The no jargon blog

kApologies for not updating here for a while, but I’ve been busy with work. And as reasons go, that’s a damned good one, I’ve not been able to use that excuse for a while and it feels good to say it! This new covid strain is doing my head in, and I suspect you’re the...

Here we are in the impossibly science fictional sounding year of 2021, where people have more computing power in their mobile phone than Mission Control in Houston had during the moon landings. And yet… We ought to remember that everything we have today, language...

I have a job. Unless you’ve had the experience of being out of the workforce for an extended period, you probably have no idea what being able to write that sentence means. I have a job. I like saying it, I let it roll around on my tongue like a nice Barossa Valley...

I know, I know, all those people who keep saying “It’ll all work out fine, just do what I did and you’ll land a job no problems” annoy the hell out of me too. It’s not easy, it’s never been easy, I doubt it’ll ever be easy. And I’ll admit I’ve not exactly had it all...

The three most satisfying words in the English language are “I was right”. And that’s what I thought as a read an article in Vox recently, “Why everybody’s hiring but nobody’s getting hired”. It backs up something I said in an earlier blog post critical of the role...

One of the things I’ve learned while job hunting is that employers aren’t fans of gaps in your employment record. Recruitment and resume writing companies say it’s a bad look, as if you’ve been lying on a beach in Rarotonga eating pineapple and pretending to write the...

I don’t know about you, but I’m well and truly over this pandemic. Actually, I suspect I DO know about you - as the irritating slogan goes, “we’re all in this together” and that goes for the side effects from constant lockdowns. I imagine my habit of taking naps in...

We’re all getting pretty ratty with this pandemic and lockdown, and in our human need for a target for our feelings we seem to occasionally lash out in the wrong directions. Look, I get it, I really do. I’m in Melbourne where we’ve had 200 days of hard lockdown since...

I always thought battling sinister, impersonal artificial intelligences would involve dodging laser fire and going back in time to foil plans by robots to assassinate James Cameron’s wife.. But here I am trying to apply for jobs, only to find myself attempting to...

I believe this somewhat cynical question was first asked by a former Italian administrator in what is now Israel some time ago. But it’s still as relevant as ever. Most professional communicators these days realise that telling the truth is not just the ethically...

“Writers take tours in other people’s lives” said American science fiction writer Harlan Ellison. It’s probably a good thing he made the comment years ago, before accusations of cultural appropriation were a thing, because nowadays you can have your career destroyed...

My first proper cooking video has been completed and let’s be honest, Jamie Oliver’s job is probably safe. Which isn’t to say it wasn’t a success – I’m quite happy with the way I managed to learn and apply new skills and it’s pretty good for a first time. This...