Employment insecurity

For around a decade I worked for Aetion. ( I helped to keep the business alive via military research and development projects )

And, eventually, the music stopped. Fortunately, I had seen that coming and arranged to live near Boston before I was made redundant; Aetion won no further work.

There were plenty of computing jobs around the Boston area, especially in Cambridge which for me was a short bicycle ride away. However, in my mid-thirties I found that my age was already counting significantly against me: in describing me employers put scare quotes around experienced and feared that I would not easily take instruction from those who, in experience, were considerably my junior. I also found military research projects closed to me through my not having, nor wanting, higher security clearance. I did manage to find work but more suiting a new graduate than a creative well-rounded professional with a good track record.

Now I find myself in Scotland. ( in a nice job )

However, from a personal point of view, the situation is uncomfortably precarious. My team is funded by a series of fixed-term grant proposals. ( I want to keep my children in their local school but there are few local jobs )

My contract is not permanent. I pray that our group leader continues to be so good at the hard work of winning funding but I wish it were more secure: I dare not consider buying a house here in case the music stops again. If I do have to look for work then I may well be in my mid-forties and living near far fewer employers with a recent work history rather less impressive than the previous.

These issues were weighing upon me last winter too; gerald_duck pointed out that telecommuting might be viable and indeed I am more productive in working from home than I am from an open-plan office; also, that currency of skills may matter more than age. The thoughts about the above are back in my head though so maybe writing them out in this new entry will palliate them while I focus on other issues.

Busy roads locally

Boston, MA, is somewhat notorious for its traffic and the Big Dig took years. Living now in Tayside I have adapted to driving without the fine timing and aggression that is required to make progress in Boston. Still, heading east into Dundee this morning I was struck how even at 7h30 I was passing plenty of oncoming traffic on Perth Road. (Perth correspondingly has a busy Dundee Road.) I wonder how many of the drivers have their start and/or end destination in Dundee itself; I would guess that they would instead be on one of the A roads were they simply using the Tay Road Bridge and passing through Dundee. Perhaps they come early to avoid the peak of rush-hour and, like me, to secure a good parking space. Or, maybe they are approaching the Ninewells Hospital area: it is a major employer with dreadful parking and I don't know their shift schedule.