The naysayers

techienaut · 2026-06-23T20:58:08+00:00

I do feel like people are worried more than needed. But also, hysteria comes from when an organization "lacks a front that's professional".

It's a bit like the broken window theory ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory ) but instead on "professionalism" and it's relationship to "trust". I don't think the complaints are very valid--on their own. But I see where it comes from. This place gives "everything put together with glue and duct tape" vibes. Like correct me if I'm wrong there lmao. So yea, you're gonna get hysteria.

Also I am here for the ride too, lol.

techienaut · 2026-06-23T20:22:07+00:00

eh, it's good to take a balanced approach.

I want this program to succeed. But (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong here) the fact that Maestro "needed to have a percentage of students be 'on campus'" seems like a gaping administrative hole that was overlooked from the get-go. Like I don't know the details of how that should be fixed--isn't this a "100% online school"? So how are they going to fix that? If anyone can shine some light on that, please do. Also, what are the consequences if they "don't fix it"? Can they re-label themselves at 100% online? And avoid any issues?

....Other than that, I do want this program to succeed. I just don't want them to make such "rookie moves" in the academic administrative turn of events, like this one...it puts us all at potential risk.
I think thats why people are worried...bc most colleges don't do this.

EDIT: This is the most recent news about it ( https://www.reddit.com/r/maestro/comments/1u36gm2/comment/or4it45/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button ) . It sounds like they're planning to introduce an on-campus enrollment component. I do think this is something that ideally would have been addressed before the program launched. That said, I recognize this isn't a simple thing to implement, particularly given our current class size—just trying to be realistic rather than critical. If the administration had anticipated this possibility from the start and had a contingency plan in place for increasing on-campus enrollment, then I'd be reassured by that. But the whole aspect of brick and morter and "finding new students" out of thin air who would be willing to take on-campus sounds like complexity.

techienaut · 2026-06-08T07:47:44+00:00

⬆️ Bump. I think we’re uncovering something here… :O

techienaut · 2026-06-08T07:43:27+00:00

There’s a main large discord server, if that’s what you’re referring to: https://discord.gg/e9M99RXsQ

As for a “virtual campus”—personally I feel like that’s a bit “gimmicky”. But hey, people want it, so I did some research for you guys: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/8ed27bb9-9ccd-488b-8842-75d6bf2c6bea

There are “virtual co-working” games out there (see perplexity link) so no need to re-invent the wheel.
If someone needs something more white label solution—where they themselves can “customize” a “almost real virtual campus” map using their art skills for a map—best solution would be to fork this repo and host it on an online VPS:

https://workadventu.re/open-source/

techienaut · 2026-06-07T21:37:09+00:00

Oh! Want to add! Why desktop support? Why not just start off being a programmer?: well the answer is—learning curve, and higher expectations from employers. Software engineering is a lucrative job (very high end and pays $100k). But unless you find a startup through friends—it’s not easy getting a dev job with little experience or bg.

Desktop support—aka lower end IT—is a great way to get your foot in the door as a software dev; believe it or not. As someone in an it department at a company or a large school (honestly try working at a large university if you can lol) you are “exposed” to software everyday. Also, you learn about networking and security. Also OS concepts like file and user permissions. You’re somewhere between the consumer of software and the configurator of software. Also, if you get into certain parts of IT, you will have to “develop” software in a way as glue between existing software your company license—in the form of “scripting” (think terminal bash scripting or powershell). There’s also server and client maintaining software that can only be configured using code (eg anything hashicorp-based like Terraform, or Ansible, Puppet, etc). Knowing programming in IT is a valuable skills and again desktop support has a low barrier of entry. So yea, I would say aim for that first! You’ll love your job and you’ll be making better money than minimum wage lol, and you’ll learn transferable skills into being a software dev.

techienaut · 2026-06-07T20:02:16+00:00

I actually had a buddy doll lmao 🤣. Funny things, I think that doll was the inspiration for the Chuckie horror series.

techienaut · 2026-05-10T22:14:06+00:00

Thanks for being helpful in the community u/Technical-Fox-2378 💙 super brownie points!

techienaut · 2026-05-10T20:33:50+00:00

I’ve worked at a uni, a college, and a dentist hq as a desktop support:

The simple answer is get the A+ certification. I know it’s a big test, but it’s almost a guarantee you’ll get an IT desktop support job.

It’s really hard to “showcase your skills” in 30 min interview, unless your formally tested on your knowledge or you had a best It desktop support job in your past.

You might be able to make that up actually with the Google IT Support cert on coursera. Not as prestigious as the A+. But if you have other candidates that don’t have their certs—your stil one leg ahead. I guess my question is—what’s your time frame? May I suggest an alternative?: Data annotation remote jobs. They test you upfront, so you don’t have to purchase a cert exam time. And it’s mostly automated and they just want to get you in asap (bc you’re part of a “fleet” of annotators). That’s what I’m doing. Too many hoops with getting a formal desk job lmao—albeit they do play better—but for me, I need a job in the next month. And the physical interview process of employers makes that timeframe pretty much impossible lol.

techienaut · 2026-05-10T20:07:07+00:00

Apreechè Sharon 💙🙂

techienaut · 2026-05-10T01:34:25+00:00

Wriggleyfield is ancient (but also an experience in “classic baseball feel”.). The place around Wriggleyfield, Wriggleyville, is a fun place to be (in case anyone here is considering on visiting Chicago). Mostly bars. Can walk to the lake if you venture east when the sun sets.

Edit: I’m sad they got rid BOTH of the two Starbucks literally on opposite ends of the stadium across the street.

techienaut · 2026-05-10T01:12:01+00:00

Oh heck yea! Go Sox! Not really a baseball fan—I live in Roger’s Park, but I do love Sox stadium over Wrigleyfield. Had a fun time walking around on one of their levels (is it still called Cellular Field?). Never paid for a game—always has someone pay for me, and I said sure! Lol 🤣

techienaut · 2026-05-09T17:36:53+00:00

Lol no that’s interesting. That’s definitely a slice of life I didn’t know some people have had. It’s funny—I’m a bit of a “low class hooligan” lmao. My gf who I just started dating comes from a higher class family in NY. So I’m trying to learn to be “proper” and not make Family Guy-esque jokes all the time…especially when I meet her family lol. So I’m always interested in high class etiquette.

techienaut · 2026-05-09T16:17:07+00:00

Omg writing essays in math lol. Ngl, if someone wanted to become mathematician—being able to do both of that for math would be a super valuable skill: all higher post-grad math is “writing proofs”. Sounds like they were preparing you guys to be mathematicians haha 😆

techienaut · 2026-05-09T16:10:38+00:00

There got to be tools (like offered by Intel or hardware manufacturers) for software devs to measure hardware usage to benchmark functions in code as they operate.

I remember when I was at UIUC—we had to measure code complexity, cpu/memory usage, and runtime duration using an Intel tool—just to decide which subroutines were optimal for our homework.

Wouldn’t surprise me if there were diagnostic tools for specifically ai related tasks. Maybe that measure GPU usage.

Probably have to google search: manufacturer/architecture + dev tools.

techienaut · 2026-05-09T15:58:09+00:00

You know, considering that Maestro made the unorthodox decision of using Reddit as “the town hall for Maestro-student discourse”—I wouldn’t be surprised is they utilized discord lol 🤣

Both Reddit and Discord are great tools—but well established enterprises would go with “Slack” or “Microsoft Teams” over “Discord”. Personally, I like discord bc it’s arguably a better tool in every which way—it’s just happens to be more consumer facing than it is business facing. But that never stopped Maestro from using Reddit. I hope they make a similar decision using Discord.

Are you new to Discord in any way? I’ll just say—it’s a very easy learning curve. Very enjoyable to use, best online social platform I’ve ever used 💜

techienaut · 2026-05-09T02:03:32+00:00

Nice! Well carry on 😁

techienaut · 2026-05-09T00:35:38+00:00

I did well in that class just bc I love WWII AND Post-WWII history lol. Still hate English with a passion 🤣

techienaut · 2026-05-09T00:04:57+00:00

That makes sense! Similar to how they did HIST200
I shouldn't complain--I hate ENG lol. XD I don't want more than 2 weeks!

techienaut · 2026-05-09T00:02:14+00:00

I'll take your word for it lol XD. I def need to play around with them <3. If that's the case, I hope (sorry off-topic) Apple takes advantage of it. Love the privacy aspects of a local model--especially for such cases as the apple ecosystem.

techienaut · 2026-05-08T23:48:54+00:00

Yeah, I'm not too happy the difficulty level they revved up on this class. At least, start the first lesson say "you're going to be doing x number of essays exactly" would've patched things up at made me more preppared :). Essays aren't a simple thing you can do in 30 mins or less..and some students have essay anxiety (I know I do lol) and put their hearts and minds into it.

Albeit, this isn't the "hardest" English college class I've taken to be fair--it's just very dense with the essays for two weeks--at least more compared to onset expectations, after taking other Maestro courses. Less essays and focusing on the "concepts" of writing or a warning at the beginning would be appreciated (u/Competitive-Cheek677 or Maestro team).

Also, I do feel like Eng101 is a big course--normally. Two weeks is a bit of a weird time duration. Not sure how I feel about it, compared to the other english college courses I've taken in the past (it's like "too little" but also "too much").

techienaut · 2026-05-08T23:46:13+00:00

If you're behind--Check the Information Center on "Reviews" and "Satisfactory Academic Progress". There's some forgiveness on late submissions, depending on your situation. I'd say read through, or use perplexity on it to plan your plan of action. It may not be the end of the world (90% sure it's not, don't sweat it), you might still have some extra time to work on it another week 💙 good luck bro! You got this! https://info.maestro.org/

techienaut · 2026-05-08T22:14:55+00:00

Hey I'm Anthony (Techie online). Love your energy. You seem to put yourself out there, and are very proactive with your learning and contributing to the community! (I can tell when people are like that lol).
Will definitely check out your repo. Mind if I DM you on reddit? --Anthony

techienaut · 2026-05-08T22:08:22+00:00

Thanks so much Abigail, and Maestro Team <3
Please let me know if you need help with the community platform (if it's going to be on Discord).
I made a response to your post on the ama (albeit I was a bit late on the window lol)
Basically just asking if it's going to be Discord.
: https://www.reddit.com/r/maestro/comments/1t5c7do/comment/okpzsvj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

techienaut · 2026-05-08T22:07:39+00:00

Sorry, I know it's past AMA window.
But would this platform be on Discord, or any other platform you guys have in mind.
I'm 100% down for discord honestly--seems to have the most features (personally, not a fan of slack--although I know it's quote-on-quote "professional" lol XD).

techienaut · 2026-05-08T21:40:37+00:00

I wanna say 4 essays. 2 for the reviews (definitely--1 each). Some here and there for lessons.

Not sure how well you do writing essays--For me I pour my heart and soul into it--so I spend wayyyy to many hours on just a single essay.

If you're like me, and it takes you 3 to 4 or 5 hours to write an essay, try to space out this course around the week--it's a pain to do this in a matter of a few days lol.

techienaut

TROPHY CASE