Indy’s BLOG – Vil passed training & probation time!

Vil wasn’t fired on Friday, it was the last day of the training and no one with a pink slip appeared. 🙂 Now he will have five days off and start his “real job” on Tuesday next week. To celebrate, we went to the monthly company meet, Vil had a few beers an I had plenty of cuddles. 🙂 We felt very welcome and had a wonderful time.

Thank you.

HappyBARK

Indy’s BLOG – Training nearly finished!

Vil was busy the last three weeks extensively learning procedures, refreshing phone skills, preparing for his new job as a customer agent and yesterday he passed his last needed exam with 100% in the first go.

Now his shift is clear and he will be a Four/Ten worker!

  • Monday – Wednesday – OFF
  • Thursday to Sunday 11:30 – 22:00

The end of probation time is near! 🙂

NOICE

 

 

Indy’s BLOG – Article in “The Register”

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/10/techie_relocation_horror_tale/

‘My dream job at Oracle left me homeless!’ – A techie’s relocation horror tale

Bloke’s Amsterdam odyssey ends up in hardship

Bernd's Oracle employee badge

When Bernd Dorfmueller was offered a job in Amsterdam with Oracle, he thought he had lucked into a dream situation that would boost his professional career in IT.

Weeks later, the former network admin was homeless, in debt, and without health insurance.

The experienced techie says his story began back in March when, while living in Barcelona, Spain, he was offered a sales position at Oracle in the Netherlands. The package came with a €12,000 ($13,700) relocation allowance, which our man figured would be more than enough to tide him over until the paychecks on his €60K-a-year ($68,500-a-year) salary began to roll in.

“I flew over to Amsterdam, moved into a guest house for 150 euros a night and started working. Wow, Oracle,” Dorfmueller said in his account of events.

“I was proud. I made it into the Olympics of IT, and I was really happy to join the team. I started my new hire checklist and trainings, and all was fine.”

Unfortunately for Dorfmueller, however, trouble was brewing. Unbeknownst to him, the relocation package wasn’t as useful as he had assumed. First, he says problems with his Dutch bank left him unable to access a chunk of the moving money. Then, crucially, he found out that the money he did have access to could not be used to secure a flat, as he had believed. The agency Oracle employed to handle his relocation cash wouldn’t let him spend his allowance on a rental security deposit, we’re told.

Making matters worse, according to Dorfmueller, was that he began work in mid-March, smack in the middle of Oracle’s pay period. This meant that he wouldn’t get his paycheck until the end of April. In the meantime, he was burning relocation money on a room in a guest house.

“Amsterdam is very expensive and a decent flat is minimum 1,000 euros a month rent plus two months’ deposit, even if you go outside Amsterdam itself,” Dorfmueller said. “So I need 3,000 euros when the 30 guest house days are finished.”

Soon Dorfmueller, who is diabetic, had maxed out his credit cards. Absent a “permanent” residence, he was unable to get health insurance to cover the medications needed to manage his condition, or a bank account to receive assistance funds. This, he says, soon led to health complications that forced him to miss time at work and, as he was still probationary, prompted his bosses and Oracle to swing the axe on the new hire.

“When I returned to work I was informed that I will not pass the probation time and that I am fired immediately,” he says. “I was just informed. No one from HR or legal actually talked to me directly.”

Thus, the man who just weeks before began his dream job was now out of work and homeless in a foreign country.

‘Pay the money back’

“Now I am literally screwed and Oracle asks me to pay the money back that the relocation company has spent on a guest house and overpriced hotels, also travel expenses and whatever.”

Oracle declined to comment. Folks we know working in Europe tell us the way Big Red dealt with the situation was by and large not outside the norm, and Dorfmueller could have, in hindsight, handled things better on his end. Relocation packages don’t always cover things like rental deposits, and sometimes you just need to save up the cash and put that down yourself.

In short, let this techie’s tale be a lesson to anyone moving county, state or country for another job: check exactly what you’re getting, and what you need.

Dorfmueller says that, if he had it to do all over, he still would have taken the job.

“Hey, I passed the interview, and I can’t be that bad,” he told The Register.

“Yes, I like the technology and good money, but, aware of the cut-throat environment, I would have started fighting way harder sooner.”

The story also has something of a happy ending. Dorfmueller tells us he has landed a full-time gig in Amsterdam with Booking.com. He says it pays less, but is enough for him, and his dog Indy, to get by on.

“OK, I don’t work in a high-paid IT job anymore, but that’s fine for me, because I decided to say goodbye to the cut-throat environment you find in big IT companies,” he said. “I just want to be able to pay my rent, have enough food, walk my dog, then I am fine and I don’t have to sell my soul anymore.” ®

Indy’s BLOG – Visitors from 76 Countries!

Albania
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belgium
Bermuda
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
European Union
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Honduras
Hong Kong SAR China
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jersey
Kenya
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States

Indy’s BLOG – The Oracle Ordeal!

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about my horrible and surreal “New Hire Experience” with Oracle Digital in Amsterdam.

tl:dr

I relocated to Amsterdam to work for Oracle Digital and the procedures screwed up my probation time.  Since then many things happened….

A new job.

First of all the best news: “I found a new job!”. Ok, I don’t work in an high paid IT job anymore, but that’s fine for me, because I decided to say goodbye to the “cut-throat environment” you find in big IT companies. I just want to be able to pay my rent, have enough food, walk my dog, then I am fine and I don’t have to sell my soul anymore.

All is true!

I think I need to stress that everything in my posts is the absolute and unchanged truth. I am willing to take an oath if you want me to. Why I need to stress this? Well, one rather arrogant feedback, I was made aware of, stated that I am “just a homeless guy with no reason to be with us and he just tells a story.”

Cynic, isn’t it? Let me ask you only one question: “If my story would be just a story, don’t you think that the company lawyers would have already contacted me and made me put down my articles?” That didn’t happen, actually no contact at all and my article is still up.

3.000 times viewed

My article was viewed more than 3.000 times on different platforms and the amount of feedback I received is impressive. So many views for someone with such a “small social footprint” like me is overwhelming and it shows that there is interest.

No feedback from Oracle itself.

Despite the fact that more then 1000 klicks came directly from Oracle, up to VP Level (thank you tracking tools and LinkedIn page statistics), I had no official response whatsoever and my contact requests and multiple emails are still unanswered.

The Feedback

Now I want to dig a bit deeper into the feedback. I received plenty direct messages and all of them encouraged me to continue, because there is a widespread company culture of “pretending to be a social company” out there.

Because of legal reasons I need to be very careful what I quote. The feedback came mostly from ex-colleagues, but there are also other companies which also have a rather disturbing approach how they handle their employees.

“Maybe all happened, because you are sick? They got aware of your situation and considered that’s better to boot you before you can claim any special disability protection.”

Yes, that’s a possibility and most likely fact unfortunately I can’t prove it.

“He is just a homeless guy with no reason to be with us and he just tells a story.”

Cynic, isn’t it? I managed to get out of a “problematic” situation just by myself. I managed to get hired and my technical expertise is still unquestioned, but I was not compatible with the “elite culture”.

“The company is a church, like Scientology. Shut up, do your thing and don’t stand out too much.”

No comment needed!

“You fell out of the procedure within the new hire process and no one had the balls to correct the ‘issue’.”

Yeah, that’s exactly what happened.

Overall 3.4 of 5

And there is way more feedback I can’t quote in here, because that would bring me way more trouble than I need, but I can direct you to the glassdoor reviews.

Maybe you judge yourself. 🙂

Overall 3.4 of 5 and a whoppig 37% won’t recommend the company to a friend, means that one out of three employees is unhappy with the company.

Conclusion

I recognized it’s not only me who experienced “company ignorance” and this kind of arrogant behavior seem to be widely spread.

Unfortunately employees nowadays need to be very concerned about their own well being when they have an opinion or being different, because there is a “self-cleaning” culture in place which prevents criticism or even change.

I am happy not to be a part of this anymore and somehow I am thankful that this happened, because it helped me to realize that money and a nice suit doesn’t make you happy, when you have to sell your soul for this.

Well, I think that’s it for now.

Have a wonderful day

Vil