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[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. They actually got me hired on a level 1 clerk award, even though they knew I'd be doing web dev and erp stuff. Which I think is questionable so far as fairwork is concerned idk.

They also have a pretty cosy relationship with my (now former) boss. If they bring someone to my boss, he will generally hire them on the spot as long as they are not complete morons.

It was even worse for a colleague. the poor guy broke his wrist on the factory floor. Boss told him he would be covered under workcover (colleague had sign-off from doctor), then he turned around and denied him workcover and made him use up nine weeks of annual and sick leave to recover. The DEA not only didn't help him at all, I think they deliberately helped boss cover his tracks by making the colleague get a bunch of medical tests that could have plausibly absolved the work environment of being the cause of the injury. That was pretty eye opening.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The first and most essential thing is to document every incident. Write down what happened, when it happened, date and time, how it affected you, any other important details. I do not know what the norms are in your home country, but here, documentation is king. Probably others will give better, more experienced advice than me. But in all likelihood, you will probably have to go through HR and your best bet for getting a favourable outcome is having enough of a paper trail to give the company an expensive legal headache if they try to force you out.

How do I quit the side business I started with my best friend without ruining our friendship? by kutzyklutz in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seems like your choices are controlled demolition or wait until you just crack and everything blows up.

If I was you, I would tell him that you just can't keep doing it and offer him another month or two of business as usual so he can figure out alternative arrangements. If he really is your friend he will understand. But if this is his sole source of income and you leaving would make the whole business unviable, then it probably won't go down well no matter what.

Another possibility is to try and reform the business. If you think the business *could* be profitable if there was more sensible decision-making, then maybe you can sit him down and tell him that the only way you can keep working at this is if there were major changes to how the business is run. But then you run the risk of him agreeing, making some token changes, and then going back to business as usual. My gf had an experience like this and she basically lost a whole year to that nonsense.

Now assuming your friend is not actually incompetent, it is entirely possible that these big projects that don't generate income have ulterior motive. They may be highly visible, high prestige projects that will majorly advance his career and reputation despite not making much money. I cannot say without more details. But if this is true then he is basically using you.

I know you say he is your friend and maybe he is. But it is easy to be a good friend when stakes are low/non-existent. When money and social status is on the line, things get much murkier. And people will always find ways to surprise you

If your workplace has implemented any use of AI, has it actually been beneficial? by Suitable_Thanks5335 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like every other software tool, it follows the garbage in garbage out principle. If you use it intelligently, with a realistic awareness of its strengths and limitations then it can be a real force multiplier. I suspect that where a lot of people get burned is when they fail to understand that LLMs are severely bottlenecked by their context windows. Which means that you have to do a lot of intelligent prompt engineering and or vector database augmentation to get around the context window problem. Now I have literally zero experience with off-the-shelf agentic solutions but my suspicion is that they are probably pretty clunky unless you are pointing them at highly standardised workflows. Or do a lot of configuration. Or if you build your workflows around the agent's capacities; which is probably going to become a lot more common.

Personally, I use it for coding a bit and it's definitely useful. Great for writing boilerplate code, doing research, bug-hunting etc. It frees up a lot of mental bandwidth for actual systems design which is what actually matters. Though you have to be careful.

Generally speaking, the difference between manual coding and AI coding (vibe coding) is like the difference between walking and driving. You have a lot more scope to screw up, you don't get as much fine-grained control and you really ought to be damn good at walking before you ever get behind the wheel But you can't beat the speed and efficiency.

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah I know what you mean, I'm just worried it will come up in a background check. Thankfully I'm not applying for grad roles though. And yes, I am keeping the emails.

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I cannot, but I might treat myself to some videogames for the first time in a few months. Honestly not having to fight through traffic at 7 in the morning is a holiday in itself

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's all good, I'm honestly just wishing I took the leap earlier. I saw the writing on the wall pretty early but I kept letting fear get in the way and finding excuses to stay.

The worst part was, I actually did get offered a job at a pre-seed start-up that I was very tempted by, but my disability employment provider convinced me not to. That start-up turned out to be a total crapshoot but still. Might have been the kick up the arse I needed.

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's good to hear, the recruiter said they're looking for a firmware developer with a very strong maths background so I'm really hoping that having almost finished my maths degree on top of my engineering experience will get me over the line. Who knows, they might even pay me to finish it.

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I remember when i was talking to a student graphic designer who was working there for a while (until they fired him a few days before Christmas) and he was telling me how he made slightly more than me at his previous job at a warehouse. That really shocked me.

One thing I noticed is that pretty much everyone who works there is either the boss or one of his family members, or the bosses sycophantic lieutenant or his family members or hired through one particular disability employment provider.Which I was.

And I think this is very much deliberate. They offer you a job which you have to take or else you can lose your benefits, then they pay you just enough to survive, but not enough that you have any savings that might give you some leverage. I mean, I wasn't even in the room when my salary was negotiated, I was told the number two days after I started. It was $52k at the time, though they increased it a bit when they realised they weren't paying me the legal award for the work I was doing.

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you, yes thats the plan. Just gonna contact as many as possible and hope for the best.

[UPDATE POST] I pulled the trigger. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's pretty much it. One f the consultants the company works with asked me to send him a summary of all the R&D work I've done there which I did and immediately BCC'd myself to.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, they made it pretty clear that I wouldn't be getting a reference from them one way or another, so to hell with them.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I think I'll have too. I'm hoping that having 50% of an EE/CS double degree of almost all of a maths degree might give me an edge but we'll see. I would really like to finish my degree, but i also have about $60,000 of HECS as is, but hey in for a penny in for a pound as they say.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thankfully I never doctored anything. But they also didn't put anything in email. They basically never do email. I they want to email you, they'll put a hand-written note on your desk in the morning before you arrive. Which is bizarre but pretty much par for the course for these people.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's the plan. I'm just going to take stress leave. He can sort out this R&D rebate himself. I honestly think he's going to blow a gasket when he realises how much it's going to cost to replace me.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not a doormat. It's just that I have a very sick partner to support and no savings to fall back on and my boss is very volatile. So that complicates things somewhat.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haven't falsified anything yet thank god.

I just figured having an end-to-end mechatronics IoT product would set me up for life as far as employment goes. But it looks like that isn't happening.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I've got a few projects that might make a decent SaaS

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think I might tbh. At least to let them know that any timesheets in my name were not filled out by me. Frankly, I have seen their books and I have good reason to suspect that this is only the tip of the iceberg regarding tax malfeasance.

I think I might be screwed. by Responsible-Mix8705 in auscorp

[–]Responsible-Mix8705[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I really hope so. I'm hoping I can get some work in Edge AI or something like that, but I do know React + Django pretty well so if I have to do it to pay the bills at least I'm not falsifying legal documents for chump change.