For the fifth instalment of our guest blog month we have Ed Chessman's account of how he fell in love with Brighton and out of love with commuting.
Ed Chessman, @cubeworks found his ideal job working for Cubeworks as their Business Development Director
Ed Chessman, @cubeworks found his ideal job working for Cubeworks as their Business Development Director
I’m not sure about you, but traveling to London every day to live ‘the dream’ sometimes just doesn’t add up. 20 minutes to the station, an hour or more on the train, walking to the office, and then all repeated on the way home – that’s over 3 hours of life lost every day.
I fell in love with the Brighton seaside ten years ago and my wife and I finally decided to move our family here at the end of last summer. When we moved down, I remained working for a software company based in London. But after the first week of leaving the house by 6.30am and returning around 8pm, I started wondering what the hell I was doing. After a second week of not seeing the family, let alone any friends, I knew it was time to get a grip.
My first search landed me at Wired Sussex, and a quick scan of their job posts showed Cubeworks were looking for a commercial director. A little research showed Cubeworks to be one of the bigger web design and development agencies in Brighton specialising in integrating complex web systems. With one well-crafted email to them, I started the ball rolling and two weeks later the job was mine.
I shed no tears saying goodbye to the pain and drudgery of that dreaded 3-hour commute. Now, I simply hop on my slightly rusty bike and enjoy an easy ride along the beach to and from the office each day. No comparison, really.
Anyone who knows the area or has worked with any of the digital companies based here knows Sussex has a collection of some of the sharpest digital minds and talent anywhere in the UK. Couple that with a little sunshine and the occasional beer on the beach and you’ll soon be asking yourself how to get a little of my action.
So, a very big thank-you to the folks at the Wired Sussex jobs board - keep up the good work. And another thank you for the project I found posted on the site a few weeks after I started at Cubeworks, as it led to the first website systems integration project I secured in my new role.
Now, if only the weather would cooperate just a little more this summer…