Jobs

[iKobrakai]

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

Damn, all that "learn to code" shit... IT is really not for everybody.

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

Anyone here have like an actual career they studied for? If so, did you move away from home and put skating and hobbies to the side in the name of career growth?

[manysnakes]

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

It's a real challenge when all you want to do is be outside and build shit with wood. I've recently been through a period of unemployment and I can't tell you how many times during my job searching I thought "fuck this, I'm going to work for the Forest Service."

I actually have a new (tech) job offer supposedly coming today, and I'm nervous enough that I've been up since 4:00 AM.

[somefucker]

Anyone here have like an actual career they studied for? If so, did you move away from home and put skating and hobbies to the side in the name of career growth?

guy who wasted 4 years on a degree to pursue art as career

yes, i studied graphic design after getting a math degree - got a corpo art job

at first i lived w my parents and stacked a bit of $, then when i got a job in a city i moved out. skating and hobbies didn't get pushed to the side, just not the same regiment i was used to. now i skate after work during the week, and earlier in the morning on weekends.

i kinda had to focus more on making art for fun and gaming/other hobbies to reignite the stoke for skating i had pre corpo job. routines get stale really fast, i find i skate better/like i used to after taking a few days break or skating intermittently.

either way don't listen to anyone that says you have to give up anything you love to make a living.

[manysnakes]

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

[close]

Damn, all that "learn to code" shit... IT is really not for everybody.

I've seen a lot of burnout, including my own, during my short time in IT. The reality is that it actually kinda sucks to work all day behind a computer, dealing with completely abstract problems. In my former career, I would take a physically broken piece of equipment, remove, repair and replace what was needed, reassemble, test and then I was done. There was something that came to me not working, and left fully functional. Now I help manage elastic load balancing for Amazon Web Services EC2 component - what the fuck is that? I could explain it, but I get bored just thinking about it.

The plus side is, I used to clock in for work at 9:00 and work until 5:30-6, taking a couple of 15s and a half-hour lunch, but otherwise I worked. I was doing something physical; lifting, removal, balancing, tuning, etc. I would leave work completely drained, and for my trouble I earned a little more than minimum wage. In my first job in IT, my salary was double what I made in my prior field, and there were weeks when I performed ~2-4 hours of actual WORK over the span of an entire 5-day week. Then the pandemic came, and I didn't even have to leave the house any longer. I was on the other side of the wall, the laptop class.

[HyenaChaser]

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

[close]

It's a real challenge when all you want to do is be outside and build shit with wood. I've recently been through a period of unemployment and I can't tell you how many times during my job searching I thought "fuck this, I'm going to work for the Forest Service."

I actually have a new (tech) job offer supposedly coming today, and I'm nervous enough that I've been up since 4:00 AM.

I’m not in tech but refreshing to see I’m not the only one who’s considered ditching the computer for the forest service. But I feel your pain, so also condolences.

[manysnakes]

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

[close]

It's a real challenge when all you want to do is be outside and build shit with wood. I've recently been through a period of unemployment and I can't tell you how many times during my job searching I thought "fuck this, I'm going to work for the Forest Service."

I actually have a new (tech) job offer supposedly coming today, and I'm nervous enough that I've been up since 4:00 AM.

[close]

I’m not in tech but refreshing to see I’m not the only one who’s considered ditching the computer for the forest service. But I feel your pain, so also condolences.

It's a mixed bag, because the tech money and benefits are great - one of the only places left in the American economy where one can say that. On the other hand, desk jockeying is a heluva way to waste one's life. But ultimately, we are going to be doing some sort of alienated labor of one type or another for most of our lives, so we might as well find a balance where one is doing the least amount of work for the most amount of money.

[Skatebeard]

Anyone here have like an actual career they studied for? If so, did you move away from home and put skating and hobbies to the side in the name of career growth?

Went to university back in 2003 and got BSc Hons in Product Design (Industrial Design), got scouted by a local retail design company during my final degree show/open day, and was working for them before my graduation later in the summer. Used to get quite a bit of skating done during uni, the campus had some decent spots, but i probably spent more time getting drunk.

Moved out of university accomodation straight into a rented flat, and never moved back home... carried on skating and doing whatever, but got heavily into snowboarding so that's where a lot of my pay went (trips are expensive when you're UK based), along with messing around with cars.

Been in the retail display industry ever since, went from junior through to senior roles across 3 companies, and am now managing a team of 6 designers and engineers.

Paid off the last of my student loan last year, skate about 5 days a week, and WFH apart from a couple days a month here and there. Work/life balance is decent and I earn good money, don't own a house, but got plenty of savings to eventually do so.

Can't see myself ever leaving this industry tbh, never intended to get into it specifically, but i'm pleased to have spent my career sofar doing what I studied to do. I've just about been doing it 15 years now, been at my current company the last 11.

TL;DR - I never put my hobbies or life to one side to grow my career, and have actively prioritised hobbies and interests alongside working 9-5... you definately don't need to sell your soul and have no life to get ahead in your career, not in the UK and in my experience anyway.

I'd like to hope that you don't have to sacrifice one to achieve the other, but I suppose that depends heavily on the career you choose. I have definately sacrificed getting on the property ladder in the name of very expensive hobbies in my 20s through to early 30s...but that was more down to me choosing how to spend my money than related to my job/career.

[TastyBurrito]

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Anyone here have like an actual career they studied for? If so, did you move away from home and put skating and hobbies to the side in the name of career growth?

[close]

guy who wasted 4 years on a degree to pursue art as career

yes, i studied graphic design after getting a math degree - got a corpo art job

at first i lived w my parents and stacked a bit of $, then when i got a job in a city i moved out. skating and hobbies didn't get pushed to the side, just not the same regiment i was used to. now i skate after work during the week, and earlier in the morning on weekends.

i kinda had to focus more on making art for fun and gaming/other hobbies to reignite the stoke for skating i had pre corpo job. routines get stale really fast, i find i skate better/like i used to after taking a few days break or skating intermittently.

either way don't listen to anyone that says you have to give up anything you love to make a living.

Same. Went to school for graphic design, then to school for advertising.

Advertising got me back into skating. My coworkers all were surfers, skaters, artists, etc. Helped my get on my board again.

So while I make "corporate art" and shit. I, too, still draw and write for my own sake and as a creative outlet. And it helps that some people that I work with are some of the biggest creative influences/inspiration in my life.

[TheLurper]

Does anyone know C++ or C# or Javascript?

How did you get into coding? And, are you making a million dollars a year?

[manysnakes]

Does anyone know C++ or C# or Javascript?

How did you get into coding? And, are you making a million dollars a year?

I know some JS and a lot more Python, but I'm still a shitty coder. I can do what everyone else does, which is find something that works on Github or Stack Overflow and chop it up until it does what I need it to do. I got into it because I was a little computer nerd and, as a kid, was always between my Amiga 2000. I did a little tech work after high school and fell out of the field after the first dot-com bubble burst, and got back into it through a bunch of "job retraining" programs paid for by the state.

I don't code for a living, I work in cybersecurity, so I can't speak to the current job market in that field with any authority, but I will say that I know a number of people from my blue collar days who did the whole bootcamp thing and graduated out the other side with a six-figure job working for one or another of the big companies you'd probably think of (Microsoft, Google, Facebook).

[GardenSkater77]

Two of my good friends from HS went into IT.

The first received a masters from Stevens and works in back end security in Manhattan. He works himself out of a job every 6-18 months. He’s basically a mercenary who is paid too much to keep full time. His work life balance sucks.

The second has a bachelors from Rutgers and works in San Francisco as a database administrator. Also used to post here. He has only had three jobs in 20 years since graduating and seems to be happy and have a decent work life balance.

While friend 2 might not make as much money he does not have to keep finding new work constantly.

[PRISON IKE]

I’ve been a jet engine mechanic my whole adult working career. I’m the lead quality inspector at the shop I work at. I have a Masters degree that I’ve never used. Every time I try to get out of aviation I get a pay bump that lures me back in.

[igrindtwinkies]

I'm currently hitting the job hunt.  I deal with routers and switches on the network for a mid-sized ISP.  I deal with some managed firewalls for business as well.

Most of my knowledge is on the networking side.  Haven't dealt with Active Directory and shit like that since I was in school using Server 2008 and 2012.  I've got a Server 2019 lab setup right now, adding mass users and shit using a powershell script.  Just ordered this book https://www.manning.com/books/learn-powershell-in-a-month-of-lunches.

Refreshing some stuff on the networking side too.  Going through some CCNA material and labbing with packet tracer.  I'm trying to get into an MSP for like 2 years and then try to nail an in-house gig at a bank or something.

I'm currently working 3 12 hour shifts overnight on the weekend.  Lot's of downtime to study.  I like the job, but after 5 years I'm ready to get into a more traditional schedule.  I'd like to make more money as well.  My current work will probably offer me a junior-mid level engineer position within the next few months if I can't find another job where I'm a good fit. 

[Trashcon]

Anyone here have like an actual career they studied for? If so, did you move away from home and put skating and hobbies to the side in the name of career growth?

Studied Sociology to get into the Social Work field. I have been a social worker for almost five years but have been in the field since 2008. I didn't move away. My office is in the next town over, which is about a 10-12 minute drive. I have a very flexible and consistent schedule with weekends off, and three day weekends every other weekend. This is probably the job that has allowed me to travel the most and spend time with my wife the most. If I were to want to move up into a management position, I could see having just a little less time as I would need to stay later but would still have my same schedule. I do skate a lot less but that has nothing to do with my job.

[Velcro Wallet]

After losing my dream job to Covid (it was 8 months ago and I’m still pissed off) I FINALLY found another job. I applied for so fuxking many that I gave up. Writing selection criteria’s sucks so bad. And I’m still paranoid about tattoos in the workplace. I live in the capital of Australia and it’s a Public Service town. Half the people I interview for have tatts but there’s still people that are…. Old school. Kinda wish I didn’t get the hands and fingers done but hey. I’m back in the PS on a year contract 

[SUPREMENECKPROTECTOR]

Does anyone know C++ or C# or Javascript?

How did you get into coding? And, are you making a million dollars a year?

The language you are coding in is not important as long as you understand the fundamental concepts behind writing code.

I am a software developer at a medium sized company in germany and i love my job. They pay is okayish at my current company and i know that i could make a lot more money at a different company but pay is not everything to me. I have been working within the same team for the past 10 years and i hope it stays that way because my colleagues are the best. The job itself is pretty low pressure and stress. We rarely have set deadlines because of our management and this contributes greatly to the low stress environment. I am not making a million dollars, started with an apprenticeship and have no college education(don´t know if possible in the US).

[fredgallSOTY]

my boss was talking to me about gifted hater yesterday hahahaha

[TheLurper]

Fuck me.

I changed careers in order to develop a path to a research based role at a big company. Spoke with the hiring manager today, we got along, she needed someone with my education, and wanted someone to do the shit I'm stoked on doing BUT then she dropped that I need to pass a test doing advanced statistics and creating a database with SQL even though this won't be something I do in the job.

I haven't taken a fucking stats class in 15 years and don't have time to take a refresher stats class (I'm already working two jobs and working on a side project) and I have zero interest in learning SQL. Super fucking bummed.

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

Fuck me.

I changed careers in order to develop a path to a research based role at a big company. Spoke with the hiring manager today, we got along, she needed someone with my education, and wanted someone to do the shit I'm stoked on doing BUT then she dropped that I need to pass a test doing advanced statistics and creating a database with SQL even though this won't be something I do in the job.

I haven't taken a fucking stats class in 15 years and don't have time to take a refresher stats class (I'm already working two jobs and working on a side project) and I have zero interest in learning SQL. Super fucking bummed.

Good luck.

[Huell Howser]

Fuck me.

I changed careers in order to develop a path to a research based role at a big company. Spoke with the hiring manager today, we got along, she needed someone with my education, and wanted someone to do the shit I'm stoked on doing BUT then she dropped that I need to pass a test doing advanced statistics and creating a database with SQL even though this won't be something I do in the job.

I haven't taken a fucking stats class in 15 years and don't have time to take a refresher stats class (I'm already working two jobs and working on a side project) and I have zero interest in learning SQL. Super fucking bummed.

you can learn to create a database in SQL in less than a few hours IMO. don't let this be a hold up

the stats test on the other hand.. having ptsd from jr college thinkin bout it lol

[TheLurper]

Thanks. And, glad to hear SQL is pretty easy.

And, yeah, not stoked on the stats shit. I can do basic stuff pretty easily, but I have no interest in learning R and re-learning regressions and shit, especially when that wouldn't be my job. Why test me on an unrelated skill?

[burm]

Setting up an SQL database is one thing, doing the queries is another. I had some trouble wrapping my head around how to manipulate the data to get what you need and knowing what commands to use and how. But if you have prior experience in data it’s probably not so bad, I was working off of 15 year old database studies. It was a kind of a fun challenge though, like you know what data goes in to the system, and you know what question you need answered, and in between there is a logical puzzle of how to arrive at that answer.

I used datacamp.com mostly, I imagine there are better and even free-er resources available for SQL too but that was kinda fun and gamified. I also setup a free Google BigQuery which gave access to some big existing datasets for messing about in (BigQuery used some slightly custom SQL syntax though)

[Huell Howser]

Setting up an SQL database is one thing, doing the queries is another. I had some trouble wrapping my head around how to manipulate the data to get what you need and knowing what commands to use and how. But if you have prior experience in data it’s probably not so bad, I was working off of 15 year old database studies. It was a kind of a fun challenge though, like you know what data goes in to the system, and you know what question you need answered, and in between there is a logical puzzle of how to arrive at that answer.

I used datacamp.com mostly, I imagine there are better and even free-er resources available for SQL too but that was kinda fun and gamified. I also setup a free Google BigQuery which gave access to some big existing datasets for messing about in (BigQuery used some slightly custom SQL syntax though)

this is the truth. I haven't used SQL in a year or so and I honestly forget how to do queries lol. a quick refresher from the docs or a video would set me straight. we currently use a nosql db here at work and I have kinda grown to like it more

@Lurper  you can probably grab a pretty good course on Udemy on the cheap

[TheLurper]

Getting a master is already opening doors. Graduated 2 weeks ago and am getting offers, good ones. Gotta do the paper work with HR but I got an incredible opportunity lined up for next year doing something quite different, but not completely

What was your field of study?

[burm]

Getting a master is already opening doors. Graduated 2 weeks ago and am getting offers, good ones. Gotta do the paper work with HR but I got an incredible opportunity lined up for next year doing something quite different, but not completely

That’s great, happy for you man. Being able to reap what you sow.

[waffle]

Fuck me.

I changed careers in order to develop a path to a research based role at a big company. Spoke with the hiring manager today, we got along, she needed someone with my education, and wanted someone to do the shit I'm stoked on doing BUT then she dropped that I need to pass a test doing advanced statistics and creating a database with SQL even though this won't be something I do in the job.

I haven't taken a fucking stats class in 15 years and don't have time to take a refresher stats class (I'm already working two jobs and working on a side project) and I have zero interest in learning SQL. Super fucking bummed.

Not to be a dick, but what kind of research role do you expect to get without strong stats knowledge? Any worthwhile “research” job-title carries that assumption. It may be a bummer but what good is research if it can’t be quantified? (Especially to the business paying you to do it).

On the sql side - creating the db is pretty simple. I’d recommend just following an online tutorial and then writing down some keywords. Queries can get much more complex, but I wouldn’t expect anything beyond basic aggregations and window functions. (Maybe not worth time to study). Check our vertabelo for query practice.

Any research job will also require basic (at the minimum) data skills, so it’s well worth the effort to brush those up.


I work as an applied scientist in faang. First role was on a team doing machine learning research. Have since transitioned to a team where my work is more focused on writing software. Love it. Good pay. WLB. Work often more satisfying than skating these days.

[TheLurper]

Not to be a dick, but what kind of research role do you expect to get without strong stats knowledge? Any worthwhile “research” job-title carries that assumption. It may be a bummer but what good is research if it can’t be quantified? (Especially to the business paying you to do it).


Any research job will also require basic (at the minimum) data skills, so it’s well worth the effort to brush those up.

I work as an applied scientist in faang. First role was on a team doing machine learning research. Have since transitioned to a team where my work is more focused on writing software. Love it. Good pay. WLB. Work often more satisfying than skating these days.

I'm going to push back on this for a few reasons:

1) The some of the biggest insights in the social sciences came from ethnographers, those who do interviews, and those who conduct experiments.
 
I think it is rather arrogant to dismiss the work of Goffman, Wacquant, the Adlers (despite their ethical issues), Milgram (different ethical issues), Gottdiener, and others who have done brilliant work and reframed the way we see the world.
 
2) Simply running regressions without any theoretical underpinnings leads to superficial results with little meaning. Fancy equations allow bad results to adorn themselves in the Emperor's New Clothes. "What you can't see how brilliant this is because of how complex my regression is?"
 
3) Those who have done the best research on skateboarders (Becky Beal, Ian Borden, and Ocean Howell) were all qualitative researchers. A data scientist just running the numbers on some skateboarders could very easily lead to superficial understandings of skaters... and maybe this is part of the reason there is yet to be a stand out quant study on skaters.


Finally, I think the the qual vs quant battle is rather silly, instead the two forms of research build upon one another. This is the first time I've ever had anyone approach me and say, "No research but quant research has value."

Dismissing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, communications, social-psych, psych, the qual side of UX research (if we want to pretend UX is a discipline), because only crunching numbers has value comes off as rather offensive and arrogant.

[Glue Reed]

Bumping this thread because I'm looking for some advice and hope this is the right place:

Has anybody ever had any sort of successful career change?  I'm in my 40's, and in DIRE DIRE DIRE need of a career change/better job.  I have a "fancy toilet paper" Bacehlors in Fine Arts so that ain't helping.  I have looked into going back to school but it is nearly impossible to fit multiple classes into my schedule between work, kid, etc...

Has anybody had any success taking online courses?  Any advice at all would be appreciated.

[L33Tg33k]

Bumping this thread because I'm looking for some advice and hope this is the right place:

Has anybody ever had any sort of successful career change?  I'm in my 40's, and in DIRE DIRE DIRE need of a career change/better job.  I have a "fancy toilet paper" Bacehlors in Fine Arts so that ain't helping.  I have looked into going back to school but it is nearly impossible to fit multiple classes into my schedule between work, kid, etc...

Has anybody had any success taking online courses?  Any advice at all would be appreciated.

You’re fuckt!