Off-topic: Give your confidence a boost

Do you know how people boost their confidence in the programming business? Every so often you reactivate your CV at a recruitment agency or on a job site. Usually, within a day or two, someone gets in touch with a concrete offer. You put on your grandfather’s jacket and your barely worn Prestige shoes, pick up a few buzzwords from well-known blogs, and set off for the interview.

At the interview an HR assistant first takes you in hand and lists amazing benefits that are sure to beat your current ones. Then some character from development comes in and you chat about buzzwords you’ve seen, at most, on the sheet of paper you skimmed on the packed bus.

In most cases your success was guaranteed before the interview. With such an acute shortage of people, companies take any developer who knows the difference between an annotation and a constructor. These days nobody will stump you with a puzzle like “Why are manhole covers round?” Maybe they’re afraid of putting you off.

After the interview comes the eager wait for an offer, which almost always arrives. Your confidence gets a boost, and a well-placed remark over lunch about your departure is a persuasive reason for your boss to reconsider how they treat you, financially, career-wise, or in whatever way you need.

Admittedly, the way the employee-employer relationship works in this business is a little backwards, but that’s no reason to pass up the opportunity.

If you need:

• a boost to your confidence
• good arguments to use with your boss
• a good offer and some experience

Then send your CV to roman.pichlik zavináč hp.com. We’ll sort it out here at the HP SOA Center. And don’t worry, there are far worse things you could do ;-)...