Interview, friends and dancing.

Started the day with shopping – made a trip to our local retail park and managed to acquire suit and shirt at TKMaxx, suit at £49.99, bargain! Unfortunately size 14, and I seem to be on my way down out of that size, so I’m not sure how long it’s going to be terribly useful…had to go into the main part of the shopping mall for shoes though, as size 6 1/2 to 7 would appear to be hugely over popular in TKMaxx – ie they had pretty much none left.

Back home where Sarah had arrived and was having some kind of business brainstorm session with Tim – as you need a brain for one of those and mine was conspicuously absent, I retired to a corner with a java primer book in the vain hope I could somehow reinsert all java knowledge back into my brain. Then I did sandwiches and Tim got organised and went off for his osteopath appt, I got togged up and set off for my interview, leaving all the kids with Sarah. That’s two days running I’ve managed to part from Small now, still feels odd though.

Really glad that I managed to leave with an extra 20 mins to spare, as the directions I’d been sent had included a right turn at a roundabout that no longer exists. Love it when that happens. And then it got kind of wet and windy, and I really wished I’d worn a coat…

Never mind. Got there on time, if slightly windswept and had five minutes in reception to recover and drip dry slightly. Then off for the tech test. The 10 or so broad based Java questions I’d been led to expect by the agency were actually 12 questions on all the possible technologies I could be using – scream! Which meant that for several of them I wrote – I don’t know, I would look it up 🙁 I think there were only 3 Java questions, and I could only answer 1 of them.

The interview itself seemed to go reasonably well. I think that I might be too honest though – they asked things like where do you see yourself in 5 years time, and I said, technically improved, but still working in programming, I’ve no desires to get into management. The HR woman said “your chair’s safe then” to the guy I used to work with, and he said it was refreshing to have somebody say something other than “your job”. I also made him laugh when he asked a question that I didn’t have an immediate answer to – my response was “that’s a really good question” to which he said “and that’s a really good answer”. I’m never sure whether that kind of humour in an interview is a good sign though.

I won’t find out the results of the interview until at the earliest a week tomorrow – they fitted my interview in at two days notice as I’m away next week when they’ve planned the rest of them. Can I hope the fact that they rearranged to see me is a good sign? Tim reckons that they tend to decide pretty much before they actually interview.

Oh, and they’ve never asked for references – what should I make of that?

Anyway, rather scenic trip through lesser known parts of Sheffield trying to get home. Turned left at one point – no sign saying I couldn’t, to find No Entry written across the road. No road signs or anything – aargh. Three point turn during which the gearbox played up in the old way – first time for ages. Marvellous. Trip out in the rush hour, made me realise how much I don’t miss it – and met Tim at ballet.

Home, tea (very late), bath (unpleasant incident in the bath – definitely putting Small in swim nappies for cp!), another bath, and children to bed.

Now must try to work out what I need to do so that I can go on holiday for a few days without feeling guilty while I do it…