How is your career going?

[Jeff V]

I'm a published author, and I'm pretty sure I have no such line in either place. Maybe I should?

And some people want to appear to be a subject matter expert in that field... and what better to "prove" it than publishing a book?

Maybe that's why...I don't prostitute my resume in the same circles that published my writing.

[Sudy]

So, at 10:00 this morning... when I was already 15 hours into a 12-hour shift on 2.5 hours of sleep, the ops manager, my boss, sent me an email that the developer of our security software just notified him we had to run an update across our entire company by midnight tonight, or the software would cease to function. Apparently a former programmer "had" to enter an expiration date once upon a time, and they chose 23:59 12/30/2020 for whatever reason.

Well, this software is notoriously buggy, and it's been my job to test and help roll out updates for several years. There's usually a several day testing and preparation period. We don't finalize the rollout until multiple departments have signed off on it. Well, when I had to return to "temporarily" supervising the night shift over a year ago, we effectively stopped updating. I just couldn't make the time unless I wanted to work 60+ hours a week, and I wasn't getting anything out of it. I couldn't really bank hours because I was indispensible in my secondary role.

So now, I'm 21 hours into my 12-hour shift, rolling out a pandora's box of updates going back 1.5 years, to prevent us from going out of business in eight hours. This is the first time I almost lost it on my boss. I can't even take an extra day off to make up for this for a week, because I have to cover for the new night shift supervisor who's on vacation. After that, I'm supposed to go on vacation, but it's possible that will have to be delayed due to all the troubleshooting I'm going to have to do for this emergency update in the coming weeks. Not to mention we're headed into a holiday weekend when the developer is going to be hard to reach if we have an urgent emergency.

[gbasden]

This sounds like a great time to do some negotiations for a salary increase.

[Isgrimnur]

“How much am I worth to not flip my shit and walk out?”

[Jeff V]

Got an email the other day from a job I applied for earlier this month, asking for some time slots to arrange a call. Three days ago I provided said time slots.

Crickets...

[Kasey Chang]

Did not get the apprenticeship, but then, always figured it was a long-shot. *sigh*

Let's see how the existing interview goes.

Did get another lead to interview, it's for tech support but have odd hours as I need to support east coast SUPER-EARLY. But that's not a problem, I usually sleep odd hours any way. They want to setup a time for initial interview. I told them I'm good on 4th or 5th as nobody would be active until then. Haven't heard back.

[hitbyambulance]

the LinkedIn UI is a horrific mess these days. i try to avoid using this site as much as possible

[Kasey Chang]

Apparently California EDD is suspending just about EVERYBODY's Unemployment benefits and requiring people (such as me) to "recertify" "due to possible fraud" and has apparently made the news. Won't get any instructions until tomorrow though. *sigh*

[Kraken]

All of my clients are OK with my 20% raise from $50 to $60/hr. The one that matters most won't raise my weekly cap, so I'll be working a little less rather than making any more money...but I think they'll come around when their fiscal year starts in July. They need me.

Meanwhile, a client who gave me scarcely any work last year due to a budget freeze has dropped three large jobs on me in the past week. I'm working more hours than I like to do and had to grind thru the weekend, with a couple more long days still ahead, so my Q1 billings are going to be phat. I billed 7 hours today...which might not sound like much, but that's actual butt-in-seat, nose-on-screen time with breaks subtracted out -- I'm scrupulously honest about my billing, even though nobody ever challenges me.

One of these jobs involves full substantive editing. I haven't explained yet that I get $90 for that, vs. $60 for copy editing. We'll see tomorrow if he bites.

In short, my career's going swimmingly. Wish I'd started it 10 years ago, but the stars hadn't aligned yet. It took a particular set of circumstances to go from 0 to 60 in two years. Even though I could, I don't plan to retire anytime soon, because I'm enjoying this.

[dbt1949]

I am still retired.

[Jeff V]

So my wife's job is now running on full staff, Covid having run its course through the place. That means no OT available, and that's been helping pay the bills the 8 months I've been out of work. So she decides to look into a part time gig at another nursing home. At 8 am, I helped her update her resume. By 10 am, she had an interview scheduled.

I've had 3 interviews in 8 months.

[dbt1949]

Have you reached 62 yet?

[Paingod]

So the owner that struck last time in wanting me to develop an Intranet site (which is still painfully underdeveloped and barely in an Alpha stage, let alone "running") is now considering tasking me with video editing. Because that's what IT is good at? I've always said my motto was "If it you can plug it in, I can support it" - but not "If you can install it, I can do anything for you"

After telling them, months ago, that I lacked the skill to make a good looking & functional Intranet site, they're still asking me for updates on it. It's a project I had written off as being too far out of my wheelhouse to do well. They're just not interested in hearing that.

I sometimes wish that IT wasn't seen as a catch-all for any sideways hair someone in management gets. I'm going to have to propose they find someone to develop this to look good instead of shoveling it onto my desk - give me a budget and I'll give you a nice site. This isn't the first time I've been asked to develop websites for companies I work for. I'm fully capable of working out the schematics and technology, but woefully incapable of making something that looks better than a website from 1982.

[Jeff V]

Have you reached 62 yet?

If I was, we'd likely be living in the Philippines now. She is currently establishing our future there, with an eye on going when I'm 62 but it's probably more likely I'll have to work (if I can find it) until I'm 70. That's unless the chicken farm she's building becomes fabulously successful, enough to support it's own operation in the province and providing enough profit to support us living comfortably in Manila. I don't foresee that happening without investing in modern chicken ranching facilities, the business she'll create would be a local thing, selling eggs and chickens to people who don't have any money in the first place.

[Jeff V]

One of the jobs I applied for today refused to process the application without entering date of birth. WTF, isn't that illegal?

[Jeff V]

The other day, I applied for an asset manager position, responding to a listing on Indeed. I did not realize until I got a subsequent email to log into the company site and complete the application that the job is actually 3 hours away in Indiana. It seems when I applied for a different asset manager job last week and clicked the box to "send more jobs like this" they created a national query, all of my previous job alerts have been local-ish. No problem, I figure, I simply won't log in and complete the application.

Guess who called today.

[coopasonic]

One of the jobs I applied for today refused to process the application without entering date of birth. WTF, isn't that illegal?

Nope. However that information shouldn't be shared with the hiring decision maker or used in making a hiring decision. It is generally required for verifying employment eligibility and background checks.

[Paingod]

Speaking of illegal... I wonder how well businesses in Maine are faring now that it's 100% illegal to inquire about previous pay during an interview process. I had one place, just after the law was passed and made active, still asking and I tried to courteously let them know it wasn't allowed anymore. The HR person tried to argue with me that they still could.

That's an outdated concept that a lot of places clung to so they could try and pay people as little as possible. The rationale behind the law was that the pay inequalities women experienced would often ripple from one job to the next because of this one question.

[Jeff V]

Speaking of illegal... I wonder how well businesses in Maine are faring now that it's 100% illegal to inquire about previous pay during an interview process. I had one place, just after the law was passed and made active, still asking and I tried to courteously let them know it wasn't allowed anymore. The HR person tried to argue with me that they still could.

That's an outdated concept that a lot of places clung to so they could try and pay people as little as possible. The rationale behind the law was that the pay inequalities women experienced would often ripple from one job to the next because of this one question.

Oh, the latest is to ask your "salary requirements." For me, that's not easily answered up front, it depends on elements of the job not necessarily revealed up front (lots of travel? Lots of child care expense. WFH? Less work expense and child care expense).

[Kasey Chang]

Gah. Just got rejected by the job where I made it to second round of interview. Back to more applications. GAH!

[Jeff V]

Wife applied for 5 jobs this week. Got bites on 4 of them already. Her intent now is to work a second full-time job, and is leaning toward a lesser-paying, easier work assisted living facility. I will be a full time Mr. Mom unless I manage to get gainfully employed, and even then we might need to find fulltime childcare options.