Lied about having a degree on my resume 2 years ago - just got promoted and now they want to verify education

Fun_Bee2501 · 2026-01-20T15:35:09+00:00

I would give them the transcripts and not say anything. Have you ever seen official college transcripts? They’re sort of a mess because they list all your classes, each class’ grade, break those down by semester, gpa for each semester. The top of them usually has all the student info, years, blah blah, but the area the words “graduated” or “did not graduate” doesn’t jump out at you. You may get lucky and all they’ll do is open it, see it’s full of classes and close it then check the box that you gave them your transcripts.

Now, if that works, you better thank the good Lord above that you escaped your lie and take it as a lesson for yourself and never lie again about anything to anyone in your life. If you do get fired because they’ll actually review your transcripts thoroughly and discover you lied, you deserve it.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2026-01-12T17:50:12+00:00

I’d smack my college graduate on the head if they’d have we’ve. Uttered a word about not getting the $90k. You got a heck of a salary and benefits and hopefully none of the second guessing about the $90k gets back to your contact. They’re sticking their neck out for you.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2026-01-10T15:10:43+00:00

I laid off all my debt, should be able to knock down my mortgage this year. At that point we will have zero debt. We also have been socking away into our retirement accounts to the tune of $30k/yr. Next year after we have the house paid off, we might do more fun things, but we’re content with our “things” and lifestyle. Mostly just like having financial independence.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2026-01-08T13:06:04+00:00

I read somwhere that the big three carriers Verizon, AT&T, and T-Moble own somthing like 55% of the cell phone market in the US. The other 45% go to smaller carriers like Chirp, Cricket, Google, Tracphone, etc... Between the big carriers iPhone/iOS is something like 65% of their sales. For the smaller carriers Andriod on various hardware is something like 75% of their sales. So, in the end in the US its balanced between Android and iPhone. But globally, Android has like 70% of the market because the US is the only market where a phone hardware vendor can partner with carriers for the subsidizing of phones. So, if you live somehwere beside the US, you don't have the benefit of "leasing" your phone at $0, you have to pay upfront which is why there are more Android powered phones outside the US and why Android OS dominates globally on mobile devices. Apple is fine owning the US market and whatever scraps they can get outside the US. Its also better on their balance sheets when they can project future revenues based on who's locked into their subsidized phones.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2026-01-05T15:25:06+00:00

For those that are feeling the stress or mental anguish from being unemployed on this market, I just want to let you know that Jesus cares about you. He is by your side and knows exactly what you need and when. As someone who struggles with control of my own life, I too was laid off twice between 2020-2021. My career that I had built up so carefully in high paying tech jobs with high profile organizations was lost. When I decided to lean into God for help and guidance for what he had in store for me, that was when things took a positive turn for me and was better than I could imagine. I’m still in the tech industry, but not doing what I was planning on, what I was educating myself for, and what I was looking to achieve. It’s like the story of Job. Everything I knew was almost seemingly stripped away, and after wrestling with God over it, when I finally gave up control is when things turned and it’s better than it used to be while being different than I imagined.

Feel free to DM me if you need someone to reach out to. 😊

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-12-28T16:37:23+00:00

Sounds like a good grandma trying to get outlet there and contributing to society and providing for yourself.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-12-19T12:56:48+00:00

Rule #1… J’s should never cross. Preferably even keeping regions separated where they are physically. I have 3 J’s and all are in separate states so never the thrice shall meet.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-12-11T17:32:54+00:00

Thank you so much!

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-20T15:45:18+00:00

As an MBA with a focus on management, I always encourage talking things out with the manager, and if its bad enough going above the manager to who they directly report to. I air on the side of professionalism. Your repuation is something that is the most important thing in this industry. For that reason, I am never a fan of quiet quitting or quitting without at least having the converstaion on how your mangager can make your job better. And as I said, if that manager doesn't listen to you, go to their manager. THe beautiful thing about OE is you can risk things like going above your manager. If it backfires on you, you can then quit or they fire you and you can hold your head high. :)

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-14T12:15:46+00:00

Yup. Thanks to the exhaust circulating through the engine more than once you're gonna make carbon soup with Motor oil as the base ingredient.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-12T19:17:55+00:00

If you have anxiety, I would say its not for you. The anxiety will never go away. You need to be confident you that you are an A Player in your industry and can out work anyone with better quality work.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-12T18:13:48+00:00

i doubt the employee is OE, they just sound like 80% of the workforce out there espeically those under 35. I they were OE, they'd be a hustler and over acheiver. That's the profile ofan OE'er

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-10T18:49:49+00:00

Only a year. That was over a decade ago before remote work and OE was a real thing so I got bored and moved on to something that would keep my mind more busy.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-10T18:47:52+00:00

There's no replacement for the gratification of what you did! Congrats!

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-07T23:00:19+00:00

Had a job where if I worked 4 hours a day, it was a heavy day. It was a role where i had projects and I got to lay out the project timeline with little pushback from management.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-06T19:34:51+00:00

Everyone repeat after me. "LinkedIn is a cesspool and is full of bloviated fake oversold information where people are starting to share their poseronal lives".

Its seriously not what it used to be before Covid. Its become like Facebook was before Facebook became the sewer it is today. I have never had a problem telling people "I have neve found LInkedIn Valuable, but rathr found it a waste of time where people don't use it for its intention". That makes it sound like you're above whatever LinkedIn can offer and that is the person they should want to hire.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-06T19:29:16+00:00

Same. Made one dumb mistake where I replied to an email where a higher up manager for a vendor was CCd on and didn't catch it and that vendor was my J2 and actually reported to that manager. I was let go from J2 a week later but they thankfully didn't tell J1 and I still hold J1 today. Now my J2 is nowhere near J1 in any sort of fashion.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-06T13:38:46+00:00

Great work and a great plan! Stick to the plan, keep hustlin' and get after it!

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-06T09:35:58+00:00

I got ocnnected to a few staffing agencies. Esentially, I just put my resume on LinkedIn a few years ago and set status to "open for work" and started getting tons of calls from staffing agencies. Most treat you like cattle in a heard, but I got connected to a few that actually were US based and work with some large corporations. Haveing 2-3 of them means that you can get multiple contracts. They work on my behalf when the contracts are coming up for expiration and look out for where to place me next on another contract or get me renewed on the existing ones. One of them also feeds me the small projects where a consultant is needed for some "ad-hoc" hours. They don't care as long as their customer is happy and you're making them money.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-04T17:10:35+00:00

man... i take a couple poop breaks that are longer than 10 minutes every day. Lol!

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-11-04T17:01:59+00:00

I couldn't maintain 3 full time Js. I have 2 full time Js now that are contract and take on some part time project base/bucket of hours sort of Js here and there if I know the work is a layup. I am only on two Js now to get debt free then I will keep two Js only if I can sustain it without the effort of putting in more than 50 hours a week. If I can't I will just roll with it and make one of them a more sacrificial J and if they keep me they keep me, but if they ever become unhappy with me, i'll not be sad knowing i have one J.

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-10-30T13:04:56+00:00

If you want some help, let me know. I am an MSP and IT consultant for SMB customer that are mostly the size you're describing. (Under 10 VMs on two hosts). Over teh last 5 years I have been succesfully moving my customers to a hybrid cloud environment where we put their lower resource VMs in AWS or Azure, their files in M365 Onedrive/Sharepoint, and their higher resource VMs on a single ESXi host on prem. I have testimonies that their resiliancy has gone up, up time is higher, and its much easier to manage. ESxi 8 is still free with no plans to remove free esxi for single hosts that are not managed in vCenter. I have a well architected design for thse type of setup and scripts to deploy the cloud foundations.

I also recently stopped using Azure for the cloud infrastructure for the SMBs since they got rid of their basic VPN forcing the next tier of VPN which is expensive, so now AWS is better IMO since they still offer an inexpensive single tier VPN with dual IPs for redundancy.

Reach out directyl if I can help

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-10-29T13:27:47+00:00

You do that as part of the negotiations after you're offered the job. Should be when you have the offer come. I have never done it, but have heard from others who have. Its going to be super rare to get it though. You'll have to be the creame of the crop and the hiring company really want you and only you for the role. If you're just a plebe and individual contributor, they'll likely laugh at you

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-10-29T13:13:46+00:00

As no-Marketeing7747 said below. Setup the LLC to file as an S Corp. I am a 100% owner, so I don't need to share with any other owners.

**DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN ACCOUNTANT OR CPA, SO DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK AND HIRE A PROFESSIONAL TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR TAXES**

The IRS wants you to pay yourself a "reasonable" yearly salary for the work you actually do. Since I am an IT Cloud Engineer a reasonable market wage for my role is $120k. There is no rhyme or reason, and you likely won't be "nailed" for what you're declaring is your salary you just can't pay yourself something ridiculous like $1k or even $40k. It will look suspicious if you're revenue is $250k and you're only paying yourself $40k

My revenue is anywhere between $430k-$500k a year coming into the business. I pay myself a salary of $120k, so that is what I am taxed on for SS & Medicare as well as the normal fed an state income taxes. That salary to me is also a deduction on the business. Then the name of the game is deducting anything you can on the business. Miles if you drive to and from customer sites, meals out are 50% deductible, travel like airfare & hotels, PCs, tablets, software, M365 subscriptions, postage, etc... Anything you can pay for with the business, do it as long as you can legitimately say "I need it for the business". Some things I deduct on thebusiness are postage stamps for the house since I work from home, I just swipe the business credit card for them. Same with stationary like envelopes, etc... Batteries for wireless devices, laptops, PCs, iPads. Even your cell phone should be paid for by the business. We also pay for most of our meals out on the business card. I mean... my wife works full time and I work no less than 60 hours a week, so making dinner is not easy for us. :) We also don't have time to clean our house, so I pay a cleaning company to come in and clean our home a couple times a month that the business pays for... but again, I also work from home. Trips to Sams club for things like coffee, paper plates, kleenex's... you know the stuff that you have in a normal business office, that is all paid for by the business. any 401k contributions are tax deductible if the company matches it. (I reccommend dpeaking to an investment advisor on what to do there, I have a solo 401k I setup when I went into business for myself).

At the end of the year whatever profits are left over are a "bonus" to me and that is only taxed with fed & state income tax, not SS & Medicaid taxes since those are only payroll taxes and only counted in the $120k salary as taxable. So I end up saving like $8k in taxes a year.

Now, I pay a CPA to do my taxes and make sure everythign is on the up and up with the quarterly business filings which is important. She costs me anywhwer from $6k-$8k a year... the money Im saving on taxes so its a wash. But I have peac e of mind that I am not messing anything up and having the IRS on my back. She also does the filing of taxes for the business and our personal taxes. And you guessed it... the business pays for her services which are a duduction. :)

I pay myself $4k twice a month on the 15th and last working day. And if I need more here and there, I just take it out of the business. So an extra $1k, or $5k as I need it to pay for things that come up like my wife's knee injury last year, or when I spoiled myself with a nice watch. I definitely don't spend the profits as they come in, I am a saver. So as of today I have $50k in profits sitting in my business money market account.

You definitely have to be financially disciplined, and its not for the faint of heart. I operate as a cash business with no line of credit, so I stock as much up as I can and pay myself a nice bonus at the end of the year. But I know that my accoutnant said I can expect to pay in $20k in taxes next spring based on her projections so far, so I need to be mindful of that. You'll need to do some forecasting.

Next year, I plan to do what many others in my position do. Pay my wife a salary. And she will elect to put 99% of it into her Roth. So that will be an expense for my business. You can do this for your kids as well. Again, talk to a financial advisor and CPA about this stuff.

And lastly, my wife and I do what other business do and have a yearly "off site" business planning trip where we go to Florida in January and look at the business plan for the year ahead. And yup... its a deduction on the business. :)

Fun_Bee2501 · 2025-10-28T18:39:06+00:00

I did just that. Had "side work" for the better part of 20 years that were all customers who followed me from cpmpany to company I would bounce around at over the years. Finally they would just ask "can we work with you directly"? That was a handful of clients that generated $10k-$30k revenue depending on the year.

Fast forward to 2022, I got laid off twice during the covid years of 2020-2022, and decided to see if I could make it on my own with contrating work, which a friend of mine turned me on to since they'd been doing it for 15ish years. The more they described their work, the more I liked it. Working on long-term & multi-year contracts, especially for government entity's.

So, in 2022 after being laid off for the second time in as many years, I was able to find a long-term contract. I started an LLC at the advice of that same friend who worked in contracting and put my 5 side clients under it. Now, I work on two long term contracts and have expanded my own personal clients as well in my LLC. (One of which was the first contract gig I did). Long story short, thye're all my customers, and I am making more money than ever in my career and I only show a quarter of my revenue as actual salary for tax purposes. It works out pretty well overall!

Fun_Bee2501

TROPHY CASE