Sunday 20 February 2011

LinkedIn and other things.....

To help widen my online presence I created an account on LinkedIn. This way I can become part of a network and hopefully have a slightly higher chance of people finding me by chance for projects, work or full time employment. To be honest this is not something I have a lot of confidence in but it's worth having on the off chance that it presents an opportunity for me.

Screenprint showing the beginnings of my profile creation.


One final thing I have on my plate at the moment is my progress towards joining the Territorial Army (TA). Since I was 16 I've had an interest in the army and it was what I primarily wanted to do once I finished my GCSE's, only problem was that under 18s need parental permission to join and my mum wouldn't give it to me, so I stayed in school and got my A levels and eventually came to Ravensbourne. I personally think this was a good thing because it gave me the chance to stay with my friends a bit longer, get some qualifications and meet lot's of new friends at Rave. It's just ever since i was 16 my interest in the army has never gone away, it always comes back and i'd be torn between joining or staying in college. I always ended up staying in college because my fitness was never high enough to join the military, but now is the perfect time for me. 

At the moment I'm going through a stage of getting my life on track and organising myself, setting goals and working towards them. Because i want to have a career in the game industry I decided that joining the TA would be ideal because that means I get to be in the army but on a part-time basis so I get the best of being a soldier as well as a civilian. I can't really explain why I want to be in the army, it's just something I have to do for myself, but it does have it's benefits, i'll be the fittest i've ever been and will develop lots of personal skills in a professional environment, not only will I get more motivation and self confidence, but i'll have more self discipline and extra skills that will make me capable of being a leader and setting an example in high stress situations. 

So what do I need to do to join the TA? First I have to get my fitness up, the army has strict selection standards and if you're not fit enough then you can't get in. i have to run 1.5 miles in under 9 minutes as well as perform other tests which demonstrate my endurance and upper body strength including sit ups and press ups. I've been training myself quite strictly and have made great progress over the past month, I can now run the required distance and only need 1-2 more weeks of upper body training before i start applying. 

To apply I can email the regiment I want to join which is The London Regiment, C Company based in Blackheath, they will invite me down to talk to them and run me through the required tests, if I pass then I can join and start training. One of the main reasons i want to do this is so I have a change from the usual 9-5 grind of the week, I don't want to spend all week sitting at a desk in front of a computer doing no physical activity, so being in the TA will keep me healthy in that respect as well as give me many professional skills applicable to the standard civilian workspace that I want to join. I plan to begin applying within the next 2 weeks.

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