Because @Baxteen asked:
This was the day I was made persona non grata on that shill forum:
The cause of the ban:
So after that I decided to just get off the internet and not engage with people anymore. Stopped speaking to people from MyBB on WhatsApp, just basically turned inwards, pushed to have my ink finished which in the end led to an argument at home so I decided to get done what I can and call it a day. Then other stuff happened:
Botched Emigration- Three stories:
Story #1
In November 2022 I was approached by a company in New Zealand via a recruiter. They are the equivalent of VeriFone in the US and Ingenico in the EU.
Since I am one of the experts in SA in EMV, I ticked all the boxes. First week of January I did an interview with the recruiter. Mid January did an interview with the directors via Teams. Early in February I did a second interview via Teams with the IT Team leader. His verdict was I was a good fit, and the feedback the recruiter got was that I am at the offer stage. At that point we had dumped assets, cleaned out much of the house, had spent a not insignificant sum of money on police clearances and medicals and spent many hours at Home Affairs getting passports renewed and other necessary documentation.
March rolls around, nothing...
I was then informed just before Easter weekend that the job was withdrawn. I was not amused. My family were upset, my wife took it hard.. you get the idea.
Story #2
I didn't sit idle, in April already I met another recruiter via LinkedIn, for a position in The Netherlands. Again, I put my best foot forward and did two interviews via Teams. Then they told me after that they were pretty happy but wanted to have me on trial for a week. All expenses paid, I just needed to get all my stuff together for a Schengen visa. So off I goes, print the paperwork, start doing the application... but I need the document from them for the visa to state they are paying my expenses.
Again, silence. I ask them repeatedly for it...
Recruiter dude comes back to me towards end of May and says "sorry but it's not going to happen, this is all too high risk". I was particularly offended by the high risk part so I spent some money having myself investigated i.e. the equivalent of what the Americans call a FOIA request, to see what the fuck they're on about.
I have no criminal record, nor any fines on my name, nor any other issues. Credit record is shit because I am a cash payer... but hell, Capitec are offering me loans and telemarketers are pestering me. So that's all I can see...
Story #3
August comes- I see another person from that same recruitment outfit messaged me on LinkedIn long ago, so I decide to try him, just for shits and giggles.
So I told him all the above and how I have been fucked around. No problem. Also made my age very clear as some Dutch people have issues if you're over 30. Again, no problem.
He tells me, all is good, need to wait for summer vacations to be over and then he will revert with feedback.
Feedback came yesterday. Company needs my skills but because I am not fluent in Dutch, answer is no.
So I've basically come to realise I am stuck in SA, and I then took one of the loan offers from my bank and did two things:
1. Got a decent generator because Fuck Eskom
2. Bought tools and started my own company
Short term goal: find another job in SA because my current gig sucks
Long Term goal: become serious competition to the likes of BotShop, Micro Robotics cc and others
This was the day I was made persona non grata on that shill forum:
The cause of the ban:
So after that I decided to just get off the internet and not engage with people anymore. Stopped speaking to people from MyBB on WhatsApp, just basically turned inwards, pushed to have my ink finished which in the end led to an argument at home so I decided to get done what I can and call it a day. Then other stuff happened:
Botched Emigration- Three stories:
Story #1
In November 2022 I was approached by a company in New Zealand via a recruiter. They are the equivalent of VeriFone in the US and Ingenico in the EU.
Since I am one of the experts in SA in EMV, I ticked all the boxes. First week of January I did an interview with the recruiter. Mid January did an interview with the directors via Teams. Early in February I did a second interview via Teams with the IT Team leader. His verdict was I was a good fit, and the feedback the recruiter got was that I am at the offer stage. At that point we had dumped assets, cleaned out much of the house, had spent a not insignificant sum of money on police clearances and medicals and spent many hours at Home Affairs getting passports renewed and other necessary documentation.
March rolls around, nothing...
I was then informed just before Easter weekend that the job was withdrawn. I was not amused. My family were upset, my wife took it hard.. you get the idea.
Story #2
I didn't sit idle, in April already I met another recruiter via LinkedIn, for a position in The Netherlands. Again, I put my best foot forward and did two interviews via Teams. Then they told me after that they were pretty happy but wanted to have me on trial for a week. All expenses paid, I just needed to get all my stuff together for a Schengen visa. So off I goes, print the paperwork, start doing the application... but I need the document from them for the visa to state they are paying my expenses.
Again, silence. I ask them repeatedly for it...
Recruiter dude comes back to me towards end of May and says "sorry but it's not going to happen, this is all too high risk". I was particularly offended by the high risk part so I spent some money having myself investigated i.e. the equivalent of what the Americans call a FOIA request, to see what the fuck they're on about.
I have no criminal record, nor any fines on my name, nor any other issues. Credit record is shit because I am a cash payer... but hell, Capitec are offering me loans and telemarketers are pestering me. So that's all I can see...
Story #3
August comes- I see another person from that same recruitment outfit messaged me on LinkedIn long ago, so I decide to try him, just for shits and giggles.
So I told him all the above and how I have been fucked around. No problem. Also made my age very clear as some Dutch people have issues if you're over 30. Again, no problem.
He tells me, all is good, need to wait for summer vacations to be over and then he will revert with feedback.
Feedback came yesterday. Company needs my skills but because I am not fluent in Dutch, answer is no.
So I've basically come to realise I am stuck in SA, and I then took one of the loan offers from my bank and did two things:
1. Got a decent generator because Fuck Eskom
2. Bought tools and started my own company
Short term goal: find another job in SA because my current gig sucks
Long Term goal: become serious competition to the likes of BotShop, Micro Robotics cc and others
