For recruiters - FAQ

Last updated: March 18th 2023

Hello friend 👋, thanks for taking an interest in me and my profile.

I know I’m nothing more than a keyword match right now so let’s change that!

So, first up! I really, really value my time, I have gone to the effort of putting this information here for you to answer the usual round of questions you need to ask.

Please, please, try to make it to the end. There’s a fair bit of info here, hopefully everything you need.

There’s a lot of I’s in this, apologies if it comes off as being arrogant, I prefer to think of it as being transparent and hope you see it the same way.

Ok, let’s do this!

Are you eligible to work in the UK

Yes.

What’s your current situation?

If you want to know if I’m currently employed then, yes, I am.

I’m not actively looking, so, I won’t be able to answer the “How are you finding the market?” question.

I’ll always be open to the right position, read on for what that is. 👀

What’s my ideal role?

Creating educational content in the form of conference and meetup talks, videos, blog posts and workshops.

Working in a team of other developers where there is an emphasis on technical development.

A good percentage of pair programming and collaboration on the team.

Working with Svelte and SvelteKit, Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub.

If you really want to grab my attention, tell me how you collaborate, how you keep quality high, how you contribute back to the community, and how you help your team continue to learn and grow.

I’d like to focus on outcomes and not work hours, what I produce is what matters and not how long I’m sat at a desk.

Further to that, work life balance is a big deal for me, I really do not want to go over a 37.5 hour working week if presenteeism is a thing on the team.

I work on a contract basis for OES Technology, I’d prefer to work with companies outside of the UK in a fully remote capacity.

What sort of company do you want to work with?

A company that wants their employees to win. This means supporting learning and encouraging growth.

As a developer it’s quite frustrating seeing marketing copy for role descriptions with the opening line for a company peppered with buzzwords like AI, Fintech, or being an award winning market leader.

I have no issues with these sort of companies, just the marketing of them.

I want to know what the work is and how I’ll be doing it with my team, no BS marketing copy please. 🙏

Ethically I don’t agree with gambling, that means no gambling companies please.

What’s your preferred stack?

I’m really enjoying working with Svelte and SvelteKit and I’ll be very interested in roles that are using it.

Tailwind is my current preference for the speed which it offers when creating projects. I have used styled-components for many projects.

I have a wealth of knowledge using Gatsby (2017-2020) (which uses React and GraphQL) and have consulted on large scale projects using it.

For CMS’ any opportunity to work with any of the new headless CMS’ that are emerging would be great: Storyblok, [Hygraph], Sanity.io, Strapi, Keystone 5 or Contentful.

I have commercial experience with Hygraph and Contentful and have built projects in Sanity.io and Keystone 5.

For back-end I prefer node which is where the majority of my back-end experience is.

How many years experience do you have?

These numbers are calculated each time the page loads.

JavaScript, HTML and CSS (the holy trinity), almost 7 years.

Svelte, almost 2 years. I host regular workshops on Svelte and SvelteKit you can find in the speaking section of this site.

React, almost 6 years.

I have about 5 years experience as a professional web developer.

I have 10+ years previous experience as an analyst developer for financial organisations.

For more, check out my about page which details my experience and a bit more about me.

Salary?

In my next permanent role I’m looking for roles starting at €80,200. Please take note of the currency and covert it accordingly to currency the company pays in.

I run OES Technology where I offer consulting on a contract basis if you have a project in mind get in touch to discuss.

I’m not giving a number for my current salary because, among other things, it can be used to cap any offer made to me.

In other words, my old salary becomes what’s known in behavioural economics as an anchor.

I know it’s in your interest (being the recruiter) to get the best offer for me. I’ll disclose my salary if:

You agree not to disclose it to the employer without my express permission — no exceptions.
You can explain how you’re going to use the information for my benefit — needs to be a good reason.

Benefits? Yes please!

30+ days holiday a year is ideal.

There’s an increasing amount of places that offer “unlimited holiday”. In this circumstance I’d like to know the minimum amount of holiday that has to be taken annually.

Private healthcare for me and my immediate family.

Gym membership.

Are you willing to relocate?

nop!

I’m happy in sunny, sunny Swanley

Are you willing to work remotely?

I think the question now should be, are you willing to come into the office!

Yeah, I mean, the whole industry has been working remotely since 2020 now.

I’d prefer not to be bound by any number of days needed to be worked in an office. Occasional meetings, fine.

I do appreciate the value of working closely with my colleges and I am comfortable with that using tools like Google Meet, Slack, MS Teams, Zoom etc!

What are your location preferences?

Like I noted already, I’d prefer fully remote roles.

I live a ~30 minute train ride from London stations like Elephant and Castle, Victoria and Blackfriars. I prefer to avoid travelling by tube.

I’ll consider roles that are a short walk (~10-15 minutes) from either London Victoria, Blackfriars or Elephant & Castle.

Based in Swanley, Kent I’ll consider places that are in Sevenoaks and Bromley, only those two places though.

Please don’t contact me about roles in Ashford, Maidstone or anywhere else deemed “in the same region”.

Your skills look like a great match for this position we have!! Can we have a quick five minute phone call to discuss?

Sure book in a 15 minute chat.

“But I have to talk to you today, my client’s deadline is this afternoon”, please, book in a 15 minute chat.

Please don’t call without a previously agreed time slot, I don’t answer my phone if I’m not expecting a call.

I prefer to avoid phone calls for these reasons:

I’m on a maker’s schedule, which means interruptions are disruptive to my flow.
I’ve already tried to answer the majority of questions asked on this page. I’ve probably phrased them more clearly here than I will on the phone.

Contact me by email. That’s my preferred means of communication. If we are still interested after some fact checking I’d love to have a chat.

If it’s not a HELL YES, it’s a NO

Like I mentioned at the start of this FAQ, I really value my time and the way I make a decision on a commitment is If it’s not a HELL YES, it’s a NO.

Want me to know you you have taken the time to read this FAQ?

In your email mention “Quick Start Guides Rock!” and you will have my attention, gratitude and a guaranteed reply. 🙏

Can I take a look at your CV?

Sure, my CV is here: mecv.xyz.

Most of the pertinent stuff you want to know is covered here really.

Do you have your CV in PDF/MS Word format?

Sure, hit the download button on mecv.xyz.

Notice period?

Months notice.

Interview availability?

I can telephone interview with little notice.

I can video call with prior arrangement.

Please be upfront about timings for interview rounds. I’m not interested in taking part in several day long interview rounds.

With regard to technical/take home ‘tests’, I’m not willing to spend more than an hour on any given assignment to assess my skill level unless I’m being paid for my time.

The effort exchange for take home assignments isn’t right. A one hour interview in real time would be preferred.

Thanks for reading 🙏

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