Pooky

Hi,

I have listen all the interviews and basically I found some mistakes, which you made.

1) On every recording you sound very shy (desperate). For recruiter is that sign, that you are not interested in the position or something is wrong. If you would really be interested in the position, you should sound enthusiastic! Really exited for that position. You should ask more question, be more prepared and don't let speak only the recruiter - also is good to say, that you have more offers not only this one.

2) Don't ask about how many people has been already interviewed, you sounds more like desperate and they can feel, you have been rejected many times.

3) Don't say, that you looking for job, because you are bored. That sounds just unprofessional.

4) When you retired at 2007 can you make some list of projects which you were working on? Did you learn something new? Did you get some course? Some certification?

5) You are asking for 150k or 130k as salary, if you were off the market for some time, probably you can lower your salary and work for one year just to get again some professional experience in team.

6) Don't talk about your rejections - layoffs, quits, talk about the success that you had.

7) Don't mention that you don't do anything now, say you are looking for job or you work on your own projects. Play it like you have offers and the company should want you, not that you need the company.

8) Mention your hobbies, try to play that you have also another life instead of coding and programming.

There is probably more mistakes, that you made but this is what I noticed. You should really work on your communication skills, be more enthusiastic, optimistic and don't sound so desperate, specially in job interview.

So good luck with the next offers :)

This is very interesting and I have the same felling. I think it is due to expansion of smartphones and mobile internet around us. Before smartphones everyone typed with their keyboard on the table and you were sure, that the person who is connected have time to answer. Today you are basically reachable everywhere and when you don't respond immediately the other side of conversation think what could go wrong. It was not used to be like that before. It was more letter oriented conversation where you had time to write response properly and check your answer or modify it. Today on smartphone there is no time, you have to write answer in few seconds even when you walk or you are in hurry. You can not easily disconnect, because now by default they see that you received message and that you read it. That's probably the biggest difference between now and then.

The quality takes time and to respond 10 conversation at once is really exhausting. It's not anymore about joy of internet, what I feel is there is too much of it. Everyone is instantly connected and about 40% of new generation is basically addicted to smartphones and to internet, that's totally different feeling than before when you do it out of curiosity. The old generation recognize it and probably try to limit their time online, that's the reason why forums and blogs are not maintained today's, it takes time and effort to produce something valuable and this days not many people have even time to read it...

Unplug.

I started to use two phones one smartphone and one dummy phone for messages and phone calls. I stop to google everything. I'm fine to say I don't know and I don't have to get correct answer now. I can live with it. I also started to listen more radio and push to disconnect from internet and computers. I learn to use pen and block to write old-fashion way and it helps a lot.

All this has paid back very well, I learn how to think without interruption, be more creative, talk with people, listen and it removed a lot of stress, pressure and other problems related to information overload and smartphone addiction. I want to continue on that and cut my computer time to less than 4 hours per day (all devices, smartphone, laptop, tablet...).

  Location: Prague
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: Yes, for good conditions and salary 
  Technologies: Java, Javascript, PHP, Python, Web Technologies, Security, Identity Management, Software Development, IT Consulting, Project Management
  Languages: Czech, English, German, French (basics)
  Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/klimam/
  Email: martin.klima at aol dot com

I don't see retirement as anything worth to chase. My basic believe is that you should be able to enjoy your work, learn something new and do all possible to balance your work and life style. If you work only for the money than you should stop and try to do something else, even if it would cut your income. It's no shame to have regular income and many times you will have more free time and less stress than people who always work for big buck of money.

I kind a like it and the book seems also interesting.