The technology jobs game

Compared to other jobs I’m someone that travels around. I follow interesting problems and promising ideas around the world wherever I can find them. As a web developer I can get a job anywhere in the world, but finding that one job is another challenge. Through a web of recruiters, sub-recruiters, job websites, venture capitalists, start-ups and whatever you can think of you can find the next best thing. The web is a big place with different kinds of players that make this work. You can categorize the players into three groups: employers, candidates and service providers. Employers are the ones that have the job, candidates want the job and the service providers assist in making the connection between supply and demand.

I’ve been on both sides of the table, both as a candidate and as an employer. I’ve also dealt with plenty people offering me a job or offer to search for me. So what do I know about this “game”?

Flipped doors and the hotel lifestyle, Lausanne

So, I’m moving to Lausanne, Switzerland. The company called Smallrivers offered me an interesting job as a web developer for paper.li. I will be working and living in Lausanne where the office is situated on the campus of the EPFL. I’m spending my first weeks in Lausanne in a hotel to find a place, get in sync with my co-workers and getting everything else ready to make the move. I had a two week travel bag including my camera and a laptop. So, what’s up?

Finding a new path

There is a time for constance and time for change. I have found myself in a place where I needed change. The past few years I’ve been working on and off and finished my bachelor (after some extra time spent doing other things then school). After my bachelor I carried on into a master that I was convinced suited me perfectly. I was right… a little too right!

After 8 years in the Dutch higher educational system I’ve had enough! I needed a change from being caught in between study and work.

Welcome to YOW

I know it is cheesy but I think some sort of introduction would be in order…

Who am I?
Joost ‘Yope’ Elfering

Where are you from?
Near the city of Leiden (somewhere between Amsterdam and The Hague) in the Netherlands.

What do I do?
Web developement, engineering, design, concepts, consultancy, some more design and some other stuff that has to do with the web.