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Goodbye and thank you

spadam

By spadam
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spadam

spadam

Posted
Posted

Hi Everyone,

 

Just wanted to let you all know I'm going. I have been offered a position as a programmer working with the NHS developing and maintaining some in house systems and finish here this Friday. It's a big step up for me career wise (more money) and I'm really looking forward to it (hopefully this will last).

 

Thank you to everyone here who has helped me over the last few years, both directly and indirectly. Reading and participating in some of the discussions on the site has been a significant part of my professional development during my time here as well as helping to keep me mostly sane through the tough times.

 

I still plan to check in from time to time (have to see what the new site's going to be like) but I expect far less frequently.

 

All the best!!

 

Spadam :typing:

  • Thanks 4
elsiegee40

elsiegee40

Posted
Posted
Hi Everyone,

 

Just wanted to let you all know I'm going. I have been offered a position as a programmer working with the NHS developing and maintaining some in house systems and finish here this Friday. It's a big step up for me career wise (more money) and I'm really looking forward to it (hopefully this will last).

 

Thank you to everyone here who has helped me over the last few years, both directly and indirectly. Reading and participating in some of the discussions on the site has been a significant part of my professional development during my time here as well as helping to keep me mostly sane through the tough times.

 

I still plan to check in from time to time (have to see what the new site's going to be like) but I expect far less frequently.

 

All the best!!

 

Spadam :typing:

 

Congratulations on the new job @spadam! Don't be a stranger... we will still be here with the Eduhobnobs and cow puns when you need us :)

garethEds

garethEds

Posted
Posted
Just wanted to let you all know I'm going. I have been offered a position as a programmer working with the NHS developing and maintaining some in house systems and finish here this Friday. It's a big step up for me career wise (more money) and I'm really looking forward to it (hopefully this will last).

 

Brilliant news. Congratulations and well done. Again I wonder if you would post the interview questions on here so that it may help others in the future?

 

Thank you to everyone here who has helped me over the last few years, both directly and indirectly. Reading and participating in some of the discussions on the site has been a significant part of my professional development during my time here as well as helping to keep me mostly sane through the tough times.

 

Agree totally - this is one of the best CPD sites out there.

 

I still plan to check in from time to time (have to see what the new site's going to be like) but I expect far less frequently.

 

Good luck in your new job.

 

GJE

Dos_Box

Dos_Box

Posted
Posted

Congratulations, and can I have your avatar when you're gone ;)

Don't be a stranger, we have plenty of people here who are working for the NHS, although they do tend to lurk :)

spadam

spadam

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks everyone for your kind words.. Just 3 days left at school now and the requests for last minute assistance before I leave are coming thick and fast :)

 

Brilliant news. Congratulations and well done. Again I wonder if you would post the interview questions on here so that it may help others in the future?

 

I usually get quite stressed before and during interviews but found this one a breeze by comparison. The questions were n't particularly challenging, I think they just wanted to get an idea of me as a person rather than ask about specific skills. Things like... What do you do day to day in your current job? What is the set up like there? What programming languages do you use most and why? How do you ensure the quality of systems you write? How do you learn new skills and your knowledge current?

 

Following the interview there was a 1.5 hour competency test which involved being sat in front of a PC with no network access and a notepad window and being asked to write a function in a language of my choosing which would sort some data according to a specification provided. I think I did a pretty good job of this although I was kicking myself for the rest of the day over a couple of simple errors I made and only realised once it was too late.

 

So you're working on big government NHS IT projects? Blimey - good luck to you with that one! It'll certainly be a challenge, I reckon

Hopefully with it being used in just one hospital it will be classed as more of a small-medium NHS IT Project. More of of a bottom up NHS IT Project perhaps? :)

 

Congratulations, and can I have your avatar when you're gone. Don't be a stranger, we have plenty of people here who are working for the NHS, although they do tend to lurk

 

I do plan on doing some lurking still. Hopefully a bit of chatting too when I get time. You want the avatar? No problem.. Who can refuse a request from God?

  • 3 months later...
spadam

spadam

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just wanted to update anyone who might be interested on how things have been going for me since moving from an IT Technician in Education to a programmer working for an NHS hospital 3 months ago... The short answer: Great!

 

There hasn't been a week since I started my new job that my brain hasn't hurt from all the new information that I've been trying to get to grips with. So much new terminology, relating to both tech and health plus the new organisational structure and all the new people. The system I'm working on is not much younger than I am and is a fat client database application - the database is written in a language called Mumps which I hadn't heard of until I started here but I actually quite like now I've got to grips with the basics. Documentation and comments are pretty hard to come by and there are parts of the code that I don't think anyone there fully understands without spending a long time picking it apart first.

 

Probably the biggest change for me has been moving from a position where I was the go to authority on 'anything with a plug' to being the person who always needs help and knows very little. It is great having people that I can talk to face to face on a technical level though. The move has snapped me out of my comfort zone hard and fast which has been difficult at times but overall a very positive thing as I was definitely a little too comfy where I was. I have a much more clearly defined role now too which I find less stressful. I do sometimes miss the level of freedom I had in a school to explore new avenues or innovations but not as much as I thought I might. The money is better too although a chunk of this is eaten up by extra travelling costs - my day is also much longer doe to the extra commute which sometimes puts a strain on things at home.

 

There have been a few (dark) times when I've felt overwhelmed or not capable of reaching a level of competence approaching that of my new colleagues but they are all supportive and ready to offer advice when I ask or when they see I need it and these times have become less frequent as I've slowly developed my skills.

 

So my experience so far has been overwhelmingly positive, long may it continue. :cool:

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