The Work Thread

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Tue Feb 07, 2017 6:15 pm

In my experience you want to be very careful about offering work that is outside your contracted remit because there is a high chance you will either burn out or become immensely unsatisfied with the fact you are doing more work than you are obligated to do, and not getting paid for it. It can eventually turn against you because if you become frustrated or exhausted with doing this, whether that is because you don't have the proper resources or you aren't able to manage the extra work emotionally or energetically or whatever, that will be reflected in all of the work you do and you might end up under-performing and risking your job, never mind your self esteem. You are right to be concerned.

This still happens to me on a freelance basis quite often as my default position is usually as a "helper" of some sort; the difference is I can quit at any point and have other work to do or generate.

I have had conversations with a few people in the past where it boils down to one of two things, asking for extra hours/remuneration/benefits or a solid agreement that you will be rewarded in some tangible way, or developing the ability to simply say, "no, sorry I can't do that with the resources I have". For example if a client doesn't have a contract with me or at the very least a verbal agreement that to do this extra stuff this requisite (i.e. payment, incoming work/support) needs to be met, the answer is thanks but no thanks. That's fair game, or it's incredibly easy to get used. Normally in this situation if you establish a sound negotiating scenario, you protect your interests first, your integrity or both. While some people will be offended by this because they are used to walking over other people, others will generally respect you more and it becomes easier to ask for things instead of everything being demanded of you in a one-sided manner. After all, nobody has to do work for someone else doing anything, unconditionally. You have a working agreement and a set of expectations you agree to when taking on any job. If you do just do what you're told even when it's impractical or unfair (obviously there's an extent to which you might do people "favours" or step in for somebody else), eventually you're going to end up worse off. You have to make sure others keep up their side of the bargain.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by That's not a growth » Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:53 pm

Green Gecko wrote:In my experience you want to be very careful about offering work that is outside your contracted remit


You've said a lot of good stuff, so thanks Gecko, but I wanted to point out this bit in particular because this is the basis for my worry, I think. I don't really have a list of duties in my contract, and my day to day job can vary a fair bit. It's very common in the company for staff to be given new tasks without being compensated for them. However, this is for a completely different department, which makes this a bit more unique which helps.

Where do I draw the line from helping another department because I think there's a possibility it will work in my favour (keeping in mind I'm not having to do my regular job while I do this if I feel I'm too busy, so I'm not going to be over worked), to it becomes I'm doing a job I'm not being paid for. Refusing to do anything because I'm not being paid for it is the best way to make sure I'm seen as a lazy git who only cares about himself, and no one wants to work with that kind of person and I've seen plenty who are like that who basically get pushed to a corner, until they can get rid of them, in multiple work places. And a good way to get a job is to know how to do it, and to be already doing it well, so you're the only choice. Jobs rarely get posted for people to apply for and are normally filled this sort of way here, too. It's a very annoying environment in that regard. They just kind of feel they need a job doing, and already have someone in mind for it.

It could very well be I'm wrong, and in a week or so they won't need me any more. I wouldn't want to jump the gun and bring this up too soon only to find out I'm misreading the situation, and also I wouldn't want them to think I planned to wait until a really inconvenient time in a late stage of the project to try and strong arm them into giving me a job when I didn't realise we only had 2 weeks of work left and they didn't need any help after that point.

I think at the moment the only thing I can do is wait a week for them to come back into the country, see where things are once we finish the stage we're on which should hopefully happen within a few days of then. I'll grab a quick chat with my manager and try to find out how much she knows too, I think.

I'm rambling and over thinking this I imagine.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Wed Feb 08, 2017 12:05 am

Don't worry about it too much. Just keep that thought ticking over, why are you doing the work, what do you need to get it done, are you prepared to do it, are you getting the support you need to do it, and not being pushed to one side (ie throwing you from the nest and hoping you land in the right place). Make a cognitive decision when tasked with a project from somewhere else, try not to make an emotional one, as in feeling a sense of obligation or commitment. I find that can get you in very muddy waters. So just don't let the side project / sudden tasking for big thing no one seems to be paying attention to become this snowballing obligation, step back and make sure you're actually comfortable doing it before anything bad happens.

It's something that tends to happen to me when I actually say yes to something as ridiculous as carrying a massive laser printer across campus, when I'm meant to be doing this other thing, or going above and beyond for one manager's task, at the unwitting expense of another, etc.

These days nebulous work roles are all the rage to cut costs although I'm not really sure that's the reality and so I think generous people are very vulnerable to self sabotage in this respect. And it usually comes down to plain awful management or someone somewhere not pulling their weight.

When I had no remit, to the extent my boss couldn't even write one when when asked, I ended up doing managerial and even directorial things, the responsibility on my shoulders was just ridiculous and was tantamount to if I didn't get everything right, the company would fail - for 7.99 per hour. I've also been blamed for not maintaining equipment because I happened to be the only person who understood it because I literally read the service manual on my own time, yet I was only on site as little as once a fortnight on a zero hours contract and endless people could have strawberry floated that machine up.

So I say just be wary as I've definitely experienced the dark side of this and it didn't end well. And is a big part of why I'm self employed as if I'm going to take on extra risk and set higher standards all the time, I'd rather do it for myself and not some cackling circle of managers doing fistbumps while I cry myself to sleep.

Hopefully it's recognised and your work people aren't jerks and yeah, you collect a salary at the end of the day (month). Just don't end up freelancing for everyone inside a company where this gooseberry fool is supposed to be in order. :lol:

Tldr if you end up in another department doing a different job say you need to renegotiate your contract with a remit.

A contract without a remit is, generally speaking, not a very good contract, or not a very fair one. Some people would say it isn't even really a job. You don't get paid show up and just make it up as you go along. It's horrible feeling that way. Just too stressful.

Yeah, I feel like that all the time now. At the moment I'm figuring put how to repair equipment I've never opened up before, and did actually fix it. But that's my risk to take, and at the end of the day, I don't just have a revenue, I build a company. I also save my money not getting the thing repaired by some service company. And I'll save that expense for the next 5 years. So I am rewarded for that effort in some way - even though I never planned for it to happen.

Sorry I'm rambling now, but ultimately that's how I applied my experience in being given lots of different jobs and having to improvise an awful lot in the long term. I just wasn't happy doing it for people getting paid a lot more than me. It took me a very long time to realise that is what was happening.

Never underestimate the value of the work you are doing, or other people will.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Rocsteady » Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:11 pm

Wasn't sure where to put this but seeing as it's work related: I've got my personal business website up and running now, it's necessarily paired back as I'm gooseberry fool at design and wanted it in quite a plain styling anyway but I've got an issue with it. Made it through a paid-for Wordpress account.

The basic layout is:
Title
Menu

Then there's a massive white block here for some reason. I've looked at the code of the theme but it's not obvious to me why that's the case.

Body

Anyone know why that huge white section might be there?

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:28 pm

Rocsteady wrote:Wasn't sure where to put this but seeing as it's work related: I've got my personal business website up and running now, it's necessarily paired back as I'm gooseberry fool at design and wanted it in quite a plain styling anyway but I've got an issue with it. Made it through a paid-for Wordpress account.

The basic layout is:
Title
Menu

Then there's a massive white block here for some reason. I've looked at the code of the theme but it's not obvious to me why that's the case.

Body

Anyone know why that huge white section might be there?

Can you post a link/screenshot?

I develop WordPress themes.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by That's not a growth » Thu Feb 09, 2017 7:10 am

Thanks for the advice GG and others, really appreciate it.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by That's not a growth » Sat Feb 11, 2017 2:33 pm

I was in work today for a few hours and the managing director came over and mentioned he's been told I've been doing an amazing job. Apparently much better than the people who should have been doing it. Not quite sure who he meant when he said that, mind. So that was pretty nice.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Kezzer » Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:12 pm

did you ask him for a promotion?

This post is exempt from the No Context Thread.

Tomous wrote:Tell him to take his fake reality out of your virtual reality and strawberry float off


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PostRe: The Work Thread
by That's not a growth » Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:42 pm

I don't know if the job actually exists, and it was just in the main office with people around, not just the two of us. The manager I've been doing the work for is back on site this week, and I'm going to grab a quick meeting with my manager too, and see how everyone is approaching this and go from there I think.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:17 am

Inside the crash of Fling, the London startup whose founder partied in Ibiza while his company burned through $21 million

Marco Nardone, the 28-year-old CEO and founder of social media app Fling, had called an emergency meeting the day after his app was removed from the App Store by Apple for being too similar to the notorious Chatroulette platform.

The atmosphere was tense and Nardone was furious, three former employees said, because his COO, Emerson Osmond, had gone behind his back. Specifically, he was angry because Osmond had told Nardone's personal assistant not to order tents for the office that would allow staff to sleep by their desks and work around the clock to get Fling back onto the App Store, a former employee told Business Insider.

Nardone shouted and swore at Osmond before squaring up to him as if he was about to do something more, said two former employees. At this point, Nardone's Italian father, Remo Nardone — a man in his eighties and Fling's biggest investor — stepped in to try and cool the situation down, one of the employees said. But his son didn't react well. He swore at his father before hurling a partially-open Pret a Manger baguette in his direction. The baguette, believed to be prosciutto ham, narrowly missed and collided with a glass window above his head.


http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-fling ... ?r=US&IR=T

I like to take this as an example of how you can start and run a company with $21 million in investments and make no money before dissolving and owing almost £1m. This makes me feel good about largely breaking even on income/expenditure, save for a few tiny capital investments. That actually makes me a better businessperson. :lol:

It may also explain how starting a company with a £1.5 million investment from your dad is not a good precedent for fiduciary responsibility.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Corazon de Leon » Tue Feb 14, 2017 1:36 am

darksideby182 wrote:It seems like a lot of people on GRcade work in IT would be nice to know what most people do.

Myself I'm an Electrician.


I deal with complaints for an insurer at their call centre. It's...fun.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Tafdolphin » Wed Feb 15, 2017 11:25 am

I'm having a bit of a crisis. Perhaps that's a little hyperbolic. I'm having huge, crushing doubts about my current trajectory.

Long story short, after uni I left to teach in Japan for 3 years, returned to the UK to live in London, worked in a shitty admin job before getting so strawberry floating bored I sacked it all in and went travelling for 3 years (South America for 1, Australia for 2). I'm now back in the UK, working a shitty but slightly higher up admin job in Manchester. I want out.

Not just of this particular job. Out of admin. Out of the office. Out of the 9 to 5. I have realised, after some extensive strawberry floating research, that I will never be happy in an office. After spending 3 of the best years of my life actually doing stuff I liked, "happy" has become my new metric for success.

I dread coming into work. I spend most of my time sat at my hot-desking workstation in an open plan, strip-lit office staring into the middle distance wondering what the strawberry float I'm doing here. When I am working, I hear myself spouting nonsensical acronyms and bitching about nonsense like how the in-house legal team (IHLT) have a backlog. I don't give a gooseberry fool about any of it. I do what's required of me, enough to be rated Successful after my first 6 months, but I don't care. It's all strawberry floating meaningless.

Problem is of course, I don't know what to do otherwise. My girlfriend went freelance about a year ago and is loving it, but she's a designer with actual transferable skills. I've been told my writing is good but have never really done anything with it, certainly not enough to dive straight into freelance writing as a primary source of income. I feel stuck, really. I put April down as the start of a new chapter as I'll have been in this position for a year, but as it approaches I've no idea how to manifest this change.

It's just a bit gooseberry fool really. Not world ending, just really shitty hashtag firstworldproblems.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:29 pm

If you do want to try freelancing, there's nothing wrong with claiming tax credits and a bit of housing benefit while you start. Can you reduce your hours at all or do temp agency work? Do you have any savings or can you borrow from someone like your girlfriend or parents or take out a loan? What's your fiscal situation like? You may have to consider it an investment.

You might also want to look into being a virtual assistant.

You will be poor for quite a long time. Not because you won't have or make any money, but because you will have to cut corners and have some business expenses.

Also, you'll find it almost impossible to get a mortgage. So think about what you want in 5-10 years. If it's a job that doesn't make you feel like ripping your eyes out, although you will sometimes feel like that, go for it.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Red » Wed Feb 15, 2017 2:38 pm

If it's writing you're into it's also worth looking at freelance editing/proofing, as they are related and open up a lot of companies.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Wed Feb 15, 2017 9:34 pm

Speaking from experience there's a huge amount of stuff out there that companies just can't be bothered to write or check themselves.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Tafdolphin » Thu Feb 16, 2017 8:38 am

Haha! Thanks guys, some useful advice there. Already had a look at the editing and proofing. As with all jobs there's stuff under the "experience required" sections that I don't have, but that's not going to stop me looking.

In terms of financial situation, I'm comfortable. I've got a 5 figure savings pot, and am able to put away a couple of hundred quid a month without trying. I think the fact that I'd lose this is more where my slight fear of change is coming from; I like being able to afford to pop away to New York, or Istanbul on a whim, or buy a big boardgame when I like. In fact, looking over my last message I do come across like my life is falling apart when in reality it's only my job I'm unhappy with. I have a girlfriend I love, friends who are excellent, and a setup I'm happy with. The only sour point is waking every morning with a start, realising I have to start over the slog of work.

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Night Call: Out now!
Rip Them Off: Out now!
Chinatown Detective Agency: 2021!
EXOGATE Initiative: Early Access Summer 2021
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Red » Thu Feb 16, 2017 2:22 pm

Most big publishing houses rely on freelance editors, but they won't advertise it. You have to get in touch speculatively. My current company takes on freelance proofreaders and editors; all you need to do is complete a test, your level of experience is irrelevant. But it's probably not content that would interest you, and the pay isn't fantastic (£200–£400 a novel depending on if you're proofing or editing).

Coconut Bob wrote:You come across as feminine as a cave troll so its no wonder you have little concept of the way females should behave.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by Green Gecko » Thu Feb 16, 2017 3:45 pm

Experience is easy. Just generalise stuff you've done in the past just enough to pass for what they're looking for.

If you can write a CV without errors, you can probably proof a variety of similar documents. Some of these skills are just self evident.

For example, "high attention to detail" could be covered by 100 different jobs. Even if it's decorating cakes. Plus maybe a humanities/language degree.

And yeah, freelancing is often about finding jobs no-one else realises exist. Then doing lots of those jobs. Which means selling yourself.

The best way to fail at freelancing is being unable to sell yourself. Don't forget, it's different to a job - they have low or no HR, national insurance (which is massive), office, training, management etc costs associated with freelancers. It is often simply a better deal.

However don't let this make you think you need to charge less. Absolutely, charge as much as you can possibly get away with - because you are paying for those things in some manner.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: The Work Thread
by bigcheez2k3 » Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:43 pm

Are we still saying what our jobs are?

I'm currently a driver for a fashion company. Drive around London doing deliveries or watching Netflix on my phone.

However, that does not make enough money to survive in London so I have applied for an apprenticeship with Network Rail so I can become an engineer.

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PostRe: The Work Thread
by darksideby182 » Fri Feb 17, 2017 1:20 am

bigcheez2k3 wrote:Are we still saying what our jobs are?

I'm currently a driver for a fashion company. Drive around London doing deliveries or watching Netflix on my phone.

However, that does not make enough money to survive in London so I have applied for an apprenticeship with Network Rail so I can become an engineer.

Good luck with the apprenticeship, Network rail should be good for getting the right experience.

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