Off to Angola . . . at some time or other!! :)

Back to Didata, or Dimension Data for those not in the know. So, having been working for Portfolio as an IT Manager for the last 2 years I decided it was time for a change. I was once again getting restless and a bit bored of my job as nothing had really happened to motivate me for the last few months, and I had decided that I wanted to return to London. My mind was made and it was only just a matter of time.

But . . .

How things change!!

I had been contacted by my mate Steve in London, currently working at Interoute, and had been told they had a position going. For a Pre-Sales Engineer. I forwarded my CV, and apparently there was some interest, so I began to go about getting myself up to speed on all the technologies I would be needing for the Interoute Role. At the same time I was contacted by Internet Solutions in Cape Town for a Solutions Architect Role, and went for a interview. IS offered me the role, and I was very excited, but then Interoute also asked for an interview, and I thought about it a lot, and decided that London is where I ultimately wanted to be, well . . . not really actually, but career wise for the next 5 years or so it would make sense to do London as I had NO plans to settle down in Cape Town right now! So, I canned the IS job, and set my heart to London and the Interoute role.

Well, I studied hard . . . okay . . . 2 days worth, to get my Cisco BGP/OSPF/RIP/DSL/IP Addressing/Routing/VPN/and what not up-to-date. As much as I could do. Well, the interview was harder than I thought it would be, and that was pretty tense! They then dragged their feet and took quite a while in getting back to me about the position. During this time, MY LIFE CHANGED!!

Alan, my mate at DD, heard about my plans, and ambitions of London, and asked me the following: “London, Luanda, what’s the difference??” He informed me of a position in Luanda, told me there was loads of opportunity, along with a nice little perk, which I have now dubbed “183/60”. The perk being 183 days outside of ZA, of which 60 is consecutive, earns you the title of “Non-Taxing Paying Resident”! Meaning, my entire salary for the year becomes tax-free! Now that’s sweet!! So, I pulled through to DD, had a meeting with Alan and Tonie, and was offered a year’s contract in Luanda, under the title of Operations Manager/Technical Account Manager/call-it-what-you-will. Which I proceeded to grab with both hands! London or Luanda?? Well, let’s see . . . London equals travel, routine, exciting role, lots of technology, sales exposure, good salary and cold weather!! Luanda equals travel – albeit limited, adventure, excitement, danger, technology, operations experience, personal growth on a level unknown, and a fantastic opportunity to pay off about 60% of my flat I bought a year ago, in a year! Now, that’s a no brainer!! 🙂

So, I declined the Interoute role which was now moving into round 2. Peter, a guy I used to work with at Vanco (aka WANCO) was offered the job, but declined – the Knob!!! And they were now back to the previous interviewees. I informed my boss (my mom), and have just signed a contract with Paracon to contract to DD for the next year. Well the contract actually says 6 months, but the role is a year!

So looking forward to it!!It’s gonna be awesome!! 😉

More to come as it all unravels!!

Click.

Nunnsby

Easy Going Guy 😉