In turns out unpaid internships aren’t so bad

In turns out unpaid internships aren’t so bad

I’m glad, ecstatic, amazed, overjoyed and every other happy adjective you can think of. Today I was told that my internship was turning into a full-time job. I’m to start work as an employee on Monday (12th of August) and I’ll finally get paid for the work that I’ll be doing after suffering 6 weeks on no income and purely just burning through my savings.

What’s the job

I’ll be working in Central London of off Oxford Street for a division that does Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for clients in the United Kingdom. I don’t have an assigned title yet, but I’ve kind of crowned myself as an SEO Specialist. I’ll be working on 50% technical SEO and 50% content marketing. Essentially I’ll be doing a mixture of both and I’m hoping to improve my technical knowledge of implementation and simply doing things correctly. The reason I’m doing this type of job is because when I was 16/17 I managed my own web hosting business and it taught me about digital and I naturally learned about SEO. In fact, this job is quite ideal and is the perfect job opportunity and I’m hoping to grow out and become a professional in this field as I’m already quite passionate about this type of work.

What did I do to stand out

This is a question that is quite specific to the job that you’re doing. The main things that I did to stand out was to ask as many questions as I possibly could come up with and to act upon those answers immediately. While I am reluctant to go into specifics of what I had done, I feel I can confidently say that I achieved quite a bit for the team. If you can achieve and become successful by going the extra mile and doing significant things then you’ll get noticed and you’ll possibly turn that unpaid internship into something. I think that getting noticed and doing work that looks credible is essential and being consistent in doing well is another eye opener.

Abolishing Unpaid Internships

I hear the argument for abolishing unpaid internships and I do partly agree with this. I however feel that this argument has been struck down by the very fact that I’ve managed to turn my internship into a job. Also, I don’t think internships are bad and people have a choice as to whether they’d want to do an internship. I mean, it’s not as if you’re being forced to do the work and it’s a way to learn and become part of an office experience and generally looks good on a blank CV. (My CV was not blank!) I also hear the argument that people are desperate and that employers are taking advantage of that fact; I’m afraid this is just the beginning of changing times and while I’m not a heartless bastard and I did indeed do an internship myself and as long as the business or company you’re interning with isn’t forcing you to do things you don’t want to do then I don’t see a problem. I’ve done a 6 week unpaid internship and I doubt the people arguing against internships have actually been interns before and if they have, I doubt they succeeded in getting job through their internship. (Otherwise they wouldn’t be complaining)

What does the future look like

The future looks quite bright. In fact, I’m looking to do a part-time course at Birkbeck University for Web Technologies. It’s a foundation degree that will help me excel and become more qualified in the field that I’m aiming for. They also have a campus in Stratford, although my new job is actually nearby to Birkbeck University’s main campus. I’m not yet sure if the course would be feasible for me as I’ll be working full-time and I have no idea if the part-time course could cater to my needs and if I could do the course around my job. However, if I can then great! I’ll definitely have to look into it and sign up for a course! Though I do have that feeling that I’ll be unable to do any external courses due to the nature of that job that I’ve entered.

I don’t cook well, but damn do I make nice bacon sandwiches

I don’t cook well, but damn do I make nice bacon sandwiches

Right now, it’s half 11 at midnight and I’m making myself a mid-night snack. I’ve always loved bacon sandwiches and  remember when my father used to make me these. He made them perfect; I’m not sure what exactly he done to make them so nice. I feel the issues with my bacon sandwiches are to do with the utilities that I have available in-front of me. For one, I’m using a electric heated stove, as opposed to a gas heated stove. I feel there is a difference as you can’t get the egg to come out like you could with a gas heated stove. You can make it crispy and it generally tastes nicer. Number two, I’m using larder, as opposed to oil. – I can’t blame the utilities here; however, this just goes to show that I’m a cheapskate.

Anyways, with all the negatives aside, I still make a damn fine bacon sandwich that I would be proud to share with the rest of the world on this blog. (Just overstating things, a little) Here are glorious pictures of my bacon sandwiches:

baconsandwich1

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. That is the finest bacon sandwich I have ever laid eyes upon. Wrapped in the finest of breads, Hovis, the picture  exposes the succulent tomato sauce encompassing the fine bread at its very depths. It also exposes the bacon and the egg, which have been cooked to the highest of standards. (With lard, instead of oil, and on an electric powered stove)

baconsandwich

Just amazing. Nothing else to say, but amazing. /sarcasm

Though it was bloody delicious.

Yeah, I should probably learn how to cook.

Free electric and WiFi at Taipei’s Taoyuan airport!

Free electric and WiFi at Taipei’s Taoyuan airport!

Taoyan Airport

Taoyan Airport

Okay, so I haven’t traveled much around the world and Taiwan is likely the first place I have traveled abroad to in years; well, other than South Korea and Hong Kong. Anyways, I came extra early to the airport because, well, I’m paranoid like that. I have a lot of free time, so why not make use of the time and post on this blog from the airport. Admittedly, this is the first time I have posted on a blog through an outside WiFi connection, especially at an airport. I’m currently using Taoyuan’s “Free Airport Internet” and it’s working great. Of course, the connection is not 100% or like I had in my home in Taichung but it’s definitely adequate and it’s uploaded all the pictures I’ve taken relatively quickly.

I don’t know what else to write, other than having a safe and no problem journey. Oh, and here’s what I ate at the Burger King at Taoyuan airport:
Burger King at Taoyuan Airport

Bleh.

Bleh.

This post is sort of an update as to why I haven’t posted on this blog in quite a while. I haven’t exactly had anything entertaining going on in my life and in-fact my health has been the concerns that I’ve been having. I contracted a virus and I’m waiting for the effects of the virus to go away, however for now I’ll have to live with fatigue and boredom. I guess after coming back from Korea, I haven’t really recovered as it has made me more depressed about life, as I experienced something amazing and coming back to Taiwan, well, I just feel as bored as ever.

To pass the time I’ve been playing games such as PS2 (Planet Side 2) and that game has kept me pretty happy for a while, however PS2 has quickly become boring for me. While I should be studying, to which I haven’t, my Chinese has actually improved a little, even with minimal studying.

I guess I posted this as there are people going around saying that today is the end of the world. NASA has a quality article about this, and here is a small excerpt: (Link to the full article)

The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Quite ludicrous, but there are nut jobs out there that firmly believe this, I don’t understand how they can continue spouting out crap when they are proven wrong, time and time again.

Anyways, whatever the case, the world is not ending.

Going back to my life, I have thought about my future and have decided that I’ll be going back to the UK to study. I’ve had enough of my life in Taiwan, especially so with my family here. They are a complete nightmare, and I just need some time where I can get away; so to speak.

That’s it for now, I guess.

My opinion on Islam and its followers

My opinion on Islam and its followers

I’ve been reading about how people who follow Islam have taken insult to a whole new level by protesting on a world wide basis. Most countries that I can actually name, well, Muslims have been protesting in them. Now, I don’t mind them protesting, it’s something that is allowed and allowed for a good reason. (Freedom to protest & freedom of speech comes to mind) But what these Muslims are protesting against is for Google to remove videos, for the US government to track down who made this video and to take them to court.

They are using the very means of expression to subdue another persons freedom of expression.

What’s stopping other religions/people from protesting at the fact Muslims are protesting against governments which are not involved in the making of these videos. I’ll give you the answer, everyone else is sane. I don’t want to call these people protesting mentally ill, but really, they are. If enough people read this, I’ll probably have some minister place a $100,000 bounty on my head. It’s out of control and ridiculous.

Talk about setting an example for their own religion rather than acting like a bunch of wild animals.

/rant