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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Positively reforming the system - could it be done?

One of the frustrating things to us, as employers, is the "benefit / poverty trap". That's where someone who's currently supported by the state wishes to work, but is prevented from doing so "because it will cost me - I will loose more in benefit than I gain in salary". And that has been said - on several occasions - by people who we were considering hiring, part time, at a rate that's above the minimum wage. The statement has been followed, variously, by "can you pay a better rate?", "can you pay me in cash so it doesn't go through the books?" and "can you employ me full time?".

Well - we certainly can't pay in cash, "under the table"; it's not legal to employ people in that way in the UK and we - and the person employed - could get into serious trouble (quite apart from us worrying about it). If we had been looking for full-time we would have offered full time in the first place. And we like to offer a good rate up front, so - no - we can't go higher; indeed - if someone is pushing for a rise from a rate that's already above the industry norm, before they even join us, it doesn't auger well for the future.

---OOO---


Not a potential employee ... but I was listening to pub talk from the table across when we were out at lunch recently, and hearing how the folks on that table were being sent by the Job Centre for interviews, with the threat that if they didn't actively apply they would loose some funding. And they were discussing amongst themselves how they go along, put on a convincing show to appear as serious as possible ... but then find a reason that they're not suitable for the job if it's offered to them.

A larger business - a site when dozens or hundreds of people work in similar roles - have the capacity to handle this sort of thing. People will always be going after several alternative jobs at the same time (they would be unwise not to), so all recruitment needs to consider "what if my offer is not taken up" and "will this person move on quickly" scenarios, but the extra load of people who are applying for reasons other than to gain employment can have a serious effect on the small business - especially people in an only-employee situation. Again - that's not our story but one I've heard recently in my other roles - and it's a real problem for the tiny employer that can have a majorly detrimantal effect on his / her activities. By the time the "chosen one" has chosen to reject the job (never having intended to take it if offered) several weeks may have passed and the whole process may need to be restarted, and one thing businesses do not have is weeks to waste!

---OOO---


I read in the papers ... I see on the TV ... that the government is going to get tough on some categories of benefit claimants. I'm not enough of an expert on that to give an overall view on that, but I can say that I hope that their new plans will put their own house and system in order. A change in the system is needed so that people who want to work aren't going to be penalised for doing so. And a change in the system is needed so that people who have no intention of taking a job don't waste hours of potential employer's time and money, sometimes with very significant consequential damages - aren't encouraged to "play" the system - with applications that aren't serious.

I really hope that the future system won't squeeze the already-tough times for those who cannot work in a conventional way for a wide variety of reasons, and that it will consider the much higher costs that are incurred by those who are 'disabled' in the widest sense (I hate that term!). And I hope that it won't simply adjust the existing system so that people are not forced into inappropriate jobs, transferring any problems they may have to employers who are often overstretched, and certainly overlegislated!




Let me look on a brighter side. The number of applicants we got in September was just about perfect, and everyone who completed a form before the deadline / came along had a chance to learn a bit about us, and we learn about them. Several took the decisions that we weren't the place for them (and I would tend to agree with their verdicts) or got fixed elsewhere. Some weren't suitable for the roles we had (though they might have been rather good for other jobs), and some others could have done the job satisfactorily, but wouldn't have gone much beyond that. But about a third were good / potentially excellent / excellent - and we made our selections from that group.

I suppose it says something to the credit of our selection process (we did not use the Job Centre!) that all of the offers I made were accepted. We're now more than halfway through the short term / part time initial period for which we recruited, and a couple of the folks have found more permanent roles elsewhere - good for them; we've moved another member of the team up to full time, and we've been able to extend that role right through to next summer. And Lisa and I have been talking today and looking further ahead; reminded of people who've joined us for a couple of weeks and stayed for years.

What inspired this subject today? An letter of application - for a job we don't have on offer. And I celebrate people wanting the role. "But I don't have any experience" ... not necessarily a bad thing; we can offer training, and we some things differently, so an already-trained person may need to unlearn and that can be tough after 20 years in another company. "And I'm only [quoted age]" ... again not necessarily a problem (though work hours may need to be legally limited), as I'm proud that past experience has shown. Alas - the particular applicant is his/her brief emails indicated merely that they would be able to do a job - didn't excite me to want to look at him/her as a potential person to be trained up for serious weekend work from next Easter, when we'll be full of wedding parties and tourists again!

With our growth, with our higher profile, I've added a "Jobs with Well House" page to our web site. It's another 'coming of age' thing, I guess. It's [here] and I've tried to make it a bit more friendly than "We have no vacancies at present" ... which is the situation unless an exceptional person should appear.
(written 2010-11-14, updated 2010-11-18)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z300 - Politics and Religion
  [216] Cheap purchase - votes paid for with selfish promises - (2005-02-15)
  [257] Politics gets nasty. Must be an election coming up. - (2005-03-25)
  [280] Spotted - the local MP - (2005-04-15)
  [289] MP for Devizes, Wiltshire - (2005-04-23)
  [301] General Election day, UK - (2005-05-05)
  [313] Making bona fide international marriages more difficult - (2005-05-16)
  [326] UK Tax payment totals and where the money is spent - (2005-05-27)
  [335] Sad priorities - (2005-06-03)
  [377] A Strengthened City - (2005-07-14)
  [384] Managing conflict and disappointment - (2005-07-20)
  [415] Campaign Drift and efficiency. - (2005-08-15)
  [469] Yesterday was Kiss and Ride - (2005-10-19)
  [505] Would you steal ... petrol? ... a training course? - (2005-11-26)
  [539] rich and famous - (2005-12-23)
  [602] MP face to face - (2006-02-12)
  [607] On being British - (2006-02-14)
  [671] Both ends of the animal - (2006-04-05)
  [674] Wiltshire to get an extra MP - (2006-04-07)
  [682] Iran has enriched uranium ... - (2006-04-12)
  [696] Is than an uphill or downhill task? - (2006-04-23)
  [750] Almost everyone loses - (2006-06-07)
  [780] Separation and Integration - (2006-06-27)
  [875] Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones - (2006-09-22)
  [967] Realistic on line shoot'em up - (2006-12-05)
  [1003] Room at the Inn, Guy at the station - (2006-12-21)
  [1060] What a relief from the tax office. - (2007-02-01)
  [1109] False imprisonment - a contrast from the news - (2007-03-15)
  [1135] Government pressure on me to shut up after I make the papers - (2007-04-05)
  [1175] Local elections - choosing who to vote for - (2007-05-03)
  [1247] An afternoon at a public enquiry - (2007-06-27)
  [1260] An inspirational business talk from one of our prospective MPs - (2007-07-06)
  [1350] FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) Western Region - (2007-09-13)
  [1386] New software product for warmblooded programmers - (2007-10-10)
  [1428] Travel Across Wiltshire - the game - (2007-11-11)
  [1526] Carers at work - court case changes - (2008-02-01)
  [1573] Budget tax increases hit vehicle market - (2008-03-14)
  [1579] Rome, and the faith of Rome - (2008-03-17)
  [1729] Back from the future - (2008-07-30)
  [1769] July child ponders on August children - (2008-08-23)
  [1872] Barack Obama wins US Predidency - (2008-11-05)
  [1881] Wiltshire Council says - part 1 - (2008-11-13)
  [1882] Wiltshire Council says - part 2 - (2008-11-14)
  [1987] One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham - (2009-01-11)
  [2012] The Wiltshire Police - (2009-01-29)
  [2028] Things people say on the phone - (2009-02-06)
  [2075] Supporting Parkinsons and Trains - (2009-03-11)
  [2178] Melksham Candidates for Wiltshire Unitary Election - (2009-05-12)
  [2206] Spot the odd one out - (2009-05-29)
  [2257] Ramblings on church and state linkage in Melksham - (2009-06-25)
  [2270] Wiltshire - a chance to improve life for everybody - (2009-07-05)
  [2279] Understanding the new local government structure in Wiltshire - (2009-07-11)
  [2288] Wiltshire Community Area Partnerships - (2009-07-15)
  [2353] All change - Wiltshire Parliamentary - (2009-08-13)
  [2640] How is your tax pound spent? - (2010-02-18)
  [2689] Can my dog eat potatoes? Doggie Dietary Research, and political sleaze! - (2010-03-23)
  [2712] A more informed decision than ever before - (2010-04-08)
  [2740] Melksham Hustings at George Ward School - (2010-04-26)
  [2752] Voting day - UK General Election - (2010-05-06)
  [2757] Bodicea, Lincoln, and our new MP - (2010-05-09)
  [2792] Should Government compete with private industry? - (2010-06-03)
  [2824] A pint of Black Rat, and a lazy barman - (2010-06-25)
  [2856] Two sides of the coin - (2010-07-06)
  [2864] Changing with weather and seasons - (2010-07-10)
  [2870] Old prices - what would the equivalent price have been in 1966? - (2010-07-14)
  [2948] Melksham shamefully makes the national headlines - (2010-09-07)
  [2971] Should the public sector compete with businesses? and other deep questions - (2010-09-26)
  [3264] Alternative Vote (AV) - explaining and an example - (2011-04-25)
  [3313] What does our MP do on a Bank Holiday? - (2011-05-30)
  [3323] Is Melksham town centre dying? - (2011-06-11)
  [3325] The Olympic Torch, and Melksham House - (2011-06-14)
  [3438] Melksham to become a part of Trowbridge? - (2011-09-13)
  [3592] Are we one man, one vote? No, and we never have been. - (2012-01-26)
  [3676] Rising prices, changing habits and society - (2012-03-31)
  [3806] 2011 Census results - initial figures for Wiltshire. - (2012-07-17)
  [3845] Good cause giving - getting the charity beggars off the street - (2012-08-21)
  [3905] How should we choose our Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner? - (2012-10-27)
  [3921] On rememberance, on war, and on preventing the war cycle - (2012-11-11)
  [4079] Melksham Area - Unitary Council results, May 2013 - (2013-05-04)
  [4223] Democracy - alive and well with the beauty pagent starting up again - (2013-12-16)
  [4275] Eurpoean Elections, and other elections ahead. Some thoughts on campaigns and policies - (2014-05-08)
  [4286] Reaction in Radstock to new First bus prices - (2014-07-12)
  [4343] Politics and the railway the connects Wiltshire - (2014-12-06)
  [4354] Wiltshire Police - assuming someone is guilty just on the say-so of a member of the public? - (2014-12-16)
  [4476] Upcoming election - Chippenham Constituency - the major candidates compared - (2015-04-29)
  [4485] Misusing statistics? - the seedy side of election campaigning - (2015-05-04)
  [4489] Election results - what if we had a party list system? - (2015-05-08)
  [4548] Melksham - two small townships, or one big one? - (2015-10-22)
  [4597] Not standing as your local councillor - (2015-12-18)
  [4614] PC Plod - alive and scaremongering in Wiltshire? - (2016-01-04)
  [4625] Where does Wiltshire bus subsidy money come from? - (2016-01-19)
  [4720] Celebrating our diversity rather than discriminating for it - (2016-11-02)
  [4725] Writing Python 2 such that Python 3 is easy - (2016-11-06)
  [4729] The oldest part of Los Angeles - (2016-11-23)
  [4734] Thoughts on the new Blackmore Ward of Melksham Without Parish - (2017-02-22)
  [4735] Revisiting - should I stand for Melksham Without Parish Council in May? - (2017-02-24)

G207 - Well House Consultants - Staff
  [10] What do you look for in your IT trainer? - (2004-08-10)
  [41] A Thousand and four words - (2004-09-07)
  [88] Getting the right level of trainer - (2004-10-14)
  [168] Welcoming Leah Davies to our team - (2005-01-04)
  [185] Who am I? - (2005-01-21)
  [371] The training team that's looking out for you - (2005-07-07)
  [393] Trainer answers phone - (2005-07-28)
  [578] Woman screaming at me - (2006-01-26)
  [862] 4 weeks to go - (2006-09-11)
  [895] Welcome, Martin - (2006-10-16)
  [972] Both one team and two - (2006-12-08)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [1065] Graham Ellis - an Introduction - (2007-02-05)
  [1083] Behind the scenes - (2007-02-17)
  [1141] A strong team broadens the professional coverage - (2007-04-10)
  [1324] Well House Manor appoints a General Manager - (2007-08-28)
  [2009] The Royal Mail Receipt - (2009-01-26)
  [2044] Please Trouble me - (2009-02-16)
  [2050] Why the Pony Tail? - (2009-02-21)
  [2164] Updating my public profile - Graham Ellis - (2009-05-09)
  [2566] Excellent staff make for excellent hotel - (2010-01-07)
  [2772] Graham Ellis - Summary of Training Record - (2010-05-21)
  [2775] Declarations of interest - knowing where you stand with people - (2010-05-22)
  [2934] Not so much software training - more hotel keeping! - (2010-08-25)
  [2960] The Well House team - September 2010 - (2010-09-19)
  [3103] Thank you - and Happy Christmas - (2010-12-24)
  [3201] A change to the Well House team - thank you and good luck, Chris - (2011-03-14)
  [3212] Well House Manor - a home from home for the business and leisure guest in Melksham - (2011-03-26)
  [3311] Exhilarating day! - (2011-05-30)
  [3425] Our National Autograss Champion, from Melksham - (2011-09-08)
  [3460] Flying Colours! - (2011-09-28)
  [3490] How not to call when job seeking ... - (2011-10-20)
  [3586] Emergency First Aid Provision at Well House Manor - part of the service - (2012-01-19)
  [3961] Well House Staff Party - (2012-12-22)
  [4189] Who are we - Lisa, Graham, Gypsy and Billy - (2013-10-07)
  [4227] Happy Christmas from the Well House Manor team - (2013-12-25)


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Some other Articles
Zyliana Kyrei Cox
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Make - automating the commands for building and installing
Getting your C++ program to run
Positively reforming the system - could it be done?
Views of Melksham - November 2010
Computer Graphics is fun - even if Java Applets are Old Hat
String handling - from first steps to practical examples
What is a universal superclass? Java / Perl / Python / Other OO languages
Java Beans, tag libraries and JSPs - what and why.
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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