Well i got significantly less different courses/classes to teach, that's good news for me as well.

I'll be rewriting some courses though, so i'll have my hands full the next year(s).

No customer interaction and a payraise Pev, what's the catch?

Well I do have to deal with project managers... but we already had to deal with them so it's not really an issue!

Nice work on the less different classes to teach

Congrats to Pev and J both! We sure are upwardly mobile here on CK lately. Well, I guess moving from being unemployed into a low-skilled job in a warm country counts as 'up'.

So yeah, I just got internet installed where I'm staying and have been following company training for most of the week so far. It's all relatively easy work, the only thing I'm "afraid" of is that the project may be cancelled after a few months because of reasons outside my power. Also spending a shitload of time commuting back and forth to work because of my current location, so I'm looking to change that before too long. But I got time.

Being able to jump into the (warm) sea after a day of work and then chill on the rocks in 25+ in the evening with a beer makes up for a LOT of professional and financial woes. Temperature has been around 35 C° in the shade, making the midday sun unbearable but the mornings and evenings (and the shade) more than enjoyable as long as you don't have to run or do hard labor. According to the weather station on my neighbour's roof it hasn't rained in 127 days either.

I still have to arrange a few things - get a resident ID for discounts etc, buy some household items, etc etc - but getting there. Writing this on the terrace with a glass of ricard next to me. Thanks for all the well-wishes guys, I hope I can hold on to this life for at least a year! We'll see where it goes.

Apart from the temperatures that sounds incredible Ox! You'll have to get some pics to make us all extra jealous Fingers crossed that it lasts more than a few months for you

Grats to all you guys. Sounds like things are going well.

Thanks. Well, I still gotta work and do a mindnumbingly boring job in between so it's not like it's the pinnacle of awesomeness, but still. I'll try to take some pics but I don't really bring my camera with me when I go to work so I'm often like "I should totally take a picture of this but my camera is at home" haha.

You realize that if your phone wasn't from the 90s, it would have a camera built in.

Pff why blow 150 € on a new phone (that's likely built to crap out in a year or two anyway) when my indestructible 90's Nokia still works? It actually has a camera btw, but it's incredibly shit. Even a close up shot is so gravelly it's hard to guess what's actually in the picture haha.

Ya know that my expensive ass phone is over 2 years old now? From my experience, as long as shiny doesn't step on it, my phones last forever.

Be like me Ox. Wait until your indestructible Nokia is practically destroyed (it happens, loved my last one, 6610i classic, beautiful phone!) then buy a super shiny Nokia windows phone. Nokia + indestructible + achievement whoring! And you wouldn't even have to wait to get back from the beach to rub our noses in it, what with mobile internet

So, I heard this week that the project I work for is going to end and my position (obviously) will disappear with it.

It's not officially announced yet, so that will be fun (/sarcasm) when it happens next week, but it's final. Details are a bit fuzzy at this point but I can stay on for a few more months if I want, with a severance fee at the end, but I don't know the exact amount or anything yet. Maybe I can stay on in a different position in the company, but again...up in the air. I'd prefer to move on to a different job at a different place, but if that isn't an option then I'd obviously prefer not to be unemployed either. Might have to leave Malta, in that case, in order to find good work.

I'm not too worried yet, to be honest. I was already looking out for a new job because I saw the writings on the wall, and I'll have a few months in the meantime. But it's always a bit of a "wow" moment when you first hear it. The fact that I'm gonna be telling people that they're laid off and trying to motivate the remaining ones for the remainder of the time is not really making me very happy, but I guess it's part of the job. :-/

Fingers crossed!

Oh, that sucks. Sorry to hear it. Looking for a new job always sucks ass.

Might be a good excuse to move on? Last I heard they were working you like a dog.

All well for me, no real complaints for the past 2 years. Still doing the whole Systems Analyst thing, although now I'm starting to get comfortable and "good" in this role, and that makes me uncomfortable, paradoxically. So I'm on the lookout for another step up soon.

Hm. I'm the senior QA tester here still. My company is I think still in the red, but slowly moving toward the black, after being practically run in the ground by some idiots over the last few years. People keep getting laid off, but I'm still here for now. I don't mind the job... I have time to do what I want at work and it doesn't spill over into my personal life often. I make enough money to afford some nice toys usually. On the other hand, I'd like to be making more, and at any time I could get laid off, which tbh I wouldn't mind. I've got enough savings to live off of for years if necessary, and it would be give me the time to try my hand at coding some games. Ultimately, if I could make money working for myself, that would be ideal. Getting laid off would entitle me to unemployment benefits for awhile too.