La vita, l'universo e tutto quanto.
Shell has been working on an IT outsourcing plan for about 12 years now, and it’s finally coming to fruition this year. As a result, my contract has been “mapped” to T-Systems, who are known in Germany but have no brand recognition in the rest of the world. In the Netherlands, they only have around 300 staff and contractors, so the addition of Shell’s Netherlands team will double their workforce. It’s a big opportunity for T-Systems to develop a name for themselves, so they will be trying hard to keep things working smoothly. Unfortunately one T-Systems person has stated that they don’t do development as a company (focusing instead on integration), which may turn out to be disappointing. But as a colleague told me, many times companies don’t realise that their staff are doing a lot of internal development, and I’m not likely to stop my current development work after T-Systems takes over in July. My contract is currently until the end of October, and I’m hoping in that time to make contacts within T-Systems so that it is an option for my future when I’m back in Germany.. or potentially make such a great impression that they keep me on the payroll part time, even while I’m in Italy.
My own future, intriguingly, will quite possibly take me to Italy. After almost two years contracting to Shell (as will be the case by the end of October), I want to move closer to Sophia; and by all accounts, it looks like she’ll be going to Italy for an exchange year. Being the intrepid character I am, I’m planning to go along with her and learn Italian in the process. It will leave me with no source of income (except maybe teaching some English) but it will no doubt be a great experience. La Buona Vita! It’s also vital for Sophia and I to live together and ensure that we can have just as great a (if not better) relationship living in the same house as with several hundred kilometres between us. I’m looking forward to it! She is hoping to go in September this year, in which case I will follow in November, otherwise in March next year, and her choices for cities are Perugia and Pavia. If March, I may stay for a little longer in the Netherlands to better equip myself for the income-less student lifestyle.