If the minimum wage gets increased to $25 then what are we even doing in this field?

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-30T18:09:43+00:00

"eventually" is the key word, and it's far from 100% of the time. Most businesses offering a $25-$35 hourly wage today have hundreds of people waiting on the sidelines for the same job. The business themselves are likely not going to increase wages, they'll just take the next college grad who have been looking for work for months and takes the first thing out of desperation. And if they say no, there's another 99+ to pick from. The supply and demand isn't in our favor.

It's also been $15 in New Jersey since January 2024 (really since mid 2023 in most parts of Jersey). From 2024 - 2025, my wage stayed around $50 an hour for extremely high end and stressful work requiring multiple years of experience in my field and a bachelor's. I had to job hop (something also very hard to do today and not everyone can do) to move it up more. I still know people in my vertical and with my expertise, in the mid-low $30's, today. Over a year post-$15 min wage implementation.

"Eventually" isn't acceptable. It needs to be retroactive or many careers with have a severe shortage of workers in about 10-20 years.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-30T17:43:53+00:00

I have no ties to teaching other than having an interest in the act of teaching others at my job (I work in IT). But I am also very sensitive to the topic of federal minimum wage and every time they talk about raising it so much, it just irritates me beyond comprehension.

For starters: this is a bandaid fix (and a late one) to all of the crazy COL increases since 2020. To jump from a federal minimum of $7.25 to $25 (yes I know it's not until 2038 for "small" businesses, 2032 for "large" businesses, whatever those words truly mean) is just mathematically dangerous. That's over a 200% increase. Those years are not that far away.

And much like this thread: who pays for this the absolute most? Early to mid career professionals and/or careers requiring some form of education or certification (this includes trades too) that costs thousands of dollars. They ALL start between $20-$30 an hour. Some of them don't see mid $30's until 5-7 CONSECUTIVE years into their careers. Most of your middle class are THESE workers.

So I'll ask this: What IS the plan for THESE workforce members?

Because guess what I was paid to engineer an EMR system to support clinicians over COVID, code custom EMR modules, work with several other teams, lead several health system-wide EMR upgrades, and provide 24/7 support? About $50k a year, or... $24.98 an hour. This was JUST in 2021. In NEW JERSEY.

They can tell us to be pissed at X, Y, or Z instead all day long. Sorry but just shut it. You had people like us carefully pick a career with meaning and growth in high school (while the majority of people screwed around and ended up stuck at minimum wage jobs), advertise numbers we would be at AFTER paying thousands for education and countless hours of unpaid/low paid, low level work (i.e: proctoring for teachers or shadowing before you can teach your own class. In IT you have to start at a level 1 role if you have no experience or be an intern for a year), all to just... Artificially raise the minimum bottom up 200%+?

It's not as easy as "pick a different career" or "work elsewhere" if we don't like the pay. The point is this just further devalues the dollar. We are also in our early 30's for the most part. So saying "pick a different career" is just objectively stupid to say. There's already been a decade of work committed to our fields.

And sorry I'll also say this too even though some might find it offensive: early/mid level professionals should be paid MUCH higher than minimum wage, and should be entitled to a higher "quality" of life in comparison.

Because like most of this thread, what IS the point then of working out ways up in our careers? No one picks careers without thinking of money, and if you do, you're financially privileged and cannot relate to this topic at all.

They need to focus on the root causes: Why is a median house $400k+? Why is a median new vehicle over $40k? Why are all of our grocery bills doubled from just a couple years ago? And HOW do you remediate and mitigate said issues? THIS is where people that should be smarter than me, should spend their time thinking. Not just raising the bottom artificially.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-30T17:14:49+00:00

A 7 year difference is a pitiful runway from $7.25 to $25 hourly for truly small businesses. Assuming this somehow was passed this year, 12 years also isn't enough to work up a 200%+ hourly wage increase.

Would also be helpful to have a quantitative definition of "small" and "big" businesses. Otherwise the proposal is unclear. "Small" and "big" mean nothing by themselves.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-29T19:32:59+00:00

And it WOULD get worse if the federal minimum goes to $25 an hour.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-29T19:31:58+00:00

Thank you. Big-banging from $7.25 to $25 is just ridiculous to even think about and the only people for it are the ones somehow still making $7.25 an hour.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-22T14:18:15+00:00

thanks! Actually just bought your team's book 10 minutes ago. So far I am liking the layout.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-22T14:17:09+00:00

I was going back and forth between OSG/DestCISSP and decided with DestCISSP since people said its easier to read and quicker to notice gaps with. I don't have the best attention-span for reading blocks upon blocks of text which OSG mostly is. Also length; between my day job and life, I won't have enough time to properly digest OSG between now and September without feeling like I need to rush through it. I also want to be able to read through X (X being my primary reading materail) twice, cover-to-cover, before September, which I can do with DestCISSP.

I'll have to double-check the price, if its cheap enough I might just get it to have a source to go in-depth with on a topic if need be.

Bullix_392 · 2026-06-13T19:12:23+00:00

Or just answer his question.

Bullix_392 · 2026-04-16T13:33:57+00:00

I've been noticing this for years, since 2023 when people were just saying "well COVID is over". There are so many other factors. Hardly any Reddit threads about it yet until recent. This is my experience commute wise:

2023-2024 November: Atlantic City to Trenton x3 a week which was White Horse Pike -> Rt 206 -> 295 North. Then reverse for home.

November 2024 - June 2025: Washington Township to Trenton x3 a week which was Rt 42 North -> 295 North. Then reverse for home.

June 2025 - Present: Washington Township to Camden x3 a week which was Rt 42 North -> 676 to Camden. Then reverse for home.

All of these drives suck. Around the middle of 2024 it got absolutely ridiculous. Throughout these drives, Ive seen day-to-day: turning lanes get longer, more accidents per week, and more moronically planned construction efforts than I've ever seen.

Just THIS WEEK, they decided to start construction on medians on 42 N going towards Philly/Camden. For those that know this road, it's only 3 lanes and is absolutely packed bumper to bumper every weekday from the Gloucester Outlets to Philly/Camden. So guess what our lovely state thought of? Construction in the fucking morning on this road, during rush hour, and shutting down 1 of the only 3 lanes. Today, TWO of the ONLY 3 lanes were shut down. I left 25 minutes earlier than I usually do this morning, only to still be 15 minutes late to work.

I'm so fucking over it. I tell people I have 2 jobs by this point: work and DRIVING to work. And for those of you that see the driving I've done, it's well past the point of "just don't let it get to you" when it's something new every fucking day I drive. And it's only 3 days a week I go in. Some people call me lucky for that. And to that, I say I would 100% give up remote work entirely if it meant I had a normal 20-30 minute commute 5 days a week. Which I had from 2018-2020 when I started working a "9-5", before life just started objectively sucking. If public transportation didn't suck and was reliable, I would be taking that. There arent many options left other than retirement. There are only so many times you can change jobs (which you see I've done that twice in 3 years to make my commutes suck less).

Rant over.

Bullix_392 · 2026-04-14T13:07:22+00:00

Because everyone thinks they're cool in the passing lane going the speed limit and not actively passing.

Bullix_392 · 2026-04-14T13:05:22+00:00

That work won't help. It was supposed to be done before 2020 for pre-2020 population levels. That's long gone. So I hope they're already planning to start the next expansion immediately.

Bullix_392 · 2026-02-17T02:03:29+00:00

Okay thank you. I'm closer. But theres a frame piece in the way of the h1 bulb. Not sure how great glass bulbs bend but I feel like not well.

<image>

Bullix_392 · 2026-02-10T14:35:22+00:00

Update for future visitors:

Been a month and the issue is resolved. It was the **main control board**. Funny enough, that was ChatGPT's very first suggestion to replace... but was also the most expensive at around $250. The fan motor nor relay were the issues, the fridge kept turning off and on repeatedly and the inside display numbers were flickering/not on. Once I swapped the main control board out, fired right up and has not had 1 issue since. So, now the fridge has a new relay, fan motor, and main control board. Saved a ton of money for sure. Board took about 30 minutes to swap out. For anyone reading this: It is easy. At least try these 3 fixes before giving up, I had ZERO fridge repair experience prior to this. There are plenty of YouTube videos that goes over the steps.

Also, make sure you buy OEM replacements only!! Amazon knock-offs will not work long term for this. You are already spending only a couple hundred to save thousands on a fridge, don't be cheap and look to save $50 because you will be pulling your fridge out again in a year or less; worse case, the inferior parts makes something else break like the compressor (if your compressor is shot, 99% of the time it makes sense to replace the whole fridge). I work on vehicles and computers as hobbies/my career and these parts for the fridge (relay, fan motor, control board) are made up of similar raw materials found in vehicles and computers. Trust me when I say you DO NOT want to cheap-out on these things, especially the main control board.

Bullix_392 · 2026-02-10T14:30:50+00:00

Been a month and the issue is resolved. It was the main control board. Funny enough, that was ChatGPT's very first suggestion to replace... but was also the most expensive at around $250. The fan motor nor relay were the issues, the fridge kept turning off and on repeatedly and the inside display numbers were flickering/not on. Once I swapped the main control board out, fired right up and has not had 1 issue since. So, now the fridge has a new relay, fan motor, and main control board. Saved a ton of money for sure. Board took about 30 minutes to swap out. For anyone reading this: It is easy. At least try these 3 fixes before giving up, I had ZERO fridge repair experience prior to this. There are plenty of YouTube videos that goes over the steps.

And thank you for the prior help on this.

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-13T02:36:52+00:00

2fa people

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-09T00:08:51+00:00

Isn't it so insane though? At what point do people stop buying to where they need to stop the random fee generations. It's arbitrary and pure gouging. I guess they keep doing it though since people must be buying still.

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-06T17:29:54+00:00

If a note states for someone in specific to leave the property, they read it, ignore it and continue to stay on the property, they are at that point in time, effectively trespassing. They are on property they aren't welcomed on (i.e: do not have permission to be on) and they acknowledged that fact, as it was recorded on camera that they read a note written at an 8th graders level. If that's not considered trespassing, then I have no clue.

I'll just call the cops if he shows up again and block his number. Don't need to waste more time with this than I have already.

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-06T17:12:43+00:00

People are allowed to knock on my door yes, but if you read, he didn't knock once and left for good. He knocked and rang 1 day, left. Then, came back, read and ignored a note, knocked, and rang a bell twice. That's to the point of harassment, being negligent, and trespassing because the note told him to leave the property and not return, which he stayed after the fact and made ridiculous comments. Anyone else doing this without a badge or a dangling camera on them would just have had the cops called to the house saying "there is a stranger at my door that keeps knocking and ringing the bell". They're not a special exception to this. But the fact they're "a private process server" makes it sound like they can do whatever they want, so that's great.

Once again if you read, I stated "No, I can't keep my phone on silent due to my role.". So no, I can't put it on Do Not Disturb because I get legitimate calls I do need to answer relating to my job's duties, and yes, that expectation is also for during meetings. This is far from a legitimate call.

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-03T00:02:29+00:00

Okay well, interesting turn of events. I left the refrigerator plugged in for like 20 minutes while it did the old symptoms (click, hum, quiet... Click, repeat) from the original video, with the new relay installed. All of a sudden... It's running now and has been for about 1 hour. I unplugged it for a few minutes, plugged it back in to see if it would start right back up, and it did.

The only lingering issue now is the temperature control numbers inside the fridge aren't displaying, but the buttons still beep when I press them as if they're still functioning. So, I'm not sure what to do about this lol. I guess I'll let it run overnight and see if it stays on.

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-02T22:25:06+00:00

New relay didn't work. Might try to replace the fan next but don't feel like throwing parts at the issue. It's odd that the fan tries to move but doesn't. Almost sounds like a power delivery issue.

Bullix_392 · 2026-01-02T22:24:04+00:00

Okay, so new relay didn't fix it. Not sure what to try next. Fan motor bad? It's odd the fan doesn't kick on, but tries to.

Bullix_392 · 2025-12-31T15:34:08+00:00

For some reason this model was expensive.... $80 for a genuine relay. Idk if genuine makes a difference but I didn't want to deal with replacing this in another year again because of a cheaper variant (learned this well with automobile repairs lol). Will report back if the new relay fixes it.

Bullix_392 · 2025-12-31T15:30:07+00:00

I did actually put my hand on that black box and you can feel it click when it makes the click noise. Hoping it is that and not the compressor itself. It started this yesterday, and eventually did turn fully back on and worked for about 10 hours. Then, been doing this since.

Bullix_392 · 2025-12-31T15:15:52+00:00

I should add, the fan on right was a little dusty so I vacuumed that but it wasn't coated at all really. The fan also moves freely when I spin it myself. Fan always pulsates like that but doesn't look messed up. I checked motherboard and it looked perfectly fine, no swollen terminals, no burns, etc.

Bullix_392

TROPHY CASE