OT: General OT MEGATHREAD (No Politics) Pt. 3 - Read OP before posting

[VaCaps Fan]

When Im driving and feeling pumped up I blare some Misfits and just rock out in my car.

Just reviewing some officer body cam footage and this cop driving to a scene is rocking the f*** out to danzigs Mother.

Just like I do .. banging the steering wheel hard, playing air guitar and drums .. just rocking out like no ones watching.

---------------------

conclusion - its impossible to listen to misfits and not rock the f*** out behind the wheel, volume up windows down

Last Caress is the most catchy f***ed up song ever!

 

[Random schmoe]

I voluntarily left my job last week. I've been deep in technical weeds, 9 to 5 and a lot of unpaid overtime, for 24 years now, including some very high stress cyber and LE environments. Been going 12+ hours a day for the last year, doing so much of the same thing for so long that I've lost a lot of other skills and become very focused in specific use cases. Inherited a bunch of money recently, so since I've still got 13 years to access Roth accounts and had no other way to 'take a break', I decided this was a necessary move for me.

Planning a few months to rest, reset, recharge, and explore some new areas before I jump back into adulthood.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

I voluntarily left my job last week. I've been deep in technical weeds, 9 to 5 and a lot of unpaid overtime, for 24 years now, including some very high stress cyber and LE environments. Been going 12+ hours a day for the last year, doing so much of the same thing for so long that I've lost a lot of other skills and become very focused in specific use cases. Inherited a bunch of money recently, so since I've still got 13 years to access Roth accounts and had no other way to 'take a break', I decided this was a necessary move for me.

Planning a few months to rest, reset, recharge, and explore some new areas before I jump back into adulthood.

Awesome, congrats. Keep hoping I have a rich and childless aunt or uncle I don’t know about but until then, work it is. Lucky enough to have had a few successful transactions but nothing (so far) that would allow me to stop working completely.

 

[g00n]

I voluntarily left my job last week. I've been deep in technical weeds, 9 to 5 and a lot of unpaid overtime, for 24 years now, including some very high stress cyber and LE environments. Been going 12+ hours a day for the last year, doing so much of the same thing for so long that I've lost a lot of other skills and become very focused in specific use cases. Inherited a bunch of money recently, so since I've still got 13 years to access Roth accounts and had no other way to 'take a break', I decided this was a necessary move for me.

Planning a few months to rest, reset, recharge, and explore some new areas before I jump back into adulthood.

This is exactly why golf was invented. lol

 

[max21]

Yeah doing more research its just a big MLM, just seemed weird off the rip how the "owners" are very social media/podcast driven and portray this lavish lifestyle on social media. They just hire agents and make money off them, buying leads from people who just bought a house and sell them "mortgage protection" that's just life insurance. No owner of a reputable company would post a picture of trump and say "my president". Umm Im good!

 

[usiel]

I voluntarily left my job last week. I've been deep in technical weeds, 9 to 5 and a lot of unpaid overtime, for 24 years now, including some very high stress cyber and LE environments. Been going 12+ hours a day for the last year, doing so much of the same thing for so long that I've lost a lot of other skills and become very focused in specific use cases. Inherited a bunch of money recently, so since I've still got 13 years to access Roth accounts and had no other way to 'take a break', I decided this was a necessary move for me.

Planning a few months to rest, reset, recharge, and explore some new areas before I jump back into adulthood.

Nice! I'll take stock at 60 see where my 401 is at. Will inherit some assets/money from my Dad divided between my brother and at some point. He's getting close to where he's probably going to have to go into some memory care retirement place which will be pricey. His Mom's side of the family are crazy long lived and think she lived to like 104 though that last 10 years were probably something no one would count. All of her brother and sisters lasted into the late 80s or 90s.

 

[Random schmoe]

Nice! I'll take stock at 60 see where my 401 is at. Will inherit some assets/money from my Dad divided between my brother and at some point. He's getting close to where he's probably going to have to go into some memory care retirement place which will be pricey. His Mom's side of the family are crazy long lived and think she lived to like 104 though that last 10 years were probably something no one would count. All of her brother and sisters lasted into the late 80s or 90s.

I thank Dog every day that I didn't have to deal with Alzheimer's or a similar mental/memory condition with my parents. I've seen what it can do, seen the families suffer for 10 years.

My Mom was planning to move to a senior living community, but the cancer got her first. Got my dad 10 years ago. Both had saved for a very long retirement, which unfortunately didn't get to happen for them.

Not to you directly, and I'm sure many here know this: Roth money can be accessed without penalty at 59.5, and Roth 401ks, if your employer offers it, have no income limits like Roth IRAs. I've been trying to pump maximum money into mine over the last half dozen years.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Yeah doing more research its just a big MLM, just seemed weird off the rip how the "owners" are very social media/podcast driven and portray this lavish lifestyle on social media. They just hire agents and make money off them, buying leads from people who just bought a house and sell them "mortgage protection" that's just life insurance. No owner of a reputable company would post a picture of trump and say "my president". Umm Im good!

Northwestern Mutual was hounding me when I was getting out of the military. I chose them and a few other companies I had zero interest in working for to practice being an adult in the real world but they put on a full court press. You can make a lot of money but you need to have a very specific personality — me personally I never would have been comfortable trying to sell to friends and family (even though I told them I’d have no issue with it) and I didn’t like their business model of shoving as many training reps as possible into their pipeline knowing only a small percentage would make it through.

Big difference between sales like that and selling a product for a company or doing business development. Not all sales/client-facing roles are created equal.

 

[twabby]

Tip to everyone in this thread regarding job searching: always be interviewing with other companies even if you are happily employed at the time.

This does several things:
1. You get good at interviewing for when you actually do want a change, and you aren't stumbling through interviews the first few months or so of being unemployed.
2. You have a very powerful negotiating position. If you are fortunate enough to get an offer from another company, being able to confidently name a number that it'd take to pry you away from your current company can earn you a lot of extra dough. If you are unemployed when you get an offer, then earning 75% of what you're worth can be appealing when the alternative is no paycheck, and you could potentially leave a lot of money on the table.
3. You can always find a better fit. Maybe you like your current job, but maybe a new opportunity would be even better.

Loyalty to a company is for suckers. They sure as heck won't be loyal to you if it looks better on a spreadsheet to get rid of you or marginalize you!

 

[usiel]

I thank Dog every day that I didn't have to deal with Alzheimer's or a similar mental/memory condition with my parents. I've seen what it can do, seen the families suffer for 10 years.

My Mom was planning to move to a senior living community, but the cancer got her first. Got my dad 10 years ago. Both had saved for a very long retirement, which unfortunately didn't get to happen for them.

Not to you directly, and I'm sure many here know this: Roth money can be accessed without penalty at 59.5, and Roth 401ks, if your employer offers it, have no income limits like Roth IRAs. I've been trying to pump maximum money into mine over the last half dozen years.

I have no problem doing what needs to be done with time and effort for him. Honestly it is more of my own shit that I deal with that sometimes makes it hard to get over there. He's a pretty kick ass dad super supportive in all ways in music and even with my hobbies. Can't tell you how many of my band shows he's been to. He would even come to many of my adult red ice hockey games even into my 40s when I was still playing.

Yeah was aware of 59 thing with Roth. I had a separate small one my dad opened up for me back in 2000 just kept slowly accruing up into the 28k range. Cashed it out for some things a couple of years ago for 'reasons' and even though you can choose the percentage of tax to with hold I did not select high enough the IRS got me had pay what was owned and a penalty, heh.

My company has matching up to a percentage but I'm way over I think 13% right now.

 

[Random schmoe]

OK, in retrospect, the potential for humor didn't outweigh the immaturity. At least in this forum.

 

[usiel]

Spoiler: An adult being incredibly juvenile

heh Heh Beavis .. it looks like .. heh heh ...
View attachment 899905

Mods, delete if desired.

Can't control what science looks like you heathens.

 

[Neil Racki]

You ever have a "disagreement" with a stranger in public and then you see each other again like 5 mins later ..

and its heads nods and "hey man"

 

[Neil Racki]

Tenth Ward Distillery in frederick .. havent opened the smoked bourbon bottle yet but did get a 4 pack of their canned cocktail Queens bees Knees

.. its f***ing delicious, very efeminate but tasty as all f***, gin based perfect balance of sweet of honey w ginger/lemon/lavender

On craft beer store shelves in MD

Canned Cocktails | Tenth Ward Distilling Company | Mixed Drinks

Tenth Ward is now offering ready-to-drink craft cocktails in a can! Pick up a four-pack at our Cocktail Bar in downtown Frederick, Maryland.

www.tenthwarddistilling.com

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Tip to everyone in this thread regarding job searching: always be interviewing with other companies even if you are happily employed at the time.

This does several things:
1. You get good at interviewing for when you actually do want a change, and you aren't stumbling through interviews the first few months or so of being unemployed.
2. You have a very powerful negotiating position. If you are fortunate enough to get an offer from another company, being able to confidently name a number that it'd take to pry you away from your current company can earn you a lot of extra dough. If you are unemployed when you get an offer, then earning 75% of what you're worth can be appealing when the alternative is no paycheck, and you could potentially leave a lot of money on the table.
3. You can always find a better fit. Maybe you like your current job, but maybe a new opportunity would be even better.

Loyalty to a company is for suckers. They sure as heck won't be loyal to you if it looks better on a spreadsheet to get rid of you or marginalize you!

I used to tell the people that worked for me to interview externally at least once a year. You get good practice (as you mentioned), build out your network, let the market dictate your value, and remove any potential “the grass is greener” sentiments. You also have a better chance at getting promoted and paid more if you move to a different company. Most of the time they interviewed and decided they actually had it pretty good where we worked, but occasionally someone would come back with a terrific offer and we’d be pumped for them, even if it was a loss for the team. My big thing to everyone who worked for me was leave the team, the business, and yourself better than you found it when you started here and everything else is gravy.

There’s no protection for workers or safe harbors any more. Big tech used to be that way but definitely not any more. Startups don’t have free money to burn so they’re always looking at cuts, especially if they miss revenue targets for a quarter or two. Big consulting is literally paying people to look for new jobs. Investment banks are actually killing their employees with the workload and then cutting numbers if the shareholders think they’re not profitable enough. Do what’s best for yourself and your family forever and always.

 

[g00n]

I used to tell the people that worked for me to interview externally at least once a year. You get good practice (as you mentioned), build out your network, let the market dictate your value, and remove any potential “the grass is greener” sentiments. You also have a better chance at getting promoted and paid more if you move to a different company. Most of the time they interviewed and decided they actually had it pretty good where we worked, but occasionally someone would come back with a terrific offer and we’d be pumped for them, even if it was a loss for the team. My big thing to everyone who worked for me was leave the team, the business, and yourself better than you found it when you started here and everything else is gravy.

There’s no protection for workers or safe harbors any more. Big tech used to be that way but definitely not any more. Startups don’t have free money to burn so they’re always looking at cuts, especially if they miss revenue targets for a quarter or two. Big consulting is literally paying people to look for new jobs. Investment banks are actually killing their employees with the workload and then cutting numbers if the shareholders think they’re not profitable enough. Do what’s best for yourself and your family forever and always.

Preach.

I have never understood managers that try to cling to employees or hold them back. Insane.

I've worked for owners who have told me things like "process is WAY more important than people" and it made my skin crawl.

Any company that tells you "we're a family" is lying to you because they want one-way loyalty. You have only one family, and I'm pretty sure they'll never kick you out if household revenue slips below YOY for that quarter.

I'll add, young people today think this is new and that everyone older than them had pensions, job security, a house by 30yrs old, etc. Nope. That ended with the Boomers. It's been cut throat for several decades.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

The “we’re a family” thing really only works for small businesses anyways, otherwise it’s complete lip service. On the surface they may mean it, but when push comes to shove, it’s the business first. Having a great boss matters, but unless they’re the final decision-maker, they will cave or be overruled.

Nothing at all wrong with wanting to hold onto your good team members, but holding onto them can’t mean holding them back, or you will lose them.

I wouldn’t actively encourage my A players to go interview every year, but I would say that everyone should know the current market for their position. I feel like once you’ve made the decision to go through formal interviews, you’re checked out of the organization a little at that point already.

In my field I get 10+ recruiters a month minimum reaching out. I probably politely decline 80% of those inquiries, trade some exploratory emails with a couple and maaaaaaaybe talk to 1 or 2. Does not hurt to have a lot of contacts and yes, practice speaking, especially about your expertise. You have to be able to sell yourself. You never know when you can leverage those new contacts for hiring or for your own job search.

Nobody looks out for you better than you, certainly not the company you work for.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

The “we’re a family” thing really only works for small businesses anyways, otherwise it’s complete lip service. On the surface they may mean it, but when push comes to shove, it’s the business first. Having a great boss matters, but unless they’re the final decision-maker, they will cave or be overruled.

Nothing at all wrong with wanting to hold onto your good team members, but holding onto them can’t mean holding them back, or you will lose them.

I wouldn’t actively encourage my A players to go interview every year, but I would say that everyone should know the current market for their position. I feel like once you’ve made the decision to go through formal interviews, you’re checked out of the organization a little at that point already.

In my field I get 10+ recruiters a month minimum reaching out. I probably politely decline 80% of those inquiries, trade some exploratory emails with a couple and maaaaaaaybe talk to 1 or 2. Does not hurt to have a lot of contacts and yes, practice speaking, especially about your expertise. You have to be able to sell yourself. You never know when you can leverage those new contacts for hiring or for your own job search.

Nobody looks out for you better than you, certainly not the company you work for.

Even the final decision maker at the company isn’t final if you have a board or are a publicly traded company. At my last company I was on the executive team and our board mandated we cut 25% of our staff when we were going into the acquisition process to make our financials look as strong as possible. They tried to push for 30% - which we said wasn’t feasible if they still wanted us to be able to operate - and said we could rehire after the sale finalized but they wanted to make us look as attractive as possible to get a high multiple.

Loyalty in business is bullshit. Any company will lay you off or send you packing if it’s in their financial best interest to do so. That said, that doesn’t mean you can’t treat people the right way or have close relationships with them. I’ve been to weddings, bachelor parties, kid’s birthday parties, etc for tons of current and former colleagues and direct reports.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Even the final decision maker at the company isn’t final if you have a board or are a publicly traded company. At my last company I was on the executive team and our board mandated we cut 25% of our staff when we were going into the acquisition process to make our financials look as strong as possible. They tried to push for 30% - which we said wasn’t feasible if they still wanted us to be able to operate - and said we could rehire after the sale finalized but they wanted to make us look as attractive as possible to get a high multiple.

Loyalty in business is bullshit. Any company will lay you off or send you packing if it’s in their financial best interest to do so. That said, that doesn’t mean you can’t treat people the right way or have close relationships with them. I’ve been to weddings, bachelor parties, kid’s birthday parties, etc for tons of current and former colleagues and direct reports.

Right, not the size of the business I was referring to if they have a Board. When I meant final decision-maker; I meant the owner pretty much. Definitely seen a lot of math-based decisions around a merger/acquisitions lol!

People can still be good bosses/co-workers for sure.

 

[g00n]

I've worked for a lot of startups. They vary in corporate structure and can have investors, boards, etc.

And because they're startups they expect people to extend beyond normal job descriptions by default. A lot.

That's where the "we're a family" shit comes in, even if they're not really mom and pop.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

typical start up rah rah…..sacrifice everything personal to the company…..after your 2nd or 3rd go, most are immune to getting caught up in it….unless you’re part of the founders, then you live and eat that crap daily….

 

[usiel]

I used to tell the people that worked for me to interview externally at least once a year. You get good practice (as you mentioned), build out your network, let the market dictate your value, and remove any potential “the grass is greener” sentiments. You also have a better chance at getting promoted and paid more if you move to a different company. Most of the time they interviewed and decided they actually had it pretty good where we worked, but occasionally someone would come back with a terrific offer and we’d be pumped for them, even if it was a loss for the team. My big thing to everyone who worked for me was leave the team, the business, and yourself better than you found it when you started here and everything else is gravy.

There’s no protection for workers or safe harbors any more. Big tech used to be that way but definitely not any more. Startups don’t have free money to burn so they’re always looking at cuts, especially if they miss revenue targets for a quarter or two. Big consulting is literally paying people to look for new jobs. Investment banks are actually killing their employees with the workload and then cutting numbers if the shareholders think they’re not profitable enough. Do what’s best for yourself and your family forever and always.

Being in VA never forget it is an at will employment state.

That said I feel very lucky to have my unit at CACI acquired by the tech company I still work at 23 years later. Amazingly there is s till a bunch a folks from that team still around also. I know the main reason is that its still privately owned. Health insurance entirely paid by the company. Went through the 08/09 collapse with no layoffs and never even went into the red profit-wise. Went through covid no layoffs. Regional offices building owned across the US all owned by the company. Every month employee anniversaries newsletter and the amount of folks 15 year plus getting recognition is pretty crazy. Strong emphasis on work/life balance. Hybrid come into the office model. Some 401 profit share matching.

Not the greatest for ambitious salary climbers for sure but its a learn and grow culture with a lot of semi-lateral movement that open up doors rather than a vertical structure. Vacation slightly stingy topping out at 4 weeks a year. That said currently have 200 hours of vacation time stacked up. Harder to take vacations now on the management side.

Still feel pretty lucky. A good half of that time working here was trying to make it music so it was a pretty easy job that paid the bills.

 

[Silky mitts]

We got a summer pass to Hersheypark, drove 2+ hr each way about 3 times a month, really enjoyed it. Had done Disney 3 straight trips and needed a change. It's National Roller Coaster Day and I've got to give Hersheypark their flowers.

 

[Neil Racki]

Hershey is my preferred spot. Close, big but not too big and you get to drive by the Bears arena.

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Had my 3rd lung cancer screening last week (3rd in past year or so) .. all my nodules are "stable" and IM good. Ill get a scan every year now to check out and measure their growth. Eventually with my history of cigarettes, weed, huffing butane and air fresheners, alcohol, hard drugs .. still smoking weed .. im sure Ill get bad news down the line.

But not today my fiend.

 

[notDkristich]

Hershey is my preferred spot. Close, big but not too big and you get to drive by the Bears arena.

--------------

Had my 3rd lung cancer screening last week (3rd in past year or so) .. all my nodules are "stable" and IM good. Ill get a scan every year now to check out and measure their growth. Eventually with my history of cigarettes, weed, huffing butane and air fresheners, alcohol, hard drugs .. still smoking weed .. im sure Ill get bad news down the line.

But not today my fiend.

f*** cancer. be healthy my hockey bros