Matthew Lang

During my last few months of job hunting, I was received numerous enquiries from recruiters for positions in startups and recently formed organisations.

Instead of flat-out declining these offers, I would research the organisation first and then make a decision based on their industry, growth and their suggested work culture. I say suggested as you can never tell with a company what they will be like to work for until you start working for them. Based on these findings I found that I always declined to move forward with the application.

The thing about startups is that they are organisations with no track history. They’re young and new, and while that might be an attraction for others, it’s not something that I am looking for in my future career.

I’m looking for to work in an organisation that is tried and tested. They have experience in their sector and they have a steady platform from which to grow from. And it’s not just in an software development that I am looking for this, but further forward into my career as well.

I’m looking into a different career path that while is new to me isn’t a new type of job in itself. This role has been around for decades but is something that I am interested to move into. Time will tell if I can make the move to this new role, but at least I know that it’s something that will be around for years to come.

I’ve been trying to reduce my screen time on my phone. It hasn’t been easy and I’ve tried a number of different strategies to do this.

Copyblogger has a little gem of advice though when it comes to dealing with daily distractions.

Take some time away from the usual flood of news and notifications to think about your daily intentions. Document them somehow — any way that works for you — and make sure you see them through.

— What’s Actually Stunting Your Productivity (It’s Not Multitasking)

I wonder if my daily intentions is something that I can include in my DailyMuse email each morning? Something along the lines of Mike Vardy’s themed days.

Is it just me or has the Apple product update become something of a formality now when it comes to the tech sites that report on it?

Apple unvelied a number of updated products yesterday. The tech sites, as always, responded with a range of predictable posts. Insert an Apple product for x where you can.

• What a maxed out x will cost you
• Why the x blows away its predecessors
• Which x should you buy
• What Apple didn’t announce

Despite rising prices of Apple products and now steady release cycles of products, the tech sites are always favourable to Apple when they do a product update or launch.

Don’t get me wrong, I like using Apple products and I will continue to buy them as they are dependable and last. However, I’m still using a MacBook Pro from 2013 and my iPhone 5S continues to just work. I don’t see me replacing my MBP until at least next year.

As for my iPhone though, I am considering an upgrade to an XR. I’m not a huge fan of the 5S camera and I don’t use a seperate camera, so an upgraded phone serves a dual-purpose. A bigger screen and a better camera.

Maybe can Apple can do no wrong, but it would be nice if the tech sites didn’t just roll over when it comes to an Apple event.

Six years ago I wrote a snippet about a portfolio career. This is still the end goal for my career.

Splitting my time into smaller part-time roles would be a great way of still keeping my programming skills but also being able to explore other roles in different industries. I have an idea for that other role, but it requires a few other things to be done before I can realistically make it happen.