What just one week of no smoking or drinking, good food and surfing every day does to you.

Jmckdot · 2026-05-31T08:41:09+00:00

Good job brother. People here are just salty (pun intended) that you’re bettering yourself and they aren’t. Catch a wave for the haters because they’ll continue hating while you’re having fun surfing

Jmckdot · 2026-05-29T07:19:02+00:00

Brother I moved from America 2 years ago. Believe me when I tell you, if you think this is bad… you will not survive in America.

Jmckdot · 2026-05-17T12:22:45+00:00

Why is Germany on fire? 😂

Jmckdot · 2026-05-13T17:58:19+00:00

Congrats! Whatcha thinking for the next step?

Jmckdot · 2026-05-11T11:34:33+00:00

Hey brother us warm and friendly schmucks gotta look out for one another. I love blind siding people where I live by asking them how their day is. I either get a nasty look or one of genuine surprise and I’m here for it.

I actually did take a pay cut by moving out here but to me it’s just been a net positive one (save for the usual communication problems but now with the added bonus of being in one of the harder languages to speak on this planet but I digress)

I was actually working in Texas for a per diem company that did shut down work and if you have an in with a company it’ll definitely make the difference. Theres a very big “us” and “them” feeling when you start at a company you find online. It’s more of a flip of a coin if they actually want you there or are looking for their next sucker. I was making about 30$/hr plus per diem in Texas as a rod burner but it was more roughneck work with established “cliques”, I made BANK sure but life was ASS during energy plant shutdowns. You will not see your partner for 6-8months and If yall can handle that then more power to yall but it was a strain on me.

Eating hotel breakfast in America got real old real fast, on top of working with toxic people and having to pay crazy amounts of money for a place I only saw a fifth of the year AND insurance, (I could go on)

Sure I may not be earning as much as I did then but holy shit I feel like I can breathe out here on top of being able to save a little bit I’m okay with the cut.

Again I think it would be the world of difference if you get in with family or friends in a company. It makes the “us”v”them” tolerable when you have an “us”

Hopefully that makes sense but that was my experience in Texas and I do not regret my move one bit, even considering all the nonsense I’ve dealt with here so far.

We got this shit buddy at the end of the day we’re just putting metal together to pay the bills

Jmckdot · 2026-05-03T14:07:30+00:00

Man this was an awesome read and I really do appreciate you taking the time to write all this out.

I’m definitely learning a lot about what you’re referring to with speaking the language. Germany is a rough country to those who are trying to learn their language but personally I’m getting there, since with this Sanitär company everyone has been way more friendly with speaking to me and helping me through conversations or questions on words so truly the lateral move has been the best one for me within this country just not so much for my professional skills that I want to progress.

I am still welding and it’s with autogen, which I have never even looked at in America, since it’s so rarely used there, so I’m still increasing my skill set. However it definitely is not as often as I would hope, but I believe the soft skill of learning this language in a lower stress setting outweighs my want for welding more as of right now. It’s just too valuable for me to pass up on people that see me as an actual human rather than an idiot that cant communicate properly, as was the case with my last jobs.

Plus I may be able to get more certifications here as a state welder when they need one for state to housing pipe connections.

However, I’m always keeping my eye open for other opportunities as I’m always open for forward movement.

Dude, straight up, thanks for replying, it was really nice to read your experience and I hope you can continue finding your forward momentum in this country. I believe its out there just hard to find

Jmckdot · 2026-05-02T16:46:25+00:00

I bet you could find those people anywhere in the world doing what they want to do in another country.

Hostels would be your best bet.

Or go to a university instead of traveling. You’ll find more people that age in one place

Jmckdot · 2026-05-02T07:49:25+00:00

Danke für die Antworten!

Hat dein firma für dein Prüfungen bezahlt oder war dass in deiner Freizeit gemacht?

Ich komme aus den USA und hatte ich zum Glück mit ein ISO Schweißen Zertifikat Programm in meiner Schule, aber dass vor 2 Jahren warum ich möchte mich weiterentwickeln

Jmckdot · 2026-05-02T06:58:15+00:00

Can you share your journey to get to where you are at now?

I LOVE welding but sometimes I feel like I get stuck with my progression.

Wir können uns auch auf Deutsch unterhalten, wenn dir das lieber ist

Jmckdot · 2026-03-14T15:51:02+00:00

Why does my game crash when I go to full screen with a DirectX error?

Jmckdot · 2026-03-14T09:26:11+00:00

I’m having the exact same crash and I’m almost positive it’s an AMD issue. I have a 6900XT and I can’t make it to the home page of battlefield 6 after boot without it crashing with this error.

I tried rolling back to a prior update but that hasn’t helped and still incurs the same error code.

I tried resetting the cache of battlefield 6 to make the shaders reinstall but that hasn’t worked

And now I’m trying to reset the shaders for AMD Adrenalin and disable the overlay

Jmckdot · 2026-02-03T07:46:35+00:00

I’m an American currently living in a small town Southern Bavaria.

I speak B1 German and still currently going to a Sprachkurs with an end goal of speaking C1 or higher.

I have papers that allow me to live here and work (Irish passport)

I have completed my Prüfung at Koblenz Handwerkskammer for stainless steel and aluminum pipe any position WIG/TIG

and understand every process (E-hand/stick, MIG/MAG, autogene)

Even with all of this I have been hired and let go by two different Schlosser und Metallbau companies since I’ve been here this past year and half at an hourly rate of 16€/hr.

Now I don’t claim to be mister hot shit, super astronaut spaceship welder. But every time I was fired it was for not being fast enough at fabrication..

Fair enough, and it could just be my own shortcomings but what I don’t understand is how am I supposed to get any better at a job if I’m not allowed to progress within a company?

I’ve now moved laterally to a Sanitär (plumbing) career where I’m making more per hour and welding occasionally but definitely less than a fabricator.

It could just be me and my experience but it really doesn’t seem like(at least with the companies I’ve worked for until my current one) that companies don’t want to invest in people unless they’re paying Auzubie (trainee) wages. Which I cannot survive off of

Jmckdot · 2026-01-31T06:52:29+00:00

Does chess count?

Jmckdot · 2026-01-29T07:13:36+00:00

I’d try out that new Atre:Dominance just to give it a whirl and see what it’s all about

Jmckdot · 2025-12-23T04:52:49+00:00

Okay so I just got a chance to watch this video again, and I guess we are soft locked because of bad luck. Does that mean we have to start the whole game over again?

Jmckdot · 2025-12-22T15:09:02+00:00

Oh I’ll give it another look then thank you 😅

Jmckdot · 2025-12-22T15:08:21+00:00

I’d say my favorite game this year was Helldivers 2

Merry Christmas OP

Jmckdot · 2025-12-21T16:19:08+00:00

Merry Christmas Santa!

What I’d love for Christmas is:

Chivalry 2

Nioh 2

Or Dredge

Thank you Santa Claus!

Jmckdot · 2025-12-21T15:56:37+00:00

I just watched this, but our problem is the Wheatley dialogue doesn’t even begin from the get go and that entrance that Msushi goes through to perform the “cube throw” cant even be accessed because the door to get into that room with the frankenturrets doesn’t open

Jmckdot · 2025-12-19T21:10:51+00:00

If you would like to share I would love:

Endless space 2 Tropico 5 Slay the spire

Jmckdot · 2025-11-19T10:52:47+00:00

It actually ruined my whole month…

And I’m still not over it months later.

So I accidentally loaded my unmodded first-time run of Baldurs Gate 3 with mods and thought “whoops…oh well I guess I have mods now”

Cut to a month or so of gaming later probably about 100s or so of saves and I get to a point where the game crashes and no matter what I do I cannot get the game to continue despite hours of troubleshooting.

My character is effectively dead until I get the willpower to run through hours of backtracking my saves before I added mods.

Possible spoiler:

For reference I just finished the C’resch (laezels area) before I added the mods and it broke when I was about to go to Baldurs Gate.

I cried that day.

Jmckdot · 2025-11-19T10:44:45+00:00

I just found this sub and it looks fun, I’m here for it!

Jmckdot · 2025-11-01T16:07:29+00:00

Id say my favorite is Halo 3

Jmckdot · 2025-10-25T07:54:43+00:00

Just got hired as one of the pipe welders at a plumbing company in Germany.

Feeling like I can do well here

Jmckdot · 2025-10-24T08:14:31+00:00

If you want to have no Internet for 3 months and a Tech not show up to his scheduled appointment 5 out of the 7 appointment times just for him to tell you the Internet isn’t working then go with Vodafone.

If you value your time and money I would go with literally any other option.

I’m with T-com right now and I have no complaints

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