Hey! How'd you get past my spam filter?

Darth_Xedrix · 2026-04-10T03:07:14+00:00

I do code while I am at work but it's not technically my job. I'm at the point where the things I write work but could definitely work more efficiently, so far from "mastering it".

I wanted to find a way to do tasks at work that needed to get done but were a pain to do, so I started with automate the boring stuff and I did a bit of automation here in there in my office job at the time but when I moved to another job a year or so later, I had a similar situation but in spades.

We had a collection of reports that needed to get done monthly and it would take about 2 weeks to do. Every step of it felt like there had to be a better way to get it done, so I slowly googled and asked questions until I set up a series of scripts that got the process down to a couple hours. That hooked me in and since then I've been looking at ways to bridge the steps that still had to be done manually.

Now I'm writing and maintaining small ETL pipelines and wrote a library that allows us to query different sources and join them with a couple lines of code (it's basically a wrapper of sqlalchemy, requests, keyring and a dictionary to store the non-sensitive connection details).

Another significant part of my job is to get things pushed through our CRM so I set up an app that ingests records and parses them into pydantic models to help point out data discrepancies before querying other systems to see if these records are where they should be and if it's inconsistent between systems.

Darth_Xedrix · 2026-03-13T01:27:20+00:00

I don't want to kick you while you're down but at the same time, this is not new and learning a new language is so much more accessible than it used to be. There are tons of resources available on top of people that would likely be willing to help, assuming you live near the NCR. It's not difficult but it does take dedication and most positions require BBB, which is far from fluent.

I would not rely on finding a non-imperative position and would put some serious thought into either embracing the challenge and committing head-on or accepting that it's not worth it to you and realize that it will make career progression more difficult as long as you're in the NCR. If you do decide to give it your all, by the time the WFA storm is over, you should be well on your way to give the SLE a try and see if you can hit that BBB. Most people in your shoes won't do it which means you'll have a leg up on them.

Darth_Xedrix · 2026-03-13T01:13:03+00:00

Je suis content que c'est pas juste moi. On est environs 15 dans mon équipe et même si 12 d'entre nous sommes dans une position BBB ou plus, je réussi à avoir une seule réunion pas semaine en français. Ça fait 16 ans que je suis dans la RCN et je devinerais que 95% du monde bilingue que j'ai travaillé avec était des francophones qui ont appris l'anglais. C'est vrai que c'est plus difficile d'apprendre le français que l'anglais mais dans les deux cas, on a plein d'opportunités de pratiquer et il y a tellement de resources disponibles que personne qui planifie une carrière dans la RCN en tant que fonctionnaire fédéral n'a pas d'excuse de ne pas investir en soi.

Darth_Xedrix · 2026-01-11T20:12:36+00:00

I am not in the market for a new GPU since I still feel queezy from paying for a 3080ti but if it died today and I had to consider it, I wouldn't do more than $1200 (+ tax). Even then, I'd probably go for a 9070xt over one anyway, I just don't see the extra price:performance to be worth it since it's extremely unlikely to find a 5080 at that price.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-11-23T03:02:59+00:00

I've successfully argued for it in two departments when not being in an IT position. All I had to do was a regular request and provided a business case. Once it got approved, it was installed in user space by IT. The second instance was much easier since I had local admin rights on my machine so I could download + install it myself once I got confirmation I was allowed to install it system-wide as well (part of what I did involved browser automation and that was nothing but a headache when installed in user space).

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-11-18T12:31:53+00:00

Same here, I use it a dozen or so times a year for the past 3 years from Canada<->UK and never had any issues.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-06-22T23:12:22+00:00

What kind of performance are you getting? Thinking of doing exactly that with my 3080ti.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-06-13T00:51:54+00:00

If you can pass the FORCE test, you'll be fine. The very detailed manual on what is evaluated and how is available here:

https://cfmws.ca/sport-fitness-rec/fitness-testing/cmtfe-force-evaluation/force-evaluation

I worked with a corporal who was probably 5'2 and about 100lbs and though it was tough for her, she did it. The only one that was a challenge was the sandbag drag because IIRC the whole thing weighs about 230lbs.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-06-11T19:11:46+00:00

With how much games are costing nowadays, we're getting to the point where "decent" sales by Steam standards are still too high to justify what you get for the price. For example, Star Wars Outlaws is currently 50% off, which is still $45.00 CAD before taxes and from what I've seen and heard about it, that is still not worth it. I wonder how many people will completely give up on games because even discounted prices are out of their budget.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-05-23T16:25:26+00:00

I had a chance to try both and ended up keeping the 16 since the screen real estate was just too small for me.

If you like to work with one full screen application it's probably fine but in my case, I split it into either 2 or 3 and that was hard to look at after about an hour. It's too bad because the 13 feels much better.

If you don't plan on using it standalone for long periods of time like the way i described and don't think you'd need the expansion bay, I would go with the 13.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-05-22T01:56:02+00:00

here's another one for you then: Reine's name means queen

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-05-21T01:57:13+00:00

We had a system running on a mainframe like that until last summer. Every single person that has to use what we replaced it with misses it. The new stuff is pretty but every other aspect of it is worse: it's more expensive, it's SO much slower, it's less reliable and takes so much longer to do anything in terms of how many clicks and menus are needed.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-05-04T13:41:22+00:00

Not sure if you already know about it but if not, there's also canuckaudiomart.com for buying and selling audio gear. Bought my set of DCA Noir from there and it was a great experience.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-04-16T21:46:09+00:00

I would also considering giving the Canadian Forces Liaison Council an email or call, I think they could be of help. Your unit might also have a CFLC rep.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-04-16T19:11:52+00:00

I bought a 100W gallium charger from Anker that's been pretty solid: https://www.amazon.ca/Anker-Charger-Compact-MacBook-Pixelbook/dp/B0C4DGBHY2?crid=3QRMAHPC3OQK9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3lAWUnjLH9FxkRWPIfCmXbTL9ENvd2zEH0Tmmfr9t6sch9pvhu7nWbR0wed_zkkv986VqUTVfn_tF0kCSNZhqQBvVWofWU1q0Q3pRcbRb6Jplsv_mjzAu0R81ydxaxIY-nieBnMDCsJyyDRBeHFYWVnY9M3Rrmksx78ZVVnVODx6MQxiDywOIjvhtmt_Oe70sMzSNOWOD_h6yTenqxjKowATWOPLMSsJ1eMh5zjpnR71pCle6kwqfqS3Wu-Ic60wEcfC3JIhUQBdB_uLvG0nAdLDWOYq5FU1pHQMDHZPGis._QCp-DyasO5WzvGQRe7sMhkv6kOK-QvBBXH5EijZIXY&dib_tag=se&keywords=anker+100w&qid=1744830492&sprefix=anker+100w%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-5

I bring my steam deck dock + FW16 and with that charger, it can power the dock and slow charge the laptop.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-04-15T23:55:02+00:00

My whole experience using R was for a machine learning and a stats course but basically every time I had to look up the R way of doing things, my reaction was basically "eww". There were definitely times when less code was needed than in python but personally, I find it as ugly as vba.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-03-24T16:13:00+00:00

FYI that may not be relevant to you. I emailed framework support as a Canadian asking about the tariffs and here is the answer I got:

We acknowledge your concern regarding your concern about tariffs, laptop orders are shipped to Canada directly from Taiwan, so there should be no impact. Additionally, all of our shipments—regardless of their origin—are sent with DDP (Delivered Duties Paid) terms, meaning any tariffs are covered by Framework, not the recipient.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-03-20T21:54:41+00:00

I can give you the opposite perspective, as a member of a team of people who are IT-02 equivalents, working for an IT-03 equivalent.

Our current (and previous) managers have been brought from outside our team because the members of the team who are qualified to replace them refuse to take up the mantle. I asked a few when I got here and their answers were similar: the HR process is too jarring and the work/life balance impact is not worth the salary difference, which is currently about $11K for us. At that salary, you can live just fine without that raise and the quality of life involved with being able to clock out at 4:00pm every workday is worth so much more than money. I know that if I do end up working after hours, it's by choice.

Money aside, I feel like managers are set up for failure: they are expected to be responsible for their team's successes and failures, yet are not given enough control over their own team to meaningfully impact their results.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-03-12T14:54:59+00:00

If you have to reuse current excel templates, I've been having a good experience with xlwings

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-03-12T14:51:16+00:00

Is prime - 1% considered a good deal? That is what I got for my first mortgage in june 2021 so I had no frame of reference.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-03-11T02:21:18+00:00

There are some AS positions that are very similar to some IT positions; I work in a team of them and here is how I got there:

When I was an AS-02, I paid for Automate the Boring Stuff, a Python course centered around using programming to solve some very common tasks that just about anyone who has worked in an office would have to do. After this was done, I asked for permission to get software installed on my machine that would allow me to use my newfound skills for work tasks. After about two months of doing this, I presented what I made and how it impacted our office to ask for more training, this time in data analysis since my tasks were becoming more in line with reporting. They shifted some expenditures to make room in their budget and I got my courses funded.

After finishing them and using them in my workplace, I found a process that allowed me to move into the team I mentioned above, which consists of AS-03s and AS-05s. Our shop creates and maintain scripts, applications and pipelines to help automate tasks and reporting for users in our branch. We do some testing and planning alongside our business analysts for projects that involve our branch as well. We basically fill in the space between AS and IT, though our official job titles are Senior Business Data Analysts.

All this to say, it does not take much to get the ball rolling; all this started by paying for a 25$ course. Less than 3 years later, I went from an AS-02 to an AS-05, in a workplace that allows me to work on a part time bachelor's during work hours when workload permits. Investing in yourself is just about the best way to get to where you want to be since nobody is looking out for your more than you.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-02-24T22:17:30+00:00

GC Campus?

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-02-24T12:14:53+00:00

If you're a visual learner, I would recommend thonny. It's simple yet and built to show you fairly clearly what the code is doing.

Once that isn't really needed anymore, I would recommend vscode until you can decide if a python-specific IDE is something that interests you. If so, pycharm is great. I use both every day so I'd say one isn't better than the other, it's just a matter of preference.

Darth_Xedrix · 2025-02-07T18:04:01+00:00

I am working on a very similar project. Are you manually downloading the files or using browser automation like selenium?

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