by tjblogadmin on May 8, 2012
After 6 hours of racing Jota Sport won the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, by 6 seconds at Spa Francorchamps on Saturday.
In dry conditions Sam Hancock qualified the Jota Sport Zytek third in class, just 3/10ths of a second off pole, for the World Championship event. Race day on Saturday started with heavy rain but, confident in the knowledge that the circuit would dry after a couple of hours, the decision was taken to run the car with a dry setup.
Sam Hancock endured torrential conditions and minimal visibility to bring the car in for the first driver change in 3rd position, just behind the lead battle. With an early switch to cut slicks and the Jota Sport crew consistently performing the fastest pit stops on the grid, Simon Dolan was able to muscle the Jota Sport Zytek into the lead, where he remained for the duration of his first stint.
On a near dry track Sam Hancock set about extending the lead in LMP2, but twice had a considerable advantage diminished with the appearance of the safety car on track. A 30 second stop-go penalty around the four hour mark for speeding in the pit lane dropped the car down to third; by which time the top four cars in class were separated by just 35 seconds.
Simon Dolan took over for the final hour of the race and, once all the pit stops had taken place, found himself in second position and twenty seconds behind the leader. An epic drive by Simon closed this gap to twelve seconds and, with minutes to go, the supreme fuel efficiency of the Jota Sport Zytek Nissan paid dividends as the leader had to pit for 1 laps worth of fuel. At 20.30 local time Simon Dolan took the chequered flag to win the LMP2 class of round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship, in what was only the second outing for the car.
Simon Dolan – “Undoubtedly the drive of my life, and as a team our best performance to date. From qualifying, to race strategy, to pit stops, the guys got it spot on – an amazing effort by all. Bring on Le Mans”
Sam Hancock – “Wow, what a finish – literally the stuff of dreams. We suspected the leader might need a splash before the end but we didn’t want to believe it. The car was great and I did all I could, but this was VERY much a team effort, impeccable pit stops, perfect fuel strategy and the performance of my team mate Simon Dolan was simply astonishing, surely his was the drive of the race. I’m incredibly proud of him today and just so grateful to be part of this magnificent team.”
Sam Hignett (Team Manager) – “An amazing car from Zytek, an amazing engine from Zytek Nissan, the best crew and mighty drives by Dolan and Hancock, makes my job easy!”
by tjblogadmin on April 26, 2012
Morning Ladies – Happy Girls in IT day!
26th April has been branded “Girls in IT Day” in a concious drive to get more girls involved in the IT industry.
Predominantly a male industry, survey after survey has highlighted that women are put off pursuing a career in IT due to factors such as a lack of female role models in the industry and the media’s “geek” image of IT workers. As a result “Girls in IT day” has been put in place and special events staged where several prominent women in IT attended.
Are you a girl in IT? What are you’re experiences in the IT industry? Or are you a girl looking to get in to IT? Are you put off by the “Geek” image?
by tjblogadmin on April 12, 2012
Interviews aren’t only a time for employers to ask questions, as a candidate you should also be taking the opportunity to ask some questions of your own. In fact, not asking questions is often seen as a sign of disinterest in the position.
Amy Carpenter, Vice President at Ticket City and frequent interviewer has said “in today’s economy with an abundance of job seekers, I’ve found some candidates more hesitant to ask questions. Maybe it’s due to the fact they fear they’ll question themselves out of a job by coming across as too particular or aggressive. In either case, what they’re actually displaying is indifference of disinterest.”
So in the interest of getting the IT jobs you’re interviewing for, here’s some helpful hints as to how to craft the best questions to ask at interview…
Being shy won’t do you any favours – show you’re interest in the company, the position, your potential new colleagues. Interested employees are often the most highly motivated and this is a very appealing quality to employers.
To be sure the questions you ask work in your favour, make sure you do your research before you go to interview. Try and craft questions that show you know a little bit about the industry and the company itself – asking “so what exactly is it you do?” should be avoided at all costs!! The more in depth your knowledge the better.
Although you probably will have questions around the salary, benefits or holiday allowance, a first interview is not the time to bring up these sorts of questions. Concentrate on demonstrating what you have to offer them and keep your questions focussed on the role itself, the company and the team.
Here are a few questions that you could add to your repertoire:
- Is this a new position? If so, what was the reason for creating it?
- Do you have any concerns about my background?
- How would my performance be measured if I were to get this position?
- What do you see as the key challenges that the person in this position would face?
- If you were to evaluate my performance in 6-12 months time, what would make me score highly?
- What are the key challenges facing the company at the moment?
Have you got any “go to” interview questions that you ask? if so, why not let us know about them in the comments below…
by tjblogadmin on March 15, 2012
After months of hard work we are proud to announce that the new look Technojobs site has gone live!
The new design is smarter, more professional and easier to use – so you can find and apply for the jobs relevant to you much more simply!
Check it out here:
Technojobs
and let us know what you think in the comments below!
by tjblogadmin on February 29, 2012
One fifth of the UK’s employers believe that school leavers make better employees than University grads.
A survey by Adecco found that employers felt that the new graduates that they were taking on were most lacking in interpersonal skills (41%) and critical IT skills (41%). Further to this 1 in 4 employers reported a lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills among new graduates.
The level of IT skills of Britain’s school leavers and graduates has been under debate for a while and has been commented on here before (read the article here: ICT in schools is “dull and demotivating”)
In addition to a lack of skills reported by employers, over 50% also make comment on the high expectations of working life that their graduate recruits display. Although this seems to be a view that young graduates are in accordance with as 46% of those surveyed agreed that their degree did not provide them with the essential skills to enter the world of work.
As a result of these factors it appears that although extremely valuable, a strong academic record is no longer a necessity for access in to today’s working environment with employers saying that attitude and personality are more important than academic success or vocational qualifications.
Do you agree? Did your degree equip you well for working life? Or do you think you could have been better prepared for the first steps in your career?
If you’re a graduate looking to make your first steps in to a career in IT – take a look here to find IT Graduate Jobs
by tjblogadmin on February 23, 2012
A British student from York has been sentenced to 8 months in prison after hacking the social media giant – Facebook.
Glenn Mangham hacked the site from his bedroom, causing waves in the US where authorities thought that Facebook had been the target of industrial espionage.
Mangham claims that he was simply trying to point out ways in which Facebook could improve it’s security. The prosecutor however claimed “He (Mangham) acted with determination and undoubted ingenuity and it was sophisticated, it was calculating. This represents the most extensive and grave incident of social media hacking to be brought before the British courts.”
The prosecutor went on to say that Mangham had stolen invaluable intellectual property between April and May last year.
The judge said he took in to consideration Mangham’s age, the fact that he had never been in trouble before and his stronger indications of Asperger’s syndrome, however still handed out an 8 month prison sentence to the 26 year old. He passed sentence with the words “You accessed the very heart of the system of an international business of massive size, so this was not just fiddling about in the records of some tiny business of no importance.”
As well as 8 months imprisonment, Mangham has also had his internet access restricted and his computer confiscated.
Was this “ethical hacking” that’s been over judged? Should the size of the business hacked make a difference? Does the punishment fit the crime?
by tjblogadmin on February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine’s Day!
With love on the mind today, we thought we’d bring you the results of a recent survey which has thrown office romances in to centre stage!
Unsurprisingly for many, 46% of those asked admitted to having dated a co-worker over the course of their career but quite shockingly 30% of those who had engaged in an office romance went on to say that they had ended up getting married!
More interestingly, the survey also revealed that of all the people who had had office romances, 43% admitted that they had dated someone more senior to them and 26% had dated their direct boss!
So we want to know, have you had an office romance? Did you date your boss? Did you end up married?! Let us know in the comments below…
by tjblogadmin on February 9, 2012
A new study from the Guardian has pinned social media cravings as more tempting than cigarettes and alcohol.
The Guardian handed out Blackberry’s to 205 participants aged between 18 and 85, asking them to record their cravings, indicating how strong the cravings were and whether they succumbed or managed to resist.
The highest “self-control failure rates” were those recorded against social media cravings as participants tended give in to their urges. Surprisingly the craving frequency figures for alcohol, cigarettes and coffee are relatively low.
Willhelm Hofmann headed the study and explained the high level of desire to get involved in social media by saying:
“Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of the high availability and also because it does not ‘cost much’ to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist. With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still ‘steal’ a lot of people’s time.”
Do you suffer from social media cravings? Are you addicted to Facebook or Twitter? Why not indulge your urge and get in touch with us on our Facebook or Twitter pages to tell us about them!
by tjblogadmin on January 17, 2012
In a bold move in protest to controversial anti-piracy laws being considered in America, Wikipedia has announced that their English language site will be closed down for 24 hours as of 5am on Wednesday.
Wiki is protesting in order to raise awareness of the new laws that will see SOPA (The Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (The Protect Intellectual Property Act) have increased powers to call for sites which they believe to promote pirated material to be shut down.
In essence, should they be successful in securing a court order against a particular website on the grounds of piracy, the laws under consideration would “force US-based Internet service providers, search engines, payment and advertising companies to stop accessing, linking or doing business with those sites.”
It is thought that these laws give too much power to the authorities and copyright holders to be able to attempt to shut down sites they don’t like.
The new laws are similar to the Digital Economy Act we have in Britain, which is also often thought of as too harsh.
Wikipedia won’t be alone, other key sites including Reddit and Boing Boing, are also shutting down on Wednesday in solidarity for the cause. Anonymous (the online protest group) have also made their thoughts on the proposed laws clear by posting personal information about key figures in the media and movie industries including the boss of Time Warner and the head honcho at Viacom and CBS Corp.
What do you think of the proposed laws? A step too far? Will you miss Wikipedia?
by tjblogadmin on January 13, 2012
Following a move in November which saw Barclay’s cut IT contractor rates by 10%, news today from the bank’s HQ deals another blow to the IT department. Barclay’s have announced 422 IT jobs will be lost as part of “essential changes to technology and infrastructure”.
As a big employer in the UK (Barclay’s employs 57,000 people in the UK) this news is an indication of the state of the current job market.
Alongside the cuts, the announcement also re-assured Barclay’s customers stating that the cuts would not affect their IT services and that they would aim to redeploy affected workers across the company wherever possible.
Most of the jobs cut will be from the Radbroke Hall site in Cheshire, however there will also be jobs lost from Northampton and a few other sites around the country.
