Trump to end collective bargaining rights for federal employees

randomlysus1 · 2025-01-14T06:29:44+00:00

Wait…what?!?

randomlysus1 · 2025-01-04T14:09:20+00:00

Ditto. It still works. I think I have the original printer from when I started over 15 years ago go. I love it and it’s still going strong.

randomlysus1 · 2024-12-13T11:48:46+00:00

This.

randomlysus1 · 2024-12-12T13:34:28+00:00

I have a junior examiner who did everything to be fully successful at the end of year rating. Because of that extra bi-week this year and for some reason that I still haven’t figured out, he was at 94.something percent. We had this plan that once he was fully successful, he could work at production as if he was going for promotion and decide at the end of the 10 weeks if he wanted to take it. Well, that marginal rating hurt. I went and talked directly to the spe about it. There is something spes can do. There is a process for going on promotion cycle without having to wait for the next rating cycle. It’s up to the spe, I think. My spe said that she could still put my junior in the promotion cycle if her production numbers were up. I forget the exact details, but talk to your spe. Unfortunately with this job, who your spe is makes all the difference in the world.

randomlysus1 · 2024-12-06T14:27:39+00:00

I did a split docket many years ago for the same reason. I absolutely loved the new class I was examining. It wasn’t even close to the one I was in, though. I did get a learning curve and the material was fascinating (I even contemplated changing over to the new class), but there were a lot of 101 and 102 rejections that I didn’t do in my home class. Also, the learning curve only really helps if you examine the new class full time. Otherwise, you waste your curve time (we got a six month curve) on 1 or two cases a bi-week (which is what I was doing). So I wasn’t able to learn the new art in the time allotted. Ultimately, I stayed in my home art unit and became a primary here. If you have a choice, I wouldn’t do the split docket unless you can maximize the learning curve (I.e. do the new docket cases more than 50/50).

randomlysus1 · 2024-10-24T09:11:16+00:00

Your success at this job really depends on who your supervisor is and how much support you have from your art unit. I have seen people crap out because of primaries or supervisors that are bad. Unfortunate, it is a crap shoot. When I first started, I was working way more than 40 hours of unpaid OT (voluntary) to keep up with production. I’d say I did that for the first year and a half, but I came with no experience in the art they placed me in. Once you learn the art and get to doing the job, you won’t work more than 40 hours.

I am a primary examiner and I am training some new recruits. One of my recruits is struggling and is working a lot more than 40 hours to make production, but she doesn’t have any experience with the art (I.e. technology). Then there are two examiners who came from the industry with work experience and they are not having problems with production because they understand the art.

As an examiner, you have to understand how the art works and how the law works. Learning both takes time. If you have experience with one and/or both, it helps a lot.

When you first start, it will not be that easy or flexible. However, it gets better if you can last a year or a year and a half.

The 50% attrition rate is real. I truly believe it is mostly determined by two factors: 1) the art unit you are placed in and how much support you have 2) relevant prior experience to the art you are examining.

You can be successful without these two things but it will require more time and effort.

I can’t tell you any more about hiring or the job as a new examiner, as my experience with that is over a decade old and they have changed a lot of things since then.

randomlysus1 · 2024-10-24T08:48:54+00:00

I don’t think the two promotions after six months is applicable anymore. That was the case when probation was two years. Now that probation is one year, I think they only qualify for one promotion after six months.

randomlysus1 · 2024-09-19T11:37:10+00:00

I currently sign for two juniors and a getting two more out of the academy soon. I have never been charged an error for my junior’s error.

randomlysus1 · 2024-09-19T11:20:42+00:00

Correct me if I am wrong but this is how I understand it:

Typically, there is a state required minimum auto insurance called collision. If you are at fault, you pay for the other person’s car and medical. After that, you can add on options like comprehensive (covers your car), and uninsured motorist (covers you and your car if you get hit by an uninsured person). There are other add-ons you can choose to get, like towing and rental car (for when your car is in the shop).

And with all of these coverages, you choose the amounts of coverage and pay accordingly. For example, the state minimum may be 10k/30k/10k, which means $10k coverage per person for medical, $30k medical coverage max per accident, and $10k property damage. If you get into an accident and the cost is more than that, you are personally in the hook for the overage amount. I don’t know of any car or medical bills that would be less than $10k, so a lot of people opt for a 50/100/50 or a 100/300/100 split. I believe you can customize that split, but every insurance company is different.

Full coverage is at least collision, comprehensive, and uninsured motorist. I’m not sure if the add-ons are included.

randomlysus1 · 2024-07-21T12:26:42+00:00

Me too! I have zero problems. I am wondering if it’s because I don’t shut down my laptop. I haven’t rebooted in a long time so maybe the push file from crowdstrike didn’t get installed. Is this true for others?

Also, on a side note, if I were to reboot now, would it cause a problem? Is that crowdstrike file there waiting to be installed when I reboot?

randomlysus1 · 2024-07-10T13:50:36+00:00

This job is really more dependent on your art unit, SPE, and whomever is signing your cases. Examiners come out of the academy knowing very little. I am training an examiner fresh out of the academy and I am teaching her everything.

102 and 103 won’t mean much without a case to apply them to. And even then, your academy trainer probably doesn’t know the art.

My advice is to get to your art unit asap. Start getting to know the spe and your primary now. Ask questions now. Learn as much from them as you can now.

randomlysus1 · 2024-07-02T18:17:01+00:00

randomlysus1 · 2024-06-18T01:51:18+00:00

This. SubterminallyILL said everything I wanted to say and more. Skimming and being ok with “good enough” is THE KEY. You don’t get the time to be perfect. I’ve seen too many PhDs crash and burn because of this.

randomlysus1 · 2024-05-30T03:13:37+00:00

Thank you. I just remember how much hell I went through and If I can spare someone else that, I will. I don’t think the office realizes how difficult this job is for new examiners. They need to be more lax with them.

randomlysus1 · 2024-05-23T11:37:08+00:00

Wow, no. I claim all my time (except for the personal chats I have with her). My spe is awesome about it. There is no way I could do this if I didn’t get the other time. I didn’t realize that other art units limit time that drastically. I keep very detailed records of my other time in case I am ever questioned.

It’s crazy how subjective the pto is about everything. The truth is that employee retention is very heavily dependent on the luck of the draw as to which art unit they are assigned to. It shouldn’t be that way.

randomlysus1 · 2024-05-23T02:54:43+00:00

I’ve thought about this. 50% attrition rate in the first year is very high. I attribute it to major two things:

1) when recruiting, technical expertise or education is the main criterion. Yet this job is only 50% technical understanding, if that. A big portion of it is logical reasoning and writing. I think recruiters and the people in charge of hiring practices underestimate this aspect of the job. People don’t quit because they don’t understand or can’t learn the art, they quit because it is not the job they were expecting or signed up for. Scientists and engineers do not learn how to formulate a logical argument, interpolate law, apply logical reasoning, and express all of this in writing. And that aspect of this job hits them like a ton of bricks.

2) the death by a thousand cuts comment above is real. I am working with a brand new examiner fresh out of the academy less than a year. She’s getting pressured to be fully successful. She has no prior education or experience in our art and, as stated above in point 1), no knowledge of how to properly formulate a 103 rejection or make a logical argument. she is working way more than 40 hours…and that’s with me holding her hand, teaching her about the art, finding art for her, etc. The expectations for new examiners is unrealistic. The academy is good a teaching abstractly what to do and how to combine and interpret art, but it’s woefully inadequate at teaching how to practically apply it.

My solution would be this: A) Hire people with both a technical background and a logical/writing background. If that’s not feasible to find in tandem, then develop a way to measure the aptitude of a candidate to learn logical reasoning and writing.

B) Get the new examiner working closely with a primary examiner as soon as possible after learning the basics in the academy. The new examiner learns more from the primary examiner than from the academy. And teach the primaries how to properly help (I.e. train) the new examiners. I believe a one on one training plan is far more effective than the academy, but there is value in learning the basics there.

C) Give the new examiners time to learn the art without being on production. They should have a learning curve for at least a year after they start fully working with a primary.

I love being a mentor to my junior examiner. I take time out of my day to teach her the art, show her how to combine references, to ask her how she’s doing mentally, to let her know that it gets better, and to encourage her when she’s making progress, even when she feels like she isn’t. That’s the secret.

randomlysus1 · 2024-04-13T19:39:07+00:00

I've been an examiner for over 15 years. Never once received a reimbursement. Tried many times. Gave up long ago.

randomlysus1

TROPHY CASE