Blog

So a lot has happened since my last post.  It's been an interesting and at times tempestuous period... certainly more so than usual.

Firstly, there was the not insignificant issue of several feet of water cascading into the office on the 3rd of December.  Whilst we were not alone in being affected and I believe we coped well given the hand we were dealt it was certainly an experience I would not want to repeat any time soon.  

Thankfully no one was hurt - but watching the contents of your office be destroyed (we saved most of the important stuff mind) was not an overly good way to end an otherwise normal Thursday afternoon.  The fact that everyone lost a car (they literally floated off) that day too compounded the situation and made getting back up and running that bit harder.

Still we lived to fight another day.  Thankfully the insurance claims are now progressing and we have moved into some shiny new premises that will hopefully give us the room to grow.

Our Academy Trainees Ben and Joe have been doing well but struggled with their first Microsoft Exam 70-480: Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3.  It's a tough exam, doubly so if you have never had to undergo the trauma of a Microsoft Exam before.  

Was I surprised they failed?  Not at all.  Was I disappointed?  Of course, I really wanted them to pass.  Still, they got to use their 2nd shot to re-sit whilst moving into the world of Relational Databases and SQL Server (the theme this quarter).

Ben passed the exam on the second attempt (awesome job!), unfortunately Joe struggled again.  I was crushed for him and was unsure how to go forward :- one had passed and was getting stuck into databases and the other had fallen short but still need to be cracking on with all things database.  

We talked things through a few times but ultimately Joe made the brave decision to tell me that he wasn't really cut out for an office based career.   He enjoyed the challenge of the work and the opportunity to learn but had a desire to be outside and active, something that is not really an option when you are a programmer. 

Thankfully Ben has decided to stick with it and seems to be thriving.  He is making good progress with his database learnings and has started looking at mobile apps.  

So while we wish Joe all the best for the future we also welcome Martin Kerr (a journeyman developer of considerable experience) to the team.  One step forward and one back it seems.