Job thread

[Rendakor]

As someone who worked 80 hours last week without a day off until this Saturday (hopefully, as I'm still on call ), I could do with a bit of unemployment.

[Ard]

Really? I like my work. I'd go crazy if I've gone crazy when I didn't have something interesting (but occasionally onerous) to do.

I never really lacked for anything to do, I just didn't do any of it for money.  It was a much more enjoyable situation for me overall.  I've never been one to associate who I am with the work that I do though.  It did help that I wasn't in a situation where I had to worry about money though.  It felt like I had less free time overall when I was unemployed than when employed for the most part.

[Sophismata]

Really? I like my work. I'd go crazy if I've gone crazy when I didn't have something interesting (but occasionally onerous) to do.

I never really lacked for anything to do, I just didn't do any of it for money.  It was a much more enjoyable situation for me overall.  I've never been one to associate who I am with the work that I do though.  It did help that I wasn't in a situation where I had to worry about money though.  It felt like I had less free time overall when I was unemployed than when employed for the most part.

Hmmm. I think I just need the kick in the ass that having real deadlines and consequences gives me. I excel in that kind of environment.

Although sometimes I'd really like to take a week off and study something interesting. All my annual leave keeps piling up and I cancel potential holidays to chip in on other projects…

[Lantyssa]

I'd be so much better off in retirement.

I have tons of things I'd like to do, but don't want to get stuck mid-way because I have to drop it to babysit work stuff.

[Paelos]

I plan to retire the second I make have $10M lying around. Sooo, gonna be a while.

[Torinak]

I plan to retire the second I make have $10M lying around. Sooo, gonna be a while.

If you're habitually living below your means, you don't need anywhere near that. $2-3M is much easier to reach than $10M. $2M would probably let one spend about $60K/year forever, which is more than the average US household income.

(I was always boggled by former colleagues making 150K+/yr who were still living paycheck to paycheck...)

[pxib]

America has, without a doubt, the wealthiest working class in the world.


Well guys, government middle management turns out to be pretty great. All the things I wished somebody would change back when I was working in the department are changed now, and they're fantastic. I do less work and get more credit than ever before. Right now I'm rewriting the Delivery Truck guidebook and working with the lawyers to establish system-wide safety standards for sort efficiency. All without leaving my desk. My boss is hounding me to take more vacation days and with this pay rate and benefits package I'll retire at 50.

So I've yet to shit the bed,  everybody who loved me before I got hired still loves me now... and every interaction with the other branches only adds to my fame. At some point I'm sure something will go wrong and I'll have to do that "take responsibility" thing people warned me about... but so far? Wheeeeee.

[Viin]

Jinx!

[pxib]

 

[Viin]

Honestly, sounds like a nice gig. I'm also middle management, but I have the advantage that no one reports to me so I don't have to deal with any employee/employer drama.

[Fabricated]

Benefits update: A minor revolt by the staff (backed by a LOT of faculty, which really made us staff happy- they were hurt a LOT less than us) resulted in the administration's original forum over the time off changes being moved to a ballroom which ended up standing room only with 1000+ employees in it. Needless to say, they were surprised. The changes aren't being implemented this year now, and they're doing small focus groups with every department in the university to alter the system. Bare minimum change is more PTO.

Meanwhile where I actually work this summer is shaping up to be really really bad.

We're losing a team lead to another group in our department, probably losing another engineer to the same group, one engineer is going back to his old gig because his replacement fucked up so bad they went crawling back to him hat in hand, another is leaving to finish their degree.

One of our site teams is down to 1/4 people due to the site lead's wife dying in an accident  , one being on vacation, and one being gone for training for a month.

Christ.

[Chimpy]

You could always apply for jobs here at Illinois and commute. 

[IainC]

Since losing my job last October, I've been applying pretty much anywhere for lead or senior designer roles. On a whim I threw my hat in the ring for a far more senior position, was stunned to get a design test for it, was even more surprised to get two Skype interviews, gobsmacked to get a second, more focused design test and now they want to bring me over to meet with them for a week. That would be next week. So, if things go well, there's a good chance that I could get an offer to be a Creative Director for Wargaming within the next few days.

[Merusk]

You're a veteran of over 6+ years now and a humble enough guy you underestimate your skillset, Iain.  Congrats and good luck.

[IainC]

You're a veteran of over 6+ years now and a humble enough guy you underestimate your skillset, Iain.  Congrats and good luck.

If we count tabletop design, then it's closer to 17 years.

[Chimpy]

Is it safely west of the iron curtain this time?

[IainC]

Is it safely west of the iron curtain this time?

For the moment.

[Ironwood]

Does that mean the Iron Curtain will move due to your new position ?

Because that's a worry.

[Paelos]

Where are you moving? Sparta? Sounds great!

[IainC]

Where are you moving? Sparta? Sounds great!

If I get the job it will be in Kiev. With some responsibilities in Minsk and Nicosia too.

[Chimpy]

Kiev is not "safely" west of the Putin line!

[Paelos]

Where are you moving? Sparta? Sounds great!

If I get the job it will be in Kiev. With some responsibilities in Minsk and Nicosia too.

I knew a girl that travelled from Milan to Minsk.

Anyway sounds like fun. Make sure to buy a gun.

[Ironwood]

 

[Yegolev]

Hello,
Profitable position of Tour Master in enjoyable work sphere is open at this time. We recruit people to take this place with main payment of $4,200 per month.
We also cheer our team with various bonuses and free tours.

On this post your main duties will be related with our consumers service and support: help and guide different client's tasks, carry out invoicing, prоvidе the bеst sеrviсе tо ехisting аnd our potential consumers.

In base you should have:
- good social skills and have a grip on PC;
- be of full legal age;
- no police records;
- Be USA Permanent Resident.

If you are interested in this position please send your resume only to this mail:

[Signe]

Good luck, Iain!  Buy a lot of grey clothing so you blend into the background, scenery and people.  I'm glad it wasn't Norilsk.  Or Oklahoma City.

[IainC]

I am flying out tomorrow, I made sure my 'Putin is way too girly a wussbag to have me abducted and killed!' t-shirt was freshly washed and pressed for the trip. According to the scedule they sent me, it looks like I'll know what their decision will be on Friday afternoon. I fly home on Saturday, which happens to be my birthday so it could be an interesting weekend.

[Hammond]

Good luck Iain! We had a contractor that our company used for about a year that is based just outside Kiev. She is a US citizen and she has lived over there for a few years. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about that part of the country. I talked to her about a month ago and she wasn't that worried about the fighting... She does work in agriculture so keep that in mind. We also have had a few of our sales people traveling around the Ukraine and Russia right now and they feel fairly safe.

[Teleku]

The only real danger is if Russia launches a full invasion (Highly Unlikely), or the domestic situation deteriorates enough that more mass protests and civil unrest break out (slightly more likely).  It's perfectly safe there otherwise, and he should have a good time, unless he's deadset on having access to big shopping malls and stuff like that.  The bad stuff is only happening in the far east corner of the country.  Everybody I know who has served over there has loved it.

[Hawkbit]

Had two tech screens today for the same job; the first went great, the second I bombed. Straight up locked up and could not move past the problem. I've been relying on JS libraries for too much, apparently. Need to get back to basics.

[Trippy]

Yes, though the nice thing about JSFiddle, which is where I usually ask candidates to write out their JS code, is that it can load up most of the popular JS libraries easily. So if somebody can, say, only remember the JQuery syntax for doing something, I just let them do it that way.

[IainC]

Wargaming offered me the job (well, a job anyway. Not the one I originally applied for). I'll get their written offer with details tomorrow or Friday and then it's decision time.

[KallDrexx]

Laid my cards out on the table today.

Approached a company I do side contracting work in my free time for and told them essentially that if they agree (and think there's enough work overall, which there is) I'll dedicate an average of 30 hours a week to them but increasing my pay rate (to compensate for increased taxes, getting my own healthcare, std, ltd, etc...).  If this works out it's going to be amazing.  I'll be taking a slight pay cut but overall I'll only have to work 3-3.5 days a week, be completely flexible about when/where I work, and get more time to work on my startup.

I'll hear back in a few days...

[Hawkbit]

Yes, though the nice thing about JSFiddle, which is where I usually ask candidates to write out their JS code, is that it can load up most of the popular JS libraries easily. So if somebody can, say, only remember the JQuery syntax for doing something, I just let them do it that way.

That's a great idea. I had to do the whole thing on paper, nested functions and DOM interaction I couldn't remember. I might have muddled through if I had a console so I could test changes, but I just got tripped up on myself. It was a tough but technically fair question. It was for a c# shop, and I know exactly zero c# syntax, so I had a feeling it would go this way. I might just stick to rails and spend the next three months with intensive js.

[Teleku]

Wargaming offered me the job (well, a job anyway. Not the one I originally applied for). I'll get their written offer with details tomorrow or Friday and then it's decision time.

Congrats man!

[Furiously]

I believe today is the last day of my sixty-day "preferential rehire" phase during which I can be put into another HP position without any significant paperwork... so of course today is the day that I get calls from HP managers desperately trying to fill gaps in their organizations.  One of these desperate people supports NASA in Huntsville, which would actually fulfill a child-wish to work with rockets and space and NASA and stuff.  Not sure if the manager can pierce the HP bureaucracy to get me in there, but I'd be willing to give it a try for a little while.

Also the damn Weather Company finally contacted me about a systems engineering position that I posted to at least a month ago.  God help anyone who gets laid off and doesn't have any money saved to pay bills with.

Space stuff was the least fun stuff I worked on. That being said, knowing something you touched is scattered as debis across the surface of mars is pretty cool.