IELTS Questions Generator, 1st Podcast Episode, Still Looking For A Job, First Car and Many More

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Well, actually four and a half months. Yes, time passes very quickly. In this post I wanted to share with you couple of recent achievements, several freshly taken photos from Sydney and view updates on my website.

Four Months in Sydney

I’ve been extremely busy over the last couple of moths.

As you might remember from my blogpost I wrote two months ago, I was looking for a job. Guess what? I still haven’t found it.  I reviewed my resume 5 or 6 times, hired professional resume/cover letter writer, sent around 100 applications. Despite all these efforts all attempts to find engineering job were unsuccessful. Of course, that’s disappointing, but I don’t give up. I gradually move towards my goal. I think, the main reason why it is so difficult for me to land  a job here is because my previous experience  is too specific and  not relevant to current  needs on  Australian market. So now I know what skills, experience, technical knowledge and knowledge of software  are in most demand in my field. Therefore my plan is to get what local employers seek in job candidates. We’ll see.

 

Clovelly Beach, Sydney, 2017

 

Clovelly Beach, Rock Pool

 

Clovelly Beach

 

 

 

 

Madame Tussauds Museum, Sydney

 

Sydney Zoo

 

Drivers Licence, First Car

I am really excited to share with you that I’ve got my NSW Drivers Licence! I got my licence in Russia back in 2001 (16 years ago!) but I’ve never had an opportunity (or need?) to buy a car. Now its the time! Sydney is huge city in terms of area coverage. It takes me almost 2 hours every day to commute from one part of the city to another on my way to work and back home. So I followed advice of people who lived here longer than me and got my drivers licence. It took a lot of time and efforts but I did it.  I passed knowledge test in December (quite easy). I’ve taken around 20 driving lessons with experienced instructor  and that payed off! I passed driving test in one go! Have a look at my results! Driving school even wrote a short post about me (I scored 100%).

What’s more, I bought a car (thanks to my casual job)! This is my first car ever. I’ve got mixed emotions about it. Honestly it’s a bit scary to drive a car in such a big and busy city like Sydney. On the other hand I am really glad that as time passes I feel more and more confident on a road. Finally, I now can save some time by going to work by car and invest it to my online projects or just have some rest.

Results of my driving test: 100%

Questions Generator

Recently I added new page on my website. Questions Generator  is as simple as it sounds. Each time you press Next button you get random question from IELTS  speaking part 1,2 or 3. Currently there are about 50 questions from 5 different topics. I definitely will be adding more questions in the future. I think it is quite handy to use this page for preparation. How? If you have a partner you can use this page for answering random questions. You don’t know what topic or questions you’ll be given on real exam. This is the place where you can emulate real exam. Let me know if you think it is a good idea to make some advancements and add more functionality to this page. For example, I can add filters so you can  set it up and answer  questions from part 1 only or from Family topic only.

Podcast

I am really excited  because I posted the Episode 1 of my podcast.  It took me much longer time to produce it,  but I’ve done it! I cannot compete with other bloggers and give tips on how to answer IELTS questions. However I definitely can give you a lot of valuable information. How much time it took other test takers to get desired score? How they practiced spoken English? Where do you find online tutor? Is it affordable for you? So many questions to answer. That’s why I decided to start my own podcast and invite guests. In my podcast I will be interviewing test takers, teachers and people who learn english so that they can share with you all those answers.    In  the first episode I chatted with Rob McCormack, the man behind SlowEnglish.info.  Be sure to visit his website and listen the episode, especially if you need audio materials for beginner and intermediate  learners.

My Projects

I decided to share with you  my two  small online  projects which I started almost year ago. Why? Because it might be interesting for you two know about them.

Actually, first project is my website thetestaker.com (initially, ieltsspeakingvocabulary.com). Although recently I add new content quite rarely, I see that number of visitors and subscribers is gradually goes up and I am very excited about it. I’ll try to grow my audience more by adding more content which hopefully will be useful for IELTS test takers.

I never mentioned here my second project. I  am talking about my Amazon FBA products which I sell on amazon.com. If you want to know more about how it works you can visit Scott Voelker’s website or read these posts on Spencer Haw’s blog. One year ago I decided to  start my small business and gave it a try. Initially it all sounded a bit dodgy but now I see it’s real. Because I have small budget and time I haven’t become rich, but I managed to validate for myself that this actually works. I sell products and I see money coming in to my payoneer account. After huge peak in sales during holiday season 2016 I expected that in January and February 2017 we’ll see just a 1-2 sales per day. Surprisingly, we have on average 4-5 sales which is very not so bad for my first product. I keep reinvesting money and prepare to launch my next and more quiche product soon.

December-November 2016 stats, one product, Amazon FBA

 

Instagram

You might find it interesting to visit my instagramm account which I  crated couple of months ago. Click here to visit my page

Blog with Me

Recently I decided to reach out to my subscribers and readers and try to find someone to help me with my blog. I feel that I have no enough time to grow my website. On the other hand, I don’t want to give up and close this project. Well, maybe this might be a good solution – to find someone who could contribute to my website. Maybe it’s you!

Why you need it? Well, it’s not for everyone, it’s true. However, for  some of you, blogging  might be really valuable experience. Paul Minors (my virtual mentor) wrote great post called  How to start a personal blog where he listed 7 reasons for starting a blog:

  1. A blog helps you to grow a personal brand
  2. A blog makes you more hireable with an online portfolio of work
  3. A blog helps you to learn new skills
  4. A blog makes you a better communicator
  5. A blog helps you to meet new people
  6. A blog helps you to share your knowledge
  7. A blog is fun

Got hooked? The good news, if you decide to join me, you don’t need to mess around with technical part (hosting, domain, wordpress etc.). I’ve already set it all up. However, you should understand that blogging requires time, persistence and patience. If you feel that it’s not for you that’s ok.  I look for someone who will benefit from this project and will  help others to learn English and overcome their obstacles on their way to desired IELTS score.

If it sounds like you, don’t hesitate! Leave a comment or submit your message via  contact form and I will reply.

I believe, sooner or later I’ll find my partner and we’ll take this project together to the next level.

 

Hopefully it was interesting read. Keep in touch and leave your comments!

 

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