Jobs

[cky enthusiast]

i work at trader joe’s dog

[baroque_0bama]

I just recently left the Kitchen trade after 12 years. Living on unemployment now and thinking about other fields/ trades to go into so I can spend more time skating and having a life. Painting houses in SF sounds pretty sick, and it pays decently.

[Tommy G]

I'm currently working audiovisual for the city's tourism/convention department. It's a pretty chill job and I've been doing audiovisual for my church for years so I fit right in. Hopefully soon I can learn some IT stuff to have an edge on that whenever my boss is out.

[fredgallSOTY]

i tell people where to park at the state fair grounds

[manysnakes]

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Can someone teach me how to code? I know nothing. I need a real person. Give me all your time and attention!

[close]

A lot of my friends went through those immersive bootcamps and got a great job out of it within 3-6 months. Not a bad second career chance if you're looking for a change

I've have two former coworkers go into boot camps and graduate into $100k/y jobs, one coding the app at Starbucks and the other working for Microsoft.

These places functionally exist to drive down labor for skilled labor, but what that means for someone working for minimum wage is dramatically different than what it means for someone who was making $180,000 in their previous job.

[manysnakes]

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I need an $80k/yr job that doesn’t involve talking to people who need shit from me. I have a useless social science degree. Any suggestions?

[close]

In tech you can find a job that hits your salary range with just a few years of experience but human interaction is inevitable. Maybe something that’s more of an internal role such as operations or finance versus client facing like sales or client management

Honestly anyone with a basic IT education and a few certifications can easily earn this. If I were advising anyone about this right now, I'd say take some "Information Technology" courses at the local CC and get an AWS certification.

Obviously it's not realistic that no one will ask anything of you, but I used to work manual labor. I punched in at 9:30, I took a few 15 minutes breaks and a lunch, but otherwise I *worked* all day. I did ~35-40 hours of work a week. When I left for tech, I started timing it and there were weeks where I did literally 2 or 3 hours of work all week, but even on "busy" weeks I was performing labor ~10 hours a week.

[TheLurper]

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I need an $80k/yr job that doesn’t involve talking to people who need shit from me. I have a useless social science degree. Any suggestions?

[close]

In tech you can find a job that hits your salary range with just a few years of experience but human interaction is inevitable. Maybe something that’s more of an internal role such as operations or finance versus client facing like sales or client management

[close]

Honestly anyone with a basic IT education and a few certifications can easily earn this. If I were advising anyone about this right now, I'd say take some "Information Technology" courses at the local CC and get an AWS certification.

Obviously it's not realistic that no one will ask anything of you, but I used to work manual labor. I punched in at 9:30, I took a few 15 minutes breaks and a lunch, but otherwise I *worked* all day. I did ~35-40 hours of work a week. When I left for tech, I started timing it and there were weeks where I did literally 2 or 3 hours of work all week, but even on "busy" weeks I was performing labor ~10 hours a week.

[close]

what does a tech or IT job look like? I have no frickin idea, but am curious to hear more. I started in with some linux stuff during the start of the pandemic but the kid who was teaching me was a wastoid and it never took off. Everyone I know who works with computers (I bet I sound hella ignorant right there) makes a nice salary and doesn't really work all that much. Little bit here, little bit there, sometimes a whole lot at once but not often

A degree in computer science goes a long way.

Also, front end developers, full stack, and backend developers are in demand to say the least.

Once you get a couple years experience at a real company, you are worth your weight in gold.

[offkilter]

Where’s that bellboy fit homie?

Any Insurance heads in here?  I’ve never done anything like it, and I have zero interest in cold call sales, but it’s been on my mind as a career option.  Basically I’m over getting paid shit wages at my dead-end construction job, but going back to school isn’t viable for me as I have a house and car and stuff to pay for. 

I’ve heard some companies will train from the ground up and there’s lots of opportunity for advancement.  Is it as soul-sucking as people say, or is it something you can switch off at the end of the day?  I know there’s lots of different jobs in it.. CSR, claims adjuster, underwriter, etc.  Any recommendations or input would be much appreeshed.

I've been working as a claims adjuster for a few months now, I got the job without any prior insurance experience but I did have sales and call center experience. A few of my coworkers had jobs completely unrelated before though.
It's pretty trash honestly, I do prefer it to sales but at least at my company they push you so much to have a high call volume, but claims can require a ton of work and time and the math doesn't add up. The pay and benefits are good especially for my area (Tucson AZ.) I wouldn't really recommend it, being an auto damage adjuster is even worse as far as workload, and most companies are phasing out underwriting and service and slowly combining them into the claims job.

[burm]

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I need an $80k/yr job that doesn’t involve talking to people who need shit from me. I have a useless social science degree. Any suggestions?

[close]

In tech you can find a job that hits your salary range with just a few years of experience but human interaction is inevitable. Maybe something that’s more of an internal role such as operations or finance versus client facing like sales or client management

[close]

Honestly anyone with a basic IT education and a few certifications can easily earn this. If I were advising anyone about this right now, I'd say take some "Information Technology" courses at the local CC and get an AWS certification.

Obviously it's not realistic that no one will ask anything of you, but I used to work manual labor. I punched in at 9:30, I took a few 15 minutes breaks and a lunch, but otherwise I *worked* all day. I did ~35-40 hours of work a week. When I left for tech, I started timing it and there were weeks where I did literally 2 or 3 hours of work all week, but even on "busy" weeks I was performing labor ~10 hours a week.

[close]

what does a tech or IT job look like? I have no frickin idea, but am curious to hear more. I started in with some linux stuff during the start of the pandemic but the kid who was teaching me was a wastoid and it never took off. Everyone I know who works with computers (I bet I sound hella ignorant right there) makes a nice salary and doesn't really work all that much. Little bit here, little bit there, sometimes a whole lot at once but not often

It's an exaggeration, but I would still say that in my experience most jobs in IT are mainly reading, and sometimes answering, emails and then going to meetings about the emails you didn't answer. The whole organisation is just a big hivemind where people have different specialities that they supposedly are more knowledgeable than others about and then they ask someone else about everything else, or try to collectively figure out a large topic, and then the actual work (programming) happens "somewhere else", where work is cheaper.

I looked around the office one time when I was working at a bank and thought to myself "I could do anyone's job in here. All anyone does is read emails, and then when you've read enough of them you become an 'expert'". Now working in a startup/scaleup where I can barely even do my own job

[Coastal Fever]

Thanks @offkilter I also talked to an old buddy who did a bit of everything insurance-related, and he more or less told me the same thing as you.  The money is tempting but I’m not sure I have what it takes to stick it out through the customer service side of things.  Hope you’re at least living comfortably from it though!

IT was another one I started researching.  The thought of being a self-taught dev wiz sounded pretty cool.  Until I realized how unrealistic that was as someone who isn’t really that into computers.  Talked to another old friend who took an IT course then left the industry altogether after his support desk job broke him.  He did enjoy HTML design, but said the majority of work was in Java/Python/etc, which was the most frustrating thing he’d ever done.  Again, just takes a certain type of person.

Looks like I’ll just keep being a broke ass labourer until I come up with some miraculous money making plan.  Or until my body breaks and I go back to working in a hardware store.  Someone did give me really good advice though, which was not to chase money, but to find problems in the world that you can profit from solving.

[baroque_0bama]

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I just recently left the Kitchen trade after 12 years. Living on unemployment now and thinking about other fields/ trades to go into so I can spend more time skating and having a life. Painting houses in SF sounds pretty sick, and it pays decently.

[close]

I know a dude down that way who got an arborist certification or something similar through a community college and is cleaning up rich people's trees on the residential scale, nothing crazy, making like $75/hr if I'm not mistaken.

Thats a solid idea! I'll definitely look into that. Thanks!

[TastyBurrito]

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[close]

Make sure your portfolio reflects the work you like and want to do, rather than the boring stuff you do on the daily. If that’s missing, get ready to dedicate some time to making a body of work. Be sure to include rationals or process as well. Let’s potential employers know you can think your way through a project.

This. If I'm hiring a designer for branding work, I'm hiring someone proficient in branding. I need illustration work? I'm hiring an illustrator. If I need a photo retoucher, I'm hiring a hardcore retoucher.

Being a jack-of-all-trades is cool. But most of the time, anyone hiring a designer is hiring them for their one specific skill that they do better than anyone else.

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[close]

[close]

I think most people would rather hire someone who’s average skill wise, but gets along well with others than some egotistical superstar designer.

An ego is the first thing to get you fired or blacklisted. I've met plenty of bungholes who were great designers, but couldn't take feedback and wouldn't do what was asked because they think they're right. Thick skin is needed in this industry, but remember, it's about the work, not your ego.

To add - there's a fine line between defending your work and the integrity of the work and being an arrogant asshole. I respect someone with a POV for their work (and can defend it by showing it) rather than someone who will just say flat out say "no." Like, I hired you. If you don't want to take my feedback and do the work, I'll find someone just as qualified that will collaborate and find a way to make the work work.

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[close]

[close]

Also make sure your website/portfolio is well designed and by that I don’t mean super flashy, but make sure images are hi-res, basic design stuff like alignment and consistency, etc. I was involved in hiring at the last place I worked and I was amazed at the amount of basic inconsistencies I saw.

I tell designers this all the time. Never underestimate the power of Squarespace and or CargoCollective. If you can't code/design your own site, that's fine. So long as the work is presented well. I know tons of designers/illustrators that use stock sites. But just make sure the work is presented best foot forward.

[manysnakes]

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I need an $80k/yr job that doesn’t involve talking to people who need shit from me. I have a useless social science degree. Any suggestions?

[close]

In tech you can find a job that hits your salary range with just a few years of experience but human interaction is inevitable. Maybe something that’s more of an internal role such as operations or finance versus client facing like sales or client management

[close]

Honestly anyone with a basic IT education and a few certifications can easily earn this. If I were advising anyone about this right now, I'd say take some "Information Technology" courses at the local CC and get an AWS certification.

Obviously it's not realistic that no one will ask anything of you, but I used to work manual labor. I punched in at 9:30, I took a few 15 minutes breaks and a lunch, but otherwise I *worked* all day. I did ~35-40 hours of work a week. When I left for tech, I started timing it and there were weeks where I did literally 2 or 3 hours of work all week, but even on "busy" weeks I was performing labor ~10 hours a week.

[close]

what does a tech or IT job look like? I have no frickin idea, but am curious to hear more. I started in with some linux stuff during the start of the pandemic but the kid who was teaching me was a wastoid and it never took off. Everyone I know who works with computers (I bet I sound hella ignorant right there) makes a nice salary and doesn't really work all that much. Little bit here, little bit there, sometimes a whole lot at once but not often

It's a huge field what a lot of facets, but when you are talking to tech people and you say you're in "IT", it very generally means you're the person who makes the software and hardware work for an organization (as opposed to being a developer, who writes the software).

This guy is incredibly annoying, but this video is accurate about a path into IT.

[Magnolia]

Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

[burm]

Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

I don’t know how it’s in your area, but my experience is that any company that’s in any way big or established has salary tiers/grades they follow, so if your task belongs to the B grade, the B grade salary is all you are going to get. They might as well put it in the job ad upfront.

That being said there is usually some scale to allow for personal raises or experience bonuses, so if they are offering the minimum for the grade you might be able to bump it up. You miss 100% of the raises you don’t ask for, as Gretzky used to say.

[Magnolia]

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Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

[close]

I don’t know how it’s in your area, but my experience is that any company that’s in any way big or established has salary tiers/grades they follow, so if your task belongs to the B grade, the B grade salary is all you are going to get. They might as well put it in the job ad upfront.

That being said there is usually some scale to allow for personal raises or experience bonuses, so if they are offering the minimum for the grade you might be able to bump it up. You miss 100% of the raises you don’t ask for, as Gretzky used to say.

Technically my position got bumped up because of some prior experience (research assistant ➡️ research specialist)  so I'm hoping that will work in my favor. The initial offer is at the very top of the lowest pay tier so I was hoping I could break into that one. Thanks for the insight!

[exlurker]

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Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

[close]

I don’t know how it’s in your area, but my experience is that any company that’s in any way big or established has salary tiers/grades they follow, so if your task belongs to the B grade, the B grade salary is all you are going to get. They might as well put it in the job ad upfront.

That being said there is usually some scale to allow for personal raises or experience bonuses, so if they are offering the minimum for the grade you might be able to bump it up. You miss 100% of the raises you don’t ask for, as Gretzky used to say.

Definitely try, though. Companies rely on that kind of awkward feeling you're feeling to lowball folks. Even if you have no other job options readily available, even if you'd happily take "no" for an answer - make a point of asking for more. It's not impolite or ungrateful.

[fredgallSOTY]

just got another job working at the cafe in the local co-op pretty hype

[burm]

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Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

[close]

I don’t know how it’s in your area, but my experience is that any company that’s in any way big or established has salary tiers/grades they follow, so if your task belongs to the B grade, the B grade salary is all you are going to get. They might as well put it in the job ad upfront.

That being said there is usually some scale to allow for personal raises or experience bonuses, so if they are offering the minimum for the grade you might be able to bump it up. You miss 100% of the raises you don’t ask for, as Gretzky used to say.

[close]

Technically my position got bumped up because of some prior experience (research assistant ➡️ research specialist)  so I'm hoping that will work in my favor. The initial offer is at the very top of the lowest pay tier so I was hoping I could break into that one. Thanks for the insight!

Ok that sounds like a strong case for a pay grade bump, I'm rooting for you!

I just had a funny occurrence with this at work. I'm going to change teams in a couple of weeks or something as soon as I onboard my successor, because I don't really get along with my manager and this is the only way I can keep my sanity and my job/perks at the current company (plus I've been working there 3x as long as he has). So I talked with the dude they hired to replace me and he told me they offered him 16% more salary than me, which is actually less than I assumed since I knew my salary was not that great. So I get all cocky because I know the company thinks I wouldn't know his salary since people don't usually talk about those, so I get the lead HR on the line and say to them I would really prefer if you could match our salaries since we both have 10+ years of experience and supposedly do the same job.

So they said yeah we check on these periodically to make sure they are fair and yada yada and I can see what we can do but it really comes down to your job performance so I will have to talk to your manager about it... my fucking face went white. If I had just waited a few more weeks before I brought this up I would have had a new manager who actually knows their shit and had no reason to hate me yet. Well, I'm still waiting on the results 

[SchizophrenicFatBoy]

Does anyone work with elephants or birds? I'm thinking about going back to school and majoring in some field of science. However, if it's possible to just get a job with certifications and networking, that would be more desirable. Based off what I've read in news articles and on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with undergraduate biology degrees do not get paid much. Also, there's supposedly more competition because roughly 50% of science majors are biology majors. If I can't do something I enjoy or find rewarding, career-wise, I'll do a coding bootcamp and eventually adopt a pet macaw.

[masturskater]

Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

Check out this blog and this guy's videos on negotiating salary. It's cringy stuff but it helped me gain confidence in my salary negotiations.
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/salary-negotiation/

I actually haven't watched it in years but my buddy sent that to me and i know it worked for me. Definitely changed my frame of mind. I changed jobs twice since then each with 20% increases on each move.

Companies have budgets for the positions they're hiring for. If they can save some money and fill the position they will. If they can't afford what you're asking that's fair and they'll let you know.

Shoot your shot. you have nothing to lose. Just do it respectfully and with some confidence. It's more beneficial for both parties and to be satisfied and feel like they are getting what their moneys worth. If either party feels like they're being taking advantage of, the whole working relationship will get sour fast. Hopefully you're excited for the job, they're excited to have you on board and they're willing to meet you at your asking price.

Good luck!

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

Anyone have tips for negotiating a salary? I've never had an office job before so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. The initial offer was for 36.5k, I'm hoping to bump it up to at least 40k.

Use Glassdoor to see what their employees typically make. Ask them for the budget. Try to never give your number first. If they won't budge throw out your highest non-ridiculous number possible.

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

Does anyone work with elephants or birds? I'm thinking about going back to school and majoring in some field of science. However, if it's possible to just get a job with certifications and networking, that would be more desirable. Based off what I've read in news articles and on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with undergraduate biology degrees do not get paid much. Also, there's supposedly more competition because roughly 50% of science majors are biology majors. If I can't do something I enjoy or find rewarding, career-wise, I'll do a coding bootcamp and eventually adopt a pet macaw.

I'd avoid four year degrees at any cost. They love to waste your time with breadth courses and stupid essays. If you want to work with animals i would suggest vet tech, or rescuing animals independently or raising exotic animals and filming it for YouTube videos.

[doctorkickflip]

Anyone had any luck switching career paths? I'm a video editor rn for a gov. agency and hate my life sitting on a computer all day. I'd like to work outside and was looking into the forest service or even just being a barn hand at this stable near my place. Only problem is last time I worked as a grunt was ten years ago so I'm not sure how to convince people I actually can and enjoy working with my hands and shoveling shit.

[slippy]

Anyone had any luck switching career paths? I'm a video editor rn for a gov. agency and hate my life sitting on a computer all day. I'd like to work outside and was looking into the forest service or even just being a barn hand at this stable near my place. Only problem is last time I worked as a grunt was ten years ago so I'm not sure how to convince people I actually can and enjoy working with my hands and shoveling shit.

I don't imagine you'd have too hard of a time getting buy-in for that!  My 2 cents would be to (even if untrue) paint a picture that you're constantly doing this stuff in your free time.  If you explain that you're wanting to get out from behind your desk and take your passion full time I think they'd respond.  Best of luck and don't feel bad about embellishing, everyone is doing it in an interview so hype yourself up!

[doctorkickflip]

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Anyone had any luck switching career paths? I'm a video editor rn for a gov. agency and hate my life sitting on a computer all day. I'd like to work outside and was looking into the forest service or even just being a barn hand at this stable near my place. Only problem is last time I worked as a grunt was ten years ago so I'm not sure how to convince people I actually can and enjoy working with my hands and shoveling shit.

[close]

I don't imagine you'd have too hard of a time getting buy-in for that!  My 2 cents would be to (even if untrue) paint a picture that you're constantly doing this stuff in your free time.  If you explain that you're wanting to get out from behind your desk and take your passion full time I think they'd respond.  Best of luck and don't feel bad about embellishing, everyone is doing it in an interview so hype yourself up!

Damn, thanks! that's a good point and I actually hadn't thought of it that way before. Definitely no stranger to embellishing haha

[L33Tg33k]

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Anyone had any luck switching career paths? I'm a video editor rn for a gov. agency and hate my life sitting on a computer all day. I'd like to work outside and was looking into the forest service or even just being a barn hand at this stable near my place. Only problem is last time I worked as a grunt was ten years ago so I'm not sure how to convince people I actually can and enjoy working with my hands and shoveling shit.

[close]

I don't imagine you'd have too hard of a time getting buy-in for that!  My 2 cents would be to (even if untrue) paint a picture that you're constantly doing this stuff in your free time.  If you explain that you're wanting to get out from behind your desk and take your passion full time I think they'd respond.  Best of luck and don't feel bad about embellishing, everyone is doing it in an interview so hype yourself up!

[close]

Damn, thanks! that's a good point and I actually hadn't thought of it that way before. Definitely no stranger to embellishing haha

Be a mail carrier or FedEx or UPS. All relatively easy to get outside jobs that won't give two fucks about your job history. Fuck, Amazon will hire you on the spot.

[Sativa Lung]

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Anyone had any luck switching career paths? I'm a video editor rn for a gov. agency and hate my life sitting on a computer all day. I'd like to work outside and was looking into the forest service or even just being a barn hand at this stable near my place. Only problem is last time I worked as a grunt was ten years ago so I'm not sure how to convince people I actually can and enjoy working with my hands and shoveling shit.

[close]

I don't imagine you'd have too hard of a time getting buy-in for that!  My 2 cents would be to (even if untrue) paint a picture that you're constantly doing this stuff in your free time.  If you explain that you're wanting to get out from behind your desk and take your passion full time I think they'd respond.  Best of luck and don't feel bad about embellishing, everyone is doing it in an interview so hype yourself up!

[close]

Damn, thanks! that's a good point and I actually hadn't thought of it that way before. Definitely no stranger to embellishing haha

Do you work with any VI/graphics folks? I'm from the military graphics world so if you're not like a gs-14 there's a reasonable chance we know some of the same folks haha.

I'm actually doing the opposite of you, after almost a decade of the blue collar life I'm more than ready to go back to making 65k to watch skate videos on YouTube. I have 3 apps in and got word back today that the first one has not only been reviewed and had my records verified but that some phone calls were made from way up the chain inquiring about if/when my current service line would be prepared to lose me. Pretty stoked about it, if I get it then basically the only thing I'll miss about what I do now is skating on my breaks.

[Frank]

i applied to this place as a cook, but now i do dispatch and bar/service as well. this is mainly due to us needing more workers, but my bosses seem to love me. the chef of one place is fighting with the manager of the other place where i do dispatch and shit to get me back into his kitchen asap XD
i've been working a ton and now i'm one of the very few who did almost everything in the company and it's way more work now than i even expected, but that's ok since i'm trying to pay off accumulated credit debt. if it keeps going like this for the year i'll be good at the end of it.

[apport]

man i need out of IT, i’m tired of constantly having to learn shit i have next to no interest in