Job Thread

[greg775]

5 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

Obviously every place is different but I'm working for a small company (35 employees) in the western suburbs and it's extremely laid-back and flexible. My hours are technically 8-5 with half days on Fridays but I come and go as I please as long as I am working 9 hours per day (and half on Fridays). So I usually end up coming in from like 730-430, and even though I'm 19, I'm trusted to do my job and am not constantly being micromanaged or anything.

I had a similar experience last summer at a tech start-up downtown. I think a lot of it depends on the age of ownership. In both cases my superiors are generally young (<40) and have a more relaxed attitude about the little things. Their only concern is that I do the work I'm supposed to do and complete it within those 9 hour days. They don't care about the exact minutes I'm working, whether I do some work at home, or whether I'm wearing a tie. That's the way it should be in most places, IMO. 

You come in at 7:30 and work til 4:30 so you are a reliable employee. You are still starting a half hour earlier than most folks. I thought 19 year olds were not into such regular hours? Not blasting you in any way just wondering what is up.

[greg775]

1 hour ago, Jack Parkman said:

I can't hide it. I tried that to begin with and it was an unmitigated disaster. I'd never interview well enough, no matter how prepared I was, if I didn't disclose it. I'm somewhere from a mediocre to bad interview even at my best. I can't compete with neurotypicals in the job search process. I know damn well that if I got my foot in the door I'd be great eventually. I've been hired by a few places and I always get launched during the 90 day onboarding period. When they let me go, I always ask them to stick it out longer, but they launch me anyway. The huge issue for me is that even in my job as a QA software tester, in a position designed for autistic individuals, it still took me 18 months to get comfortable and confident in my ability to do the job with minimal supervision. I tried a different approach( fewer questions, more individual problem solving) when I left there for a work at home position, and I got fired because I tried to figure things out to the best of my ability(hint: It didn't cut the mustard) while taking minimal time from my supervisors. Unfortunately, because I thought asked too many questions at my previous position, I didn't ask nearly enough at the next job that I had.  I don't know where to go from here, to be honest with you all. 

If you met me in person, I have a loud, monotone, high pitched voice. They call it the "autistic voice"  Don't you know how there are people that you can spot in public that you automatically know are gay because of their flamboyance?  I'm the same way with regard to autism.  I don't flap or rock or anything like that but I do have some other tics, besides my voice. 

My folks are pretty supportive, though we do have arguments from time to time about stuff. Imagine living with your folks in your 30s. Mostly minor stuff though. It has taken me years to get them to understand what I am going through out there looking for work. My mid to late 20s were not fun at all. I had so many arguments while educating my friends and family about the challenges of job hunting while autistic. 

One of the things that makes interviews hard for me is that I can't pick up on non-verbal cues about how the interview is going, and what type of answer the interviewer is looking for based on non verbal communication. Non verbal communication may as well not exist to me unless blatantly obvious. I can leave an interview and I have no idea how it went. None whatsoever. 

Jack you are obviously a good person so please don't be offended. You seem open thus I was curious about a couple things. Don't answer if you feel the least bit sensitive or offended. I was wondering living with your folks in your 30s ... how that works. Do you have to pay rent? Can you eat their food like we did as kids or do you have to fill the fridge once in a while with your own money. Do you have your privacy? Your own set of keys, etc? Who gets to park in the garage in the winter?

Take care. I wish u luck in finding work. Since you have some problems with traditional jobs could you open a pet sitting service? Or something like that? Or figure a way to make money as an Uber driver?

[Jose Abreu]

1 hour ago, greg775 said:

You come in at 7:30 and work til 4:30 so you are a reliable employee. You are still starting a half hour earlier than most folks. I thought 19 year olds were not into such regular hours? Not blasting you in any way just wondering what is up.

It's a job that I work full time during the summer and part time (remotely) while I'm at college. If I had it my way, I would work from home every day but it's an easy 20 minute commute, laid back atmosphere, and I tend to be really punctual so I get there early just out of habit. 

[Jack Parkman]

2 hours ago, greg775 said:

Jack you are obviously a good person so please don't be offended. You seem open thus I was curious about a couple things. Don't answer if you feel the least bit sensitive or offended. I was wondering living with your folks in your 30s ... how that works. Do you have to pay rent? Can you eat their food like we did as kids or do you have to fill the fridge once in a while with your own money. Do you have your privacy? Your own set of keys, etc? Who gets to park in the garage in the winter?

Take care. I wish u luck in finding work. Since you have some problems with traditional jobs could you open a pet sitting service? Or something like that? Or figure a way to make money as an Uber driver?

I hate living with my folks. It used to be a major embarrassment for me but as I have learned it is pretty common for people who graduated college from 2009-2013. Those who graduated into the teeth of the recession got fucked. I could have been done in December 2010 but I stayed an extra year to buy time for the economy to improve. When it didn't I got out and hoped for the best. 

[greg775]

2 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

It's a job that I work full time during the summer and part time (remotely) while I'm at college. If I had it my way, I would work from home every day but it's an easy 20 minute commute, laid back atmosphere, and I tend to be really punctual so I get there early just out of habit. 

You must be the pride of your parents cause many/most? 19 year olds want to sleep a lot later than you do. You get up early to get to work every day by 8:30 I'd assume. Where do you park in the big city?

 

1 hour ago, Jack Parkman said:

I hate living with my folks. It used to be a major embarrassment for me but as I have learned it is pretty common for people who graduated college from 2009-2013. Those who graduated into the teeth of the recession got fucked. I could have been done in December 2010 but I stayed an extra year to buy time for the economy to improve. When it didn't I got out and hoped for the best. 

Hang in there, Jack. Sounds like a fairly difficult time of your life. Hopefully you'll find something great before long.

[Heads22]

No, greg, you just assume that 19 year olds don't give a fuck.

[Bob Sacamano]

10 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

It's a job that I work full time during the summer and part time (remotely) while I'm at college. If I had it my way, I would work from home every day but it's an easy 20 minute commute, laid back atmosphere, and I tend to be really punctual so I get there early just out of habit. 

And you're only 19? Good for you man (on having an office job to be clear).

Edited July 3, 2019 by soxfan2014

[pettie4sox]

Generalizations are bad for your health greg... I'm sure you wouldn't like it someone generalized you.

[Bob Sacamano]

So I put my 2 weeks in last week. It turns out that the Inter-company (where my accountants finance people at) process that I just inherited over the past 3-4 months is all going to be done by one country in the next few months and is starting to be automated. And the person that I took it over from is delaying her medical leave another month or two. So everything worked out perfectly for me and I feel less bad about leaving.

[greg775]

12 hours ago, Heads22 said:

No, greg, you just assume that 19 year olds don't give a fuck.

Out.Of.Line.

A non slanderous post would be that I remember when I was 19 wanting to sleep til noon during the summer. Hmmm some people can't help blasting others I guess.

[Marky Mark]

I never got up early as a 19 year old.  Just wanted to sleep and play video games with friends.  Your generalization was very fair.

[Iwritecode]

I was the father of a 1-year old, working full time and taking college classes at night when I was 19. I didn't know what sleep was.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Iwritecode

[pettie4sox]

49 minutes ago, Markbilliards said:

I never got up early as a 19 year old.  Just wanted to sleep and play video games with friends.  Your generalization was very fair.

 

15 minutes ago, Iwritecode said:

I was the father of a 1-year old, working full time and taking college classes at night when I was 19. I didn't know what sleep was.

Oops... I guess not everything can fit in one's egocentric bubble.

[Heads22]

2 hours ago, greg775 said:

Out.Of.Line.

A non slanderous post would be that I remember when I was 19 wanting to sleep til noon during the summer. Hmmm some people can't help blasting others I guess.

Why is it okay for you to make broad generalizations about others all of the time? 

[greg775]

6 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

Why is it okay for you to make broad generalizations about others all of the time? 

All of the time? Here we go again with misconstrued generalizations and inaccurate character assassination statements.

I defy you to find a more polite person/poster than myself when I am actually addressing others. Cite specific instances and dates of posts. You may say I generalize about "stat people" or "advanced stat people." I think I have a large sample size of advanced stat people's comments to realize they don't give a flip about RBIs or batting average or wins/losses of pitchers. Or save totals. Those aren't generalizations.

Edited July 3, 2019 by greg775

[Heads22]

This thread? You say that most 19 year olds wouldn't want to get out of bed early? How about any of the assumptions you have made about Jack in this thread?

20 hours ago, greg775 said:

Jack you are obviously a good person

You don't know that either, if you want a specific one.

In terms of baseball, you make generalizations all the time that fans that like to follow sabermetrics or advanced stats find no value in traditional stats. Or whenever you say Hahn gets a pass for life for acquiring Eloy. Literally all you ever do is make generalizations and then apply them at will to people.

[Jose Abreu]

19 hours ago, greg775 said:

You must be the pride of your parents cause many/most? 19 year olds want to sleep a lot later than you do. You get up early to get to work every day by 8:30 I'd assume. Where do you park in the big city?

Ha, didn't mean to start a war with my comment. It's in the suburbs so parking is easy. When I worked downtown last year I would just take a train every day.

11 hours ago, soxfan2014 said:

And you're only 19? Good for you man (on having an office job to be clear).

Thank you! It's very convenient because it's also a nice little source of income during the school year when I work remotely part-time. Congrats on your new job as well. 

[greg775]

4 hours ago, Heads22 said:

This thread? You say that most 19 year olds wouldn't want to get out of bed early? How about any of the assumptions you have made about Jack in this thread?

You don't know that either, if you want a specific one.

In terms of baseball, you make generalizations all the time that fans that like to follow sabermetrics or advanced stats find no value in traditional stats. Or whenever you say Hahn gets a pass for life for acquiring Eloy. Literally all you ever do is make generalizations and then apply them at will to people.

LOL. You ever heard of a compliment as in "Jack you obviously are a good person." Only you mods who despise me could ever take this comment by me and turn it into a despicable comment. I wrote: "You must be the pride of your parents cause many/most? 19 year olds want to sleep a lot later than you do. You get up early to get to work every day by 8:30 I'd assume. Where do you park in the big city?"

I call him the pride of his parents and that's bad. I qualify it as many/most? in terms of 19 year olds wanting to sleep. So would you have been happy if I took out the most with a question mark?

Just say you hate me and be done with it. Your examples are silly at best. Now I'm accused of "generalizations." On an opinion board which is made up of lots of generalizations.

[Texsox]

On 7/2/2019 at 9:41 PM, Jack Parkman said:

I hate living with my folks. It used to be a major embarrassment for me but as I have learned it is pretty common for people who graduated college from 2009-2013. Those who graduated into the teeth of the recession got fucked. I could have been done in December 2010 but I stayed an extra year to buy time for the economy to improve. When it didn't I got out and hoped for the best. 

I feel stupid offering any advice because clearly I am struggling to see the IRL person behind your well written, well analysed posts. With the well traveled and varied experiences of the posters here it seems like we could develop a short list of careers that match your talents.

Help us out. What would the ideal position look like? For starters I'm thinking that depth, not breadth is your strength. Working on one or two big research, long term, type projects would be better than juggling a dozen tasks. 

Less face to face interactions and more written communications with colleagues would be advantageous.

What else would help? 

One of my first thoughts is proofreading books.

 

[Jack Parkman]

3 hours ago, Texsox said:

I feel stupid offering any advice because clearly I am struggling to see the IRL person behind your well written, well analysed posts. With the well traveled and varied experiences of the posters here it seems like we could develop a short list of careers that match your talents.

Help us out. What would the ideal position look like? For starters I'm thinking that depth, not breadth is your strength. Working on one or two big research, long term, type projects would be better than juggling a dozen tasks. 

Less face to face interactions and more written communications with colleagues would be advantageous.

What else would help? 

One of my first thoughts is proofreading books.

 

I'm a hell of a lot better communicating in written form vs. verbally. It just is what it is. 

I'm looking for a decent career at this point, but I need to make money as quickly as possible. If money was no object, I'd go back to school and pursue that meteorology degree that was always one of the things I wanted to study. I'm concerned about going into one of those types of fields, because you kind of need a PhD to get anywhere and at this point in my life I can't afford to give up 8 years of it to pursue that. 

I just need to find some way to get a damn 40 hr per week job that pays a living wage. That is literally all I want out of life at this point. I only care if I hate my job if I can't be independent and live the sort of lifestyle I want to live. I'm not interested in starting a family, so long-term earning potential isn't as big of a deal as it otherwise would be. I need a boss who is willing to put up with my admittedly steep learning curve and wait it out. The other thing I actually am not sure I have admitted is that I have never held a full time job in my life, nor have I ever even received a job offer for one. So I have that little issue to overcome as well. 

The most frustrating thing for me is that the things I've always wanted most as an adult (a full time job, my financial independence and a long term gf) just seem out of reach for me and it is frustrating beyond belief. It is really hard to keep putting yourself out there when you never get that one break that you need in any of your goals. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Jack Parkman

[Texsox]

There are a couple of firms out there that pay you to write blog posts. The issue may be the work is per article and to make the best money you need to write fast and on a wide variety of topics.

My family was in the transportation industry. Driving a truck is a cool gig if you can handle the solitude and like to travel. 

I'm not finished, I just need some time to think. 

 

[bigruss]

How are your development skills?  If you're a QA software engineer I would imagine you have a pretty decent tech background.  Go do some temp/contract work, that market is so insane and Chicago is a great market for it.  If you want to be your own boss you could pick up freelance work, there's always someone trying to build something and looking for a freelancer and now there are specific sites out there for those jobs.  Get good at mobile dev, java, front end, something then do some projects to build up a portfolio (maybe do a local hackathon or something).  

We pay somewhere between $60-80/hr in the Milwaukee area for seasoned testers (that's to the vendor not sure what the tester makes).  We pay java devs between 60-100/hr, and specialized product devs upwards of 200/hr (Sailpoint IIQ).  You could look at becoming really good at a product like that and you can make BANK as a contractor.  

[Jack Parkman]

55 minutes ago, bigruss said:

How are your development skills?  If you're a QA software engineer I would imagine you have a pretty decent tech background.  Go do some temp/contract work, that market is so insane and Chicago is a great market for it.  If you want to be your own boss you could pick up freelance work, there's always someone trying to build something and looking for a freelancer and now there are specific sites out there for those jobs.  Get good at mobile dev, java, front end, something then do some projects to build up a portfolio (maybe do a local hackathon or something).  

We pay somewhere between $60-80/hr in the Milwaukee area for seasoned testers (that's to the vendor not sure what the tester makes).  We pay java devs between 60-100/hr, and specialized product devs upwards of 200/hr (Sailpoint IIQ).  You could look at becoming really good at a product like that and you can make BANK as a contractor.  

It was a weird thing. My experience is strictly UX QA. I don't know Java or SQL or anything like that. I didn't realize this when I left my old company, but the skills I learned there are useless outside of that company. I know basic C++ and MATLAB and that's it. I haven't used those skills in a decade. I'm not sure that I want to do that for a living. I hated staring at a screen for 5+hrs per day. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Jack Parkman

[The Beast]

19 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

It was a weird thing. My experience is strictly UX QA. I don't know Java or SQL or anything like that. I didn't realize this when I left my old company, but the skills I learned there are useless outside of that company. I know basic C++ and MATLAB and that's it. I haven't used those skills in a decade. I'm not sure that I want to do that for a living. I hated staring at a screen for 5+hrs per day. 

Jack, what about checking out some technical writing jobs or even seeing if you can get a certification at a community college that would lead to employment?

Also, I may have a post for all of you because I too have a career dilemma and can’t seem to figure it out.

[Texsox]

The question always comes up when teachers go on strike why couldn't it be resolved before school started. Here's an interesting insight from Texas.

I signed a contract in May for next year. If I didn't sign, it basically means I'm resigning. Legally I can quit anytime before July 12th without repercussions. Here's the interesting part. I still do not know my wages for the coming school year. Adding to the situation,the Texas assembly a month ago funded additional money for teacher salaries. Most school districts have announced increases of 5% or more. My son and his wife in their district are receiving $5,000 raises. My district still has not made an announcement. It's July 8th. It appears as if they are waiting until we can't legally get out of our contract. 

Now in fairness we are the highest paid teachers in our area and in my NSHO, appreciate and treated well.