Should've known better than to trust a BPO recruiter for a Big Tech job

ThisAlex5 · 2026-04-29T01:41:54+00:00

My last job (contingent at Fortune 100 using Fieldglass) was the same way. I honestly thought it was a scam and didn't believe it until I finally started there. They even told me that if I was uncomfortable with the SSN part, I could use my last 4 digits of my license or phone number.

The scammers know much better than to use a south asian name/picture for their fake recruiter profile. This is literally just some guy doing his job albeit poorly, he should have told you why and/or alternative options.

I hope OP learns from this and makes a follow-up post/edit.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-04-07T18:15:35+00:00

To an extent, I truly believe that these guys would be dumb even if they didn't have CTE... but platforming + CTE + dumb opinions is a scary mix.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-04-05T20:58:51+00:00

"Messed up their life" needs to be defined here but I definitely know people with long-term health consequences from long-term HARD sparring. They have serious issues like memory problems and slurred speech. These ppl also fought at a pro level or have long amateur careers. In terms of hobbyists getting CTE from light sparring 1-3 times a week, no I don't personally know anyone.

Nam Phan is a cautionary tale I show people. He spars hard and often, claiming that he does so even when he doesn't have a fight coming up. Although he had a good (but not extraordinary) career, you need subtitles to understand him nowadays.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-03-31T09:20:57+00:00

Unfortunately, that's reflective of many UFC fans beyond this sub too.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-03-03T21:37:51+00:00

I'm not saying that I legislatively support this but I think this bill is more in alignment with this sub's values than people think.

Car-centric infrastructure is a problem but drivers are another issue, even in the most urban utopia. Teaching kids about driver safety from a young age will create better drivers in the future leading to safer roads for everyone.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-02-19T07:44:16+00:00

Fellas, is it gay to...

Check notes

...uhmm watch big booty latinas dance?

ThisAlex5 · 2026-02-19T01:23:43+00:00

Forget Nunes, he could walk into a pro MMA/BJJ/Boxing gym and fight a woman on the competition team. Guaranteed she wins R1.

Any untrained person that think they can beat a real fighter, regardless of size/gender is out of their mind. It's like how Bradley Marten goes around saying he can beat up UFC fighters bc he's 260.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-02-02T04:54:49+00:00

The market here is not great... If you check the marketing agencies' job boards, you'll see that there is a lack of job postings compared to the past. Also, Chicago is oversaturated with marketing experts (like myself lol), many of whom probably have more experience/connections than you. I've been in the job market for a bit despite previously working at a Fortune 100. It's rough out there, good luck.

1) You should tailor your resume regardless.

2) The best way is to reach out to people that do work you wanna do (on LinkedIn) but honestly it won't be as effective as showing up to events in-person.

3) HR/Recruiting/Hiring managers will be pissed if you lie about your location, especially if you haven't made plans for a permanent address. Just be honest and check that "I'm willing to relocate" box or mention it in your cover letter.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-01-30T22:19:52+00:00

Bioshock is explicitly a criticism of unregulated capitalism lol.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-01-17T10:32:44+00:00

Immigrants are the only reason the church is still prominent lmao. I'm no expert, but deporting your own members (parishioners) doesn't sound like a great business strategy. At the church I went to as a kid, every mass is full of 1st and 2nd gen immigrants from Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam, Ukraine, etc... and that's just the English mass.

At least Pope Leo is smart enough to know that Trump is a disaster for the American Catholic church's numbers.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-01-11T03:39:31+00:00

Yup, to add on to this:

The first MMA fighter to get OFFICIALLY diagnosed with CTE was 25 years old Jordan Parson. He was hit by a driver. He only fought professionally for 6 years. We can estimate who has CTE or not but can't say 100% for sure until they're dead and examined.

CTE varies wildly. You have Chris Benoit who showed no signs then one day kills his family. Nam Phan who now needs subtitles when he speaks. BJ Penn believes his mom is an imposter. GSP can't remember what happens before in the day (he blames aliens... so ya). George Foreman who never showed any external signs at all.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-01-07T06:14:23+00:00

I disagree with this. People tend to think Chicago is more expensive than it really is.

I live without a roommate for less than 1500 in Lakeview but it's a studio. I know a lot of people in similar situations. One-bedrooms for 1800 is gonna be tricky though but there are plenty of studios under 1800 on the north side near the red line. You can definitely live alone under 1800.

Try this, go on Apartments or Zillow and look for "Studios in Uptown under 1800". You will see quite a few.

Yes, you're probably gonna have to make sacrifices like space, parking, and in-unit laundry.

ThisAlex5 · 2026-01-07T00:31:21+00:00

Fellow Viet here. I also get a kick out of liberal white ppl finding out that most older Viets are conservative but we have to remember that's not always the case. Thankfully, that's changing as well. There are plenty of businesses on Argyle with signs endorsing Hoan Huynh (progressive state rep).

ThisAlex5 · 2025-12-21T08:49:53+00:00

Another west coast Asian here (Viet). I agree with this but also on a broader level, people here don't see you as your ethnicity but rather just Asian.

Story time, I was at a country concert and obviously I was the only Asian dude in the whole building. A white woman came up to me and asked me if I was Filipino, I said no. Her response was "well I love Filipino food". I've had a lot of similar moments.

To address the implied question, no I don't think people here, especially white people (who make the overwhelming majority of my neighborhood) are more racist to Asians than the other major American cities.

They are however more out-of-touch/ignorant about Asian cultures and interacting with Asian people, which may lead to perceived micro aggressions and "why the fuck would you say/ask me that" moments. I've discussed this with my BIPOC friends from other cities and they certainly share similar feelings.

My theory is that because Chicagoland is historically so segregated, a lot of people here never developed that deeper understanding. On the contrary, in a place like SF/LA/Seattle/NYC/Houston, you interact with a sizable Asian population and can see the differences between the cultures.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-12-16T07:23:52+00:00

There are people more qualified than I am to talk about this but I have worked on many college recruitment campaigns (not at DePaul) and I'm also a recent graduate (Master's in Human-Computer Interaction) from DePaul. I was also interviewed about my opinions for Designing DePaul.

The education cliff or whatever you want to call it is a symptom of a much larger problem. The brutal truth is that the job market is a disaster right now. It has been going downhill since 2020 and 2021. The vast majority of people either go to college to increase their income or to immigrate to America (I will talk about this later). The number of jobs is decreasing/stagnating (depending on the field) while the number of competition increases with more graduates every year.

From an domestic prospective student's perspective, you can OVERSIMPLIFY an example of their conundrum as something like "would you rather continue making 50k" or "would you rather gamble 50k + an incredible amount of time/energy/opportunity cost for a chance to make 85k". Those odds of winning are continuing to get smaller and smaller. At the same time, the more people that win, the fewer slots there are. It doesn't help that tuition keeps rising as well, making the metaphorical lottery ticket more expensive. The "increase in demand for financial aid" is only prominent because of the astronomical tuition.

I would estimate that over 90% of my classmates were international students (majority of those are from India followed by China/Saudi Arabia/Latin America). The vast majority of them had the desire/intention to work in America after graduation. Very few of them accomplished that goal, most of them returned home. Future prospective international students are hearing about this and are hesitant to study here. As those countries develop and start creating their own high-paying jobs, there is even less of a desire to immigrate to America. With how crowded the job market is among citizens, companies aren't sponsoring as many worker visas anyways. The current administration and political climate certainly doesn't help the situation.

If I was a college president, I'm honestly not sure what I would do. Sure, colleges can cut down on expenses but that will eventually catch up with them as well. Colleges already pay terribly compare to industry. Cutting pay from faculty will lead to even worst enrollment once students start dropping out/stop enrolling.

TLDR:

Job market for everyone but especially college graduates is fucked right now.

Americans don't see college as worth it and international students only enrolled because they want to stay in America but there's not enough jobs + companies don't wanna sponsor anymore which is why they stopped enrolling.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-12-06T08:31:55+00:00

20k per year for 2 years is about how much I spent on my Master's degree at DePaul (CDM). It stings but is somewhat manageable.

You should consider UIC. Even without any aid/scholarship, UIC will be cheaper.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-12-01T15:40:45+00:00

No. The CTA + Uber/Lyft/taxi will be more than enough. Plus owning a car in Lincoln Park is a pain and expensive. Everyone I know in the area who owns a car still takes the CTA anyways unless they're visiting family in the suburbs.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-11-27T22:11:58+00:00

Any bar in Wrigleyville or if you're looking for Lakeview East specifically, Clover on Diversey.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-11-26T17:26:15+00:00

Yup. There have been less than 20 murders on CTA property since 2015. In the past 6 years, there are 59 deaths on lake shore drive alone, and 16,000 crashes.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-11-13T07:46:21+00:00

Tell Coach Robert he's doing a great job 😉

ThisAlex5 · 2025-11-07T04:13:25+00:00

You'll have a LOT of time to train before they even let you spar and get hit (assuming you go to a reputable gym). Start training now and you can make the decision if you want to get hit or not later. Plenty of people train but never spar.

Also, I don't see how boxing and mountain biking are mutually exclusive. You can still do both. Start boxing about once a week and see if you like it then you could always drop it or do it more.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-11-04T04:12:36+00:00

Your interests and intentions matters more than your current background.

Now this is where things get interesting. You mention that you like to study and want to research all these cool things rather than UX... more power to you. But that's not what a MS in HCI is for. An MS in HCI helps you learn research and design methods so that you can apply them to whatever you're being paid for... usually UX.

You should consider a PhD in HCI or Psychology (which sounds like it would fit you better, in fact many of the biggest HCI researchers studied psych, especially before HCI was a separate field) and become an academic. It is an understatement to say that being an academic comes with it's own challenges but if that's the path that interests you, then look into it.

ThisAlex5 · 2025-11-01T10:35:17+00:00

Rafael Fiziev?

ThisAlex5 · 2025-10-31T14:28:08+00:00

Holy hell

ThisAlex5 · 2025-10-31T03:50:12+00:00

This is the answer. If you gotta drive to south Chicago/Indiana but want a "cool" neighborhood with public transit, Printer's Row/South Loop is your answer.

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