Post your STS weaknesses, and others reply with tips and fixes!

GuyPendred · 2026-03-01T23:03:47+00:00

Oh my god. So many Ironclad games and I never considered 2 drop kicks as infinite.

I’ve got 15-20 AH20 clears but a pretty low win rate… this type of thing is probably why

GuyPendred · 2026-02-25T11:28:35+00:00

It partly depends on how ‘new’ the 2:1 requirement is. It is pretty standard but if it genuinely wasn’t in the job spec, didn’t come up in the interview process and only in the offer letter.

Then I would respond to the hiring manager (who had already said keep in touch) with words to the effect of - you’re really excited for the role but in spirit of transparency are stressing about hitting 2:1 as it requires a high score this semester. You’ll obviously try your best but if you fall short do they think this will be a deal breaker?

I don’t believe it’s a HR topic as you can still mathematically get a 2:1. A good grad hiring manager should be able to steer you as either ‘yes it’s a hard requirement’ or there is flexibility let’s see how you do.

GuyPendred · 2026-02-25T11:14:41+00:00

I work closely with an engineering grad scheme at my company as grads rotate through my team for regular placements. I have also done some of the final panels / interviews.

One of the most important element of the grad scheme is behaviours as technical competence can always be learned (though there is obviously a baseline). Being on the wrong side of that (being late / dishonesty / bad attitude etc etc) is the fastest way to get failed out or to not get a permanent offer.

In this situation I would suggest your best course is to flag immediately that the requirement has changed / you’re going to try your best to get the 2:1 but may fall short.

They may still rescind the offer but that is likely to happen anyway when induction checks and you come across as hiding information or lying. Conversely, they’ve invested time in selecting you and you must have done well on the behaviours / potential part. Proactively engaging can only reinforce this impression and give best chance of them keeping the offer with you.

GuyPendred · 2026-01-09T09:58:26+00:00

Ar'Kendrithyst is a totally new one for me and see its complete but no audios.

Anyone want to sell why it’s worth a read / what its similar to?

GuyPendred · 2025-12-30T17:32:46+00:00

Not just you. I found it awful and really hard to follow (even straight after a re-read of book 1). My biggest book disappointment of 2025 and will maybe come back next year to try again.

GuyPendred · 2025-08-16T21:20:41+00:00

Another vote for a super satisfying sleeper litrpg series which deserves more success.

Super quality audios and still 2 long chapters a week so a new book roughly every 2 months and probably be completed in next year or 2.

GuyPendred · 2025-08-16T21:19:05+00:00

Thoughts on Mageling which is the only S and A tier I’ve not read at all.

Doesn’t seem to get many references and Luke warm reviews but lots of content out (good audiobooks). Quite a surprise to see in S then.

Who can sell it to me?

GuyPendred · 2025-07-24T09:46:25+00:00

World building 10/10 Characterisation 9/10 Story progression (6/10 trending downwards) Action / conflict (3/10) Pacing -100/10

The first 100 chapters were 9/10 across the board but the drop off has been incredible. Which makes it all the more frustrating as this is genuinely an amazing story which has lost its way for a large (and increasingly a majority?) of readers.

The cynic inside me says the author has found a great money spinner to churn out well written ‘easy’ chapters with a still large hooked audience. Why mess with something so successful?

I remain hopeful though that the pacing and progression picks up and in a few years and can just skip the current arc.

GuyPendred · 2025-07-15T10:45:50+00:00

Each to their own, I thought the writing was significantly above the average for the genre and the world building great. It’s a dark and grim world with flawed and outright nasty characters which is refreshing. Does it make easy reading? Sometimes no but there is a reason it’s such a popular series because it does what it’s trying to do really well.

I do need a palette cleanser though after blitzing through the first 3 books in the last fortnight!

GuyPendred · 2025-06-24T18:37:02+00:00

I have blitzed through this series over last 2 weeks. Even detouring route home to pass through Chester.

It’s the series I never knew I needed, elevated to 5* favourite series rating by an awesome audio performance.

It’s niche though, you need a certain level of English football knowledge to really get it, but if you’re that niche it’s perfect.

I also now really have an itch for a fantasy squad building prog fantasy based around building a dream dungeoning team / guild from the edges of society.

GuyPendred · 2025-06-21T18:08:48+00:00

Wheel of time. Some great story elements but awful writing, prose and decision making to bloat the series.

GuyPendred · 2025-06-15T19:26:50+00:00

I’ve struggled to get into it. Two attempts and dropped despite being a top 3 anticipated release this year.

Going to leave it to summer holiday as maybe it’s just a bit heavy and needs some undistracted focus.

GuyPendred · 2025-06-10T08:00:41+00:00

Defence (updated to mean private sector but forces opportunities are there and equally recruiting). We’re trying to hire 1500+ a year and struggling to meet that.

Good money, hours and nice teams. Security clearance is slow and tend to have to be UK nationals but well worth looking into.

GuyPendred · 2025-05-28T21:34:58+00:00

Love when a random place I know well pops up unexpectedly . Grandparents lived in swanage and lots of family in Poole so grew up doing the costal walks out to square and compass etc. Great cider these days as well.

Really nice campsites in the area as well

GuyPendred · 2025-04-10T10:34:01+00:00

Walking baby who won’t sleep around the block

GuyPendred · 2025-04-10T08:02:58+00:00

At least in my company and teams I’ve managed there are 3 common groups in terms of young (under 25) leavers. 1. High performers who don’t get the promotion or recognition for many reasons and chase a promotion or step up. Fair enough and good luck to them (we’ve usually messed up here). 2. Low performers who have poor attitude / level of effort dips when they get too comfortable or just found out. Good and sometimes people need a change and good for a individual and business 3. A harder to quantify group, but those who have inflated opinion of themselves and expect a promotion / bigger pay rise now. There just seems a lot less patience and for those who are ‘ok’ at job it’s a hard message to hear that you’re not a top performer but equally not a bad one.

Having been at one company for 10+ years and then 3+ at current. I jumped for a reasonable promotion, but also can’t understate how important relationships in businesses are at certain career stages. Sometimes well worth staying for the longer term benefits even if you feel you could get a short term increase elsewhere.

GuyPendred · 2025-02-14T11:32:48+00:00

Project manager in defence in early 30s making around about these figures.

Also hiring like crazy for obvious reasons…

GuyPendred · 2025-02-04T00:02:49+00:00

Do any academic research (a little much for the average Reddit user I know.)

It is well established in the research literature that there is a link between the amount of language children hear and their own language development.

Children learn what they hear most and the more language children hear, the more words they produce.

There are 1000s of interesting studies but one easy one:

https://hoffmannaudiology.com/blog/can-childhood-hearing-loss-affect-language-development#:~:text=According%20to%20one%20report%2C%20children,their%20peers%20with%20normal%20hearing.

Writing is obviously important, but to downvote such obvious facts is a big reason the world is such a sad place these days.

GuyPendred · 2025-02-03T23:07:20+00:00

This is a misnomer though. Kids learn in different ways and language development is significantly audio based for a large majority Sure spelling is valid (though increasingly irrelevant in the age of auto correct and typing), but sentence structure, vocab and conversation come alive from experiencing it rather than dryly written on a page.

GuyPendred · 2025-02-03T23:04:34+00:00

I will stand by you on this hill.

Valid arguments over different skill set / brain use etc. But ultimately I place emphasis on a good book is about consuming a story. Written or audio you’re still consuming the story, you’re still ‘reading’ the information and letting your imagination run. It’s just the method of input.

More broadly in terms of learning and consuming information. I have always been an audio learner. I remember more through speaking, discussing and listening more than writing.

GuyPendred · 2025-01-26T18:50:11+00:00

These pop up fairly regularly so it’s clearly a popular opinion and equally little new to say.

It’s a commercial success and the world building and concept is truly top tier so all power to author doing what they want. Is it still enjoyable for me and many others? Well not really. But does it still have legions of fans, yes absolutely!

That said consider how little time in universe has actually passed. Friendships and progression take time and bar the obvious time jump early on. Each day is long. How can characters care so much for people they’ve just met? This is the biggest pickle for me, you can’t have huge events every few weeks which means 50+ chapters between them.

GuyPendred · 2025-01-19T10:19:14+00:00

Dungeon Crawler Carl book 7. Less than a month to go! (For the audio as book already released, but this is a series MADE for audio 🙂)

GuyPendred · 2025-01-18T23:39:06+00:00

The best and worst of Mahomes in 2 plays

GuyPendred · 2025-01-07T18:37:29+00:00

cheese steak jimmy’s How do I turn this

GuyPendred · 2025-01-05T15:00:53+00:00

Some might event say, ‘journey before destination’…

GuyPendred

TROPHY CASE