OT: Career advice Part II

[LokiDog]

Wow, that's terrible. Is there any chance you can work with your employer to expedite your benefits?

I’ve initiated that conversation, and of course we’ve talked about getting married by a judge quickly and just not announcing it. Even if those both come to pass, it’s gonna be a shit show balancing medical bills, rent, etc. when I haven’t started earning yet and we blew virtually everything moving and getting settled. I’m sure we’ll figure it out, but I’m really tempted to do some muscle for hire work

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Which one did you take? The first offer or the second offer?

I took the first offer. In the end it came down to a couple of things. The people I talked to made that role sound really interesting and it's a bit different from the traditional role, so I thought I might learn something new. It was supposed to be a more hybrid finance, marketing, and analytics role. I really liked the team. And I liked that a consistent answer from like three people to why they liked working there was how much they learned. "I like the team" is such a cliched answer and I felt like I liked the team from the interviews so I didn't need to hear that as the reason they like working there. I also liked that that place has a physical location in lower Manhattan, a part of town I really like. If I had one offer I'd accept a 100% remote role but I had a strong preference to either returning to a physical office full time or at least having the option of coming into the office. It was a big gamble because the other role would probably be safer and possibly better long term for my career (more transferrable). Though this offer that I took they made a point of mentioning that the people I was interviewing with either one or both started off as analysts. It would be nice to grow with the company.

I also think the first offer had an advantage of being a first offer and I kind of set my mind to it. If the order were flipped maybe I'd have set my mind on the other offer.

 

[Kane One]

Anyone have any ideas on how to earn some quick cash?

My fiancé and I just moved from Dallas to Idaho for my new job, which starts July 12th. We spent $2300 to break our lease early, $2100 first months rent, $2000 deposit and $5000 and change on moving services, driving our car to Idaho, hotels, etc.

My benefits don’t kick in for 30 days after my start date and we’re not married yet, so she won’t be covered unless we do a shot gun wedding. She started feeling under the weather about a week ago and two days ago after running some tests they want to do a bone marrow biopsy. We’re tapped out. When I was younger, stupider (and had a horrific ex-wife) I wrecked my credit while in the military. Got denied for a loan.

I’m donating plasma, trying to sell all my jerseys, Apple Watch, MacBook, leather jacket, second TV, etc. It’s embarrassing to be in this type of financial bind, but I’m out of ideas.

Probably depends on how much cash you need in what amount of time?

 

[LokiDog]

Probably depends on how much cash you need in what amount of time?

Like, do you need someone killed that you’d like to discuss in PM? Like a few k by the end of July. Not 5 digit territory, but not 90 day territory.

Edit: if it was unclear, joking.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Like, do you need someone killed that you’d like to discuss in PM? Like a few k by the end of July. Not 5 digit territory, but not 90 day territory.

Edit: if it was unclear, joking.

I needed someone killed and was disappointed you said you were joking.

 

[LokiDog]

I needed someone killed and was disappointed you said you were joking.

Was I?

 

[SnowblindNYR]

So I just had my first week at work and it looks like it'll be a steep learning curve. You need to know coding and the other folks know a bunch of languages. I really only know excel well.

 

[Irishguy42]

So I just had my first week at work and it looks like it'll be a steep learning curve. You need to know coding and the other folks know a bunch of languages. I really only know excel well.

Concepts/theories are more important than syntax knowledge. Syntax is easy/Google-able. Being able to build the structure/logic/etc isn't.

If you know concepts/theories, you're gucci. Picking up languages will come easily over time.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Concepts/theories are more important than syntax knowledge. Syntax is easy/Google-able. Being able to build the structure/logic/etc isn't.

If you know concepts/theories, you're gucci. Picking up languages will come easily over time.

So I compare everything to excel because that's my strength and not even VBA but I noticed that building things in excel is so simple, much simpler than SQL for example. I think in terms of excel logic formulas and I realize that many languages have similar stuff "if...then", but the way the syntax is set up to me is not always consistent or intuitive.

 

[Irishguy42]

So I compare everything to excel because that's my strength and not even VBA but I noticed that building things in excel is so simple, much simpler than SQL for example. I think in terms of excel logic formulas and I realize that many languages have similar stuff "if...then", but the way the syntax is set up to me is not always consistent or intuitive.

It'll come over time. I wouldn't sweat it.

Eventually you'll reach a point where it DOES seem consistent/intuitive, if only because you've been using the language for work a lot and nothing else

 

[SnowblindNYR]

It'll come over time. I wouldn't sweat it.

Eventually you'll reach a point where it DOES seem consistent/intuitive, if only because you've been using the language for work a lot and nothing else

I believe you, haha. But as exciting as it is to start a new job it's also a bit scary learning new shit.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

I believe you, haha. But as exciting as it is to start a new job it's also a bit scary learning new shit.

Sounds like an opportunity for some true growth to me. Outside of your comfort zone is a tremendous, scary and exciting place to be!

 

[mas0764]

Anyone have any ideas on how to earn some quick cash?

My fiancé and I just moved from Dallas to Idaho for my new job, which starts July 12th. We spent $2300 to break our lease early, $2100 first months rent, $2000 deposit and $5000 and change on moving services, driving our car to Idaho, hotels, etc.

My benefits don’t kick in for 30 days after my start date and we’re not married yet, so she won’t be covered unless we do a shot gun wedding. She started feeling under the weather about a week ago and two days ago after running some tests they want to do a bone marrow biopsy. We’re tapped out. When I was younger, stupider (and had a horrific ex-wife) I wrecked my credit while in the military. Got denied for a loan.

I’m donating plasma, trying to sell all my jerseys, Apple Watch, MacBook, leather jacket, second TV, etc. It’s embarrassing to be in this type of financial bind, but I’m out of ideas.

Perhaps not the answer you are looking for but medical bills are usually more than happy to bill you later, and then, they are also more than willing to negotiate with you for lesser payments or payments over time.

Then get a second part time job to pay it off over time?

Example — I stupidly let my 4 year old son ride around in the back seat of our SUV within/inside our neighborhood. Went over a speed bump and he fell and hit his face on the cup holder of his car seat. His tooth went through his lip and was bleeding profusely.

Went to the ER, they stopped the bleeding, patched it up, said it didn’t need stitches, gave him some Motrin and a popsicle.

I’m self pay. On check out they said they would bill me, I only needed to pay like $100 at the window. A few weeks later I get the bill for like $2k. For some f***ing Tylenol, an ice pack and a popsicle.

I negotiated it down and then paid over time.

Is this test something they aren’t willing to bill you for?

….

Also, side note, if your credit is so bad that no one will finance you for like $5k-$10k, I would ask, do you still have debt? If so you should talk to a bankruptcy lawyer, because your credit can actually improve by filing for bankruptcy. And if you don’t have debt there are other things you can do to improve your credit.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Sounds like an opportunity for some true growth to me. Outside of your comfort zone is a tremendous, scary and exciting place to be!

Yeah, everything so far is great. I heard some great things about the company today by someone that seems to know his shit, he thinks it has great room for growth and on a personal level the guy worked with told me he learned so much in terms of analytics. This is a great opportunity if I make the most of it.

 

[Irishguy42]

I believe you, haha. But as exciting as it is to start a new job it's also a bit scary learning new shit.

Stack Overflow/Google is your friend. But yeah, don't sweat the syntax gap.

You'll get the hang of whatever language you're using over time as long as your fundamental knowledge/data structure formulation/general problem solving is good.

This is a lesson really for most careers in tech. It's easy to adapt to new hardware/language/etc. as long as you can easily visualize/formulate how you want your data structure(s) to be.

Plus, it's easy to learn specific syntax knowledge from coworkers who have done this for a long time if you show that you have a grasp of fundamental knowledge.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Stack Overflow/Google is your friend. But yeah, don't sweat the syntax gap.

You'll get the hang of whatever language you're using over time as long as your fundamental knowledge/data structure formulation/general problem solving is good.

This is a lesson really for most careers in tech. It's easy to adapt to new hardware/language/etc. as long as you can easily visualize/formulate how you want your data structure(s) to be.

Plus, it's easy to learn specific syntax knowledge from coworkers who have done this for a long time if you show that you have a grasp of fundamental knowledge.

I guess I'm not technically in tech. It's analytics. Probably doesn't matter that I'm not a developer. Thanks for the support!

 

[Overcast]

Anyone have any advice for someone just starting out to volunteer as an EMT?

 

[sbjnyc]

 

[SnowblindNYR]

In case anyone's wondering about the job I started a few months ago. I'm learning coding for the first time (not counting school but that was different) and have gotten fairly good at the intermediate stuff. I like what I'm doing and it does seem like there are opportunities for growth. I also admire the company, we seem to have our shit together.

 

[LokiDog]

In case anyone's wondering about the job I started a few months ago. I'm learning coding for the first time (not counting school but that was different) and have gotten fairly good at the intermediate stuff. I like what I'm doing and it does seem like there are opportunities for growth. I also admire the company, we seem to have our shit together.

What kind of stuff are you coding? I thought you were in accounting? My job is all coding.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

What kind of stuff are you coding? I thought you were in accounting? My job is all coding.

Ewwwww, I was in FP&A. It's much more fun than accounting, even though sometimes I had to do boring accounting work. I HATE accounting!

I'm technically still in FP&A but it's more analytics. I'm using Salesforce Einstein (the Salesforce Analytics tool) and am coding in their query language called SAQL.

 

[LokiDog]

Ewwwww, I was in FP&A. It's much more fun than accounting, even though sometimes I had to do boring accounting work. I HATE accounting!

I'm technically still in FP&A but it's more analytics. I'm using Salesforce Einstein (the Salesforce Analytics tool) and am coding in their query language called SAQL.

That still sounds boring to me! I'm doing a bit SAQL to pull from our salesforce CRM to populate results on our consumer facing site, but I assumed my role was going to be a UX and web design job and I'm actually in charge of EVERYTHING to do with the site for our company. I'm doing everything from simple layouts, updating visuals and fixing broken links to building out interactive maps and modal popups from scratch. Way more coding than I anticipated. I think I'm going to get a large raise in the new year though because I've effectively came in and taken on way more than they hired me to do, allowing the marketing director, who was previously doing all of the coding because they just didn't have anyone to do it, to be freed up to focus more on relationships, campaigns and other channels besides the site.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

That still sounds boring to me! I'm doing a bit SAQL to pull from our salesforce CRM to populate results on our consumer facing site, but I assumed my role was going to be a UX and web design job and I'm actually in charge of EVERYTHING to do with the site for our company. I'm doing everything from simple layouts, updating visuals and fixing broken links to building out interactive maps and modal popups from scratch. Way more coding than I anticipated. I think I'm going to get a large raise in the new year though because I've effectively came in and taken on way more than they hired me to do, allowing the marketing director, who was previously doing all of the coding because they just didn't have anyone to do it, to be freed up to focus more on relationships, campaigns and other channels besides the site.

I remember you were right here with me posting about your new job so glad you're enjoying it.

 

[LokiDog]

I remember you were right here with me posting about your new job so glad you're enjoying it.

Likewise, though I'm mildly peeved that my role is significantly larger than was anticipated; I'd have asked for probably 10k more based on what I actually do versus what I thought I'd be doing. It's both enjoyable and also a lot to take on when entirely new to an organization; I'm virtually running every aspect of their web presence besides social media, while still familiarizing myself with the product catalogue and brand identity. What I am happy about is that the company seems to recognize what I'm taking on and has a track record of taking care of their people with very little turnover over the years; new hires are typically because a new role has been created due to company growth, not to fill vacancies left by others. It's a good environment, my ideas are heard and I feel confident that if I stick around I'll be well compensated down the road. Right now, I'm punching above my payrate though.

 

[Machinehead]

I'm going to be making a change soon.

Basically, being an adjunct sucks every ass in the world. And for the headache they're putting me through, I could make the same salary at f***ing Chipotle.

I still wanna teach and I have the experience now, I just need to get my PhD. Then I can get a real job in my field instead of being the university's tampon.

While I'm going through the PhD application process, I think I'm going to work somewhere else in the meantime. I don't care what it is because my career is still on another track and it's short-term, that makes it easier.

And besides, between being a student, then a tutor, then a professor, I've been in the academy for 12 consecutive years. I think 6-12 months away is going to be great for my mental health.

Still, I'm having some major jitters about being on the job market. First time in four years.