Got up at 6 this morning after realising it had snowed some several inches in Redditch overnight. Got onto the roads about 6.20 and suddenly felt uneasy, it was probably the first time in my 7 years of driving all roads were fully snowed in, let alone the fact I was in a rear wheel drive for it too!!!
After circling a few roads around my area I decidied to bare the streets to Birmingham city centre. Immediately becoming gobsmacked by other peoples driving, I had only gone some 100 yards and there was an Escort right up my rear, refusing to use my brakes I slowed gradually using my gears and it worked great.
Pulling away in 3rd still seemed to cause my rear to slip and slide but gently pulling away I managed to do it without getting in a spin.
I had travelled about 1.5 miles in 10 minutes and I was still being amazed by some peoples attitude towards the snow; a 4×4 may pull you better in the snow but it doesn’t mean you can stop any better!!! I had a Freelander so close to me, I couldn’t see his lights, whilst doing about 30-40mph.
None the less, I managed to get into work unscathed in about an hour, just over twice my normal time but I feel so much better for doing it, it was a great experience and valuable for future driving.
It was a scary but fun drive in, recommend it to anyone, just be sensible and use your gears not your brakes.
Archive for the ‘Employment’ Category
What’s all the fuss!
Thursday, February 5th, 2009Sorion makes news!!!
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009During the current automotive crisis it is good to see that Sorion has made the news for its success… Sort of!!!
Sorion brings cheer ahead of auto industry summit is a small article which appeared in the Birmingham Post on Monday 2nd February 2009, a time when businesses such as Honda have just stopped production for 4 months due to the downturn.
Also in the news;
Birmingham engineering firm Sorion wins £400,000 deal.
Promising times ahead then hopefully.
Wow, long time!
Saturday, January 17th, 2009It’s been a while since I last came here and wrote anything so I thought again, new year new start I would write more… but already we are 17 days in to it!!!
Reviews of 2008… I think I will just leave that one for my memories, not a productive year at all.
2009 however, lets start optimistic!
Within the next 2 months we will be seeing the final fall of Weberrific as neither of us (Dean and I) have the commitments anymore. I do still intend to keep the site(s) alive and maybe, just maybe actually develop a few… Looking at it, I have nickwilkes.co.uk, where-local.co.uk, redditch4×4.co.uk, wilkesphotography.co.uk. hmm, what to do! Lets review in 12!
Although work has been difficult, I have full intentions of getting to grips with a few things this year, in particular my timing and motivation. We have a lot of work scheduled for the next few months so that has at least taken the strain off things for a while. With Lamborghini and Bently placing large orders with us it stands a chance that things will be quite challenging and interesting for me. This week has also seen my annual review which went very well I feel with a mutual understanding of where I am and what it is next I need to achieve. It was a little dissapointing to hear no cost of living increases planned for the year but under the current climate I guess it was innevitible… There goes the house buying idea! But none the less, I am now a Software Engineer, no longer Junior… thus meaning I now have to show my worth and develop into a more expanded, professional and self motivated role.
That leaves me with pretty much 2 options to leave us with, save save save… haven’t proved to be any good at it in recent years but this is the year of the save! The other option being inventive and dynamic, with my interest in automation significantly increasing I have all these wacky and wonderful ideas in my head which are probably already out there but the fact they are hard to find suggests that it is either in its infancy, or is just a poor idea… Time to investigate (Watch this space)!
Job Offer
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007It’s been a long time since I have posted here and a lot has happened too.
The biggest thing to happen was a job offer by Intier. I was half expecting it, but it sadly came 2 months too late or 12 months too early.
The offer was Technical Support, on a salary of £28,000.
The prospects of the job could have been outstanding, an ever developing organisation on a global scale. But something didn’t feel right even after all this being offered.
At the point of offer I was a month away from my review and spent many restless nights thinking about it and I regularly changed my mind about which company I wanted to work for.
After a discussion with a couple of Intier employees and a review at Sorion, I opted to stay at Sorion, with the intentions of being able to pick up some skills from some very skilled people within the team. This to me seems far more important as I have always known a little about a lot and my biggest weakness at the moment is the ability to be technical about a subject and there are quite a few people at Sorion who can provide the perfect foot steps for me.
It was very hard turning down an offer that is substantially higher than my current salary, but it isn’t always about money… is it?!?
… only time will tell and it has been the biggest risk I have ever taken I think and probably will be for a long time as it has been a very quiet time for the automotive industry this year, which has obviously affected Sorion.
They have a lot of development in progress that really interests me and I hope they all come a reality as it will be a great experience.
Degree Result
Monday, July 2nd, 2007My degree results came through today, I couldn’t believe how much I was shaking upon opening the envelope;
I didn’t fail as I was expecting, but unfortunately I did not get my aimed 2:1 either, in the end I have a 2:2 in Internet Technology BSc (Hons).
Overall happy I think, at least I am not having to redo anything, especially XML and Web services, which I thought I had failed, I got a really low 5, 3 being a fail and 15 being the highest. So some really disappointing results in places, must work harder in life is the outcome of this one.
Job Hunt
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007The time has finally come to search for a job. I am thinking of contacting Sorion, who I worked along side with at Intier on my work placement.
It is scary wondering what to write on my CV and covering letter, as I obviously want it to look appealing.
… that reminds me to update my Profile!
If anyone comes across anything web based, drop us a line…
Cheers