Companies, developers and recruitment

A few months ago I reported my business unit was offered for sale. Not much to report about it (I know very little and I can write even less)

Obviously, most of us in the business unit, decided to brush up our Linkedin pages and get into the job market, just in case.

I remember in particular one interview. It didn't start well when I replied "Sí, I mean, yes" after listening my name with a perfect Spanish z sound (as it turned out, one of the interviewers was Spanish too). It didn't continue well due to my inability to reply to the typical Java interview questions (such as Big-Oh notation complexity for a java hashlist look up or differences between Spring container and JEE container). I didn't pass the test.

But for me as an experience, the interview finished wonderfully when the Spanish guy asked "What are you looking for? What's your ideal job?"

I think it is very difficult to match companies and people.

Companies would really like people that could commit to the project and I certainly prefer a company where I feel my work makes a difference. However, companies tend to look for people that can hit the ground running at the lower cost. And developers tend to look for companies with better conditions and more buzzwords.

One could think that model is flawed. But the fact is that the alternative is not always better. In a past life I had to do some recruitment. And the worst selection was a guy I thought he was going to fit perfectly in the culture. And as an interviewee I've never asked if I would be able to fully manage my own machine or if I would personally know the people managing the servers.

So back again to the interview "What are you looking for? What's your ideal job?". Putting in words, I want a place challenging, where I can learn new things and do different tasks day in day out. I want a place where I can commit and where my job makes a difference. I won't talk about my current job except to say people are wonderful. I don't know about the future in my current job. And I'm really proud that people still remember me from my previous job. I do remember them too. So people are very important too.

But, the fact is that suddenly, I realized how difficult matching companies with people is. Because I certainly could have answered all those questions, and that wouldn't have made me more suitable for the job (in fact I aced the concurrency ones which I have a more solid knowledge background but less experience). I remember selecting people we used to ask for digital signature experience and hitting the ground running didn't have anything to do with that.

But even if I were an incredibly valued employee, I wouldn't have a clue if the job I was being offered is the one was looking for or if that's my ideal job.

One year

A year ago I was in a plane flying into London. I was in whirl, nearly panicking. My life about to change.

I'm somebody who loves being in his comfort zone. And then leaving your wife and daughters for 6 months. Leaving your country for who knows how much time.

It has been hard. There have been difficult times. In lots of different levels. Renting in London (well worth a million pages book). Eating in London (a shorter book :D). Weekend trips back to Spain waking up at 4am on a Saturday and back to London at 3pm on a gloomy Sunday. Talking to your family via Skype. Missing lots of things. Closing down the family home in Madrid and moving to London. Missing the light.

But I don't regret it at all. It is being a wonderful experience. My daughters are happy. My wife is happy. There are lots of great people all around.

And so far, it is working well. There's a new comfort zone around (sort of).

I don't know about the future.

But so far, so good.

Changes

A few days ago my company sent out this press release. It seems to be rather unimportant, but for me it means changes.

I work for that specific business unit. I cannot write too much. Because I don't know too much, but also because I don't want to tell too much. But there are some topics I would like to raise.

1. In Spain, if your work is good and the company is doing great, whatever happens in between, has little importance. In the UK, it doesn't mind if your company is doing well and your job is fine. Your business unit is not going as it is expected and you can be transferred to a different company, relocated inside the company or most probably made redundant. Maybe it is not the country, but the kind of business. Obviously that behavior makes easier for companies to react to the market (hiring when they need and firing when they don't). We'll see how it ends, but it does not help people to feel part of a company.
2. I haven't been in this situation in Spain. But when something like this is announced to the employees, I wouldn't discard uncomfortable scenes, bad temper, crying and shouting. Here, the only bad reply was from one of the people announcing the news. Sad faces, good questions and nothing more.Again, maybe is not the country but the kind of business.
3. After almost 9 months alone, my family finally came to London. My connections in London are minimal. My salary is the only income. I expected my English fluency would be better after 9 months here. And I'm the last in (so I might be the first out). My situation is not stellar, but others had difficult situations too (to name one example, one colleague was told a couple of days before getting married). Despite that, people have been surprisingly friendly and supportive.
4. I managed to learn a new expression: retention package. And apparently, when there is not going to be one, it is obvious you should be brushing up your Linkedin profile.

What will happen? I don't know. Most probably, the business unit will be closed. And me?  I'm concerned, but not terrified. At this moment there are several options. It doesn't seem immediate. And apparently there are lots of jobs for IT people in London. 

Let's wait and see.

IKEA vs Greenwich

This post started as a way of comparing different ways of managing customer relationships. It ended up as rant, but I'm not going to delete it. But I will write another post in the future with some suggestions.

A good experience: IKEA.
I recently bought some furniture from IKEA, using their online services in the UK. The furniture was delivered on Friday morning, and in the evening I discovered that there was package less than expected.

I contacted their online customer service that evening, and received an automated reply that my comment had been received and that they aimed to reply it in three days. I could have contacted them on the phone, but I didn't use do it while I was in Spain and in English it's more difficult for me.

On Sunday evening (on Sunday!!!!) I received a reply apologizing for the problem, and informing me that the package will be delivered by courier in 5-7 days. But in the mean time, if I really needed the package I could go to any IKEA store and ask for the package.

I will recommend their services. Yes they fail, but on the customer relationship, they set reasonable expectations (3 days for an email is good), and they manage to fulfill them.

A bad experience: Royal Borough of Greenwich
I recently moved into the Royal Borough of Greenwich. I filled in their online form for that. I received an automated reply informing that I should receive a letter in ten working days with the tax amount (in the UK the people living in a property pay the property tax).

Nearly 20 working days later, I hadn't receive the promised letter. So I contacted them again.

One could think "why bother? No letter, no taxes". Well. Two reasons.

1. I have two daughters and I need to apply to get a school for them. But I cannot apply without a "Correct proof of address" and "Correct proof is a current council tax bill/statement or council tax reference number". 
2. If I'm going to have to pay amount x, I prefer to do it in as much months as possible. It is not the same to pay x/6 in 6 months than to pay the whole x in one month, and I prefer to do it in 6 months.

This time I received an automated reply with the following:

"Emails are treated with the same level of importance as other communications, i.e. post, telephone and fax. We will do our very best to respond to your email within 20 days."

20 days for replying an email?.

Are you kidding me?.

And you still say that email has the same importance for you as phone?

15 days later I contacted them again. This time by phone. 10 minutes on hold (telling me how good their web services are) and then a bizarre conversation later (I don't blame the person on the phone), I got to know that it is taking them from 4 to 6 weeks to process the moving (4/6 weeks to process something that is in a digital format!!!). Or maybe was her way of saying "Vuelva usted mañana"

They didn't set reasonable expectations (10 days for a letter is OK, 20 days for processing an email IS NOT) and they didn't fulfil (4/6 weeks for something they said it was going to be 10 days).

Now. You could bet I'm not happy with the experience. I'm not angry, but I would like to provide feedback to the Council. What should I do? It would seem pretty straightforward. You can go to the council complaints page.

Well, but I don't want to complaint as in "get my issue solved" (I expect it will get solved eventually), but as in "you are not having a nice relationship with your users and I, as a user, would like to tell you why".

Well. You can't.

It turns out that if you want to make a compliment, you can send an email. But if you want to complain, you have to download a form, print it, fill it and post it as a letter.

Yes. My dear friends. 2013 and you still have to send a letter.

OK. What form should I use. Well. It turns out it is a 6 page form with 1 page for the actual complain and 2 pages for my profile (Do you really need to know my religion or sexual orientation "to help [you] to ensure that we are providing our services fairly to all members of our community"?). You don't want to get my feedback, neither ensure you are providing your services fairly. You just want to cover your *ss.

Note: As a contrast, I also notified the Tower Hamlets Borough about the change of address. In less than a week I had a letter in the new address, with the difference between what I had paid and what I was expected to have paid, and how to get a refund. From what I've been told, and from my experience, THAT is the usual time it takes to process a council tax record.

Update (19/07/2013): A couple of days ago, I sent another email. Today I received an email from a real person, apologizing for the delay and confirming the Council Tax is set up and that I will receive the form in a few days. That's the way.

Driving in the UK

Today I rented a car for a few hours. I used to drive in Spain, but I hadn't driven since I came to London. I wanted to practice in not too stressful conditions before my family comes to visit me. Also I needed to buy some furniture.

There are two problems for a Spanish driver in the UK (actually for most drivers from outside of the UK). 

First. Cars have the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car, while outside the UK(overseas as they say) the steering wheel is on the left. 

Second, people drive on the left of the road while in many other countries is on the right.

You probably knew that.

Now, my experience.

On one hand, things a knew I had to pay attention, and have not been too problematic: Remember to go clockwise when you enter a roundabout. Remember to go to the left hand side when you turn to and enter in a new street.

On the other, things that I knew, but that have been more difficult to manage. I know the gear stick is on the left, but my 20 years of manual car driving experience kept telling me the stick is on the right. No, no, no. On the right is only the door. No tips on that, but I guess it is a matter of practice. Another thing quite difficult is to not be too close to the left side of the road. My tip is to be aware of this problem and force oneself to be close to the right side of your path.

Anyway, no big issues (and the ones were more because of driving a diesel car). Safe at home at 2pm. Siesta (one day I'll write about it), and evening assembling a new table and chair.

Relocating to London

In two weeks I will be working in London. I know I was expecting to continue my last post about Spring persistence. I have lots of things to write about the incredible experience of finding a job abroad and relocating.

But as you'll imagine, I'm quite busy. I'll try to post before starting in my new job, but I don't promise anything. Thank you. Each and every one of you.