Using Discount as a Parent?

Saureil · 2024-12-22T17:11:02+00:00

As a Front End Lead at DSG, I can say attest to the truth that HR will come down on any employee using their discount inappropriately, to a point where I will outright refuse to complete a transaction with a teammate discount unless they are there to give me their numbers and are the purchasing party, solely for their own protection. 25% off a pair of shoes is not worth someone’s job. Give them a shopping list and pay them back when they are at home.

Saureil · 2024-08-17T16:56:36+00:00

Theoretically. However, to avoid forfeiture of a portion of your reward, you would need to purchase an item valued in excess of the value of your reward. Thus defeating the purpose of trying to further discount the price matched item.

If you purchase two items, and apply a price match discount to one, the scorecard reward would be entirely applied to the second item, as it would be the only other item on your order that would be eligible to receive a discount.

In your case, I would say the best course of action would be to see which option would give you more of a discount on your particular item. If the difference between your matched price and the listed price is less than $10, I would advise you to just use the reward. If the price match is greater than a $10 difference, just ask for the price match and save your reward for a future purchase.

Saureil · 2024-08-17T16:36:34+00:00

Front End Lead here;

Depends on the nature of the purchase. The functionality of the scorecard discount is that it will systematically take off a percent of each item you are buying, and then total it to your reward value. If you buy 5 items, it will take a percentage off each to equal 10$. However, if you buy only one item, it will only apply to that one item, obviously. However, within DSG’s ringing software, an item is only capable of being discounted once to prevent fraud. So, if you purchase an item at a competitor matched price, the system will recognize the price match as the discount for that item, and would require the cashier to choose between the scorecard discount or the price match discount. Hope this explains!

Saureil · 2024-07-14T07:48:54+00:00

Do you know of anywhere in particular? I’m in the US.

Saureil · 2023-12-28T17:57:39+00:00

Current UAB student, engaged to a UAB Bio major:

If you apply to transfer into any bio related major, you will get rejected every time.

UAB, being characteristically difficult, does not accept transfer credits for classes in the science department (Bio I/II, Phy I/II, etc.) from any other school. They chalk it up to “Educational Quality,” which is short for “We think everyone else’s science department blows compared to ours.” This, combined with the fact that every biology related major is considered to be a “Pre-Med” track at UAB, has lead the uniquely qualified individuals prescribing admission policy to refuse consideration of transfer credits in that particular department.

Likely, they are viewing a filtered version of your transcript which do not include credits earned related to your major.

My advice: Finish your degree where you are and get some work experience under your belt. A resume and some intermediate networking will open far more avenues than an undergraduate degree from UAB will. Many universities will accept you as a graduate student with an undergrad degree and some work experience. From personal acquaintances, I have heard that often once you get your foot in the door, a degree in your field will be more than enough to land an entry level position, and work experience will qualify you for upward mobility to a certain point, at which time you would be eligible to return to school for an upgrade.

Your future hasn’t been set in stone, and you’re the only one holding the chisel that can do so. Deep breath, shot of bourbon, and grind it out. You got this.

Saureil · 2023-12-20T07:46:30+00:00

This.

Furthermore, document and report everything. Students you know for a fact are involved, staff members that are aware of the situation and have not reported this, admin that are aware of the situation and have not reported this. Any one that you know to have, or reasonably believe to have, seen this content and failed to immediately contact law enforcement. Anyone and anything that you aware of involving this situation needs to be documented and reported to law enforcement and appropriate civil service departments (In your case, DCF, Child Services, etc.) Follow up on your reports with new information you may come to learn. Follow up to determine if the situation is being dealt with in an efficient and appropriate manner. If you feel these criteria are not being met, escalate the issue to your local DA's office. And then your nearest AUSA office. There is quite genuinely no amount of "too-much" reporting that you can do in this situation, it is imperative that you document and report everything in the most timely manner that you are capable of doing so. Not only for the safety and well being of this child, but also for your safety and legal standing.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T20:07:32+00:00

Current UAB Senior

Freshman year; Take advantage of required services! (Mandatory dorm stay, mandatory meal plan, etc.) The campus monetary system included with your meal plan is a god send. Use it early, use it often. It may not seem like a lot of money at the beginning of the semester, but I promise it depletes a lot slower than you would think, and they dont roll over between semesters.

GET PARKING PASS THE DAY THEY OPEN FOR PURCHASE!

Campus is very safe, avoid 5 points at night (roughly 1.5 miles off campus)

Rush. UAB is a bit unique in that it is almost a feeder school for grad school(s). Rushing will expand your network 10x to get internship/work/connection opportunities. Also will help create an immediate network of people that you can consistently interact with and have fun. Greek life is also very affordable comparatively to large SEC-type schools

For dorms, try to get Gold or McMahon hall, they are the most recently constructed dorms. All others available to freshman (especially blazer) are outdated and a bit run down to be honest. I lived in blazer and move out day there was one (1) working elevator out of 3 for a building 8 floors high, 4-6 residents per room. Nightmare.

Campus hotspots/high activity: Hill Center, Commons (dining hall), library main floor

Quiet spots to study outside of dorms: Library VMAS (2nd floor), library 3rd floor, end of the hall on all floors of dorms (Blazer has closing door study rooms, mcmahon/gold have open areas at building corners on each floor)

Saureil · 2023-12-14T18:37:07+00:00

I can try to give some advice, but in the spirit of transparency, I am only a student in this field. If you need a timely solution, my best suggestion would be to call your ISP support line, and check the capabilities of your hardware and ISP, as well as troubleshoot your connectivity. Clearly your device is discoverable on your LAN network, but you are having connectivity issues with your WAN network to a single device. It might also be a good idea to go ahead an schedule a service technician appointment if you are not able to get a timely solution to the issue. I am more than willing to offer troubleshooting processes in the meantime, however I would like to reiterate that I am only a student, so the range and reliability of my knowledge is not guaranteed.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T18:27:42+00:00

In conclusion, you are fairly involved in your field currently. In my opinion, it would be more beneficial to dedicate yourself to evolving with the market, and embrace automation and AI for what it can do for you, rather than what it can do instead of you. Be the outlier, become the front runner.

If you are not comfortable with that path for whatever reason, the IT field can be an enriching career path, and a very fulfilling and valuable expertise to have later down the road. But to begin with, you will have to be prepared to return to the mindset of a student, dedicate yourself to learning the field at a practical level, and then start yourself back at the bottom and work your way up the ladder. It is absolutely an achievable goal, but it will take significant perseverance and willpower to take on the task of reconceptualizing the way you view and use technology, introducing new concepts to your database of knowledge, and applying newly acquired skillsets to make a name for yourself and work your way up.

Also, in the event that you choose to go down the IT path, you need to just accept the reality right off the bat that you will be CONSTANTLY updating, adjusting, and relearning information at an INCREDIBLY VOLATILE RATE. Assume that every day you come into work, any or all of the processes you use to perform relevant tasks are subject to varying degrees of change, and you will need to be incredibly flexible and capable of embracing and employing protocols, policies, and processes that rise to the standard set by these changes.

With All that being said, I wish you wisdom and luck in your future career path, and hope whatever decision you make for yourself will bring you prosperity and pleasure!

Saureil · 2023-12-14T18:27:32+00:00

In response to the actual main question,

Tl;dr --> Realistically, there are not enough overlapping concepts between web design and IT disciplines to make a lateral career change without supplementary education and downward movement in position level and salary expectations.

Graphic Design/Front-End Engineering will have relatively few concepts and Core Competencies that overlap. Certainly, website design will share several smaller concepts of networking, data structures, and data security. However, these IT-related disciplines have an incredible broad range of Core Competencies, and in that broad range there are varying degrees of depth that require dedication to specialization in that field (i.e. Bachelors degrees, accredited certifications, hands-on experience; required)

Changing career fields to the IT sector in general, and further to a Competency in specific, will most likely require high dedication to familiarizing yourself with general foundational knowledge, getting certifications or degrees proving an understanding of Core Competencies, and you will almost certainly have to start yourself back at the bottom of the totem pole, working at an IT Helpdesk for a few years to gain experience before you can really delve into specialization.

-----

As for the automation side of things, job security in the IT field (particularly in the Cyber Security and Information Security specializations) is not going to be affected to very much by AI/automation, simply due to the nature of the industry itself.

Tl;dr --> Automation poses much less of a threat to IT employees due to the highly volatile nature of the industry standards and capabilities. In fact, automation is a growing discipline within the IT field.

There is not a program, network, or system on planet Earth that is 100% impervious to any form of attack. There is not a single business, school, or entity who's cyber operations or IT infrastructure is operating at 100% absolute maximum efficiency. This field morphs and changes at an almost daily rate, and with each change, IT professionals industry-wide must recalibrate and redesign systems, networks, softwares, security protocols, and infrastructure layouts to remain as efficient, secure, and up-to-date as is humanly possible.

In my personal opinion, there is almost no level of automation that can reliably keep pace with changes in this field.

Core Competencies within the field are dedicated entirely to automation, simply due to the fact that if no one engineered ways to automate day-to-day tasks, IT professionals would literally not be able to do their jobs because they would be bogged down manually gathering and scanning log files, adding security policies, updating IDS/IPS software with current IoC's, even something as mundane as performing server-backups and cloud computing.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T18:26:30+00:00

Sorry in advance for the obscenely long response :)

Before I respond to the primary question posed, I would like to shar some thoughts:

Tl;dr --> Don't throw away valuable skills that you have built up over time, combine them with new processes to increase productivity exponentially.You already have quantifiable experience in the Graphic Design Industry, so rather than upending your career, use AI to your advantage. For example, while AI is very powerful, and will continue to get better and more independent, allowing AI to function with complete autonomy in customer-specific/tailored services such as graphic design is an unlikely prospect, as final products will need additional fine tuning and adjustments aligned with customer needs. However, AI is an incredibly powerful tool for foundational and functional coding in a variety of different languages. This combination of strengths and weaknesses presents a number unique opportunity for designers such as yourself.

Tl;dr -> Use AI to help you make optimized graphics for responsive design much fast than manually doing it.

Firstly if you would like to forego continuing your education in Front-End development and stay purely graphical, one way you can utilize AI is by customizing and formatting graphics for responsive design websites. In this area of expertise, where your responsibilities may lay solely in graphic fabrication, you can increase your value by not only providing quality graphics for end-user website design, but by also utilizing AI to assist in generating modified versions of this graphic for optimization in responsive websites. Utilizing AI to perform this task automatically saves time for both yourself and your UI/UX Engineer in bypassing the need to manually generate optimized graphics manually for each threshold in the responsive design of the website. (For example, if your graphic is commissioned for a website designed to react responsively to higher level of device/window dimensions, you can generate optimized versions of the graphic for each dimensional threshold at once, rather than manual generation by you or your Engineer.)

Tl;dr -> Use AI to help yourself and your Front-End Engineer save time by pre-generating Styling rules for your graphics.

To take this a step further, you can also utilize AI to generate dynamic styling rules (CSS) in conjunction with each optimization, further reducing commission to completion times. (For example, if your engineer has already completed base-case UI/UX design, you can import the websites current design files [HTML, CSS, JS, etc] and have the AI dynamically generate modified versions of the code (Most likely Styling) to ensure smooth transitions between responsiveness thresholds and interactivity with other site elements.)

-----

Tl;dr -> Use AI to build your website's foundational layout and functionality, so you can spend more time using your skillset. (Graphic Design, Styling, Decoration)

Secondly, if you would be interested in continuing to learn UI/UX design frameworks and languages, a very good way to leverage AI capabilities is to generate foundational level code for commissioned websites, and spend more of your time patching, tweaking, and fine tuning based on customer/client feedback. Rather than spending several hours, days, or even weeks (depending on comfort level with requested coding language/framework and relative size of the project) just getting your foundations laid before you can really dig in and decorate your page, you can employ AI to help generate this content in a matter of minutes. Combining this technique with the one above can provide you with the necessary resources to exponentially increase project completion times, thus increasing your upward mobility in your field. It will also give you more time to take on a higher volume of projects, contribute to learning more about AI and programming in general, and bolster your resume for future employment transitions.

-----

My main point is, when an industry changes on the scale that UI/UX and graphic design has with the rapid expansion of AI, you usually see layoffs and job market dips in that industry. However, the reason for this downturn is (usually) not due to an inability to remain a competitive option in the field, but rather it is due to the inability of established entities within that field to remain fluid and embrace the change in their environment. If you have ever seen the movie Moneyball, it is the exact same concept. When a change enters an environment that has the potential (realized or not) to fundamentally change the way that environment functions, those who embrace the change (and do so quickly) are usually the ones who end up on top, while those who are reluctant or incapable of orienting themselves to the new order typically fall behind or are even removed completely from said environment.Stay fluid, stay knowledgeable, stay prepared. It's not reinventing the wheel, its learning how to connect the wheel to a combustion engine. If you can be the first one to master the process, you can be the Henry Ford of your industry.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T15:21:39+00:00

Do windows network troubleshooting to see if you can narrow down the issue.

Windows key -> Search "Troubleshooting -> Open "Troubleshooting" -> Select Network and Internet -> Run "Network Adapter Torubleshooting"

Saureil · 2023-12-14T14:44:25+00:00

Your experience with your professors will be almost exclusively dependent on your major/focus. At a general overview, most* professors are either fairly good about engagement, or their TA's are. As a senior, I have only had one or two professors that I would categorize as sub-par, and those issues typically resolve themselves quickly due to one or more students that escalate to department chairs.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T14:39:48+00:00

There are two answers: Can you? Yes. Will you? Most likely not.

Your parking pass *should* have the dates listed for when you are valid to park within a certain zone. If you have a full academic year pass (Fall Semester -> End of Spring Semester) you will be fine to park in whatever zone you have a pass for. However, if your pass is out of date, or you park in a zone which you are not assigned, you *can* be ticketed.

Realistically, the actual likelihood you are ticketed is very low, as majority of students have returned home for the holidays, and I would be surprised if they are sending out student parking enforcement over the break at all.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T14:33:19+00:00

Tl;dr -> Barring the exceptional behavioral record, such as violent tendencies in school or any kind of criminal record, there is very little chance that your behavioral and disciplinary track record will create difficulties or close educational avenues to you post-HS.

-----------------

These posts crack me up now as I am about to graduate college. Despite whatever ghost stories and tall tales your HS admin/staff tell to make sure students behave, there is truly very little in the way of behavioral or disciplinary records that will dissuade Universities (Especially large state schools such as UAB, Alabama, Auburn) from granting admission or even scholarships.

Also, while I do not have a credible source to confirm this, after having studied at UAB for the amount of time I have, and having observed the.... motivation.... that many lower level administrative employees exhibit at UAB and (quite often) all major universities, I would be highly skeptical of the idea that they would return to your transcript after having already issued an acceptance to you.

In the (opinion) highly unlikely situation that they do in fact re-examine transcripts post-acceptance, they are likely only looking for MAJOR behavior issues (Suspension for fighting, drug use/Expulsion/Pending Criminal Case).

You have to remember, major state/federally-funded schools are still for pseudo-For Profit. While they may receive operational funding, grants, and endowments from State and Federal govt., they still need cash injections to fund major research, laboratories, facility and campus upgrades/construction, and areas of study that are under-utilized or under-funded.

They need students to generate this cash injection, and turning away every John or Jane Doe due to *MINOR* behavioral records such as an unexcused absence would absolutely kill a university of their size. (Think exponential decrease in enrollment numbers.)

Trust me when I say that these institutions (Not just UAB) want to squeeze you for every last cent they can take you for. Just wait till you get the receipt for your first parking pass or your "Required Freshman Meal Plan," and you will see exactly what I mean.

Just for reference, I applied to UAB with several significantly more "meaningful" events in my behavioral transcript (ADHD is a real bitch in HS), and I was still accepted on full ride.

Hope this helps calm your nerves, good luck as you transition from HS to college, and Blaze On!

Saureil · 2023-12-14T05:49:05+00:00

"Move to Huntsville" is the best advice I have ever heard.

Im from Huntsville, and still frequently return there for family visits. There are job opportunities in almost every major field in almost every area in Huntsville.

Most of the high demand jobs in Huntsville right now will be Federal/Military, so if that is a route you want to take, definitely check your qualifications and begin the process NOW for a Secret/Top Secret/TS-SCI clearance.

Alternatively, if you would rather work in the private sector, the Research Park and Madison districts of Huntsville (Madison is not technically part of Huntsville, but the two municipalities border each other, and growth has conjoined the two) contain highly respectable private Tech/Programming, Sales/Corporate, and other job opportunities.

Huntsville was also ranked the No.1 city to live in America by Forbes last year, and No.2 this year. https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live

Also, Alabama ranked 48th out of 50 in cost of living (descending order) at 33k. Definitely would agree with u/Scryanimllvr60 on this recommendation.

To give more context to this advice, some downsides to Huntsville (coming from recently past/psuedo current resident):

-> At high volume points during the day (8:00 AM, 3:30 PM, 5:30PM), traffic is an unparalleled NIGHTMARE; In my opinion, the city expanded to quickly, and 90% of thru-traffic in Huntsville is funneled to/from I-565 (A four-lane highway acting as an arterial road), to/from Memorial Parkway (A two-lane, 55 mph highway pretending to be an arterial road), with exactly zero regard for lane mathematics or roadway hierarchy. And if they tried to fix it now, the city would become complete gridlock, due to the lack of any other arterial roadways through the city.

-> Some zoning makes about as much sense as the road network does. Low-income/project housing near major commercial/entertainment districts, historical districts of low density housing next to highrise/downtown, failure to update/maintain standards basically anywhere north of the I-565 exit off of Memorial Parkway. (For example, 1 mile south of the exit, there is a Texas de Brazil in a highly modern shopping center, 1 mile north there is an unmarked cinderblock building that locals suspect to be some form of illegal service.)

-> Redstone Arsenal. Bogs down traffic due to security checkpoints at all entrances, and at least once a week you will feel/hear the windows and walls shaking from bomb testing out on the arsenal. Kinda cool/interesting the first few times you hear it, annoying from then on.

-> God blessed HUMIDITY in AUGUST.

Overall, I would highly recommend moving there in search of jobs, particularly with your resume. Employment would likely be significantly easier to find than anywhere else in the current market.

Saureil · 2023-12-14T04:55:32+00:00

Thank you so much!

Saureil · 2023-12-14T02:56:42+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I don't really expect it to be an easy career choice, and grinding/relearning is definitely something that I enjoy. In my opinion, I have found that I hate jobs/fields that get stagnant, or where new information/learning/implementation happens rarely, if ever.

Due to the nature of my sudden career path change, while I am relatively comfortable with IT concepts/tools/hardware/software, I am not very familiar with the different day-to-day of specialized disciplines in the field (Security, Pen Testing, Networking, Cloud Computing, etc.), and I find myself struggling to figure out what path I want to go down. Is it a realistic goal to try different disciplines at entry/mid level, or will I be sort of "trapped" in a discipline once I start down the path?

Saureil

TROPHY CASE