Heading off to London

OK, as it turns out I underestimated the importance of speaking a language when seeking jobs in a country!

I think that if I tried really hard I could get a job in a kitchen, or something like that in Germany, but not a software programming job - which would be more ideal for me!
The other pitfall is that I live in the country side, which means that it is a lot harder to get a job, as I would need my own transport, and there's less available than in I was in a big city.

My solution: go to London. I applied for a Youth Mobility Scheme visa which will let me work in the UK for 2 years. I think that visas are really against me as well when applying for jobs, but it seems to be ok with some of the bigger companies in London.

So I have my Visa for the UK now, and I'm flying to London on September 6. I have been trying mainly for two jobs in London - one at ScanSafe, and one at ThoughtWorks. Both seem like really good companies to work for. The cool thing about working at ThoughtWorks though, is that they'd send me to India for 6 weeks for training!

The process that I've been through so far with companies has involved several phone interviews, and writing a code sample for each company. I have high hopes for ThoughtWorks which seems like a company I could really enjoy working for, and the recruitment lady seems to like my CV and my phone interview... fingers crossed. If all goes well, I'll be going to an 'assessment centre' on September 7.

Once I get to London I'll have to apply for a 'National Insurance Number' - it's a tax ID number.

For now I'm practising some violin, and will be enjoying my time with Helena here in Germany.

Visiting the local castle

Just thought I'd do a quick post. There's a castle that's close by, within walking distance. I think that it might of been attacked once or twice, as it's now in ruins... Anyway, it's quite nice, and the old houses are interesting :)








Oh yeah, there's a snail in there - I thought it was interesting, they have snails over here that don't have any shell - they just look like slugs...