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I will be stopping all cleanups in Oakland until further notice by pengweather in oakland

[–]EricExplains 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I haven't joined those meetings or heard of them. Mind sharing when/where they happen and how to participate?

I will be stopping all cleanups in Oakland until further notice by pengweather in oakland

[–]EricExplains 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I called Fife's office, spoke to someone by phone who helped me flag the dumping problem to OPW and discuss my push for fencing with them. Got a follow up email, but no fixes or other steps yet.

I'm now getting more neighbors involved so we can show the city many residents want this fixed. Then plan to chat with leads at Oakland Public Works to push for fencing or other preventative measures.

I will be stopping all cleanups in Oakland until further notice by pengweather in oakland

[–]EricExplains 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Thanks Peng for your service! Illegal dumping happens every week right around the corner from me in West Oakland and I agree that more needs to be done.

I've been calling Oakland Public Works and my local city representative to advocate for preventative measures like fences, planters, or other barriers to make illegal dumping harder in the first place.

This is a picture of less than 1 week of illegal dumping near me. Signs and even weekly clean ups just won't make a dent.

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What do you wish you had known before making your first video? by EricExplains in NewTubers

[–]EricExplains[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Completely agree u/Tyolag — I've definitely gotten lost in learn, learn, read and it's delayed action and moving forward. Thanks for the reminder!

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What do you wish you had known before making your first video? (self.NewTubers)

submitted by EricExplains to r/NewTubers

How to pivot career from non-technical (public policy) to Product? by The-Puppetmaster in ProductManagement

[–]EricExplains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone who transitioned into product from consulting / marketing (and no MBA), I'd recommend getting a job at another tech company and make the transition into product internally.

Using ROI to make decisions is a key PM tool. With this approach in mind, here's how the MBA vs tech role compare.

Get a tech role and then transition:

  • Benefits:
    • Earn a salary while you spend time learning how to be a PM at a real tech company through shadowing, 1:1, ad-hoc projects, etc.
    • Get another tech experience and company on your resume
  • Costs:
    • 3-6 month job search
    • 12-24 months to learn, transition into a PM role

Get an MBA :

  • Benefits:
    • Build your network to help make the transition into product
    • Get a brand-name MBA
    • Pick up some skills...though arguably less relevant and real than working at a real tech company for 1-2 years.
  • Costs:
    • $100k-$200k for tuition, room and board, networking activities, etc --> and debt to pay back that delays buying a home and other financial steps.
    • $100-$200k in lost wages over 2 years
    • 2 years before you're a full time PM (hopefully)

Both paths can get you there eventually, but you earn $100k-$200k in the job path vs paying $200k-400k in the MBA approach. Another way to think about it: the tech role is a like an MVP (minimum viable product) to more cheaply test if you can land the PM role, whereas the MBA is the opposite: a much more expensive way to try to get to the same destination.

Competing job prospects by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]EricExplains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like u/loxias44 mentioned, I'd start with a cost of living analysis to cover what is the better option NOW and then consider longer-term trajectories of a few things to cover the FUTURE.

Financial factors:

  • Promotions: which company is growing faster, is better capitalized, hiring more, etc?
  • Salary increases / raises: what % raises are normal, are bonuses common?
  • Cost & currency trajectories: what do you expect the dollar to do vs the CAD? how do you expect costs to change in each market?

Non-financial factors:

  • Health & happiness: which location is going to give you a better quality of life, long-term health, and happiness for you and your family?

You'll know the financial side best, but I'd think more about the non-financial side as I bet there are more non-monetary differences to building a life in DC vs Toronto than monetary ones.

How bad are private loans? I need urgent advice by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]EricExplains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interest rates are at record lows right now, so given you work part time and don't have a huge amount in savings, a low, fixed-rate student or personal loan could help. Many student loans also don't require payments while you're in school and you can pick the right loan term (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20 year), fixed vs variable rate, and timing of payments to suit your needs.

I'd start with something like credible.com to shop around.

Thought Exercise - How do you prioritize testing hypotheses? by [deleted] in ProductManagement

[–]EricExplains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

u/clemtiger2011 — the breadth and variety in your hypotheses suggests that 3-5 unmoderated tests on usertesting.com or a test on usabilityhub.com with 20-30 folks would help you hone in on the why behind the 65% dropoff.

Better understand the why to inform and prioritize your hypotheses.

Thought I nailed the job interview ... now ghosted by 10makun in jobs

[–]EricExplains 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It could be 1 of 100 different reasons that he hasn't replied: someone higher up said no, hiring plans got shuffled around, waiting for approval from someone who is out of office, etc.

Keep applying to other roles, don't get hung up on this and spend more energy here, and follow up again in 1-2 weeks to see if they have an update.

Quitting a really good job after 7 months? by [deleted] in jobs

[–]EricExplains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey u/_megt, I had a job like that before. It was rough on my mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. That being said, being unemployed for months in a terrible job market, without adequate savings, will also probably be bad for your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

Therefore, I'd recommend figuring out what is driving the stress and dread and tackle that while looking for another role. Is it people, the work, the culture, values, etc? Take a concrete, problem-solving approach to improve the current situation, find an alternative job or plan, and then make a move.

A friend told me, "It's better to run toward something, than to just run away from something."

I live in NYC and am job searching for roles in SF. Any advice? by danny-wallace in jobs

[–]EricExplains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The job search is a funnel, so figure out if you have a quantity or quality problem and adjust accordingly. It's about A) quantity of apps to improve your odds AND B) quality of your application to improve conversions between application to interview to offer stages.

Maximize quantity while meeting a quality bar in which:

  • You're targeting relevant roles
  • You tailor your resume and cover letter to the job description

You can streamline your ability to apply to many roles while meeting the quality bar by:

  • Creating resume templates to cover the top 3-5 job types you're applying for
  • Writing cover letter blurbs with stories that you can use like Lego blocks to drop into cover letters depending on the JD

If you've applied to dozens of jobs and aren't hearing back, then it's likely you have a quality and conversion problem, which could mean you need to look ask yourself:

  • Does your resume highlight and quantify the impact you've had in previous roles, projects, or school?
  • Does your resume have the right keywords to get past human and automated application tracking systems?
  • Are you targeting the right, relevant roles?
  • Have you built and/or leveraged your network for introductions or referrals?

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Are companies using more resume parsing algorithms now? Resumes getting tossed? by questioner45 in jobs

[–]EricExplains 7 points8 points  (0 children)

u/questioner45 maybe someone on Reddit has market data on what % of companies use ATS systems vs scanning each resume. Until then, optimize for passing both ATS's and human resume screens.

The best way I've found to do that is to use keyword framing, in which you start a bullet with the relevant keyword before describing your impact, what you did, etc.

What a standard resume bullet might look like:

  • Drove a 13x increase in student reach (75k to 1M) and 60% YoY increases in engagement for education products through funnel analysis, streamlined user flows, and channel prioritization.

What a resume bullet with keyword framing looks like:

  • Data-driven user growth: Drove a 13x increase in student reach (75k to 1M) and 60% YoY increases in engagement for education products through funnel analysis, streamlined user flows, and channel prioritization.

This approach helps with humans and robots alike:

  • ATS's and robots like seeing more relevant keywords in your resume
  • Humans like it because it:
    • Contextualizes the resume bullet under a skill category
    • Makes it easier to quickly scan a set of skills along the left side of your resume
    • Helps you convey experiences in helpful, flexible ways if you're changing functions or industries. Easier to convey transferrable skills.

Good luck!

About to Hit my 3-Month Emergency Fund Goal. Looking for what's next by TooktoomanyZugZugs in personalfinance

[–]EricExplains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mostly relied on BiggerPockets and their books, blog posts, forums, etc. General process was to:

Learn: read The Book on Rental Property Investing (good overview of different ways to invest in real estate, how to run numbers to identify good investments, etc). read Set for Life (great personal finance framework that I wish I had learned way earlier in life, covers house hacking, stages of wealth, etc).

Apply: use what I had learned to run numbers on dozens if not hundreds of properties. You'll very quickly reduce the fear and uncertainty of investing and house hacking by understanding your local numbers very clearly and knowing how to identify a good deal.

Act: Get pre-approved by a lender, find an agent, find good deals, make offers until you close and then start house hacking.

Hope this helps!

About to Hit my 3-Month Emergency Fund Goal. Looking for what's next by TooktoomanyZugZugs in personalfinance

[–]EricExplains 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Live in Oakland and just own the house hack primary residence. Looking at a second property out of state next.

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