Adam White

Every day is struggle for me at the moment. It is not illness related; I am blessed with good health and the only thing I can complain about is dodgy eyesight and a receding hairline. It is not money related; I have a great job that pays me well, the only debts I have are with my house (that I own).

The thing I struggle with at the moment and what is at the root of most of my troubles is time.

I’m not going to complain at needing more time as I get 24 hours in a day like everyone else. It is how I use those hours that is at the heart of the problem. I have worked out after 27 years of trial and error that I need around 8 hours of sleep in order to feel refreshed the next day. I can get less than that if necessary and be okay but after a couple of days of late nights and it really starts to affect my energy.

This leaves me with 16 hours a day. This does sound like a lot but then take away another 9 hours for work and that leaves me with 7 hours, 5 days a week. The time between waking up and getting to work can also be considered as a write-off. So that leaves me with 5 evenings of around 5 hours each.

Now, one of these evenings is always taken up with a small group meeting. Normally it starts at 7.30 so it is not the whole evening gone but by the time I have gotten home from work, checked my emails and eaten dinner it is time to head off anyway.

What about the weekend though? Surely I get time then? Sadly, being so involved in church activities pretty much means that Sundays are a total write-off as well. Church starts at 10.30 but I am regularly there by 9.30 to set up the projection requirements for the service and then I normally end up staying until 1.30 in order to get the day’s “message” onto CDs and run around doing all the other jobs that need doing. It also looks like I am going to be heavily involved in Alpha again starting at the end of February which takes my time from 5.30 on a Sunday night for the rest of the evening.

That leaves me with 5 hours a night for 4 weekdays, all of Saturday and 4 hours on a Sunday. Now what do I have to squeeze into these 48 hours…

I have three passions in life (as highlighted by the sub-title of my website): God, my job and films. I want to grow my knowledge in each of these areas and that takes time. The most important one of these is obviously God and I would love to spend far more time praying, reading my bible, listening to sermons and reading books and blogs. I pray on my way to work in the morning and I try and listen to a preach on my way home from work each night but I would love to find more time to pray and read my bible at other times in the day as well.

I love developing. I have been a web developer for nearly seven years now and love it. I have chosen to specialise in .NET development. This is a very fast growing technology and it is very hard to keep up to date with all the latest developments in CSS, JavaScript, MVC frameworks not to mention the various C# features I haven’t had a chance to learn or use yet. I try and keep up to date with the latest via magazines, blogs and the occasional podcast. A lot of this I can do at work but if I really want to be as good as I can be I need to take my learning into my home time as well.

And finally there are my films. I use my films as a way to shut down my brain and relax. I listen to Mark Kermode’s film reviews podcast once a week and read the occasional blog about what is happening but I don’t spend as much time on this passion as I used to and I rarely go to the cinema any more.

What I haven’t mentioned so far is all the things I do for my church outside of a Sunday. I look after the IT for the church which involves the website, projection, recording and all the IT equipment. I have a huge list of jobs that either need doing or I want to do.

I also love helping people. God has blessed me with lots of talents and a desire to serve but I can’t help everyone. If I could I would though, I just need to find the time to do it!

I haven’t even mentioned my friends yet. I have always preferred to have a handful of really good friends that I spend time with than lots of acquaintances that I don’t get to know as well as I would like. I could count the number of close friends I have on one hand and that is a good thing. However, when I see these friends I want to spend a good amount of time with them. Even today I spent most of it with my friends wandering around various shops in Swindon. If I could I would spend at least one night a week with each of my friends but that is just not feasible.

Other things that I haven’t mentioned here that I would love to do include: DIY in my house, getting myself fit and, dare I say it, a relationship!

So, I’ve have just written a 1000 word essay on my struggle with fitting everything I need/want to do into my life. I must have needed to vent. But unless I do something about, this situation is only going to get worse not better. So here are my goals to tackle this problem:

1) Use the time I have got more efficiently

2) Prioritise better

3) Start to say no

4) Give up some things

I’ll let you know how it goes…

Posted by Adam under Personal | 3 Comments »

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post again. I’ve had a busy week!

I started my new job at BCS on Tuesday and have come away from my first week with them pleased and feeling like I have made the right decision. My first day was a little worrying and not just because of first day nerves. I came away still not really knowing what my new job was and what was expected of me.

Thankfully I have come away from this week not only feeling like I am perfect for the position but that I can really bring my experience from Tyco and apply it in this new setting.

I’m loving the later starts, the group of people I will be working with, the feel and atmosphere and most of all feeling full of energy in the evenings again!

Posted by Adam under Personal | 3 Comments »

I was never sure what to expect from my last day with Tyco Electronics. It ended up being really laid back and chilled. It wasn’t awkward and I ended up just trying to enjoy spending my last day there.

It is a weird feeling though: I have just said goodbye to a group of people that I have spent five days a week with for the past four years. From next Tuesday I am going to be making new friendships and working relationships to spend 8 hours a day with.

Overall my years at Tyco had their ups and their downs but I can only see positives for me over the time. I have left on good terms and have grown in my abilities and experience through it.

Roll on the next challenge now!!

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Okay, it’s starting to sink in that I’m leaving now. I had my first visit from someone who I had worked with since I started to say goodbye (they are away tomorrow). It’s really weird thinking that I’m going to be in a different company working in a different team this time next week.

I think I’m doing pretty well with my attitude. I was worried at the beginning of the week how I would appear to other people but in my last team metting today I was adding suggestions and offering advice as if I wasn’t going. I was even still referring to the team as “us” and “we”.

My friend Paul is doing a major presentation to a lot of IT folk tomorrow so I have also been helping him nail down his content and presentation style. I’m staying late to help him through the presentation before I leave the company for good. This time tomorrow it will all be over and I’ll have somewhere else to blog about. Weird!

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As predicted my day has swung from moments of being busy with implementations and teleconferences to having nothing to do at all. When emails come in with things to do I have to forward them on as they are someone else’s job now.

I only have a day and a half left so I suspect I will be packing my stuff away in the quiet times. Hopefully though my attitude is stil reflecting well with those that to those around me. I think I’m doing an ok job!

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I did better today. I worked my socks off all day but now I have run out of jobs! I feel good for it though: Instead of that feeling that I had let myself down like I had yesterday I am now finishing today on a positive.

I have things to keep myself occupied tomorrow morning as we have a few implementations and upgrades happening but I may have to spend my time packing for the rest of the week unless some little pieces of work come from somewhere!

It’s much harder to keep working hard when there’s no work to do!

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I started Monday with the drive to work really hard and finish my time at Tyco Electronics full of commitment. It lasted until about lunchtime! I worked so hard in the morning that by the time I got to lunch I barely had any work left to do!

So in the afternoon I spent some time writing up my blog post for the fancy dress party (which technically was an extended lunch as I did most of it during my lunch break) and then chatted to people in the office about various non critical work related things.

I’ve left myself a few little things that need getting on with for Tuesday but I need to learn to pace myself better or the work is going to run out again!

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I am now just coming to the end of the third week of my notice period with Tyco Electronics and I thought that maybe I should start blogging about how it is going!

Initially everything seemed to carry on as usual except I had less work to do: I was handing over everything I did to my colleagues so gradually I had nothing left but supervision and the odd email. This last week however has become very interesting. The department’s new student has started, a young man called Benedikt who has impressed me a lot so far. I have been training him and teaching him about all our websites and systems. I have also been occupied with handing over the management of our implementations which wasn’t quite as simple as printing out the procedure. But it has really been these last two days that lots and lots of work has come out of nowhere. I’ve gone from having barely anything to do to having a list as long as my arm!

The hardest thing for me though is combating the attitude other people assume I have. I have had so many people say to me things like “I know your leaving so you don’t care anymore…”. As a Christian I feel like it is even more important to work my very hardest and not act like I’ve already left. This is so difficult though as the temptation to just give in and not care is always there.

I’m imagining my last week as being the hardest as I am going to see the end of tunnel getting ever closer and the work is going to really start to pile up. But I am going to fight the urge to not care and work my very hardest on my last week. I’ll let you know how it goes!!

Posted by Adam under Personal | 3 Comments »

I’ve had to keep this one under my hat until it was official but after four years I am finally moving on from Tyco Electronics!

Ever since I got back from visiting Harrisburg with work I have had that feeling that it was time for me to change jobs. I think that my department is moving in a great new direction, I just don’t think it is a direction I am interested in. So while I was in Palma I wrote up my CV and started looking for jobs (hence the long overdue redevelopment of this site).

Last Tuesday I had an interview with the British Computer Society for a role in their team and then that same afternoon I was offered the job. I felt at the time like it could be the perfect role for me but to hear back from them so quickly with an offer was almost too good to be true. After a couple of days of talking, thinking and praying I came back to them with a definite yes and handed in my notice today. I now have four weeks left here at Tyco before I embark on a whole new adventure.

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I was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex in 1981 and was raised in Uxbridge until I was 10. My mum’s job then moved us to a town called Buckingham where I spent the rest of my youth.

At the age of 18 I moved out from home and started to attend Bath University studying Computer Science. I spent two years in Bath (beautiful city, shame about all the tourists) before my course required me to seek employment for a year.

I got a job as a web developer working for Tyco Electronics in Swindon so I packed my bags and moved in. I lived and worked in Swindon for a year and it was during my time here that my eyes began to be opened to the truth about God. (I highly recommend you read my testimony to find out more about this).

So I moved back to Bath for my final year and immediately went on an Alpha course. It was through this that I finally became a Christian. So, I finish my course (I got a 2:2 which I was happy with) and start looking for a job. God already had my future in His hands though as one of the guys I worked with at Tyco Electronics left to work for Nationwide and so there was a job opening. I applied and got the job straight away. Then my friend Phil who I also worked with at Tyco was looking for a place to live so the two of us bought a house together. So I went straight from university to a career and home ownership (well part ownership). Thank you God!

I spent the next four years working for Tyco and after two years of being in Swindon I finally commit myself to a church: Swindon Family Church. I get baptised and take on the responsibility of IT and projection in the church. This role has grown recently to include managing the church website.

This all stayed the same up until 2008 when I left Tyco to work for the British Computer Society (also in Swindon) and my church changed name to Gateway Church Swindon.

…and this is where I am still at today.

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