Originally posted by zeitghost
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Reply to: whats managable commute time for you?
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Previously on "whats managable commute time for you?"
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I need to add my commute also has to involve driving away from or at least adjacent to the Sun as well.
I really can't be having head on low Sun early spring & autumn blinding me every morning and afternoon especially if I have a sore head from the previous night.
Am I being a bit too picky now?
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Anything below 1.30 hours for me. Been based south Birmingham I leave before the rush hour of Brum and have the M42, M6, M5 within easy access as I'm heading away from the city the Motorways are usually clear, so I can relax with cruise control on.
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Originally posted by psychocandy View PostWhat I mean is it takes time to build up then its annoying when you havent got a contract and you see it disappearing (although JSA helps!)
Good to be in that position of not being bothered about the next gig mind. My warchest is OK these days but I'd rather not go 3 months without a gig - would make a BIG dent.
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Originally posted by diseasex View Postyeah that stop start traffic is killing me. Im travelling from manchester to clientco through liverpool city centre. on the top of that , every week or so there's highly congested part of either motorway or town for one reason or another.
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Originally posted by Cirrus View PostContractors need to be ... tough!
I leave my house at 06:00 and arrive at my desk in the City at 08:10
Prompt!
Every day!!
Then I catch the 18:00 and arrive back at 20:00
Prompt!
Every day!!
When I go to the Essex office, it's three-and-a-half hours each way.
Working from home? You must be some loser programmer/techie.
Or maybe a BA!
Or simply not essential
Project Managers : have to be there.
Pressing the flesh...
At one point you need to realise that the commute is part of your work day, so if you do 1:30 hours each way that's 3 hours every day of WORK, not sure but I sure as hell don't have any fun during my commute, nor have my family with me. I would say 10 to 14 hours is max anyone should do (inc commute and lunch), look at the French they are more productive and work less hours than us. I would actually go for 30 minutes lunch times or eat at my desk whilst doing work so I can do my job and avoid unnecessary overtime.
Oh and there are plenty of Project Managers, Programme Managers that DON'T need to be present in the office, especially since you will probably work with team based offsite or even international. As a EMEA PM I can tell you 100% that you DO NOT need to be THERE. If I need to have conf calls with India, Australia, China, Manila the US etc. I will do so from home considering they work in different time zones. I might not do 9 to 5 that day and will take a longer lunch or pop outside and do my personal bits but will work to 10Pm or later depending on the project and what's being delivered.
If you a Tech PM or do software development, implementations etc you will not be on client site or make any difference when the Dev/Infrastructure team is in India.
Project Managers : have to be there. Biggest pile of crap I have ever heard. You will need to be there or be on call once the project is close to delivery date, if you do that every day throughout the life of the project I would say you are either a bad PM or you kiss a$$ and want to be seen as putting massive over-time when you don't need to. I really do hate people that do 7 to 7 yet 4 5 hours of that time is spent fluffing pillows. Makes other look lazy, uncommitted or clock watchers when in fact they do a lot more work than the so called 10 12 hours a day people fluffing the time.
As a manager I would question anyone doing too much overtime, either they are doing so for the sake of adding quantity not quality, they are bad at their job and need additional time to perform basic tasks or they are being burned out and I should really look at adding extra resources before this resource packs it in.
Originally posted by Cirrus View PostMy working day is actually 8:10 - 5:10. I may be on trains for 5-7 per day hours but I don't do any work. No laptop out for me.
Nothing beats sitting at someone's desk and when they mention a key person you can walk three yards and meet them.Last edited by Drei; 28 April 2016, 09:13.
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Originally posted by Cirrus View PostNothing beats sitting at someone's desk and when they mention a key person you can walk three yards and meet them.
I work from home, sometimes for European clients, including doing some PMing on multiple projects with pan-European workers.
When I want to talk to a key person I simply dial them up on Skype for business (previously known as Lync) and talk to them wherever they are in the world.
Its completely free and just as effective.Last edited by sasguru; 28 April 2016, 09:06.
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Originally posted by psychocandy View Post9.5/10 hour working day = MUG.
Sorry but 6am to 8pm every day is going to kill you eventually. Do you have family?
I did retire but decided that what I liked was sleeping and reading books. The best way to do that is get a job in the City.
I live 100 miles from London. The same from Manchester. More from Newcastle, Exeter, Ashford etc etc. If you want to be a contractor you will have a choice: work close to home (limited opportunities), live in the dreadful urban sprawls of big cities, stay in seedy hotels, or do long commutes.
Where I live, the people I mix with are used to the alarm going off at 5 am or earlier. No big deal.
I have worked at home but often that is inefficient. I have seven projects across different businesses in different locations. There are tons and tons of stakeholders. Half of them I don't know who they are at any given moment. Nothing beats sitting at someone's desk and when they mention a key person you can walk three yards and meet them.
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Originally posted by dx4100 View PostIf you only aim to pull out the £40k (or whatever the exact number is to avoid HR) a year then, depending on the rates you work towards, it isn't all that hard to build it back up again surely ?
Suppose it depends on your fixed outgoings...
Originally posted by ShandyDrinker View PostWhile I agree with the sentiment, what if you exhaust the warchest to say only have 3 months left... then you're left in the position of having to spend months/years building it back up again as you may have little choice but to take some poorly paid contracts to keep the money coming in.
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Originally posted by psychocandy View PostWhat I mean is it takes time to build up then its annoying when you havent got a contract and you see it disappearing (although JSA helps!)
Good to be in that position of not being bothered about the next gig mind. My warchest is OK these days but I'd rather not go 3 months without a gig - would make a BIG dent.
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Originally posted by dx4100 View PostWhat else are you going to do with the money ? What other purpose can it have other than maybe retirement savings ?
What is left behind in my business is my warchest. Its there to allow me to have an enjoyable and relaxed existence. I don't have to worry (to much anyway) about where the next gig is coming from and it doesn't force me to take gigs I don't like.
Seriously I wouldn't worry about spending it. Its why you have it surely ?
Good to be in that position of not being bothered about the next gig mind. My warchest is OK these days but I'd rather not go 3 months without a gig - would make a BIG dent.
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Originally posted by dx4100 View PostShe is at Group Director level... We don't "need" that level of incomes its more of a "want". We just gone through the process of having a couple of kids, lower income during maternity leave, extending the house and having a few nice family holidays. We now want to get rid of the mortgage, move to a bigger house and get rid of that mortgage, and do a few more big family holidays to the likes of Disney World etc.
Ride the wave while we can
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Originally posted by psychocandy View PostI had that once. Really pissed you off to have to spend it.
What is left behind in my business is my warchest. Its there to allow me to have an enjoyable and relaxed existence. I don't have to worry (to much anyway) about where the next gig is coming from and it doesn't force me to take gigs I don't like.
Seriously I wouldn't worry about spending it. Its why you have it surely ?
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