Paul D. Yes, sometimes one needs energetic enthusiasm and hardship? I remember a few years ago when I recruited a young second generation Bangladeshi guy from a YTS course as a trainee operator. (He needed a job, I needed somneone at short notice!) One day he started asking me detailed questions about Unix shell commands (I was also the senior Unix admin at the time, now one of my long lost skills 🙁). While the other operators from Essex "read" the Sun, or Star, or slept off hangovers in their "downtime" (rest periods) he'd taken to reading the Unix manual and writing scripts to automate some manual processes ... (Sometimes I had to feign being busy and rush off to double check what he was asking). Anyway, he moved on - and upwards - within the company then, what so often happens in financial services organizations, his group was made redundant as part of a higher level management reshuffle - should I say battle of egos?. Anyway, I was really touched when, despite the difficulty of that situation, in the debrief in the pub he thanked me for giving him the opportunity in the company; and, later, along with some other colleagues who he worked with, I was invited to his wedding. He's now a successful IT systems architect with a large energy organization and doing very well. Immigration enriches our country but people must be able to make their home here in a welcoming situation: it might be the second generation that majes the major contribution. I can think of severeal Indian restaurants in Wandsworth, set up by first generation immigrants, where they recently they've had to employ east European migrant staff because the children who they hoped would talks over their business became accountants, IT consultants, doctors and other professionals!
Michael Ixer ● 2528d