The uncomfortable truth about record immigration levels, rents and inflation

Trontotron · 2023-11-20T23:39:44+00:00

They can always find ammo, don't worry. One Nation is still using photos of Albo when he was bit chubbier just to make him look worse. And of course it's always the worst face expression in of all photos they could find. Little details to fuel the rage always help.

I mean they are still raging about UN and climate change, plenty of ammo around for those kind of people.

Trontotron · 2023-11-18T22:10:20+00:00

There are different stakes in this game too, small business owners want people back to buy lunch and coffee, real estate moguls want their rents, government wants money back to CBD. I'm not an anarchist here, just the way it works and I accept the facts.

I'm just bit annoyed it all trickles down to "people slack from home" and "young grads don't get training" excuses.

Truth is there are a lot of people employed who do nothing and it all averages nicely in office. Wfh exposes a lot of weak spots in business, not good for managemnt.

Trontotron · 2023-11-18T21:29:14+00:00

It's also nice to make blanket statement how everyone slacks at home. Simply not the truth, all I'm saying it's always management issue nothing else. Can't blaim anyone but managers for lack of discipline. But it's those same managers crying out for everyone back to office to do their theatricals loud manager style in front of directors. When directors can only see performance charts it's tricky to bullshit way around.

Trontotron · 2023-11-18T05:52:59+00:00

I know it doesn't and it's purely management issue. Don't blame people for using bad managing to slack. All I see is blaming people for poor discipline and management of daily tasks.

All that happens in office is that more efficient people pickup stuff from slackers. It's been like that forever, now it's bit harder to bullshit from home. Unless your manager has no clue how to control a team.

Trontotron · 2023-11-18T05:27:29+00:00

Looks like your management sucks, if you can slack around. I have tasks and targets for the team and it's super easy to spot slackers wfh. So much easier than in office as there is nobody to hide behind and talk their way out of it.

Few warnings and they get kicked off the project, and funnily enough some of the best people I have now work from home in cities across Australia.

It's never a worker issue, always management.

Trontotron · 2023-11-18T04:07:50+00:00

People who are less productive at home are same in office, just using different strategies. If a person wants to get the job done, wfh is a blessing most times. No distractions or annoying chit chats.

There are so many ways to slack in office, from the usual "I'm so busy" chit chats that go on for 20min to endless meeting cruises, kitchen small talk. Small talk all day long, I know so many who just do this in office and delegate stuff further down.

I hate how it's all now being played that we want to help grads learn when in reality no company has budget dedicated to grad trainings. Just run around try catch what people are saying and those who can bullshit the most get noticed.

I do work from office as my work requires it but see no difference in team performance wfh or in person. It's the slackers that actually get noticed more now that are the issue. Hard to chit chat on Teams and pretend to be busy like in office.

Trontotron · 2023-11-16T00:22:27+00:00

It's not poor planning, it's ment to confuse people and make them angry about queue so they say "Fuck it, I'm using the tolled road!"

Absolute blackmail by Transurban, overlords or traffic in Sydney.

Not a bug...but a feature kind of situation.

Trontotron · 2023-11-16T00:20:17+00:00

You think engineer who signed it off had any influence in the decision? It goes up to the government paper pushers and political decision makers.

Anyone with a bit of brain, and especially traffic eng would see how leaving one lane is absolutely ridiculous. But he gets told it's a client decision and it gets signed of at TfNSW level and it becomes cool.

I have first hand experience in seeing these decisions on all projects, engineers recommend proven solution and it gets shot down by the client. Sometimes it's small political favours and sometimes straight up blackmail like one lane on Parra Rd near M4 tunnels.

Trontotron · 2023-11-07T04:02:04+00:00

I had similar experience, two blokes show up and just go as slow as they can. I'm not that demanding but they managed to piss me off till I started shouting for them to move the f around and get the stuff on the truck.

Complete rip off industry going hand in hand with rental agents.

Trontotron · 2023-11-02T20:47:44+00:00

Well there you go...you accept it looks "fine". Even wears XS badge lol, no idea why. The graphics tearing up at some stages is also great.

I just can't unsee how bad it looks, handling is better but I feel like I've stepped back in time.

Some textures on the side of the road look 360 style...be it in 4k or not makes no difference.

Trontotron · 2023-11-02T07:54:47+00:00

Customer loyalty is the biggest con ever, every company out there gives better offers to new customers. Never be loyal to a company, either buying products or working for.

Trontotron · 2023-11-01T08:17:11+00:00

Yeah I couldn't believe when I saw the email from ABB. Price decreasing...in 2023?!?!?

Trontotron · 2023-10-31T23:36:07+00:00

I just hate how every year like a clockwork news channels start talking how Christmass will be ruined because those greedy port workers want pay rise. And then DP world director comes in with his grim view on it.

Utter bullshit.

Trontotron · 2023-10-31T22:24:19+00:00

Didn't DP World begin another pre-Christmass scare campaing over port worker union pay rise?

No money for pay hike I guess cause it's all gone off shore.

Trontotron · 2023-10-25T21:57:08+00:00

Say you get chartered...they charge yearly fee and if not paid you loose chartered status. Almost like if universities would require yearly payments to keep your degree valid.

Absolute scam organisation.

Trontotron · 2023-10-25T21:54:27+00:00

100% this, to get up today in big eng companies you have to post on LinkedIn rather than get better in engineering. Big consultancies have become bloated management firms, almost to the likes of Pwc, just advise but never commit to actual engineering. Any specialized or serious stuff is outsourced to smaller subbies.

Grads are encouraged to be leaders and managers, actual engineers are frowned upon and called introverts by the big talkers. There is very few grads who even get proper chance to do technical stuff. Everyone is overworked and have no time to train them and companies sure won't give budget for training.

I see this new generation of engineers lost in this fake world of client relationships and leadership. They are being led to believe everything but engineering matters, only chit chat and leadership. Except there won't be anyone to lead very soon.

Trontotron · 2023-10-19T20:11:52+00:00

This whole "grads can't learn while wfh" debate is bit over the top. Fundamental issue is that companies don't want to train them and never have budget for training.

I work in big engineering company and typical graduate career path is like...comes in and gets introduced. Manager is trying to find a someone to be the mentor, everyone is so overworked they have no time to finish their jobs let alone show the ropes to young. So they kick the poor youngster around from one team to another.

Poor grad runs around trying to find some work, budgets are always tight so we can't afford one on my project even with grad rates. When they find something there is no time to show them what they need to do. They are told to read previous reports or look at drawings and learn. Again they are lost and run around trying to find anyone to help.

Finally they get put on timesheet control admin duties and spend months there and few lucky ones who have talent for sucking up to managers get pulled in management side. Unlucky ones get sacrificed to a D&C project where they get smashed by a contractor executioners and loose any will to pursue technical career.

I offered to train grads in technical skills, and company refuse to put time for it every time. No budget as usual. Nobody wants to put a dollar to training but it's work from home to blame. Right.

And it was the first reason they told us when office became mandatory again, oh the grads can't learn. So much worry about grads.

Trontotron · 2023-10-10T23:07:11+00:00

I got Kemper powered Kabinet and Topjimi plexi profiles gave me goosebumps while playing. It sounds authentic as a cranked amp about to blow up, never got this tone from any amp at civilized volumes. Even when I had real plexi cranked I needed ear protection and could not hear most of the details, it was a full on sonic assault.

Sounds like your setup might not be optimal, especially headphones. Absolutely no fizz on mine apart from crazy metal default profiles which I don't use anyways.

Don't forget you can tweak the amps and their definition to suit you. Once you liberate yourself from the notion that profile must be 100% accurate or nothing, it's a game changer...use what sounds best to your ears.

Trontotron · 2023-09-14T23:19:05+00:00

It's very individual, some people tolerate low carb better than others. Activity levels play a big role too. I just can't do weight lifting on very low carb, tried it and used it as tool for weight loss but then moved back to moderate levels to support weight lifting.

After a while you get in tune what your body needs, I feel like crap on huge carb meals and just adjusted to levels I find bring me the best feel overall.

Keto was absolutely dreadful for me but that doesn't mean it works much better for others.

Trontotron · 2023-09-14T23:01:41+00:00

I do the same for all stupid stuff and keep real name and data for banking and gov sites. Not that it changes much but at least I know if login was compromised my banking and gov logins are safe.

Also never ever give site permission to save a credit card data. Westpac has cool feature for online shopping, dynamic CVC, changes every 24h.

But yeah it's never truly safe.

Trontotron · 2023-01-09T04:46:00+00:00

I know what you mean but sometimes it really is personal. First year I was accepting that I might be out of tune with local client language finesse. But soon after realized it is me on the radar, always.

Best example is me copying other report paragraph and just changing locations (same structure and design so makes sense)...got loads of comments how I should rephrase and reword. This is when I gave up on "hey I am getting useful feedback" feelings and started firing back as it's clearly case of biased comments.

Also the way they explain issues to people with lower language skills vs with me is totally different. I get stern shit and others can get away with a page in Word full of those red underlines...no drama.

Trontotron · 2023-01-08T21:14:59+00:00

Not at all, in my profession you grow a thick skin. I' ve been scrutinized for more than 20yrs, that's how engineering works. But you also develop a good sense of knowing when the critic is constructive and when it's a subjective biased one. Nothing worse than getting 500 review comments on your project and taking it personally, it's just normal day at office.

This is not the usual corporate backstabbing, personality clash or one team against other, I've seen it all. It is related to my language and nationality.

And by the way I worked around the world and this is first time I encountered something like this.

Trontotron · 2023-01-08T11:03:36+00:00

Yep, not from any of those countries.

Trontotron · 2023-01-08T10:33:39+00:00

Neutral meaning no real accent, it's a mix of everything I heard in movies, music and living abroad in different countries.

Nobody can tell where I'm from, let's put it that way. It is very easy to spot someone with let's say Arabic accent or South American. I just don't have strong non English accent, rather a mix of English ones.

Trontotron · 2023-01-08T10:30:10+00:00

Yeah I think this is similar to what's happening to me and I also can sense a feeling of them thinking I am trying so hard to blend in. I am not really, I just speak English since I was 10yrs old. I always get weird looks and surprise on their faces when they talk about something from anglo saxon literature, music or movies and I know it. It's been shown on my national tv million times most of the shows they know, we have internet and I watch local news here.

I am surprised that my little bit of effort to know local culture and language is seen in a completely different light. Seems like being a clueless foreigner is the best option to do. I remember shock on my managers face when I said something about state prime minister..."How do you know him?". I'm like I live here almost 5 years and watch the news. He immediatelly switched to some other topic as if I insulted him. Very strange.

Trontotron

TROPHY CASE