General > General Technical Chat
Relocation problems trying to stay in Electronics work in UK
Ian.M:
He doesn't do too well with landlords! Remember https://www.eevblog.com/forum/manufacture/need-to-rent-work-space-for-electronics-soldering/ ?
jc101:
Do you do any due diligence with applying for / accepting a job - to have some idea who are working for?
Do you ask questions in the interview?
Many contractors I know negotiate with the likes of an AirBnB place for some fixed term accommodation. At least until they get their feet under the table and work out if it's worth basing themselves in a particular location for a period.
Simon:
--- Quote from: Faringdon on March 10, 2024, 01:10:37 pm ---Hi,
Has anyone realised how bad things are getting with regard to accomodation in UK?
This is severely impacting on Electronics engineers ability to travel and relocate to new Electronics jobs in different parts of the country.
The UK electronics industry is scarce, and so EE's need to relocate often to be able to stay in work.
But relocation in UK is getting harder and harder, and much more expensive.
There are plenty of empty properties around, but the problem's still just getting worse.
Back in pre-2006, when you relocated to another part of UK for a job, you would simply get
a landlord name from the local paper, go along, shove 2 months rent and a deposit in their hand, and you'd get
the keys to the flat or bedsit.
You could leave before the 6 or 12 month tennancy expired, and they just rented it out to someone else.
You would loose your depost and pre-payed rent, but that was by the by.
Now, if you leave an accomodation contract inside the 6 months or 12 months, they get a private detective to track you down
and threaten you with the courts if you dont pay the remaining rent.
A 6 month minimum term should be illegal, it should be 2 months max. After all, in UK, you often relocate to
an electronics company and find out that its really just a "token" electronics company, and not got real
electronics work at all. So then you have to leave and find somewhere else to work...which inevitably involves relocation
again to another different part of UK.
I relocated to one Electronics job, and when i got there, found that my job was just to be a "slave" to a new MSc Electronics graduate.
I was told to transfer all my Power Supply knowledge to him.
He wasnt even interested in learning electronics. His father (who owned an electronics company) was just paying
the company to give his son his first 2 years "experience" in electronics. The new_grad wouldnt take any of my advice.
He would sit on the lab bench, and so any work had to be done through him, but then he would just go on his phone, or
sit there making solder pools on the ESD mat....strirring the molten solder round and round...just wasting time.
One time we had these Push pull SMPS's that another engineer had screwed up....they made us hand re-wire the PCBs to get them working.
It all needed twisted pair wiring.....but the new grad refused to twist the wires as i requested....so the push pulls still didnt work.
I had to then come into the company for the whole weekend unpayed and re-do them so that they worked for a customer visit on the monday.
This kind of thing happened often.
This is just one example. I relocated to another company that said they had plans for loads of R&D work.....but when i got there this was not so.
They made a rubbish "token" product, just to make them look like an Electronics
company, but the gaffer was only interested in his "backroom" Electronics importation business. He imported massive amounts of
Electronics in from China. So again, you need to leave such places, and again relocate somewhere else.
--- End quote ---
For the love of god just go away! what the hell are you on this time? why do you have to take every misinterpreted aspect of your personal life and turn it into state on the the nation addresses and moan about china.
tom66:
--- Quote from: Faringdon on March 10, 2024, 07:42:56 pm ---
--- Quote ---Empty threats.
If it came to court, the landlord could only recover rent for any vacant period, and cost of re-letting. They would have to show that they had taken reasonable steps to minimise their losses. Rental property is typically in very high demand due to low supply for several reasons, so there wouldn't normally be any problem re-letting it very quickly.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, i hope you are right....once i relocated to a big company, and three months later it went bust.....leaving me with 9 months still to go on a 12 month rent contract.
The next job i could get was 160 miles away....no chance of commuting it......so i had to just leave....and for the next few years, i got massive numbers of "we are going to financially destroy you" emails from the estate agent because i broke contract....what else was i supposed to do?.......i had paid up in rent and council tax for all the time that i was actually there...plus they kept my deposit.
Its criminial that estate agents and landlords are allowed to operate like this. Just essentially corruption.
Was not my fault that the company went under.
--- End quote ---
Why do you think rental contracts should operate like hotels?
It sounds like you want all the benefit of cheaper rent with none of the downsides - e.g. agreeing to a contract. If you want shorter term rentals use AirBNB, spareroom, find a lodging, look at long term hotel stays, etc... There are plenty of options.
I find it very very hard to believe you had to move 160 miles away to find a better job. Well, hard to believe if what you are saying is true, of course.
Ian.M:
--- Quote from: tom66 on March 10, 2024, 10:02:19 pm ---I find it very very hard to believe you had to move 160 miles away to find a better job. Well, hard to believe if what you are saying is true, of course.
--- End quote ---
I don't! Anyone in the same industry nearby had probably already heard about his quirks from his previous employer. He'd have to go far enough to get away from his boss and colleagues gossiping about his latest antics down the pub!
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