War chests

[DSW]

its not really worth it you have kids though - The missus still has a job, but to put the kids in Nursery would cost more than I would earn

[zamzummim]

WSS

I would do a bit of temping too....

(hiya Zam - long time no post! )

Hey sweetie, how are you? Am quite busy with work so not able to post often, but try to catch up with the posts here now and again.

[opc]

I have £15k (of unallocated cash) in the company account, which would keep me going for at the very least 6 months.

Some interesting views on PMs on this thread. Anyone can get Prince II and call themselves a Project Manager. Anyone in fact can just start doing a PM job.

That is different from being a Project Management professional and being able to do the job well. I have a friend who puts Project Management on his c.v. but admits he doesn't really know what it is...and "doesn't bother with Microsoft Project and things like that".

[mace]

War chest

At the moment, just me and the missus. I reckon our outgoings are around £15k per year so between the 2 of us, we'd need to get a £20k job to survive. However, with a kid on the way this will go right up. I imagine a baby will cost another £5-10k per year without childcare. With 1 of us at home, we wouldn't need the childcare, of course. With childcare, could be talking about paying out anywhere between £10k for an au-pair or £30k for a nanny so that would be well expensive. Similar to nanny's costs if we then put the kid through prep/public school. In that situation we'd need to make £55k per year just to break even for just 1 child, which is a combined salary of £90k, which is much more tricky to achieve. So war chest very much depends on circumstances. I think IT pays quite well as a profession but is extremely cut throat.

[mace]

Project management

I have £15k (of unallocated cash) in the company account, which would keep me going for at the very least 6 months.

Some interesting views on PMs on this thread. Anyone can get Prince II and call themselves a Project Manager. Anyone in fact can just start doing a PM job.

That is different from being a Project Management professional and being able to do the job well. I have a friend who puts Project Management on his c.v. but admits he doesn't really know what it is...and "doesn't bother with Microsoft Project and things like that".

Good PMs are very few and far between. It's 1 heck of a challenging role. You need to be able to handle people very well, which is the most challenging area and you also need great organisational skills. There's a lot of PMs which sadly have skills in neither, which gives all PMs a bad rap. Techies should give it a bash to see how much fun it's not. Having a thick skin is the probably the best guarantee of longevity in the role.

[Mustang]

but have around £310k net cash reserves remaining...

If that is all under the mattress you probably need a ladder by now......!!

[Mustang]

Good PMs are very few and far between. It's 1 heck of a challenging role. You need to be able to handle people very well, which is the most challenging area and you also need great organisational skills. There's a lot of PMs which sadly have skills in neither, which gives all PMs a bad rap. Techies should give it a bash to see how much fun it's not. Having a thick skin is the probably the best guarantee of longevity in the role.

Very well put. The other challange from a contracting perspective is dealing with agents who dont really have a clue about the PM role and therefore dont know what to look for in candidates!!

[Mustang]

Assuming "that other PM nunce" is me, I strongly suggest you don't make assumptions about people - it makes you look an even bigger cretin than you probably are. I won't try to explain what my company does since you clearly don't have the intellectual capacity to understand...but it is far more than what you understand as project management. Oh, and nor am I "on the bench".

But do carry on making silly assumptions and talking nonsense about things you clearly know nothing about - 'tis good to have a laugh.

[Mustang]

we thought about emigrating, started looking at New Zealand - see other recent thread on that!

Ditto - will search for the thread!

[Mustang]

How much double gazing was sold waiting for some punter to call?? No, proactive calling and knocking on doors is the answer. You are running a business after all!

That's certainly a valid point......!!