Blender Fox


Training in Quarantine - Day 120

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Boy, oh boy, yesterday was a crazy hot day. I went back into the office as they are going to do a deep clean so we needed to make sure all our desks are clear of any personal belongings.

They blocked out every other desk:

And the air conditioning was reduced since there weren't that many people in the office.

The temperature in the office was a toasty 26.8degC

But the temperature outside soared to 36degC, and nearly tipped the 38degC/100degF mark.

As expected, the heat destroyed Network Rail's ability to run a reliable service and services out of King's Cross were delayed or cancelled.

I ended up using the Piccadilly Line to get back home.

On the way, spotted Blackfriars station had a vending machine for alcohold wipes, hand sanitisers and face masks:

The heat in the trains was horrendous. Eventually made it home and decided not to walk, I was sweating enough as it was just taking the train.

Back to today. Temperatures are back to mid-20s so walking is still hot weather, but not as uncomfortable as yesterday.

New Year

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Most people are back to the office for the first time today, and yep, the trains were packed.... :-(

Thankless Tasks

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Thankless Tasks - Dilbert by Scott Adams

Reminds me of my old job….

Source: dilbert.com/strip/201…

And then they buy you...

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The biggest bombshell news in tech recently was that RedHat are being bought by IBM. And in one of the WhatsApp groups I’m in, someone posted this:

Vacations

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Who needs ‘em? :D

How It Feels To Be Useless - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-11-03 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

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Wally: How’s it feel to be the hardest-working employee in engineering?

Alice: I feel tired, sore, exhausted, sick, angry, stressed out, and lonely.

Wally: You probably don’t want to know how good it feels to be useless.

Source: How It Feels To Be Useless - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-11-03 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

I know from past experience how Alice is feeling. ^_^

The Truth....

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Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-07-12 | Dilbert by Scott Adams.

Dilbert Offends Coworkers - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-05-01 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

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I'm not lying....

Dilbert Offends Coworkers - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-05-01 | Dilbert by Scott Adams.

Foul Language

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via Alice Has Foul Language - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-04-10 | Dilbert by Scott Adams.

Hire People Smarter Than You - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-01-19 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

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Hire People Smarter Than You - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-01-19 | Dilbert by Scott Adams.

Super Pumpedness - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-01-16 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

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Super Pumpedness - Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-01-16 | Dilbert by Scott Adams.

Japanese Company Fills Offices with Cats to Help Employees Unwind and Improve Productivity | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

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Japanese Company Fills Offices with Cats to Help Employees Unwind and Improve Productivity | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities.

David Grady: How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings | Talk Video | TED.com

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[ted id=2135 lang=en]

David Grady: How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings | Talk Video | TED.com.

Google is voted best place to work in the UK

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It might be the best place to work, but getting into Google might be another thing. And staying there is a whole new ball game.

Dilbert comic strip for 11/24/2014 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

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Dilbert comic strip for 11/24/2014 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive..

Dilbert comic strip for 10/17/2014 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

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Dilbert comic strip for 10/17/2014 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive..

Cognitive Control

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This wouldn't work on me. But leave me in a room with a flask of sake, a laptop full of anime, and a box of Pocky, and, well.... you won't like what you see, let's put it that way...

Weak Code

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'He was a right c***': Cash Converters win at reference letters

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Funny - but wholly inappropriate for a reference letter. Since the manager’s signature is visible, I’m sure s/he will be having words with directors, who may in turn give him/her a reference of their own…

Honesty

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Much as I would have liked to have done this in the past with some really difficult managerial staff, the only time I would do this if I didn't care about getting a bad reference from my manager, or I wanted out of the job so bad, I didn't care if I was fired.

Dilbert comic strip for 07/17/2014 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive..

Job Interviews

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Something interesting I found out yesterday. I was clearing out some old junk on my laptop and I came across a recording of a phone job interview I had a long while ago. Curious, I listened to it, and cringed. I made so many mistakes on that interview I couldn’t believe it, but during the interview, I felt I did pretty well. Surprisingly, I got the offer. I was in that job for a few years before being made redundant.

So, point of the post. If you can, record your interview if it is a phone one, and you can refer back to it later like I did and learn from it. If you got an offer, you can see what helped push your image across. If you failed to get an offer, you can see if you can determine why you didn’t get it by listening as a third-person.

The difference between an Appraisal and a Resignation

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Found on LinkedIn

3874c1e2-c469-11e3-8cfb-12313b024af0-large.jpeg 960×678.

Management Vs Engineers

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Job Interview Questions You Should NOT Answer Or Ask | LinkedIn

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LinkedIn never ceases to amaze with me the articles it has, especially about recruitment. Did you know some questions that may be asked in interviews are actually ILLEGAL in some parts of the world?

Looking at this list, I realised that I’ve been asked some of these questions before in some of my own interviews without realising they are not really relevant (or in some cases, legal).

Here are some commonly asked interview questions that are inappropriate and in fact illegal in many parts of the world:

Job Interview Questions You Should NOT Answer Or Ask | LinkedIn.

Irony or Hypocrisy?

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A couple of months ago, I got hauled in front of one of the directors and given a formal written warning for both performance and going over the line in terms of access and what I was allowed to do.

A few months later, the company is offloaded with a high-priority (CEO-driven) project, onto which they put all their best and most-knowledgeable people (myself included). Now, one more than one occasion on this uber-high priority project, I’ve had to write things like scripts and conversion routines which are out of my jurisdiction, to which I previously got into trouble with, but they’ve been accepted for this project, presumably because they saved the company, and saved time. I also wasn’t supposed to touch a machine without being watched by a member of the tech team, but the same director that gave me the lashing and the verbal warning, asked me to come in on a weekend, work on one of these machines - and unsupervised, I might add.

So I get in trouble for using a machine, but then am asked to work on it without supervision?