Those of you kind enough to read my editorials for JDJ would have noticed that I started a new job. A fresh start, a new year, a colossal waste of my time it turned out. Startup companies can be odd to work for sometimes and you have to read between the lines when it comes to statements from directors and shareholders. To cut a short story shorter than the original, I was laid off after four weeks and given the excuse that my math was not at PhD level, which is interesting as it was never mentioned during the five hours of interviews and pair programming exercises. In the UK if you have worked less than 12 weeks with an employer, they only have to serve you with one week's notice.

With a new wave of startups coming again with the possible tech recovery, I present to you my example of what not to do.

Regardless of who you are, what you do, or what you get paid you must get everything in writing. And I mean everything. Get your employment contract sorted out before you start, not within the first couple of weeks on the new job. Also, take time to read your contract carefully and don't be afraid to ask questions. In terms of a probationary period, at a new employer I would seriously negotiate a fixed time before the employer can serve notice.

I am always eager to get feedback from my new peers so I ask a lot of questions about how they think things are going. The responses I received were always "You're doing brilliant" or "Excellent" with huge amounts of enthusiastic looks. The next week I was served one week's notice and a very cold shoulder.

Most employment recruitment is done on the basis of your history. You arrive at your interview with your résumé and wow them at the interview and then you get started. You spend an awful amount of time convincing the company why they need you. Now it's time to get the company to explain why you need them. Sounds simple, doesn't it? It's overlooked the majority of the time. Employers have one goal in mind: "to maximize long-term shareholder value by the selling of products and services"*; the company is not there solely for your career development. Training programs and personnel mentoring are all very well but the company has one main aim in mind - to make money. If you find a company is being overly keen to help you beyond all reason, start asking yourself some serious questions. Most of the training I have done has been on my own time in addition to what I've learned from completing the task in hand.

Take time to research the company. Look at their Web site and if they don't have one, ask why. Check for the existence of proper e-mail services to be sure the company is not running all their communication from a free Web mail account. If you have questions, ask them. Listen to the answers very carefully; this can be an indication of how things are really going for the company.

Your outside interests should not dictate how you are going to perform within a company. It became apparent that my complete lack of interest in role-playing games was proving to be a problem as that was the only way that the rest of the team would socially interact.

Finally, keep an open mind. Though all things may look completely left of center, the company you are working for may just be a diamond waiting to shine. Looking back I'm happy that the event happened as it spurred me on to get a grip and get some other projects completed. It also made me seriously look at the network of contacts that I have and how to maximize them. Not to use them so much that they hate the sight of your e-mails, but to talk to them, and see what the industry is doing. Share what you are doing and how things are going. Developers are suppliers to an extremely competitive industry and how we act professionally will ultimately determine which way our industry will head.

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