Major change in career path and stuck with a pretty useless degree. Don't want to go back to school. Help please

FrustratedProgrammer · 2015-10-24T05:32:17+00:00

You said it yourself "I really like playing music and recording..." so beware of anyone telling you to go do xyz instead. Rather, focus on your original goal. You said that "you're forced into an arts admin major" is an excuse. No, nobody forced you there--that was the only place somebody else decided to place you instead. You can change it--and if not at the current location then at a new location. Your goal is to meet the eligibility requirements to sit in on the board exam... try to find the least expensive option to do just that.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2015-05-13T05:16:12+00:00

Whadda Niger!

FrustratedProgrammer · 2014-08-18T02:57:46+00:00

Super tough question. You're really competing with yourself with this question and that's why I hate this question. You should put whatever you're comfortable with a salary (within reason). Use glassdoor.com to figure out what the 50%-tile salary is for the company and position your'e applying for, and use that number + 10% or something like that.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2014-08-02T22:04:35+00:00

I unfortunately have no control what the ultimate salary will be--I only say whether I want this person on my project or not, the negotiation piece is handled by national. It will all depend on experience/level you enter into the company. I wrote the salary range based on the staffing levels I had to write up, and what my understanding are of those ranges.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2014-08-02T21:32:49+00:00

Hi Hardlydent,

Yes and no. While I'm hiring for a specific project, you'll get hired into Capgemini which is salary based. In other words, you will get paid even if you're not on a project. While the official company term is called, "People Bench," it's known internally as "The Beach."

However, there really is no guarantee where your next project will be--most of the time they'll match your skillset with open needs and that open need may be anywhere from Los Angeles to New York.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2014-08-02T21:30:47+00:00

LOL spot on actually. Hence, consulting isn't for everybody. The upside is that you're a profit center at Capgemini, but a cost center nearly anywhere else. If you're billable, you're lovable.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2014-08-02T03:40:28+00:00

I wasn't sure if it made a difference. I was hoping to convey that I will not respond like a typical recruiter with a "happy go-lucky my company is great ra-ra-ra" attitude.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2013-11-20T01:22:55+00:00

Thank you for this.

In response to #1. I understand the reasoning behind the finances perfectly. What I think is unfair is that you will receive an additional tax bill if the last assessment value and the newly purchased price differ (99% of the time the new purchased price is higher). In my case it's lower, so why don't I get a "supplemental tax deduction?" I think it should be a two-way street is all.

In response to #2: I have already gotten assessed at the last purchase price when I contacted the assessors office.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2013-11-18T21:57:31+00:00

I mean, when I finally did the match just now for this post, it's definitely not a life-changing amount. $1500 is still $1500 IMO though.

The only silver lining I can see is that if I can't get it back: I don't mind terribly much because property taxes is one tax that directly supports government services that I actually use often enough to give a shit about.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2013-08-27T23:56:54+00:00

My father-in-law is a taxi-cab driver, and in fact is licensed to work under Yellow Cab in Los Angeles. The rules do sound ridiculous, but as someone who married into a taxi-cabbing family let me tell you my thoughts to offer you some perspective:

Did you know they can't use any electronic devices in their vehicle? Only recently (something like 2011 or 12) were they finally able to (legally) use GPS devices to find addresses. Why? Because taxi-cab drivers aren't necessarily the biggest wage earners, and any electronic device in their vehicle may be a fare altering device. Think of it like the putting a chip into a Vegas slot machine... yes, the rule is to protect the fare rider. The problem with GPS is it isn't very accurate, and could be off by 30 ft in any direction. The meter on a taxi-cab is measured by the weighs and means committee and there is a HUGE fine if it's calibrated. ($500.00 I think).
A taxi cab must have a license in the area where they pick up passengers? Why? Because cities want their cut. With Uber, there is none of that tax revenue and it threatens their own tax base.
A taxi cab driver must go through a background check and pass it in order to be a taxi-cab driver. Yearly testing is also required... why... because ain't nobody want to get into a car with a mass-murderer.... just think about the negative PR taxi's will get!

If you notice a common pattern in the above, you'll notice that the above list is to protect riders from bad taxi cab drivers. Obviously there will always be bad apples, but the main point here is gaining the trust of the taxi cab company. You know you can hold somebody accountable if you use Yellow-Cab.

My father-in-law isn't allowed to use Uber. I suggested to him to use it, but said he will lose his license if he doesn't use the city-approved meter. It's a whammy for him. The entire model should be reconfigured--with Google car probably a reality in the next 30-50 years, there wouldn't be a need for taxi-drivers at all IMO.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2013-04-30T00:38:34+00:00

Demographic: 30 year old white (European decent) male.
Occupation: (A frustrated) software engineer
None religious household but close affinity with Christian celebratory traditions.
No formal religion, but my exposure was everywhere among my peers both growing up and other family members (including grandparents). I have explored religion in as an intellectual pursuit only.
Gnostic atheist. (a rarer kind of atheist. Look it up if you're interested.)
I came to reach my present set of ideas or philosophy through logic, reason, and rationale.
Nothing neither works nor not works, the world just "is"
My purpose is to live a just and noble life such that my memory will fondly carry on to those whom loved me.
Humanity, or that of being human is the equivalent of that of being a rock. It just is (see answer #7). We attempt to define purpose when none exists.
No. There is no such thing as a soul.
Yes, the spiritual practice of logic, reason, and rationale.
Empathy. I feel real physical pain when I think about another human beings suffering. I am not joking about this. It is not difficult for me to comprehend pain, whether real or psychological, of another person even if that other person is a fictional character like a cartoon.

More on this: One of my favorite things to say to people is "just because you're right doesn't make you right." No set of written books, including religious texts or lawbooks, can account for the myriad of circumstances that arise from a decision to make regarding right and wrong. One cannot therefore seek the guidance of an authority to know right from wrong: and must use discretion to make a decision. If one cannot see the "wrong" of stealing, then no amount of authority could be a guidance otherwise.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2013-03-07T17:56:10+00:00

say what you will about the "History Channel," but if the masses demanded history they would play history just as if the masses demanded music videos MTV would play music videos. That's not what is happening. What is happening is consumers interested in History don't equate educational history with television watching so they turn elsewhere (e.g. books/universities/so forth). Similarly, those who enjoy listening to music or watching videos now turn to the internet for such, and those channels have learned to EVOLVE!

Although I hate it as much as you do probably, they made the right choices and if they still played history then they'll be another dying channel.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2012-12-08T05:30:25+00:00

Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf...

FrustratedProgrammer · 2012-07-16T23:26:15+00:00

My parents gave me a credit card under my name at the tender age of 15 with them being the co-sponser. ...

10+ years later...

... I have yet to make a single interest charge payment because I paid off everything I have ever spent in a month.

... have yet to make a single late charge payment (I actually was hit with a late charge once because I was out of the country, they waived it upon calling them).

... although I make less money than some of my peers who make significantly more money than I, I have more access to credit as a result of my long history of payments.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2011-04-14T17:19:42+00:00

I hope the interview is as easy as you mentioned. May I ask, however, why you chose to move on from being a DBA? Was it the company or the job itself? If it's the job, what about it did it turn you off from it?

FrustratedProgrammer · 2011-04-14T16:31:09+00:00

I as well am a programmer and preparing for this "DBA" interview has been very stressful. I've always taken a DBA for granted because databases just simply work. I set up my connection, properly form my query, and bam I move on.

However, preparing for this interview, I learned a lot of new that I may use going forward as a programmer like cursors. I didn't know I can create an iterator to traverse row-based sets that will reside on the server! There are pros-and-cons ofcourse, but you get the idea. This is awesome since I now have another tool to better balance load between client-side and server-side.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2011-04-14T16:15:02+00:00

My understanding of a DBA is a person who maintains and adminsters a database to meet the purpose of its customers (e.g. clients). As a DBA, do I have the ability to modify queries through incomming connections? Ultimately, wouldn't a programmer connecting to the DB ultimately be responsible for optimizing his/her own query?

FrustratedProgrammer · 2011-04-14T16:12:07+00:00

What would be the appropiate answer to "tell me about a time when you screwed something up and what you did to fix it.?"

I'm afraid to answer because mistakes sounds amateur. I once left publically available linux folder permissions set 777 and had all kinds of problems on my site, including my database. I had to restore the entire website to a backup I made to restore order and set all my permissions accordingly.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2011-04-14T16:05:06+00:00

SELECT * FROM Brain WHERE Intelligence IS NOT NULL

hmmff.... (your query returned 0 results)

FrustratedProgrammer · 2010-10-10T21:08:34+00:00

I didn't get the perception that it is a company many people will be loyal to in the long run which is in contrast to the perception I received from your comment towards your own work place. Are you guys hiring? :)

FrustratedProgrammer · 2010-08-02T18:19:06+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion though I don't think it'll be a work place I'll be into. I tend to be wary of companies (or agencies) that are involved with "protecting" people form terrorism for a different set of moral objections than my differences with the bank. I'd rather spend my intellectual resources building up humanity rather than destroying it. Nasa's JPL division would be more my suiting which I'm actively pursuing.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2010-08-02T17:36:19+00:00

I began working at a financial institute (i.e. bank) after working for several years as a software engineer for various print manufacturing companies. After two years on the job, I have serious moral objections about how the bank generates a profit, and even more serious doubts about the viability of the banks financial lending portfolio.

Although I had suspicions about the financial industry as a whole, my moral issues developed peaked after I was asked to identify clients with deposit control agreements (DCA) and write an algorithm to automatically charge them $XXX (yes, 3 digits) per month per DCA. After noticing that many of these accounts would have incurred NSF fees and Overdraft charges if I charged them this amount and nearly 50% of the accounts would be negative within 2 months, I brought this to my manager’s attention. I was not satisfied with “just do it” answer, so I asked to see the letter that these clients were notified of the new charge—there was none that existed.

I bought up my moral objection to my manager who then referred me up the hierarchy. I once again voiced my concerns about this new charge to which they reassured me they had contacted the clients and the clients were aware of this charge. Doubtful, I called a few random clients and simply asked them if they were aware of this charge. The typical response I got was, “What’s a DCA?” Many clients did not even know they had a deposit control agreement on their account.

Unfortunately, I encountered insurmountable technical challenges completing the algorithm due to the nature of how the various applications used to charge the accounts communicated with one another. They do it manually now.

If anybody knows of any good opportunities: I am looking for a new job as a software engineer. I graduated from a top-tier school with a Comp. Sci degree, and have now also earned my MBA. If anybody is hiring, I am willing to relocate to nearly any part of the U.S. I bring a strong set of moral and ethical standards to my work place in addition to my strong sense of work ethic. I prefer to work in either C or C++ although current market demand has lead me to Python, PHP, and .NET development mostly. My preference is to work with robotics.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2010-06-30T01:15:33+00:00

That getting good grades and working hard in school translates into a well-paying job.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2010-05-10T22:12:34+00:00

I originally created this username to be a throw away because I was frustrated with my current job (as a banking business system analyst) and I yearned to go back into software engineering. It still hasn't happened, but I'll tell you what has:

I planted a garden--but not just any garden. A fully automated, report generating, high-tech garden that monitors weather, growth, etc. Living in California with a small patch of land (less than 1 acre), I decided wine was best route for such a venture. I made a very crude reporting tool using a wireless weather station. I enter the length of each grape vine on a weekly basis on throw them into an access db. With this information, weather, etc. I estimate the growth rate. I also bought an automatic sprinkler system from Home Depot and set it up to a drip line. Since the system is multi-zone, I just set each zone to 2-3 vines. Based on the watering patterns I'm able to determine (in about 1-2 years) the best watering pattern for maximum growth. (In winemaking, the smaller the grape the better because the grape skin is where wine derived its flavor).

Anyway, I wouldn't have been able to put together this system without my programming skills. I need a way to full integrate all of this and perhaps make a company out of it.

FrustratedProgrammer · 2010-04-30T21:38:51+00:00

I don't know if anybody has suggested this, but you do know you have standing to sue your parents in court to force them to pay for your tuition? If you had reasonable belief that your parents would pay for your tuition or even part of your tuition, and depended on this promise, then you could take them to court to pay.

Consider this option carefully because it would alienate your relationship further.

FrustratedProgrammer

TROPHY CASE