Future Plans

Until Dec 2005
My contract with Emergency Services expires in October. I'm tempted to just have a holiday before we leave, but if something worth-while comes up then I'm open to suggestions... either that, or Emergency Services may well offer a renewal until Dec. Who knows?

Update: Emergency Services has asked for a renewal of my contract until January, so it looks like I won't have much of a holiday before we leave.

Moving to Ireland in 2006!
Syndia and I will be spending (probably; at least) a year in Ireland. I've never seen Europe and while she and Karen did the modern equivalent of the Grand Tour after Syndia's final year of school, she wants to go back again and do it properly.

Registration for a overseas-trained doctor in the UK at present is painful. There's a theory exam (to be sat in Australia), followed by a practical exam (to be sat in London, after one arrives), followed by a waiting period during which both exams are marked and a result determined, followed finally by the announcement that yes, one may indeed seek paid employment in the UK. Not to mention the associated costs of sitting each exam, and the living costs incurred whilst awating British Health's pleasure... If someone with as good an academic record and clinical reputation as Syndia is going to be processed along those lines, it's not something we'd really consider doing.

The British Health web site is positively hostile to overseas-trained doctors, and since Ireland has such (in comparison) relaxed registration requirements, and a strong IT industry to boot, it looks like the perfect destination. Off we go...

What am I looking for?
It has to be something interesting. I know everyone says that, but I'm serious. I'm tired of having the same conversation over and over again about network and application security, with the only difference between clients being the colour and quality of their suits.

• I'd like to go back into serious R&D, with more of an emphasis on actually launching products than TRL had.
• Game development, perhaps... (read my CV. Yes, I can cut code. I wrote a Wolfenstein 3D clone when I was 16.)
• Major infrastructure projects are interesting from a different perspective... I guess I'd like to just get involved in different aspects of the industry and see where it takes me.
• Something where actual problem solving is required.
• Somewhere that logical and analytical thought is valued highly.
• Somewhere with a young, dynamic crowd of like-minded and like-abilitied people.
• Somewhere that I have to work seriously hard to stay ahead of the pack.

What am I not looking for?

• Web design. I hate web design. I do enough of it for charity, friends and other worthy causes. Please, no more web design.
• Database design. As per above.
• Applications development. Proof-of-concept (if it's a new, interesting concept), yes. Business applications? No.

Interested?
If you have something you think I'd be good for, email me and ask for a copy of my CV.