Hmmm... Once again, on the way to work, standing on the train, no seats available again... Terribly exciting, really.
Had an interesting meeting yesterday - one of the project managers called me in for a meeting to chat about how long I'm staying around at mergermarket. General gist of it was that they want me to hang around for quite a while, and how does that sit with me.
The good thing is that I get along with the people there quite well, I'm enjoying what we're working on (well, as much as you can enjoy bug fixing anyway (but you need to do the bug fixing to understand the whole picture)), and it looks like there's some really cool stuff planned - stuff that I'd really like to get my dirty little mitts on. There's some really cool projects ahead, and also some of the processes we're looking at implementing (extreme programming, agile programming, etc), are ones that'd be really good for me. Also, from a pure mercenary career stand point, its in finance, so that stands me in good stead for the future (as you need finance experience for a lot of the jobs here).
So, all in all, its sounding good. But.
The thing is that I came over this side of the world to travel, bum around for a while, and all that. So, getting a permanent role was not really on the cards. So now, I have to make a decision. Do I want to just do a 3 month contract, or hang around longer.
I do have quite a few friends travelling around here over summer (Paul & Lyds, Bec, Kate, probably Biscuit, probably both Amy's, Sue, and a few others I've forgotten about). I did have plans to do a bit of travelling with each of them. I've also got plans at this point to be in Scotland in August/September, and back home for Christmas. Other than that though, I had no set plans.
I have been told that it'd be okay for me to take extra (unpaid) holidays - within reason of course. Less than ideal for them, but with enough notice, it shouldn't be a problem.
So, where we're up to is that I have to figure out what my travel plans are for the next 12 to 18 months are, and see if that fits in with the plan. I've also got to put some thought into how long I'm actually planning on staying in London for. Prior to this, the plan was something along the lines of "hang around till I get bored, then go home". Now, I have to put more thought into it, and firm up the plans a bit more.
This has just been a flow of random thoughts, cos I need to sort it out in my own brain. But, I've now got to the end, and I still don't know what my thoughts are. I think that I'm going to run with it, cos the benefits outweigh the negatives, especially seeing I can still do the whole holiday thing.
But, if you've got any thoughts on the matter, please either leave a comment (see that comment link at the bottom?), or email me (if you don't have my email address, use the contact link to the right).