oxi

This is a very interesting point, and to repeat what I said in Discord, in the very last version of my APB stats system I removed deaths and the k/d ratio for this very reason. They were still recorded but not publicly visible, this led to more players changing their styles of play (not all, granted). I replaced this with a win ratio leading to people wanting to work to destroy the enemy base, not spend the whole game as an APC running people over (same thing, different game).

It happens to everyone, one company didn't want me because they found someone who would do it cheaper which makes me glad I never ended up there! What kind of message does that send out?! I'm not sure what the market is like in the US but if I stick my CV on recruitment websites in the UK the recruiters are like flies to shit. Maybe give that a bash? For example, I am currently "enquiring" about opportunities (hopefully no-one I works with will see that...) and some have progressed to a certain stage. All I did was pick up the phone to a few recruiters, no work involved other than spending 15 minutes updating some bullet points on my CV. You also build relationships with the recruiters because if they like you they'll come back and help you out since they are reputation based not forgetting probably on commission (usually 10% of you salary). Do you have LinkedIn as well? That really helps and if you hook up with some of the people on here you'll automatically be connected with a lot of industry people. Here is me with a photo that needs updating (I am not that fat anymore lol) if anyone wants to connect.

Yeah... This is the only negative aspect of my job. I think it's mainly down to the unrealistic expectation of managers who think everything is "easy" because they can do it in an off-the-shelf desktop application. Some of ours like to make what we are doing but what they code up looks like a pig with no heads, eight arses and covered in poo to show us how "easy" it is. I do love my job though and I wouldn't change my field for the world. Anyway, when I think I am having a bad day I just think but to 5 years ago when I was stuck bossing utter retards about in McDonalds. Life never seems so bad when I think back to those days, funny that.

I'm in backwards Norfolk but currently earn £26,250 as a Software Engineer. I went to university at an older age and only graduated last year but because I have Cern on my CV I had a load of job offers. I think one went up to £32,000 but that was at BAE in Guildford and was not enough to live as comfortably as I do as I would have had to move to that area. It really depends on you though as I am well aware the programmers at Cern do not really get "what they are worth" but do it because they want to. They could earn 3/4x as much (in most cases in non-academic industry) but still get paid enough really. The main reason I chose not to go back is because I would have had to do a masters but I really hated my dissertation to the point of depression, it was by far the worst 9 months of my life and I don't want to go back to that. Even in my current situation I am above average for Norwich (I think) so I'm not really bothered. Oh and for the record, if someone needs inspiration, I was a manager at McDonald's only 5 years ago.

This is going to sound like a I am tooting my own horn but I think this is relevant so sod it. Personally, since I started work at CERN I have had loads of emails and facebook messages from friends and family asking what I do. Often this is on a weekly basis but honestly I don't really have much to tell them. Most days I debug and run tests, I rarely do new and exciting things because complicated software takes a long, long time to complete. That's not to say my work is boring (to me at least) but it's not really something to tell anyone about. If I told them I had improved the throughput or have increased the number of distributed platforms in my test most of them would say something complimentary but have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. I would have lost most of them at server. I think the same is true here for Reborn (so tempted to type ba...., old habits die hard). Stuff is happening but it's really not worth knowing about.