaurant to eat while the rest stayed at the bar. The discussion naturally ended up about relationships and work. I had to reply to the typical questions about how many years I’ve been single and why I don’t want a relationship, kids etc*. I enjoy seeing women’s faces when I reply that I’ve been single forever. They take this “he is a lost case” expression. Hahahaha. It’s very entertaining. Anyway, then the discussion revolved around work. Some of the people of the first group (at the bar) make good money in the corporate world and they don’t even have degrees or very difficult jobs. Obviously extroverts dominate in the corporate world. Although I understand why, I mean it’s easier to collaborate with an easy going extrovert than a fussy introvert. Makes sense. There was a girl who doesn’t mince her words and at some point she told me “Why do you think you can start something on your own when you can’t even find a job you want with a good salary? Why do you believe you can make it?” It was a good question. It hit me like a thunder.Inadvertently, she pushed my buttons. I flipped inside for a few minutes. Honestly, I don’t have an answer. I don’t have any talents or high IQ or skills but I am extremely persistent and I am willing to take risks and make mistakes. I believe when you devote yourself into something you can achieve many things. I am a firm believer of the good ol’ perseverance. When people tell me you can’t/shouldn’t do this I flip. It’s my nature. Regardless, I had a great time.

 

On the way back home there was a group of junkies on the train. I don’t know why but they targeted us and I suspect it’s because the girl who was with us looked back at them accidentally and got scared. Junkies are like stray aggressive dogs. If they smell fear you are ed. We waited inside the station for a few minutes, we scanned the area and it seemed they were gone. Unfortunately, when we got out of the station they came behind us and started pushing one of my friends (they were 7-8 junkies and we were two guys and a girl). Thankfully, there was a store and we went inside. The junkies stayed outside for 5-10 minutes screaming “come out white b*tches”. They were junkies and they also had racial issues. We had to call somebody to come and pick us up. There is a spate of stabbings in London and everyday I hear about a stabbing on the radio. Three weeks ago two people where stabbed in this area. The last thing I want is to get stabbed by junkies.

 

 

*I don’t want to get married or have kids but every rule has an exception. If I ever meet a hot, intelligent stripper/con artist with the same sense of adventure, yeah, I will marry her and have kids. Therefore 99.99999999% I will be single forever hahahaha

[milly007]

Ok I’m not surprised by “hot, intelligent, stripper”, but you lost me at “con artist”.

 

One would think it would be a dealbreaker. Lol

[dias]

Ok I’m not surprised by “hot, intelligent, stripper”, but you lost me at “con artist”.

 

One would think it would be a dealbreaker. Lol

 

It was more of a general description. Replace con-artist with saleswoman/actress and it's the same. Think about Amy Adams in American Hustle or Jessica Chastain in Molly's Game. You get the type. Generally speaking, hot, intelligent women who take risks, break the rules and love acting hahaha. You thought only women like bad boys? Men like bad girls too hahaha

 

And Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. The first one lol

[dias]

I received a message on fb from my "best" childhood friend. Interesting. It's interesting because in our late teens he stopped talking to me. Suddenly, one day, he decided to never talk to me again. I never found the reason. That was almost 8-9 years ago. And now he contacted me to apologize?? haha well, I was sure it was not because he felt remorse. I replied "no worries, it happens, we grow and we change". Then he asked "are you still chasing the dream? I am thinking about starting something on my own" I laughed. So that was the real reason he contacted me.

 

I don't mind that he contacted me because he wanted something, I would do the same. I would never consider doing business with him though. I asked him if he has any ideas and he sent me a book with title "How to make money working 4 hours per day". Hahahahahaha. He is not dumb or anything but he is not the type to go above and beyond in order to succeed. I do not know a lot about business (yet) but I am pretty sure it's like everything else. If you are not willing to live for that goal, you will never achieve it. Anyway, I wished him good luck with his endeavors. I doubt we will ever talk again.

[dias]

I got a stomach infection and went to the emergency yesterday. It turned out to be gastroenteritis. Probably I ate something stale or not cooked enough. I don't know. I am bedridden since yesterday. I much better today, tomorrow I will be almost fine.

 

It's one of those days I don't want to see anybody, hear anybody, talk to anybody, I don't want to think about work, I don't want to think about anything. I just want to go somewhere in the countryside. Just me and the wind.

[dias]

I got a week off to recuperate properly. I feel good today :)

 

In August I will complete a year at work and it will also be the end of my corporate career.

 

A realistic point of view of the current situation: I want to race in formula 1 championship but I don’t even know how to drive. Therefore, the next 3-4 years I need to experiment and learn how to drive (do business).

 

So there are three cards on the table for the next 3-4 years:

 

1)Return back to Athens and try learning how to do business there.

Pros: I reckon my experiments will cost me 20K euros more or less (over a span of 3-4 years I mean). 20-25K euros is an amount I can afford to lose. If things go well, I can move the business to the UK easily enough.

Cons: I don’t want to stay 3-4 years in Athens. Extremely high taxation. Tax on tax on tax. Bureaucracy. Small market, small profits even if successful.

 

2)Stay in London and try to do the same.

Pros: It’s London, the market is huge, more profits if successful. I love London, I love living in London.

Cons: For the same experiments it will need about 50-60K pounds. I could persuade my parents to help me with money but it’s a lot of money just for experimenting/learning.

 

3)Become a math/computing teacher in the UK. I am eligible for bursary for the one year training that is required to become a qualified teacher.

Pros: Good quality of life, a lot of holidays to travel.

Cons: Inner resentment for the rest of my life because I never gave a real chance to my childhood dream

 

 

These are the three cards on the table and I have to pick one and stick with it. I don’t want to find myself moving back and forth to Athens just because the grass is greener on the other side.

 

Questions I have on my mind:

Do I have a concrete plan? No

Do I know what I am doing? I have absolutely not freaking idea

Do I know someone to show me how business works? No

Do I believe I will make it? No but I want to try it regardless the cost

What are the chances of succeeding? Probably less than 1%

 

The only thing I know: I want to give my childhood dream a real try.

[dias]

The British girl who organizes the meet-ups asked me if I will come again(along with a crying emoticon lol). It's been a while since the last time but I had work to do. I promised her I will join them next week. We chatted a bit on fb. She ended the conversation with "you are great guy". I don't know where this came from but I accepted the compliment lol.

 

She told me she wants kids so I assume she is looking for a serious relationship. Hope she doesn't have me on her mind, especially now that I will quit my job and end up god knows where.

 

As I already mentioned, there are plenty of single people on meet-ups. It's a myth that single people after a certain age are alone because they are problematic. Well, in my case maybe I am not the most normal human being but generally speaking most single people above 30 are pretty normal. For instance, this girl who organizes the meetups or the Scottish girl who used to come, they are both normal and affable. They are not models in terms of looks but they are not bad looking either. It will be a pity if they don't find (if this is what they want) a good guy. I guess, the "some people are unlucky in love" is true.

[DancingFool]

Stop feeding yourself bs that success is only for the extroverts..... I suggest you read Shoe Dog - about the guy who founded Nike. I think you'll find it highly inspirational in a grounded kind of way. A real life tale of risks, overcoming challenges, getting lucky some, getting not so lucky some, an introvert who became a success and how he did it. An inglorious road of pure perseverance. Oh and yeah....he just pounded on doors until one or two got opened.

[DancingFool]

Also, I will emphasize the advice I know I've given you before - do what you already know, what you are passionate about. You will find your success in that. Don't do random "proper" stuff just to chase your dream at random. Think, be creative, get some ideas down on paper and work on them until one takes clear shape, then pursue it and I mean really pursue it.

 

Your job, you'll need it at first. Most people do end up working two jobs - one their dream, one to fund the dream...and pay bills. Quit your day job when your dream is going well enough that you must.

 

I know it's not what you want to hear, but.....

[dias]

Also, I will emphasize the advice I know I've given you before - do what you already know, what you are passionate about. You will find your success in that. Don't do random "proper" stuff just to chase your dream at random. Think, be creative, get some ideas down on paper and work on them until one takes clear shape, then pursue it and I mean really pursue it.

 

Your job, you'll need it at first. Most people do end up working two jobs - one their dream, one to fund the dream...and pay bills. Quit your day job when your dream is going well enough that you must.

 

I know it's not what you want to hear, but.....

 

My lovely unicorn,

 

 

We would make a great team you and me, you would do the right thing, I would do the wrong thing and the result would be the sweet spot. lol

 

Love you :)

[dias]

Another one is leaving the company today. He lasted 3 months. Not bad. There is a lot of rotation. Once, a girl joined on Friday and quit on Monday lol. That’s a first.

 

As I mentioned before, interviews have become a hobby. I did have some interviews for Java developer positions but I won’t go back to programming. I also have some interviews with an international Estonian company for a pre-sales position. They have vacancies in London and Tallinn. I wouldn’t mind spending a year in Estonia. Meet some Estonian girls lol.

 

However, what I will really do is pursue what I want. I said I don’t have a concrete plan but I know the direction I want to go. I am making progress the last few months and I am very excited to pursue it full time.

[dias]

It was my brother’s birthday yesterday(Sh*t we are getting older!). We had a video chat, he is doing good. He met a professor from Harvard yesterday and he said the door is open if he wants to move there in the future. Interesting how far can somebody go if he is dedicated.

He bought a used mustang like the one we drove in California. He has a predilection for fast cars, he was soooooo happy, like a kid who has a big ice-cream in front of his face hahahahahahaha. Academia suits him. Conventions in California, Florida, Texas, every month in a different state. Good life. He told me he wants to get a loan to buy a house which means he wants to settle down in the near future and probably marry his girlfriend. Hope this will not affect my relationship with my brother. Partners can affect the relationship between siblings, I’ve seen it time and again.

 

I love my brother. He told our parents(not in my presence) “dias is incredibly smart”. I was touched. At least my brother believes I am smart. Although I have doubts how smart I really am hahahaha, it matters to me that my brother believes it.

 

 

 

 

 

On a different note, something very interesting happened the previous week. I wrote a few months back that I made a website and sent email campaigns offering services in the field of wireless networks. More specifically WiFi Predictive and Site Surveys. So, I’ve been sending 3 email campaigns every month (which is the limit for the package I bought) to about 400 hotels around London every time. It took me 3-4 days of work to gather all these emails. Anyway, I never got a reply so I didn’t expect much.

 

Last week the owner of several big hotels and pubs in London- I checked the government’s website and there was a list of hotels under his name- sent me an e-mail “if the predictive wifi survey is free as you mention on your website, I want one”. He sent me the CAD drawings of one of his hotels. I did the predictive wifi survey and I sent it back to him. The next day he sent me an e-mail telling me to send him a quotation for an on-site wifi survey (I had to go to the hotel to perform it). I was very surprised, I really didn’t see it coming.

 

I asked 500 pounds for 2 days. The normal price would be 1000 pounds for 2 days. But this is only for WiFi survey, it does not include the installation of Access Points nor providing the necessary equipment. So he replied the next day asking for the price for an end to end solution which I can’t provide. In other words, I would have to buy the equipment upfront and install it after the WiFi Survey. There were two problems with that

1)The equipment (Access Points, Switches, Routers) would cost thousands of pounds. What would happen if the client changes his mind and I have already bought the equipment?

2)This brings me to problem number 2. I would need a contract that legally binds the client. And here lies the problem. I am not even registered as a sole trader right now, (because I never expected to find a client) let alone having a complex contract that needs lawyers to compose it.

 

The client wanted a complete solution so he bailed out.

 

Nonetheless, this proved that you can find big clients without any connections and without even knocking on doors. Just by email campaigns. It took me 4 months but still, it happened. In retrospect, I think that 3 email campaigns per month to only 400 clients is nothing in terms of marketing. I mean, if you send email campaigns to 3000 potential clients everyday, you would have alot more chances.

Cost of creating the website:140 pounds per year which is nothing. I did spend a lot of my free time creating the website and finding the emails. But, if I offered end to end solutions I could earn more than a thousand pounds from this client. It would also be a great reference and word of mouth marketing.

[Jibralta]

I asked 500 pounds for 2 days. The normal price would be 1000 pounds for 2 days. But this is only for WiFi survey, it does not include the installation of Access Points nor providing the necessary equipment. So he replied the next day asking for the price for an end to end solution which I can’t provide. In other words, I would have to buy the equipment upfront and install it after the WiFi Survey. There were two problems with that

1)The equipment (Access Points, Switches, Routers) would cost thousands of pounds. What would happen if the client changes his mind and I have already bought the equipment?

2)This brings me to problem number 2. I would need a contract that legally binds the client. And here lies the problem. I am not even registered as a sole trader right now, (because I never expected to find a client) let alone having a complex contract that needs lawyers to compose it.

 

The client wanted a complete solution so he bailed out.

 

Interesting. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm curious to know what your intent was with this email campaign service if you couldn't provide the end-to-end service.

[dias]

Interesting. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm curious to know what your intent was with this email campaign service if you couldn't provide the end-to-end service.

Why take it the wrong way? lol I must give the wrong impression here on ENA lol

 

Wifi Surveys are like consulting services. You just provide the service, you don't sell equipment.

 

Of course, companies who provide these services also install the Access Points, Switches etc afterwards. I knew that and i did accentuate it on the website that I do not sell equipment .

 

The whole thing was/is just an experiment. The website, the e-mail campaigns, the business cards I handed out at the hotels were experiments to see if I can get clients. I have to learn how to get customers. This is the purpose.