Please don't do an MBA - that fad is done. If I see a candidate has an MBA I pretty much dismiss them at the resume screening stage - too many bad experiences. There are a lot of people who believe the same.

Contracting can be good (been there, done that for many years), but you have to be prepared for the lean times when they come.

I am a senior IT manager in an investment bank in my mid 40's, one of six who run a group of 1,500, yet my aim is to still code for some hours of the day. I sit with the core team on the development floor (average age - in their 40's). One of my peers does the same, four do not - this is choice about management style. Management does not mean "not technical".

Great people are always in demand. Find the "right" sort of organization/group to work for - one that does modern methodologies (agile) and modern technologies (mixed imperative/functional languages, no-sql etc.) where you can stay up to date. Don't assume you'll ever make yourself invaluable by being the guy maintaining the legacy system - it's just that kind of stuff that some crazy manager thinks about outsourcing.

You don't need to worry if you're truly technical and good at it. Ask yourself - are you good enough? If not, make yourself good enough.

Check this out http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/06/20/beware-silicon-valley-financiers-skype-edition/

Two side effects -

1. If you were a startup would you want to do business with Silverlake having seen this?

2. If you were an exec working at a startup owned by Silverlake would you be reviewing your contract?

Dumb move. In business if both sides don't feel that there is a win for them in a deal, then the "winner" will shortly have very few people to do business with.

Nope - as per my previous post you can fly an A318 to NY from there. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8279408.stm

I flew the BA001 from City to New York recently. All business class in an A318. It's a bit like a step back in time because of the small numbers of people and the tiny airport. Seats are slightly bigger than the usual BA business ones in a 777 or 747 - the inflight entertainment is less good (Archos player). Very weird going transatlantic in such a small plane (only 32 seats). Very attentive service (flight had only about 24 people on it). Only hassle is that the Westbound flight has to drop off in Shannon in Ireland as they can't carry enough fuel to cross the Atlantic *and* do the STO out of City (it's a super short runway). On the plus side you clear US immigration in Shannon which means you make up for a large amount of the time because you don't have to go through the super OTT US immigration (how many times do you really want to take my photo and fingerprints?)

You forgot the lay flat bed...yes BA business is quite good. Virgin is better though.

I must correct you. If it's in the US it CANNOT, by definition, serve good tea. H2G2 has a reasonable explanation why.

Here's the damages: More than one person who has been hired by my firm has been fired for a falsified CV/résumé (here's a thought - why is it that US wants to use a French name, and the UK wants to use Latin? (Curriculum vitae) - pretty screwy...I thought we both used English, but hey...) . We check *everything* you put down. If it says that in 1988 you worked for 3 months in a pizza parlour, it gets backtracked and checked. If it doesn't add up, that's it...you're out. No "if...". No "but...". How would you like to be just settling into your job 6-7 weeks in, only to be frog-marched to the door and ejected? I can't believe this stuff still goes on...

There's a simple reason for this - the price of petrol (gas) in the UK. Average price per liter in the UK is 98.9p (http://www.petrolprices.com/) Which is 374.38 p / US gallon = 6.30USD / US gallon (www.xe.com) So we're all pretty fixated on fuel efficiency. Hence the majority of cars now sold are Diesel, which although has a slightly higher cost (2-5% typically) is easily offset by the high MPG you get. One of the most popular small saloons on the road is the BMW 320d - this does 58.9MPG (imperial) = 47MPG US and yet does 0-60 in under 8 seconds and a top speed of 143mph (http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/pricesandspecifications_technical_specs/0,,1156_181246516__bs-Mw%3D%3D%40bb-TEkwOA%3D%3D%40bm-WkoxNw%3D%3D,00.html?tab=technicalSpec)

If you're after something mathematical, you could of course try Kate Bush http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerial-Kate-Bush/dp/B000BE PLUE singing PI (track 2) to roughly 150 decimal places. Shame she gets it wrong http://usability.typepad.com/confusability/2005/11 /kate_bush_sings.html