How is your career going?

[Jeff V]

That sucks, I did a 2 year contract gig with Sara Lee under those conditions. Then I became a political football...the network manager wanted me made permanent and assigned to his team, the CIO wanted the mainframe relics retrained (which they had no interest). CIO>Network Manager so I wound up kicked to the curb

[Kraken]

NVIDIA asked for a price quote on editing the spring GTC sessions. It's double the work I did for fall (800 vs. 400 sessions), so my price doubles too. It will also take twice as long, so not a raise, but it's still twice as much money. And I'll get the usual 50% overrun contingency because they have deep pockets and it turns out I'm really good at this.

The spring contract was based on 50 hours and I only worked 38. If the percentage holds, I'll be able to finish the new 100-hour project in 76, which makes my hourly rate go ka-ching! The job starts in December, ends in March, and won't pay out until April.

[Kasey Chang]

For the heck of it, I started Larry Apke's free Agile and SCRUM class. Wonder if being a SCRUM master will add to my employability? (certification comes later, Supposedly everyone who gets through this free Zoom class has a 95+% of passing the cert on first attempt) And I'm still sending out resumes here and there. I've also tried looking for multi-lingual jobs, non-PC related. Whatever.

[Paingod]

Wonder if being a SCRUM master will add to my employability?

I see this a lot now. DevOps, Agile Development, and the SCRUM are hot keywords in job searches. Someone I tossed a resume to even interviewed me for a SCRUM master position, despite my lack of knowledge. The recruiter was as baffled as I was that she wanted me talked to for the job. It wasn't the one I had applied for.

[LawBeefaroni]

Just made president!*









*Of a small, all volunteer non-profit with about $500k in annual revenue. Still, one for the resume.

[dbt1949]

I'm non profit and could use $500K.

[LawBeefaroni]

I should note that I still have my day job. This is an unpaid position.

[Zarathud]

Congratulations on your new unpaid responsibilities.

[Jeff V]

So I was approached by an HR person recruiting for a network engineering job who found me on Indeed. While I'm nearly 20 years removed from having that job title, I've worked closely enough with network engineers over the past few decades and nothing in the job description or requirements seemed to be any sort of deal-breaker. In any event, any opportunity to talk with someone is worth the effort.

Call was scheduled for 10 am. Phone rings, I answer, and we are immediately disconnected. Over the next 15 minutes, I tried 5 times to call back, kept going straight to VM. I followed up with an email, but still, WTF...

On a slightly more hopeful note, this morning I applied for a job that is much more in sync with recent experience. Seems the recruiting person for it agreed and responded right away asking availability and salary requirements.

Last week, I got a text message from a former contractor who I've provided references at least a half-dozen times in the past. He was surprised to learn I was no longer at my last job, offered to recommend me to his recruiter, so after I provided the recruiter the reference, she talked for about another 15 minutes about me.

[Tao]

Call was scheduled for 10 am. Phone rings, I answer, and we are immediately disconnected. Over the next 15 minutes, I tried 5 times to call back, kept going straight to VM. I followed up with an email, but still, WTF...

Might be a second opening once they fire the VOIP engineer.

[Jeff V]

Call was scheduled for 10 am. Phone rings, I answer, and we are immediately disconnected. Over the next 15 minutes, I tried 5 times to call back, kept going straight to VM. I followed up with an email, but still, WTF...

Might be a second opening once they fire the VOIP engineer.

Interest-wise, that would be identical to the network engineering role. I participated in a lot of VOIP implementations at my last job, but all were project managed by the telecom manager. I know what's involved and pretty much the steps and sequence in a migration, just not so much in the finer details.

[Paingod]

I know what's involved and pretty much the steps and sequence in a migration, just not so much in the finer details.

The finer details are the ones that get into all the cracks and leave a rash.

[Jeff V]

I know what's involved and pretty much the steps and sequence in a migration, just not so much in the finer details.

The finer details are the ones that get into all the cracks and leave a rash.

Mostly it was stuff that rocks the telecom guys world that I couldn't care less about, such as creating new auto-attendants where none existed and dealing with baffling restrictions from the service providers. Case in point: AT&T did not allow for more than one active order to be in place at any given time (drastically slowing rollout in a company with hundreds of facilities) and changing the order after it was placed could turn the clock back weeks. Things got even worse when the company split, and we had facilities with two discrete companies occupying the same space -- they would only allow for a single company to have an active project at a time in such a facility. Much more of a PITA than saying "ok, I need 200 phones and numbers delivered in 2 weeks." Just what I saw and was involved with was a pain, and I didn't even see a lot of the details.

Then there was a time a secretary in the other company some how managed to cancel service for 250 of my people...phones started randomly dropping during the day, if that wasn't discovered and undone before replicating, it could have been weeks without a phone.

[Tao]

I know what's involved and pretty much the steps and sequence in a migration, just not so much in the finer details.

The finer details are the ones that get into all the cracks and leave a rash.

I try to explain this concept to executive management when they ask why they are paying Tier 3 salary for someone "when everything works great". I keep reminding the executive, you don't pay this persons salary for when things are working, that's what Tier 1 and 2 are for, you pay him to know when everything is about to go to hell and how to get it all back.

We use Verizon to manage most of our circuits and we were having to place requests usually 6 months out, which was unworkable. We got them down to 90 days now.

[Paingod]

when they ask why they are paying Tier 3 salary for someone "when everything works great".

This attitude infuriates me and is one of the great pains in IT at various levels. It's not just a thankless job, but often completely misunderstood and maligned. "They" (clueless executives) assume that when things are going well that the techs are all loafing around playing DOOM on their laptops. "They" start getting funny ideas on cost savings in labor or outsourcing since the problems are so few and far between.

The problem is that your IT department is doing the job you hired them for, ensuring the business runs smoothly. Preventative measures are generally more expensive up-front than reactive measures, but do save money in the long run if you can just learn to be patient and let them work.

So they get the idea in their head and they make a change. They destroy that smooth operation and introduce a malfunction to the works that ripples out across the business. Out of ignorance and in order to save a buck, or maybe to collect a yearly bonus.

I often try and remind "executive" folks that IT is the oil in the engine of business. Without it all of the other parts seize up. If you invest in the best oil, your engine will run smoothly and for a long time. If you neglect it the engine breaks down and needs more expensive repairs. Just because you don't hear the engine knocking doesn't mean you should empty out the oil pan and go for a drive.

[Kasey Chang]

Just got back a rejection from a position I applied back in... August 1st. Rejected October 19th. Sheesh. Real efficiency there.

It's supposedly for a "Game QA Tester". I actually have proven Game QA Testing experience (listed in Mobygames). I have software development experience and played a TON of games and written over 60 game FAQs, but I am not good enough. What are they expecting? A game producer experience?

(I'm just ranting. They are probably looking for a very formal tester with automated and manual validation testing and **** like that, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't in the requirements. )

[stessier]

Just got back a rejection from a position I applied back in... August 1st. Rejected October 19th.

For reference - I'm in a big company and for us, that would be considered fast.

Sorry for the rejection. Hope something comes along soon.

[Jeff V]

I know what's involved and pretty much the steps and sequence in a migration, just not so much in the finer details.

The finer details are the ones that get into all the cracks and leave a rash.

I try to explain this concept to executive management when they ask why they are paying Tier 3 salary for someone "when everything works great". I keep reminding the executive, you don't pay this persons salary for when things are working, that's what Tier 1 and 2 are for, you pay him to know when everything is about to go to hell and how to get it all back.

We use Verizon to manage most of our circuits and we were having to place requests usually 6 months out, which was unworkable. We got them down to 90 days now.

I once was approached by a recruiter regarding a contract job to fix a mess by a company who fired their IT staff because "everything was working." The job requirements listed nearly a dozen certifications including MSCE and CCNP, but oh, the job is only part-time and we would like to offer $19 per hour. I told the recruiter that was an insult to me and the industry, she should decline to even try to fill that position and let that client sink in the morass of their own incompetence.

[Jeff V]

On a slightly more hopeful note, this morning I applied for a job that is much more in sync with recent experience. Seems the recruiting person for it agreed and responded right away asking availability and salary requirements.

This morning she emails early and set up an 11 am meeting. We chatted for about 45 minutes, the company (and my job, should I get it) would be based in Schaumburg, which is slightly less than an hour drive but for now the job would be remote anyway. She said a second, still be defined job is being created that would fit my background as well and will have me consider for both. One would be managing technicians (the one I applied for), the other would be what seems to be a technical customer relationship manager and be more client-focused. She'll get back to me later this week regarding future interview schedules; looks like there's going to be a bunch.

Shortly after I got a call from a recruiter -- he actually wanted to talk about selling me people, but I told him I wasn't working where he thought I was working and would be interested in being pimped out to his customers instead. We had a nice chat and have a follow up scheduled for Monday.

[malchior]

We use Verizon to manage most of our circuits and we were having to place requests usually 6 months out, which was unworkable. We got them down to 90 days now.

This is a pretty significant degradation in service since I was in the game about 10 years ago. Firm install dates for a T1/T3 install from AT&T were 45-60 days - assuming there wasn't some weird shit happening.

For example, once I was getting a circuit out to a mine outside Elko and AT&T gave me a 45 day date...and I pushed back...it was not possible. They had to get permission to run wire in a right of way at the outset. I asked them to push it back to 90 days. Why? I was in the middle of the transaction - at a managed network provider - and I didn't want the actual customer to see a 45 day window that I knew they were going to blow badly. My guess was a shot in the dark and it landed in well over 135 days. It ended up needing an extended radio demarc and luckily we were able to find someone selling their license. Pure luck. Anyway in the end it was unreliable as hell. We'd lose the connection between 10 AM and 4 PM because thermal heating would flex the antennas.

[Paingod]

I once was approached by a recruiter regarding a contract job to fix a mess by a company who fired their IT staff because "everything was working." The job requirements listed nearly a dozen certifications including MSCE and CCNP, but oh, the job is only part-time and we would like to offer $19 per hour. I told the recruiter that was an insult to me and the industry, she should decline to even try to fill that position and let that client sink in the morass of their own incompetence.

That just makes me sick to my stomach. The level of incompetence in upper management makes me feel like the company deserves to collapse.

I'm willing to bet their IT team bent themselves backwards to get everything humming beautifully, too. "Great job guys, now get the f**k out. We're done with you"

Three weeks later "Why won't my laptop connect to the network? Where are our presentation files? Get those assholes back here."

*sigh*

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Just got back a rejection from a position I applied back in... August 1st. Rejected October 19th. Sheesh. Real efficiency there.

I've gotten application rejections from academic jobs over a year after applying. Most times you just don't hear anything back at all.

[Jeff V]

I once was approached by a recruiter regarding a contract job to fix a mess by a company who fired their IT staff because "everything was working." The job requirements listed nearly a dozen certifications including MSCE and CCNP, but oh, the job is only part-time and we would like to offer $19 per hour. I told the recruiter that was an insult to me and the industry, she should decline to even try to fill that position and let that client sink in the morass of their own incompetence.

That just makes me sick to my stomach. The level of incompetence in upper management makes me feel like the company deserves to collapse.

I'm willing to bet their IT team bent themselves backwards to get everything humming beautifully, too. "Great job guys, now get the f**k out. We're done with you"

Three weeks later "Why won't my laptop connect to the network? Where are our presentation files? Get those assholes back here."

*sigh*

I have no sympathy for such companies. I told the recruiter they should be paying through the ass to bail themselves out from such a self-inflicted wound.

[Lassr]

Seems, when we do return to our offices at NASA that things will be different. Just saw the plan that telework will now be 50% of the time for my organization indefinitely. Thus reducing office space by 50% due to shared offices between 2 people teleworking on different days. It became urgent when they had to close a building due to deterioration (it was one to the first NASA buildings built. Von Braun sat on the 9th floor). A huge panel fell off the side a few months back and they decided to just mothball the building. Now you've got to move 500 people to empty offices around the center and there aren't enough spaces available at the moment.

[Isgrimnur]

[hitbyambulance]

Just got back a rejection from a position I applied back in... August 1st. Rejected October 19th. Sheesh. Real efficiency there.

It's supposedly for a "Game QA Tester". I actually have proven Game QA Testing experience (listed in Mobygames). I have software development experience and played a TON of games and written over 60 game FAQs, but I am not good enough. What are they expecting? A game producer experience?

(I'm just ranting. They are probably looking for a very formal tester with automated and manual validation testing and **** like that, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't in the requirements. )

weird, cuz that title is for the truly entry-level. ignoring the manager track, it usually goes something like Tester->QA Analyst->QA/Test Engineer then a biggish jump to Software Development Engineer in Test. the final two get Senior and sometimes Principal prefix modifiers, or I/II/II suffixes. (was working towards the newly designated Principal QA Engineer at my previous job, but then the layoffs happened)

[Kasey Chang]

I am getting rejected from positions described as "Junior" or "entry-level" positions, either backend or front-end dev.

I am even getting rejected for customer support or tech support positions. Apparently, I *have* to get A+ and N+ and all that to be even considered.

ZipRecruiter is a joke. NOBODY looks at the applications. I'm not getting ANY views for applications I've filled nearly a MONTH ago. About 10 resumes I sent via ZipRecruiter were never read, according to their own system.

EDIT: Another rejection. This is a call center job, for ****'s sake. NO tech involved. Just help people book driving test training and general customer service. But nope, we're gonna reject you with zero feedback. At least they bothered to send an email. Applied on 19th, rejected on 23rd That's actually quite speedy

Indeed is not that much better. I filed a review for my most recent employer on October 9th. It is STILL "approval pending" as of today. Apparently nobody wanted to review it, or it was so detailed they are afraid to publish it or something.

For the heck of it, I am applying for an office job as an office assistant at optometry. It happens to require Chinese and Spanish, and I can speak both pretty well. At least it keeps food on the table, despite it not using ANY TECH, and only if I get it.

[Kraken]

My main client waived my weekly hours cap for the first time when I told them I could only edit three more stories this week. If they did it once, they'll do it again. This indicates to me that they want more work out of me and they're willing to pay for it. A few more hours a week will be welcome. If the pandemic ends before I retire, I'm going to raise my hourly fee.

[Kasey Chang]

Both ZipRecruiter and Indeed are just about worthless being a platform to supply resumes and applications. Nobody reads them.

I have 18 jobs that I submitted applications through Indeed since October 6th (20 days). Out of these, 3 were "not selected", 2 were "viewed" (as of last Thursday, 22nd), and 3 applied over the weekend, that doesn't count. That's 18-3-2-3=10 applications that were NEVER EVEN LOOKED AT in the last 20 days.

ZipRecruiter is the SAME THING. I've been heavily using ZipRecruiter since July and have applied to at least 43 jobs through ZipRecruiter. 10% (4) gave me outright rejection notices. Most of the applications claimed to have been viewed, but most were never viewed.

[paulbaxter]

I applied for an opening internally at my company for a training role. I love teaching and meeting and working with new people, so lots about it appealed to me. I put in my application maybe about three days after the job posted. A couple of days later I get an email asking to set up an interview the following day. I prepared under very short notice with lots of enthusiasm, and, I hope, good answers to the questions they threw at me. It's the sort of job you'd really only be able to do with internal experience and I was told they were interviewing 4 people. Got an email today saying they'd make a decision by the end of the day tomorrow.

I think it would be nice for me. A chance to try out a new role, pay would be possibly just a slight bump, but the hours would be much better, working normal business type hours instead of afternoons and every other weekend like I've been doing for the last 2.5 years. So I'm hopeful, but also enjoying my current role in the company, so I wouldn't be heartbroken if it doesn't come my way.

[Kasey Chang]

FINALLY! Either I got in the worst of luck or I had a seriously sorry streak.

Pathrise, which is supposed to be a combo career advise / placement program (I expect them to get a cut from whoever they place) apparently LOST my email back at end of June, and only just now remembered "hey what happened to you?" Had a talk with a guy 10 years younger, but apparently worked at FB so yeah, guess that makes him the advisor. But hey, I understand I'm deficient in that arena.

I had an interview scheduled this morning but had an equipment malfunction. Will try again tomorrow. I think my desk is a phone dead zone and if my phone's on my desk it won't receive any calls. Weird, eh?

Had an interview last Tuesday basically as a regular receptionist/assistant for an optometrist. I know, I know. ARGH. But I was getting a bit desperate.

Had another interview with a law firm software company (basically e-Discovery) Friday noon-ish.

And had an acquaintance in the Agile class go over my resume, which REALLY did suck. I really need to write multiple resumes. I think my technical support resume would probably be the best. Now I need to write my web dev resume and data science resume.

[Isgrimnur]

And you need to network.

[Kasey Chang]

And you need to network.

Yes, I know. One more reason I need to get on my local Toastmasters and more.

[Paingod]

And you need to network.

Yes, I know. One more reason I need to get on my local Toastmasters and more.

More importantly than Toastmasters, if you're trying to get back into IT, would be attending different IT events that cover various topics and updates. I get a lot of emails to go to events to discuss security, networks, server structures, best practices, etc. I swear I could eat lunch for free 8 times a month.

And had an acquaintance in the Agile class go over my resume, which REALLY did suck. I really need to write multiple resumes. I think my technical support resume would probably be the best. Now I need to write my web dev resume and data science resume.

I've heard that folks should tailor each resume they shoot out based on the company and their requirements. I personally have an all-in-one template that I tweak a little but my cover letter is always addressed exactly to the job requirements and how I meet them.

[malchior]

I give job fit interviews on the regular and am certified and have given many behavioral interviews as well. I am about 80% certain if I had to go through my employer's current interview process, I would not be hired.

I just went through a final round for a well-known tech company. 5 hours of interviews and an additional 1 with the interim head of the department. Only 1 was technical in the area involved for an Engineering Management spot! I'll find out next week but the interviews were off the wall IMO. I get values based interviews but 3 of them overlapped so much that I wish I had done them as a panel.

I did not find out the next week. I heard nothing and sent a note out about a week later thanking them for the interview and to reach out if they need anything more. I heard nothing and expected they passed.

Today nearly 4 weeks later I get an email that they still hadn't decided and wanted to know if I my situation changed. To put a start point around this, I started talking to them in late August. Now it's late October and they are still kicking it around. At this point, I don't know if I'd take it if they offered it. I'm about to hit the bench after a 3 year project and it'll be nice if I can take some time to decompress and upskill in the meantime.

[Kasey Chang]

Got on a mock interview, and found myself unprepared for some of the basic answers like "what was the largest assignment conflict you had, did you resolve it? if you did, how?" *sigh* Prepare! Prepare!

Did get on two more REAL interviews, and seems hopeful. One was kinda shady... The guy responds via G-Voice ONLY, and somehow his calls doesn't ring my phone at all (which suggests he's doing some sort of VOIP that's untraceable?) That job requires me to stay on Chinese hours. Which I am not certain I want to. Anyone heard of LoRaWan and "People's Network"? And pay seems a bit on the low side for the esotericness of the subject.

The other one is a more local job (it's in Oakland, just across the bay) for a law support company as product support. I think I impressed the first round, and she promised to get back to me by Wednesday next week. Glassdoor estimate on salary is really low though, not sure what's going on there.

UPDATE: Just got the rejection notice. Not sure why, as I got all my ducks in a row and I thought I did great on the interview. They did go off my OLD resume, but whatever. I sent them a new one but they apparently didn't care.

The receptionist for optometry interview was earlier this week. I think I did okay there. Didn't know anything about optometry, so I'm mainly there for my language skills. And she obviously wants to see if there are more candidates. I'm not sure she can pay me $21 / hr But we'll see.

Got a rejection from an application back in August or September. ARGH. So overall, not a good day.

[Kasey Chang]

Decided to pay up for Jobscan.co, but was using the free month for all its worth. Basically it teaches you how to spam the keywords to get past the ATS. If you don't use the advanced features, you get unlimited scans with the basic features for one month, then they charge you and you get full features for 3 months. If you use ANY of the advanced features (LinkedIn profile scan, cover letter scan, etc.) you immediately get charged the 3 months price. So I'm holding off using those advanced features as long as I can.

Got a couple rejection notices back. I am assuming these at least got past the ATS onto a human to send back the rejection. These are supposed to be product support or tech support jobs, still not sure how I'm not even getting those. But there are a ton of places around that offer these so I'm still sending out a few a day, plus some remote opportunities I am considering. Two of those were rejected the very next day. At least they bothered to reply.

EDIT: Wow, that's a fast rejection. I sent the application in at 12:47P. Checked Indeed 3 hours later I was already rejected. Sheesh.

[Jeff V]

So this came into my inbox today. Spoilered the punchline, but the whole thing is cut-and-pasted.

Job Description
Responsibilities:

Lead process and technology changes within <redacted> focused on value rather than deliverables.
Work with business stakeholders to map business requirements to system/technology components.
Assess, document and communicate process related changes from end user to senior leadership.
Enable technology and process change delivery with speed, agility and stability.
Improve adoption and value by working with senior executives to understand the vital information they need to do their jobs, and the tasks that can be easily simplified via Salesforces declarative solutions.
Provide timely account or issue executive summary status reporting both to customers and management.
Required Skills:

Most successful candidates have 5-7 years' experience in Big 4 consulting environment or management roles in Business Architecture and/or Business Solutions.
Experience defining cross-platform enterprise architectural plans, including mapping business requirements to the system / technology components.
Experience driving implementation and adoption of ERP and CRM solutions.
Deep knowledge of Salesforce platform capabilities
Experience driving enterprise wide process improvement changes.
Proven ability to drive results and readiness across multiple solutions in major transformation efforts.
Leadership:

Strong self-starter with the ability to build a network within <redacted>.
Effectively build, develop, and manage relationships with internal senior leadership, setting expectations on their role as stakeholders vested in success.
Proven effectiveness at leading and facilitating meetings and workshops.
Technology Delivery:

Ability to manage internal customer escalations (internally and externally) and negotiate resolution
Thrive in the unknown: creatively solve problems with limited input and resources in a fast-paced, high- pressure environment.
Flawlessly execute set objectives, with high attention to detail, organization and process.
Genuine passion, interest, willingness and ability to adjust to continuously changing priorities and needs
Capability as credible and effective advisor/coach, especially with regards to change management
(cultural, business and technical)

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively navigate and mediate conflict and foster honest dialog
Proven experience establishing and running large-scale program management offices
Familiarity with implementing and supporting enterprise solutions (CRM, ERP, etc.)
Excellent understanding of software delivery processes and methodologies (i.e. waterfall, agile, hybrid)
Collaborate with internal customers and IT function to map out current state user workflows and functional architectures, evangelize the benefits of cloud-based technologies, and personalize the future state end user workflow.
Knowledge of process automation, user experience and workflow is a plus.
Consultative approach, including the ability to translate customer needs into user stories and prototypes.
Influence:

Demonstrated ability to communicate, present and influence credibly and effectively at all levels of a customer’s technology organization: COO/CIO to business manager to administrator
Excellent situational awareness - must be comfortable in dynamic customer environments and enthusiastically present our company.
Highly developed soft skills, such as listening, empathy, and the ability to adjust communication style based on the audience.
Strong teamwork and facilitation skills with the ability to: o Balance conversations within groups o Offer suggestions and improvements to process and work effectively with all personalities.
Job Type: Full-time

Spoiler:

Pay: Up to $1.00 per hour

[Montag]

I am sure North Korean slaves in Russia are getting better pay than that. Feel free to use that phrasing in your response.

[LawBeefaroni]

Just realized I hit PTO cap. Going to lose 17 hours Monday if I don't take today and tomorrow off. Today is not happening.