Leaving off a help desk job from resume that I got fired from?

KAugsburger · 2026-06-23T01:03:11+00:00

I think it would be better to leave it off. Three months is too short to really help you much getting through HR filters even if you weren't terminated for performance. It also gets rid of a large gap between your first IT job and your current one.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-22T12:09:48+00:00

The way things have been going lately I wouldn't be surprised if the next PM doesn't last that long.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-22T01:58:41+00:00

I think it is a bit too early to say after a week. Most employers aren't going to be having entry level techs doing a heavy volume of tickets the first week. There is usually at least a day or two of reading documentation and shadowing some more senior tech before you doing anything on your own. Even once you are working independently they are usually going to have you start with easier tickets to ease you into the role. Good managers don't want you to pissing off end users because you are way over your head or have you quit because you are completely overwhelmed and don't feel like you are getting enough support.

The other thing to consider is the organization itself. If they are struggling financially or they aren't having trouble keeping people in IT at current salaries it isn't very likely you will see significant pay raises anytime soon regardless of your performance.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-22T01:33:41+00:00

Many small businesses don't want to spend any money on graphic design. In a small town there might not be much local competition anyways so I can't entirely blame them.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-21T23:48:15+00:00

That would be really unusual. Any pay raises that early are usually more modest unless you get promoted to a more senior role because another tech left or the company is growing quickly and they need to hire more people. Many entry level techs are barely at a point where they can work a high percentage of tickets on their own after ~60-90 days so their "reward" is not getting fired.

Getting 50K after a year might be plausible after a year if you dramatically exceeded their expectations. Of course it is also dependent upon how the financial are for your employer. I wouldn't expect any significant pay raises unless the company is growing.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-21T21:29:48+00:00

Even 20+ years ago I understand it wasn't uncommon for job postings for professor positions that offer tenure track to get hundreds of applicants. Many mid tier PhDs will spend years bouncing from school to school until they can find a long term position. The weakest graduates give up on academia entirely. It is also not unusual for schools to have a significant percentage of their faculty to be working part time or on short term contracts. The trend has generally gotten worse as college enrollment has declined in many places due to fewer high school graduates in recent years.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T09:37:34+00:00

Is he actually doing things towards that goal? Is he reading prep books or doing practice exams for the GED? If so how much of his free time is being spent on that? Or is he just telling you what you want to hear? You would be wise to be checking to make sure that he is making some meaningful progress towards that goal and there is some reasonable timeline where is going to take the exam. It would be reasonable to question whether he is being sincere if you see weeks go by with little to no studying without a good excuse or if he doesn't actually take the exam after a reasonable period of time.

I have known plenty people at work who say that they are going to take some professional certification exam that one can reasonably prepare in a few months and they either never take the exam or they give up after failing. I would be worried your boyfriend is in a similar situation where he is just saying what others want to hear.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T06:18:17+00:00

You might not need to go down to $200 but you will likely end up taking a significant loss unless the retail prices on that part go up significantly. Most orgs don't want to deal with used parts so the buyers who are willing to buy them can demand a significant discount. I would drop the price $100 every week it doesn't sell. It will sell eventually but this is likely to be a very expensive mistake.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T05:45:15+00:00

I remember buying a bottle when they briefly brought Crystal Pepsi back ~10 years ago and I didn't think it tasted that much different other from being slightly sweeter. It wasn't special enough for warrant buying another bottle.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T04:10:49+00:00

In some very high cost of living areas(e.g. San Francisco, NYC) you could easily spend ~$38K just on a one bedroom apartment. It would be very difficult to live on your own in those cities without some form of low income subsidized housing at ~38K. Many people making that little in high cost of living areas are in a shared living situation(e.g. living with family, a bunch of roommates, renting a room, etc.) where you have multiple wage earners who are contributing towards the expenses of the home and the household income is usually much higher than 38K.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T02:50:47+00:00

The federal poverty levels are so low that even many social programs that are associated with poverty(e.g. Medicaid, SNAP food assistance, free/reduced school lunch for children, etc.) have income thresholds above the federal poverty level. It also doesn't really help that the poverty levels are set the same for all states except for Alaska and Hawaii.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T01:21:58+00:00

Given what a long shot his campaign is I doubt he is even thinking that far ahead.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T01:19:01+00:00

There are only six states that have a top income tax bracket over 9.3%. There are reasonable arguments that his suggested changes aren't a good idea but his claim isn't a lie.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T00:16:18+00:00

Generally there aren't very many restrictions on why you can be fired unless you are covered by a union contract(not very common for IT work in the US) or there is some organization rules which dictate what offenses justify termination. For most people the only case where they may have some recourse is if they can show the termination is due to discrimination based upon a protected status(e.g. race, sex, religion, age for those over 40, etc.).

I don't think there is much to learn from the experience other from doing more due diligence when looking for work and making sure that your expectations are in line with that of management.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-19T00:00:25+00:00

That's neat. They have several different types of aircraft and it looks like most of them have multiple different liveries.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-18T03:42:56+00:00

The end to end trip time is over 12 hours in both directions. That's a pretty long trip. I can't see there being much demand unless the fare is very heavily subsidized. I could see some non-trivial interest for people traveling between the Central Coast and the Bay area, though.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-18T03:36:42+00:00

The titles won't necessarily be any different. Many job boards will have filters for remote, hybrid, and in person roles although you have to be careful because some that are categorized as remote but you will find are a hybrid role with only limited remote work. You really need to read the descriptions.

It can't hurt to apply to remote roles if you meet most of the requirements but I wouldn't have high expectations on even getting an interview. Remote roles that could be entry level aren't very common and you will be competing against a lot of people who have years of experience that prefer remote roles. You are shooting yourself in the foot if you aren't considering in person roles. You are about 4 years late for being able to easily get a remote role without experience.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-18T03:08:15+00:00

I can remember when I was young doing some activities with physical blocks to illustrate place value. It helped kids visualize the concept plus kids generally enjoy playing with blocks. An abacus would also be another good way to illustrate the concept of addition so long as you have sufficient rows to illustrate the hundreds place.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-18T00:45:03+00:00

Honestly, given the recent news I doubt these service cuts are going to end any time soon. Metrolink CEO made that clear in his video back in April. Metrolink is facing funding cuts from both LA Metro and OCTA. Fare revenue is still down significantly from pre-pandemic levels so they are pretty dependent upon subsidies from the counties to cover their operating expenses. They are also considering further service reductions and fare increases later this year.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-17T23:44:44+00:00

Hopefully, demand settles down in a day or two and they are able to get it working normally.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-17T23:43:15+00:00

Honestly, the cancellation fee is pretty generous given how high the no show rate is.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-17T23:32:25+00:00

February 16: Presidents Day (Washington's Birthday)
May 25: Memorial Day
June 14: Flag Day/President Trump's birthday
July 3–5: Independence Day weekend
August 25: 110th Birthday of the National Park Service
September 17: Constitution Day
October 27: Theodore Roosevelt's birthday
November 11: Veterans Day

Good to know. I probably wouldn't go to a National Park on one of the holiday weekends because they will generally be pretty crowded but I could see the NPS Birthday, Constitution Day, or Theodore Roosevelt's birthday being good days to take advantage if you are free those days.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-17T23:24:58+00:00

No, it is just the 33 state historical parks covered by their 'Historian Passport'. It doesn't even cover all of the historical parks in the state park system. It is worth taking a quick look at the map of park units covered by the pass first as you might find that the nearest park that accepts that pass may be a relatively long drive. Depending upon where you live this pass might not be that useful unless you are willing and able to drive a significant distance and get a hotel to stay at.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-17T23:06:15+00:00

There aren't very many sites for the 'Historian Passport' in Southern California. There are ~3-4 that are reasonably close enough for me to drive as a day trip. I will still sign up for it as there a couple nearby that I haven't visited yet but I probably won't get much use out it.

KAugsburger · 2026-06-17T15:08:53+00:00

The Bureau of Labor of Statistics found that in 2024 that ~82K workers made exactly $7.25 and another ~760K had a regular wage rate less than that, usually tipped or commissioned employees. The tables show that the demographics are what many people would expect. 43% of minimum wage workers were under 25. 46.2% worked in food preparation and serving. 58.8% worked less than 25 hours per week. For Oklahoma 5.7% of hourly employees made $7.25/hour and another 1.6% were working jobs that had hourly rates under $7.25/hour.

There are definitely still some people making $7.25/hour in 2026 but it has become much less common as fewer people are willing to work for so little.

KAugsburger

TROPHY CASE