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My best job I didn't even submit a resume to get it. I was just lucky enough to be friends with a couple who ran a playhouse. They gave me the job of designing and building props and sets for plays when they took interest in some sketches I did for fun. We won awards in all areas of production, that we got invited to perform in Dundalk Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
I didn't lose much when I dropped out, but it has helped some of my friends land good jobs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Roman
One internal job I got, which came with a hefty raise, I didn't even know it was offered. I thought I was talking to the head of research about what I wanted to do with my career. It was only a minute or two before that discussion that he mentioned that it was an interview for an open position.
I'm not sure whether people are starting to realize this or not. I think kids discover it anew every year, but older people never seem surprised. Looking back, I feel rather mixed about it. At this point, I realize that I didn't need to have spent as much as I did for school (a trivial amount compared to what it currently costs). I could have gone to my state school and paid my way. Instead, I took on debt that I paid off only by my early 30s. Since I now know how little the details matter, it would have been much cheaper. On the other hand, my undergrad directly led to my choice of grad school, my choice of grad school directly led to my first job, my first job led to everything else. Had I not followed the path I did, would my life have been better? It's been pretty awesome, so odds against it being better are kind of high. And as to the debt, did it really matter? It's all gone now. What more would I have had I not put the money in that direction? What more do I want? Apparently nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Roman
Still, nobody told me that it didn't matter where I went. I thought there was value for the money, at the time, and nobody corrected me on that. People did know, though, they just didn't tell me.
No matter what you learn in classes in college, so long as it's in science or tech (with a few exceptions, perhaps) it will be out of date within five years. You have to keep learning, and that's what college is partly about. The people who I knew who dropped out, did so because they weren't ready to handle the discipline needed to stick with it. Learning how to self-motivate is one of the bigger parts of college. By grad school, it's ALL self-motivation. The other part of college is learning the social skills to interact, which is where I feel that current colleges are failing. Kids don't get to speak up in HS, for the most part. College is partly about teaching them to speak up, but also about teaching them to let others speak up.
I feel that's true. About any job you get hired for will begin with training. So it's not so much what you learn in college, it's that you completed the task.Quote:
No matter what you learn in classes in college, so long as it's in science or tech (with a few exceptions, perhaps) it will be out of date within five years. You have to keep learning, and that's what college is partly about. The people who I knew who dropped out, did so because they weren't ready to handle the discipline needed to stick with it. Learning how to self-motivate is one of the bigger parts of college. By grad school, it's ALL self-motivation. The other part of college is learning the social skills to interact, which is where I feel that current colleges are failing.
I've often wonder if it isn't partly an attitude of, I had to do it, so I want someone who also did it.
If training is all they want, then why the wish list of technologies in a job application and only the best, brightest, "diverse", and most qualified get hired? Companies are becoming spoiled and it will soon get to the point to where entry level from grads is unreachable unless you have a masters or a PhD.
I am a senior software engineer without a college degree.
I consider myself super lucky because I found VBForums and had members (like Shaggy, JMcIlhinney, Paul, TG, etc.) show me the .NET way rather than the VB specific way which helped me understand the concepts themselves better than the syntax specific stuff.
Who should they hire? The worst, the dullest, the least qualified. lolQuote:
If training is all they want, then why the wish list of technologies in a job application and only the best, brightest, "diverse", and most qualified get hired?
There is a big difference between an entry level job straight out of college and the one asking for 5 or 10 yrs experience.
That was quite common when I began my programming career. I've wondered how often it happens now a days, seems about all colleges have well established computer science departments now. I remember several classes I took weren't taught by professors but by someone from industry. I wasn't a CS major.Quote:
Originally Posted by dday9
I think it helps too that I picked up 1099 contract jobs while I was doing my normal 9-5 before making the career switch. It allowed me to point to projects on my resume and say "hey, I did this on time and on budget."
Yeah, totally this. I'm already there, as you pretty much can't get hired where I'm at (which pays below average, by the way) without either a graduate degree or about ten years working with us at a lower level. Computers were hiring "anybody with half a clue or more" for a long time, but that may well be changing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Roman
There have been people writing books about making computer science more "professional". Their definition of that word is...debatable. Their intention is not, as they wrote a whole book about it. Every such book or paper I have seen can be summed up with, "let's keep the riff-raff out."
I expect that it would drive up salaries.
Well since I am a white cis male, I am never getting hired. I'd have a better shot being a gay trans vegan indian :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
[EDIT] I could identify as one though :ehh:
Come on, not the "disadvantaged white guy" trope.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Roman
Yeah, nobody is less disadvantaged in all of history.
Ups and downs continue. Still being held off meeting.
Another person offered to listen to my whinging about the situation. Four hour phone call in the middle of the night and now I have two problems.
Might have to go back to being a hermit. I almost thought I'd conferenced calls from both of them together. That's not the sort of three-way anybody would want.
Stay strong, Dil. :)
Yeah. You'd been silent for so long, I was beginning to worry that you'd been buried in a flowerbed somewhere.
Interesting ride.
Just remember in Star Wars IV:
Quote:
Luke: I'll be careful next time.
Random A-Hole: You'll be dead!
Going to have to start calling you Pit Bull. Once you grab hold there is no shaking you lose. I don't know if I should root for you to win or lose. Best of luck, whatever that may be.Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Yeah, "best of luck" is only truly estimated in hindsight, and even then we're often wrong.
Turns out this second one really is a co-whinger, she's got a similar situation with her guy. Glad I misinterpreted the signals, I don't need that.
But another 4 hours long call, this time (egad, even better) her guy texting her the whole time. She'd told him about us talking, and that we're just commiserating on and seeking solutions to our mutual problems. The texting making it clear her guy is upset, glowering, and telling her to push off since she's decided what she wants.
This seems even more disturbing and hazardous to be wrapped up in. I wish I'd known about this first. Totally innocent, I now need to keep an eye out for any suspicious stranger toting a shotgun. At least (theoretically) he's about 1000 miles away.
I asked her to hang up, call him, tell him I said she should hang up and call him. But no, she texts him that, and then tells him she won't do that because then he won't change.
So now I'm considering becoming a hermit in a bunker with no phones or Internet access at all.
Man, the more you describe these scenarios, the more and more they sound like you could be in high school.
Wow, just wow.
I was all for it at first, not so much now. I wouldn't end it, either, but I'd certainly be making sure the bunker was properly stocked, too.
Doesn't it just though?Quote:
Originally Posted by dday9
Who knew senility kicked in so early? Emotional regression?
It doesn't ever seem to end.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
This second woman, playing games with her guy {Get me out of the middle!}, along with others in the group of 12 or so online friends, is trying to goad me into breaking the ice with another member of this group.
Implications being that she's been hoping once I ditch the original woman I've been talking about all this time (not part of this group) that then she would have a shot.
Meanwhile just a bit ago #2 texts me she has shingles now. I needed to know this... why?
I'm beginning to wish I've been making all of this up. I must be in the center of some sort of Bermuda Triangle.
She's had a boyfriend all this time???
If so, then from my experience, if they will cheat on them, then they will cheat on you. They'll find an excuse to justify it. With enough talk it might even sound justified to you, but it isn't.
Not giving advise, just my belief. Plus I loath those type of people
Now THAT's interesting. You may be finding yourself embarking upon waters you may never have truly believed in. Since women have generally longer lifespans than men, finding eligible (not physically or financially decrepit) men becomes increasingly difficult. You may be becoming a prize, and not necessarily in a good way. Think more "pinata" than "trophy".Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
My father has been dealing with this. Despite being 88, he's quite robust in mind and body. He got married back in 2019, and his wife is rather pointedly guarding her territory. She thinks the physical therapists who have been coming by are "trying to get him." Now, they are young enough to see me as a creepy old man, they sure as heck aren't trying to pick up my father. She's a wonderful woman, but there sure seems to be a predatory nature to relationships at that age.
Not sure age creates their(anyones) predatory nature, perhaps it's just harder to hide. Maybe your right, necessity brought on by age might bring it out. Getting old sucks. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Yeah, you could be right. It may have been there all along.
Dil: As long as she doesn't start calling you her chum....
Another wet day in CA. My neighbor seems to be build some kind of Ark. Hmmm, wonder what's going on.
You don't need to freak out. Now if you start to see a bunch of different animals in two's, then it'd be time to reassess.
Point taken, Quint.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Oooo, good reference.
That seems to ring true.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
I'm also detecting another weird pattern. Almost like they try to fill their stringers in a sort of competition for the biggest catch. Or maybe Pokemon (gotta catch 'em all).
Yeah, Pokemon is a very good metaphor.
There's a real competition.
What does the winner get?? Or is there a winner. Maybe the game never ends.
The winner gets a partner who pays for their psychotherapy for life. :bigyello:Quote:
Originally Posted by wes4dbt
I'm trying hard to spin this as coping with the realities of starting over after the demographics have tilted. I'm not sure how else to make it come out as non-pathological. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Peter Porter