Life after NTL - [Archive]

gooner4life

15-02-2005, 22:21

Its true it happens, after my redundancy on the 29th of December 04, I started a new job with BT on Monday (valentines day).

I am working in the exchange, its a small team, mostly good people from what I can tell, and the jobs interesting.

Much better money and no customers to deal with, and the systems are a breath of fresh air they all talk to each other, even when it involves wholesale products and you need to access a different frame it still copies everything done to the main system.

Charlie_Bubble

15-02-2005, 22:23

NTL managements stupidity is BTs gain then! Hope all goes well in the new job! :)

ian@huth

15-02-2005, 22:25

All the best in your new career. :)

gooner4life

15-02-2005, 22:27

Ramrod

15-02-2005, 22:34

Good luck gooner :tu: :)

Escapee

16-02-2005, 12:49

Thanks to both of you!

I still miss NTL believe it or not, especially the people I worked with and the challenge of the job, every customer had different needs.

Maybe one day I can go back to NTL and things will be different, I certainly hope so but in the mean time I hope I am the asset that BT believe I will be.

I also missed ntl, not really the company and the majority of management but some good people including my immediate manager and well respected engineers who not only talk the talk, but could walk the walk as well. (A rare commodity in ntl)

I thought that one day I would go back, but to be honest I soon realised that ntl will never change, you are obviously from a technical hands on background in ntl, so theres no need for me to say the company needs a damn good shake! ;)

Russ

16-02-2005, 12:51

Nidge

16-02-2005, 13:35

Thanks to both of you!

I still miss NTL believe it or not, especially the people I worked with and the challenge of the job, every customer had different needs.

Maybe one day I can go back to NTL and things will be different, I certainly hope so but in the mean time I hope I am the asset that BT believe I will be.

Well done in your new job mate glad you are getting on OK, I'd steer clear of NTL don't ever go back to them you'll be letting yourself down. BT are a international company NTL are trying to be one but are failing badly.

You went on to say maybe one day I'll go back to NTL, you'll have a long trip because all their tech support is in India now.

quadplay

16-02-2005, 13:45

You went on to say maybe one day I'll go back to NTL, you'll have a long trip because all their tech support is in India now.

Blimey. So that's why it's so hot in the technical support centre today. :rolleyes:

EDIT: Sorry Gooner - how rude of me! Congrats on the new job; I hope you enjoy it! ;)

Nidge

16-02-2005, 14:28

Blimey. So that's why it's so hot in the technical support centre today. :rolleyes:

EDIT: Sorry Gooner - how rude of me! Congrats on the new job; I hope you enjoy it! ;)

Might be

winters

16-02-2005, 15:07

Congrats on the new job. I too will be leaving ntl soon and hopefully there will be something out there for me too. I will miss the people I work with too. With years and years of experience in our little team of 18 people it's a shame we have to leave (i'm the shortest serving and the baby of the dept. with four years the longest with 25) but on to pastures new. Best of luck to you mate.

Paul

16-02-2005, 15:59

Much better money and no customers to deal with, and the systems are a breath of fresh air they all talk to each other, even when it involves wholesale products and you need to access a different frame it still copies everything done to the main system.Are they still using CSS then ?

Russ

16-02-2005, 16:06

Are they still using CSS then ?

Yes.

gooner4life

16-02-2005, 16:40

You'll find the management structure in BT to vastly superior. Internal communcations is also extremely effiicient (therefore will be alien to you!) and inter-department relations work well - all in all, you'll notice the difference.

I think its a bit of a joke at how much of an old boys network it is, getting a job there as an outsider is near on impossible and thats a shame because lots of talented people are left to go elsewhere.

You went on to say maybe one day I'll go back to NTL, you'll have a long trip because all their tech support is in India now.

I was never in NTL's technical support dept and BT's internal systems support is also based in India :rolleyes:

Congrats on the new job. I too will be leaving ntl soon and hopefully there will be something out there for me too. I will miss the people I work with too. With years and years of experience in our little team of 18 people it's a shame we have to leave (i'm the shortest serving and the baby of the dept. with four years the longest with 25) but on to pastures new. Best of luck to you mate.

Keep your chin up mate, and take a positive from it, the fact you are working with redundancy over your head shows you can work under immense pressure, it also shows great loyalty especially in a situation where you arent making a fortune from the redundancy pay-off, im sure you will find something in no time.

Are they still using CSS then ?

Yes, but from what I understand it has evolved greatly from what it once was.

---------

Lastly thanks to everybody for the kind wishes and also 2 of my colleagues from NTL (who I directly worked with) are joining me on monday :tu:

Derek

16-02-2005, 17:43

Congrats on the new job.

I'm pretty happy with my new job at T-Mobile. If NTL wanted to throw money at me so that I would leave and get a better job with more money and better conditions who am I to complain?

Paul

16-02-2005, 17:57

Yes, but from what I understand it has evolved greatly from what it once was.I worked at BT for 13 years and used (and was involved with) CSS when it was first installed (1991/2). I still remember my userid of EMPEM00.

gooner4life

16-02-2005, 20:56

I worked at BT for 13 years and used (and was involved with) CSS when it was first installed (1991/2). I still remember my userid of EMPEM00.

Do you mind me asking why you left? not many people leave BT, especially from what I can see with the redeployee program.

Paul

16-02-2005, 21:03

Do you mind me asking why you left? not many people leave BT, especially from what I can see with the redeployee program.I was made redundant in Jul 1992. Deja vu really - I'm about 4 weeks from the same fate again at my current work. :(

gooner4life

16-02-2005, 22:14

I was made redundant in Jul 1992. Deja vu really - I'm about 4 weeks from the same fate again at my current work. :(

Ouch :mad: im really sorry to hear that mate.

Its a sorry state of affairs in this country a basic need like keeping a job to provide a decent way of life for yourself and your family is so difficult.

They should stop letting companies automate processes that a man could do, the only reason I have a job is because the automated systems need refining it wont be long until the systems can do all of the provisioning work and no human intervention will be needed

ian@huth

16-02-2005, 23:36

Ouch :mad: im really sorry to hear that mate.

Its a sorry state of affairs in this country a basic need like keeping a job to provide a decent way of life for yourself and your family is so difficult.

They should stop letting companies automate processes that a man could do, the only reason I have a job is because the automated systems need refining it wont be long until the systems can do all of the provisioning work and no human intervention will be needed
It was unions delaying automation and fighting to keep jobs that resulted in more job losses than would have been the case in industries like textiles and newspaper production.

I was born and brought up in the heavy woolen district of West Yorkshire. As a child I was surrounded by massive textile factories which employed the vast majority of people in the area. Unions fought tooth and nail to prevent modernisation, automation and job losses. They succeeded for quite a while until wholesalers and retailers found out that they could pay to ship in the same products from abroad at a fraction of the cost. This happened and instead of losing a proportion of the jobs they lost them all. The biggest employer in my village was a carpet manufacturer, one of the biggest in the country. They closed completely because cheaper imports resulted in order book levels that were not high enough to sustain any production. The cheaper imports were not from third world sweatshops but from the USA which had moved with the times and eliminated most of the high labour cost of production.

I am sure that everyone knows the story of the changes brought about in the newspaper industry by Eddie Shah and then Rupert Murdoch. These changes resulted in very swift and massive reductions in the workforce needed to produce a newspaper. Instead of accepting that change was needed and inevitable the unions stuck out for every last job and non existant job if you know how the industry was ruled by the unions. Instead of a gradual reduction in the workforce which could have happened if the unions had cooperated there was a very swift and massive reduction.

We have to remember that we are no longer an island that can control its own destiny but a small part of a worldwide market.