3 years ago, almost to the day, I left school and registered as a sole trader. I’d been unsuccessful in finding anywhere that would give me a job due to lack of experience, and the recession had just reared its big ugly head.
In that time I’ve built more websites that I can remember, given training courses, spoken at conferences and, possibly the biggest achievement to me, been able to do that most basic thing of buying food and paying the rent without having to borrow any money. (I honestly thought after a few months of freelancing I’d fail miserably and have to move back home with my tail between my legs.)
From July, I will no longer be freelancing because I’ve just formally accepted the role of front-end web developer at a web agency called Message. I’m also moving (again) into my own flat, still in Brighton. Read the rest of this entry »
Today, while doing a bit of sorting through old stuff, I stumbled across some pages from notebooks I’d kept during my time at secondary school. The notebooks are part of a series I contributed to with my friends. I think there are about 4 or 5 in total, I have one, my friends have the others. I guess this was my first open source project. Everyone in my small group of friends contributed to them, writing, and sometimes drawing what happened throughout the day.
Read the rest of this entry »
In 1992, Radiohead released their first single; Creep. The song became very popular and they had to play it at every gig to satisfy their fans, and it wasn’t long before the band became sick of their creation. They brought out new songs, but people just wanted to listen to the old ones, and they will forever be remembered as the band that wrote Creep.
Read the rest of this entry »
On Thursday, Harriet Harman the Equalities Minister in the UK put forward plans to allow organisations to discriminate in favour of candidates who are female or of ethnic minority.
You can watch her speech here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7475470.stm
As a woman, I would not want to be given a job with the knowledge that the reason I got it had to do with my gender rather than my professional capabilities, and I would not want my colleagues to also be thinking that. In fact, it would put me off working anywhere with a high ratio of men to women. I want to work somewhere because my work is appreciated, not so they can tick a box or improve their statistics.
Read the rest of this entry »
I will have to be brief because I feel riddled with guilt whenever I spend time doing anything other than revision.
So this is the second week of exams. Last week I did my Module 4 ICT exam, which was… well… the questions were quite reasonable, apart from the one asking me to describe the ‘behaviour’ of a computer system which threw me a bit. I was feeling great at the beginning of the exam and pacing myself well (even writing legibly!) Last year I rushed and finished in half the time and spent the remaining hour fretting because I thought I hadn’t been given all of the questions.
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s tough this time of the year when everyone seems to have gone in hibernation for exams. It feels like the times I am in school, I only see my friends briefly, and I’ve been spending way too much time cooped up at home with a stack of revision notes and a grumpy moulting cat to keep me company.
Read the rest of this entry »
There’s a really sweet girl I babysit, and last night, she drew a picture of me. It took her about 15 minutes, and I was so happy with the result that I thought I’d post it up here.
Read the rest of this entry »
Today my friend Raiesa took me to see a little garden she had found. She’d been telling me about it for a while, and I hadn’t had a chance to see it with all the coursework I was working on. Today I met her in the library and we walked along a scenic route to some old ruins. There’s a little footpath by the river which we followed past some allotments, up some steep steps and over an old railway bridge. After a few minutes, we reached a wooden gate. She opened it and we walked through.
Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, after months and months and months of saving, I finally bought a Mac. I think I’ve been saving for over a year now, so it’s hard to describe how I felt when I was able to take my baby home! Excited mostly, but also a little nervous about making such a financial commitment over something I had never had a chance to use before.
Read the rest of this entry »
Today I’m going to talk about something vitally important and close to my heart… biscuits! The following is a constructive analysis of my 5 favourite biscuits, weighing out their pros and cons.
Isn’t it obvious that I’m putting off doing something more important?
Read the rest of this entry »
