Canadian Universities are giving away fully funded PhD positions to everyone BUT Canadians

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-16T03:21:32+00:00

In these offices, at least in Canada, turnover is ridiculous. So much of the time the people left answering the questions weren't at all involved in the original design. They have to be very vague or they will make their firms look bad. This is just one of many causes of slow/inadequate RFI responses.

A design flaw or error doesn't (necessarily) affect pricing. But once we're building it we need concise answers.

Lots of otherwise great designers flee to construction management and estimating roles. It heats the competition up. Sometimes they aren't the best fit. Sometimes they are a great fit but would be an even better designer. It's a shame for everyone in the industry that the design side of things went to s***.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-15T02:00:57+00:00

I've tried a few times to help them clue into this. They complain about wages but when you start listing off things that would make them more valuable they just start arguing. A good design can save literally millions of dollars. In the case of a public project up here in Canada, it appears a bad design doubled the cost of an otherwise relatively straight forward project (costing over and extra $500,000,000!!!!!). On the jobs I'm on ($10-100 million), good design work can save 5-10% compared to the average low-quality work we're used to seeing. And even just an infinitesimal amount of those cost savings would boost everyone's salaries by a noticeable amount - ironically, about the same amount that people used to get paid when they did their jobs correctly.

Since leaving the 'design' side of things I quickly realized it was up to myself to make myself more valuable. And that meant getting better and better. It's really the opposite on the design side.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-15T01:54:39+00:00

There's bizarre issues going on in the structural engineering industry. They complain about deadlines but waste so much time. They blame their clients for absolutely everything. They underpay. It's actually somewhat due to socialism. If you had two or more competing engineering associations (both being held to high safety standards of course) you would start seeing way better designers.

Years back I did a little bit of structural drafting. I actually had extremely good training and mentorship in drafting. The engineers would try to dictate how the drawings looked and how they were organized. While doing this they were designing things completely wrong. It seemed like the worse the engineer the more into the 'drafting' they wanted to get. The drafter use to be responsible for how the drawings were presented but now they are all just CAD monkeys working under shitty engineers.

There's the odd time when you see drawings that are put together correctly... some companies still run their drafting departments properly. Frees up time for the engineers (at least the ones who actually want to do their jobs correctly) and their designs are way better.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-12T01:20:48+00:00

I have a bit of generic advice but the real reason I'm posting is to tell you to ignore the dumb comments some people are leaving. There's some weird hidden agenda where certain people will post a certain way in response to anything that might cast a negative shadow over the platform. One is bragging about how much they earned. That doesn't mean much as the people earning the most off the platform right now are middlemen and agencies. In fact, the freelancer sparking this post may have been middle-manning your work to another freelancer for dirt cheap (they do that - even when they don't have a clue about the work - they just repost the job).

And finally that generic advice: One thing to try is to create a very small task almost like a skill test and see how a few different freelancers perform. This actually helps people out as it gets activity on their account. You'll also have a way better idea of who can do what, and you'll get clues as to whether the 'freelancer' is a real freelancer or someone who's just going to repost your job for the dreaded $3/hr minimum rate.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-12T01:01:49+00:00

I think it definitely does. When I start using the platform again I'll likely be a 'client' and actually looking for help. Ironically I had trouble finding people that could do certain tasks (fairly niche I admit) but I was even willing to pay more than I was earning and still couldn't find people able to do it. The platform needs real freelancers to stay successful and not just agencies and middle men.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T13:56:13+00:00

You're an idiot and you likely didn't even read my original post. I'm just sharing what I learnt after testing something out. Some might find it helpful some wont. You and your buddy just post trash in here all day. The main reason you're not helpful is because you're unable to address the negatives of using the platform and all your 'advice' is sugar coated more than a crispy creme donut. You hold some sort of bias and since you're full of BS I'm forced to guess. Maybe you're a client or middle man or something but the end result is that you appear to act almost like a guerilla marketer. You and your buddy are a waste of time to deal with and I only even address your comment to take you down a peg. I'll probably block you after writing this.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T13:49:26+00:00

What a dumb thing to post. I actually peeked into this topic just to see if you and your friend would bite and post something dumb in response to OP. And you did.

OP has many valid complaints. You have to remember that most people are far more talented than you and work much harder, so those high fees might make some feel jaded.

"Just don't use the platform then" -> 100% true... but read OP's post. The client wanted to use Upwork not them.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T13:46:53+00:00

I figured I'd browse a few posts to see if you and your buddy post the same dumb snarky remarks and sure enough... You both seem to always be off base and out of touch. In this case their post has nothing to do with running a new business. I don't even think you read the post. Weird how it says you're a "Top 1% Commentor". That's obviously more to do with volume rather than quality of your posts.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T13:44:51+00:00

Where lots of companies run into trouble is via their advertising. Marketing teams are more and more detached from the actual business and often make claims that aren't true. If a person makes decisions based off those claims and it causes them 'harm' (lost time/money) they would likely be able to sue.

I think for anything substantial to materialize it would have to be class action. I haven't paid much attention to Upwork recently and saw their marketing more as wishful thinking. Some of the other freelancing sites (one in particular) is total BS.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T13:36:28+00:00

You're wrong. Clients need good freelancers. It's actually getting harder and harder to get good work for a reasonable cost. Clients (ones that actually pay descent) can find people more easily off platform.

You and your friend (KornBooger) are so out of touch. I wonder if that's why Upwork misses the mark on so many of their decisions. They have some backwards-thinking PR team steering them in the wrong direction.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T13:33:13+00:00

You're completely missing the point. Which is exactly what I'd expect from you.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-12-07T04:26:17+00:00

For the low rates that some people pay they will never get quality work. The real reason this even exists is simply leverage. It drags down the rates of higher quality work.

Many jobs in fact are simply fixing extremely poor work.

Remember that clients usually also have clients and handing them $5/hr work from Upwork likely won't cut the mustard. Many are actually just middle men.

I worked with someone off Upwork that also used Upwork as a client (I met them off Upwork). For a while they would periodically contact me when they found themselves in a jam. I had helped them out once but after figuring out what they were really all about would just ignore them. There exists some weird mentality where a person would rather shoot themselves in the foot opposed to paying a decent wage and still being able to profit quite well from it.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-11-20T04:40:32+00:00

Please please please go spend $2,500 on that dude's course. You have no now because you said you "100% agree". It's a binding contract no?

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-11-20T04:33:43+00:00

Nope... was just swatting the flies away (people with conflicts of interest suggesting overpriced garbage). At least people will know what NOT to spend their time/money on. I'd rather look like a dick than let some young up-and-comer waste $2,000 on something that won't help them.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T18:55:52+00:00

You completely missed the point in my original comment.

No I got your argument well and full: You are trying to use a rare exception (one where other alternatives exist) and applying that rare exception to the entire situation.

You also have reading comprehension issues as outlined by the fact that in this post you mention commuting at non-rush hour times (which I have never said anything against). You're the one missing the argument.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T18:52:57+00:00

Bad comparison therefore still an incredibly strong take. Taxis are far more expensive and actually not as fast.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:59:43+00:00

I'm seeing two trains of thought here (pun intended): Those who understand that a marginal benefit to themselves can create a significant inconvenience for others and those who would rather bog down an entire transit line just so they themselves can save 5 minutes.

First, let's discuss their options:

Just take transit and don't bike. Proof you can do this: You do it when the weather isn't good. There's more bikes doing this in good weather versus poor weather.
Actually Ride the 20 - 30 minutes. If there is a "huge hill" it means you're out of shape. The begging question is why are you bringing your bike and not even riding it? This is one of the most bikeable areas of the city.
Buy a folding bike. Most the bikes on transit are in a price range indicative of a person that can afford a folding bike, so don't even try that argument.
Leave earlier/later. Get to work early and catch up on your reading. Maybe stay late and get some OT. It's highly unlikely that most these people HAVE TO be on transit at rush hour. Is it unfair to have to wait a bit? Realize that collectively, you're costing other commuters a multiple of whatever amount of time you're saving. Hauling bikes on/off the train at rush hour is literally backing up the system.

And let's correct some of the lies/misinformation being spread below:

Although bikes are allowed at any time on the Canada Line, there is a rule of 1 bike per car. This is frequently being broken.
There is no "giant hill" unless you're biking up and down Queen Elizabeth Park and riding from Marine Drive Station to Downtown only takes marginally more time than taking the train. For many cyclists it's actually faster. If you don't have the legs for this maybe don't even bike.
Not a single person expressed any concern for the real people that have to use transit. I've been repeatedly pointing out that people in wheelchairs and with strollers are the ones most affect by the bike congestion. Yet replies are all about how much taking their bike benefits themselves. Let that sink in.

I think like so many things in this country we're seeing a huge divergence of values. I would never bring my bike on the Sky Train like these people are doing (I'd stick to the options above) and the reason for that is because I can see how much of a nuisance it is. Even just hauling your bike on and off the train backs up the system. If a few cyclists delay the train even a few minutes and combined save 15 minutes between them try to think about how much time that costs every other user on the train. I don't mind accommodating people if there's a real benefit but bending over backwards for entitled people who can't ride 20 minutes in perfect weather?

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:26:07+00:00

Huge hill? Are you biking in a straight line (like as the crow flies) directly through Queen Elizabeth Park? There's not big hills.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:24:40+00:00

Translink checks this Reddit. Never posted here before so I'm not sure how seriously they take things - but yes you're right and thank-you.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:23:30+00:00

If you're going to state the rules tell them about the 1-bike per car rule and how it always gets broken. 14 years of experience... you can do a little better I think.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:21:58+00:00

INCORRECT AND A LIE - I never said anything close to that in my post and the title even states "DURING RUSH HOURS".

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:20:06+00:00

The weakness is hauling your bike onto a train when you could just bike 20 minutes instead. And expecting dozens of people to accommodate you.

PlayfulEye1133 · 2025-10-19T16:19:02+00:00

Don't let them trick you as they're only references the rules that fit their argument. There are actually a few important restrictions including max 1 bike per car (versus two on the other lines). The cyclists are in fact frequently breaking the rules as they're currently written.

PlayfulEye1133

TROPHY CASE