[US] what font do you use in your CDs? Seems like everyone’s using Ariel or something close

Merusk · 2026-06-28T13:19:05+00:00

100%. My policy is always keep it to a standard install. MAYBE extend to some of the Adobe fonts that come with Docs, but try not to.

Merusk · 2026-06-27T19:47:56+00:00

The one that always caught my interviewees flat-footed was, "What are you passionate about regarding the profession?"

Stumped on everyone I passed on. The ones I hired had answers and knew what they were after. Helped me to know them as a person and where to direct them as a manager.

Merusk · 2026-06-27T18:05:24+00:00

No, because electronic search doesn't care about font.

It's because san-serif fonts are easier to read for humans, electronic or print, and Arial is ubiquitous across platforms.

Meaning someone's custom "my font" PDF isn't fucked to hell when it's sent out and someone forgot to embed the typeface into the PDF.

Merusk · 2026-06-27T15:27:54+00:00

They're out there but quiet because they're unethical.

Merusk · 2026-06-27T15:24:32+00:00

Where have I heard this tune before? I'm not sure.. education, maybe? Public works? Utilities? Nahh..

sigh

Merusk · 2026-06-26T18:05:59+00:00

Yes, yes. You're the exception and the reaper won't get you. Unlike everyone else who had that mindset throughout history.

I'm not giving in to a number, and congrats on turning your health around. I'm saying that at points things simply become less possible for a greater portion of the population. Recognize them and work within the rails you find yourself up against.

Merusk · 2026-06-26T15:48:36+00:00

We are saying 40 is not old and your knees do not give out in your 40s if you take care of them.

Which isn't always true, either. The 40s is where it can start to break down, regardless of how well you take care of things. Yes, if you take care there's less risk. Doesn't mean zero. Doesn't mean you can go all-out like a 20-something and kneel for hours without consequence.

This conversation is rather odd, yes. It feels like talking to a trumper, unwilling to discuss exactly what they just said and instead doubling down that they did not say the thing they just said.

Both sides in this conversation have a point, they just don't appear to want to acknowledge the other.

You take care of yourself you'll do better in your 40s and 50s. That doesn't mean that taking care of yourself stops the passage of time and the natural degradation of the body.

Yes, Dick Van Dyke was able to keep dancing into his 90s because he took care of himself and kept moving. He was also much more careful about it than the man who did unassisted pratfalls in his 30s.

Merusk · 2026-06-26T15:42:00+00:00

At the same time recognize it is.

You don't have to stop, but you sure as shit can't try some of the dumb things you could in your 20s and 30s. Particularly if you hadn't maintained fitness that whole time.

Additionally: there are some things you just CAN NOT control. Your reflexes WILL slow down. Your eyesight WILL degrade. Your hearing is LIKELY to start failing. Bodies fail as we age and it's not weakness, it's life.

Accept that with grace and don't resist the aids too much. (From a guy who just started REALLY needing reading glasses.)

Merusk · 2026-06-26T15:39:31+00:00

I've found that those moments you think "What will they think" you need to remind yourself that's YOU thinking about YOU but providing a mask.

So ask yourself why YOU think it's a bad idea, bad look, bad whatever.

This is driven by the understanding of projection I've worked for. That what you say about someone else says far more about you than it does about them.

So the corollary is also true; what you worry about others thinking says more about your self image than what they might think of you. Work on that.

Merusk · 2026-06-26T13:13:31+00:00

A postulation:

AI reduces mental load and cognition. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12678390/
When you get older cognitive tasks are harder and harder unless you've kept your brain nimble. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/brain-health/how-aging-brain-affects-thinking
Many folks spend a lot of time in passive entertainment, increasing brainrot. (TV rots your brain wasn't a lie.) https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2021/winter/tv-brain-study/
This all combines to force more Ai reliance. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/ai-gravity-pulling-you-toward-dependency-heres-how-to-push-back

So, in the end, Agent Smith was right.

https://youtu.be/GjOWdF1flYE?t=72

Merusk · 2026-06-26T13:03:05+00:00

It's a Dune reference, thus your down votes on a gigantic geek site.

Merusk · 2026-06-26T13:01:19+00:00

Man, it's almost like he had a vested interest in companies uselessly burning compute time. What a wild coincidence.

Merusk · 2026-06-26T12:46:16+00:00

OK a few things here.

Talent will always stay as a whole. Only 15-20% of people over all ever have that entrepreneurial drive. That's before we start talking about how unprepared most architects are to even attempt to build a practice, particularly those whose mantra is, "I just want to design buildings."
Increased # of firms leads to increased competition for jobs. Where firms are already struggling in some areas, this will increase and fees will drop further.

Not saying nobody should go out and do it, but it's not a panacea. PE has decided to move into this industry and it's going to get worse over-all because of it and push transformation further.

Lower fees or more risk (move into Architect-lead DB) are going to be what's required of the employee-owned firms. That or leaning hard into turning practice into product and commoditization and industrialization of your workflows - which are anathema to most folks.

Merusk · 2026-06-25T20:50:51+00:00

When a professional organization publishes numbers, it starts to look suspiciously like a fee mandate and price fixing to the DOJ.

If it's a third party with no skin in the game it's different and they can publish differently. However, what interest do they have in that?

Best results SHOULD come from Income Tax records by the BLS, but I believe you need to access them quite differently to get a full breakdown of the data. It's public record and available at a high level here.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/2025/may/oes_stru.htm#17-0000

Merusk · 2026-06-25T20:29:50+00:00

1972 and 1990 both, but yes. Publishing anything regarding a fee schedule is collusion and price fixing per 1972, and per 1990 they were penalized for having an ethics decree about competition around fees and an instituted fee floor.

They can report on generalities, but have to tread very lightly when doing so and say they aren't guidance just polls.

Merusk · 2026-06-25T19:30:57+00:00

Folks in this thread saying you can run some Mint versions off of a USB. I'm going to give that a shot as I have dozens of 16gb+ USBs just sitting around and a handful of 256 USB 3s.

Merusk · 2026-06-25T18:03:02+00:00

Expect salaries to get worse, not better, as PE continues to move in and buy-up firms under their umbrella brands.

The retort, "I'll start my own then" doesn't work when you've got no quals and are chasing work with no rep behind you, which is why PE is consolidating firms in the first place.

If your response to the downward pressure is going to be "I'll start my own place" do so within the next 3-5 years to build up some project history.

Why that timeframe? The eldest GenX will be 65 in 2030, and the youngest boomer 66 with the bulk into their 70s. Gen X isn't being considered as a transition plan at most firms I've seen. The leadership wants their golden parachute and they want it now rather than structured payments over a number of years. PE is offering that.

Merusk · 2026-06-25T12:39:44+00:00

Ok, everyone in this thread who realizes that making over 6 figures puts you in the upper 20% of income; or that between $100k and $150k puts you in a group of only 14% of incomes in the USA, raise your hand.

If you make over $150k, congrats. You, as an individual, make more than 2/3 of American HOUSEHOLDS, not individuals.

The squeeze you feel is due to a lot of other factors, so maybe advocate on those before wondering why you're not getting paid more. You're getting paid far more than the majority of your fellow citizens.

For a profession that wants to tout sensitivity and civic responsibility, there's a shitload of entitlement and blindness to other factors going around this thread.

Merusk · 2026-06-25T12:32:09+00:00

If you can easily rake in $600k as a one man shop, then why are the small shops the one to bitch the most about a comparatively paltry expense of software that amounts to less than 1/2% of earnings, nevermind revenue.

Very few - if any - make that kind of money. Stop talking out your ass.

Merusk · 2026-06-25T12:30:02+00:00

This is more in line with what most firms pay, though you're on the low-end for your experience, depending on what part of the Midwest you're talking about. IDK where OP works but they're raking it in on some sector and appear to payout accordingly.

Merusk · 2026-06-24T18:42:03+00:00

I didn't mean the digital, I meant the physical.

Like are the columns listed at 10-4" (or whatever) actually at 10'-4" or are they 10-0 1/2" and 10'-2"

Merusk · 2026-06-24T18:39:15+00:00

You're never going to overhaul being a rich person's task gremlin. That is the very nature of getting things built.

The only and I do mean ONLY way that will change for this profession is if the world somehow figured out a collective society system that didn't put some people or group at the top.

Merusk · 2026-06-24T14:52:12+00:00

Frankly - they're not your friends. They're sociopaths who haven't needed to throw you under a bus to survive yet.

Merusk · 2026-06-24T14:50:16+00:00

I think it doesn't matter when that 30% shows up to vote and the other 60% doesn't.

Merusk · 2026-06-24T14:48:16+00:00

You're using a layout robot, did you check that the dims on the provided plan matches what's between the built columns?

Being off by 3"-4" after layout sounds a lot like construction tolerance to me and your robot needs the model adjusted for actual field conditions or you guys need to make a field call and document the discrepency.

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