So again I’m here apologising for not blogging recently, quite allot has happened the last several months and my life has been a little unstable until recently. Obviously I have continued my development work but just haven't had the time (or wanted) to blog about my life.
So lets start from the beginning, those who know me best knew that I used to work for a company called Quantum Web Solutions as a PHP Web Developer (although strangely I also did front-end development as well such as the HTML/CSS/JavaScript work required for the site’s I worked on). Unfortunately although I put in quite allot of effort (working from early to late, working from home weekends and throughout my break times) I ended up being “dismissed” because I was applying to new jobs closer to home (a 2 hour journey to work in the morning is horrible, especially having to do that 2 hour journey home. And pay for it all yourself :/).
You may be wondering why I quoted “dismissed”, well I put that term in as I’m really not sure what it should be called. I was not even informed I was sacked and only found out when I was confronted one Monday morning and physically chucked out of the office, the only words exchanged with me were “I hear your looking for a new job?” … “Yes I have been looking for work closer to home…” … “don't want this job then, GET OUT!”.
Funnily enough I’d had an argument with my supervisor (Paul Walker) because the Friday before I was sacked I had been off ill (id been off all week with the flu but had been working from home), because he had phoned me up having a go at me about a site that was being made live but wasn't working… Once I had investigated I had discovered they had copied the WRONG website onto the live site… And after informing him of this, he proceeded to bully me into uploading it by hand even though people were still there in the office (basically copying a site from FTP takes HOURS to do, copying the files using the local server takes minutes), I moaned but said I would do my best. Just after beginning to do this horrible process I got a text message from another supervisor (William Worth) saying “Paul wonder if we can sack dean for being an idiot and looking for a new job?”. Obviously after reading this I replied saying “great! You can now explain to Paul Walker why the site isn't going to get copied tonight. I’m going out. Bye”.
I tried to call Paul Walker instantly after this, but he wouldn't answer and then eventually I got a text saying “I’m too drunk to talk to you right now, call you tomorrow”… great, nothing like a responsible Senior to look up to.
So tomorrow came and this time I was a little bit tipsy, Paul Walker phoned me and started having a go at me, so I cut him dead in his tracks and told him exactly why I was not happy and exactly what was wrong with everything that was going on. He first tried to tell me I was not putting the effort in, which again I stopped him dead in his tracks… “not putting effort in!?!? What about all the weekends I’ve worked extra (sometimes without overtime pay!) and all the breaks I’ve been missing now to try and fix up this company, the fact I’m working whilst off sick?? and then there is the fact I recently got appraised and a pay rise!?!?!” obviously he was going to argue his case some more “Well you’ve been pretty unprofessional, I’ve told you not to put unprofessional obscenities in your coding, such as using DOLLAR CUNT as variables”… at this point I laughed directly at him and said “I have not used anything unprofessional in my code, please feel free to have a look through and bring anything to my attention, and as for DOLLAR CUNT variables your an idiot, it’s DOLLAR C N T for COUNT, not CUNT.”. He ended the conversation saying “well we will talk about this on Monday”, to which I replied “I cannot wait”.
So yes skipping forward again to the Monday, I was confronted by the owner of the company (Burney Hurley) who proceeded to yell at me, tell me I didn't want my job because I was looking for a new job, to which I replied “Do you blame me with your attitude?” and then I was kicked out. Pretty funny to be honest that everyone in the company is so unprofessional (except a few great guys who work there).
To make things worse they tried to withhold my pay, and when I got ACAS involved he also tried to say I resigned!?! In the end I managed to get some of the money I was owed, to be honest I was glad to get rid of them for good…
I’ve only decided to talk about this because being quiet makes me feel I’m somewhat scared of them and/or still under their control. Which I am not and never will be again! Thanks to Robert Hickman who was also a previous developer at Quantum, reading his outburst gave me the courage to speak out also. So thank you Rob!
Now I have a new job working for raileasy, it’s been great so far and my role in this company is Front-End Web Developer, which is a nice and easy job to have. Oh and although Quantum seem to think there are no developer jobs out there and the environment at Quantum is the same in all Web Development jobs, I have to say there wrong, not only are there hundreds of jobs (especially in Shrewsbury funnily), the environments are infinitely better and to top it off… I’m being paid more…
And on that bombshell, goodnight! (I know it’s early morning but I didn't want to adapt the quote).
P.S. Do not ever work for or work with Quantum Web Solutions… There perhaps the worst Web Development company I have ever seen and there new system “Tovuti” is a shambles, it’s a copy of their E-Commerce system (which btw started it’s life as a hacked Open Source system found using google) but with some fancy front-ends to hide the terribleness of there system. Not only that but who wants a "off the shelf” system anyway when you can have customised systems that cater to your specific needs and requirements.
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