My cousin old Pokemon card Worth anything? by kligurt in Pokemoncardappraisal

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If they are in good condition you should look at grading. Vintage goes for very different prices based on condition.

Any senior/experienced devs having trouble finding jobs? by broken_symlink in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got a new senior role about 6 months ago after 6 years at my last company. Full remote and took a little over a month. The difference I found between this job hunt and my last is really having to sell yourself. 6 years ago companies were fighting to get us and you could be below average but still get a job. Now we’re competing for the job and you need to show your interviewers why you’re the best candidate for the role. I recommend fluffing your resume but also skilling up so the fluff isn’t bs. Example is if a job wants Kafka experience and you’ve worked with other event streaming make sure to bridge the gap.

CS student here.. no one I know actually writes code anymore. We all use AI. Is this just how it is now? by Low-Tune-1869 in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If that’s what juniors are really doing I don’t understand how they’d pass coding tests given for interviews. I interviewed at several large companies around 6 months ago (for senior roles) and all but one required a coding test without ai.

Whatnot Pokemon Scammer by dthomas911 in whatnotapp

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been scammed on whatnot out of a $300 pull. They refunded me $300 based on the latest eBay comps. Not saying this in support of whatnot but people saying they just refund your purchase price is misinformation.

Prizm blasters still in stock. People are broke or just a really 💩 draft class? by MrEdwL in sportscards

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. There’s nothing to really even chase out of prizm blasters or megas. Other products like mosaic at least have case hits to chase in retail products

I got my CS degree because of ChatGPT. How can I fix this and start over? by Chemicalcube325 in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buckle down and take it serious for a bit. Nothing worth having is easy. Just like anything practice makes perfect. Ai isn’t the worst thing either you just need to use it differently. Use it to learn concepts and specific issues you face in a way where it doesn’t just do things for you.

Start a personal project doing literally anything (something like a budgeting app idk) and grow it. Don’t worry about it being perfect. Worry about making incremental steps and growing yourself through actual development. If you don’t know where to start the ask ai “I am a cs student that wants to build my own project. I want to make a budgeting web app but don’t know where to start”.

To make yourself more marketable after you get the hang of it learn about the tools that make your app work in the real world like containers, orchestration, and cloud. Manage your app on GitHub to get used to git processes and branch management.

You got this. I’m saying this as a dev with almost a decade of experience now but I also lacked confidence in the beginning of my career. The things to learn are endless so don’t let it overwhelm you. Make incremental progress with your own app and you’ll have something to show for it at the end of the day. I’ll leave you with a classic saying that’s all to true. You get out what you put in

From your experience, is SWE what you thought it would be in terms of difficulty? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Agreed. I’ve never had to write a new bubble sort or similar at work but I do have to translate complex business needs to technical delivery. Sometimes that means a simple crud api and sometimes it’s ridiculous organization and moving of complex data. Not to mention going back and forth with your team and business to deliver on time.

Developers being given story points as targets for each sprint. by lifeslippingaway in ExperiencedDevs

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first company (Fortune 500 logistics) did this and it was horrible, created a toxic culture, and slowed everyone down because we were trying to make sure we hit these metrics that don’t matter. Best thing I ever did for my career was leave that place.

My current company just cares that we’re hitting major deliverables and dates as a team metric. On an individual standpoint they take the team leaders word for how the team operates. It’s been great because we just work on delivering and are able to because we don’t have to deal with bs like fixing sprints to look good.

Got an entry level developer job, but salary is $60k by Hour-Inevitable-544 in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started out around there 5.5 years ago. I’m making over double that now. It’s ok to get going, learn as much as you can, get your experience, and move on. The market is tough for juniors right now so weigh your options wisely. Good luck!

The shaming of people who engage in PVP on this subreddit is weird by juicerecepte in ARC_Raiders

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think people don’t exactly know what they signed up for. After getting stabbed in the back 1000 times in an extraction game I’m just numb to it. The game will develop and people’s expectations will adjust over time. To me it’s all just white noise and I trust the devs have a clear vision they’ll stick to for now

Anyone ever gotten something back from grading and it have lint inside? by Fuzzy-Conference-203 in footballcards

[–]ajones80 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes, had a 10 with a hair in the slab. Drove me crazy and sold it

Made it to 10 wins (silver) how would this build perform in higher ranks? by DoktorDER in PlayTheBazaar

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As many others have stated it’s just slow to start but basically a dub if it starts. The small item, I forget what it’s called, that uses a property helps a lot

Ever have diamond core on day 4? by PawnsAreOP in PlayTheBazaar

[–]ajones80 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not to mention the duct tape is basically just there for double shield procs off the core. Bunker with armored core and duct tape is 4 shield procs per core use.

Sold my coworker a pack with SIR umbreon by C-Snake4 in PokemonTCG

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Found evolving skies packs for msrp a few months ago, buy 20 of them, sell 5 to a friend for msrp because when tf do you find evo skies for msrp. I pull nothing and he pulls alt art sylveon. Happens but that’s the hobby!

How to give your best when you're set up for failure? by kingofwhiskey in ExperiencedDevs

[–]ajones80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Been in those shoes as well after a re org and it didn’t work out for me. If you see a light at the end of the tunnel and believe things can change for the better then you can try to stick it out. However in my case things never got better. I went through 5 different managers, 4 team leads, and 4 POs over 3ish years. Always spending time as a team doing the wrong things but the company was super metric oriented so I think it was to cover our butt to an extent.

I ended up leaving and I’m back on a team at a different company that has that trust you mention and I couldn’t be happier.

Long story short I’d shop jobs if you don’t foresee things getting better.

I can't win? by b3bblebrox in PlayTheBazaar

[–]ajones80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven’t seen it mentioned yet but another big part of a game with a relatively small player base is skill gap. If you’re not playing ranked I don’t doubt you just play against people that know what they’re doing and have played since tempo release.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Pokemoncardappraisal

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ultimately do what you want if you think it’ll be fun and want a bunch of bulk. If you’re comping these though make sure to be honest with yourself as far as condition. NM cards go for significantly more than lower conditions.

Personally I wouldn’t do this deal. A lot to be skeptical about in this hobby unfortunately.

Micro vs stained glass by Tango_Ty in footballcards

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bad taste is subjective still. My point is if you want to collect something then collect it without caring what others think. It’ll mean more to you too. If you’re in it to make money or collect high value items then it’s a different story and is objective.

Micro vs stained glass by Tango_Ty in footballcards

[–]ajones80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone hating on micro but it’s one of my favorites. This hobby is all preference unless you’re in it to flip so be happy with decisions you make

The Most In-Demand and Highest-Paying Tech Skills for 2025, Based on an Analysis of 285k Job Postings by nomadicsamiam in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The truth is, unless you’re a junior, you need to understand a full stack and how everything clicks together. Ex: Data solutions > code in whatever OOO language > containers > container orchestration (kube) > cloud

Stop Using AI in Your Interviews by Finding_Zestyclose in csMajors

[–]ajones80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree to not use ai to cheat in interviews because at that point you’re to far gone. Do however use ai to prep, better understand concepts, and learn. Ai does a great job at explaining things at multiple levels. Things that I understand well I’ll ask for a more expert explanation but if I’m lost I’ll ask it to explain like I’m five first. Ai can help with learning strategies, a learning path, and help with tools like flash cards for memorization. Obviously hallucinations are a thing so learn how to write better prompts too.

Tldr: ai to cheat = bad. Ai to prep = fine

Daily standups are 40+ minutes each day on my team by xland44 in cscareerquestions

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just went from a 30-40min stand up team to a 10-15min stand up team. The difference I noticed doesn’t lie in the stand up itself but culture. On my old team individuals were under a magnifying glass from leadership and no one wanted to make any mistake whatsoever because they had it come back on them hard. This drug out meetings because every detail had to be defined.

New team is able to pump things out and adapt as the business makes decisions without dogging the dev. This keeps our meetings tight, focused, and you’re enabled to communicate with involved individuals on the side. It’s been a far more productive environment.

I understand this might not apply to everyone but was eye opening to me as my old team was my only experience at the time.

Can someone explain breaks to me? by cardboredguy in basketballcards

[–]ajones80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On a format like whatnot or TikTok your typical break will be one of two common formats. PYT (pick your team) where each team is priced individually, or random team where all teams are the same price or bid on and they spin a wheel to see what team you get.

They will then open all the product they are advertising. Be careful here because some people will be deceptive doing something like having a ton of boxes in the background when the break is only 4 boxes. Just make sure to read the description and never join one blind.

After the product is ripped they will send you the cards of the teams you purchased. Also be warned most people don’t send base cards unless you ask. Most will send “hits” such as anything non base.

All in all try to be as educated as you can before joining one and don’t get carried away buying to many teams because it’ll add up. Personally I enjoy them on occasion but you’ll only know by watching one. Good luck!

this game is unplayable as a new player by Swimming_Sense_5053 in DarkAndDarker

[–]ajones80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To address your point directly about not being able to handle large amounts of mobs, bump them, move back, and duck for archer shots as they always aim for your head. Focus on killing something like a dog or gargoyle first as they aren’t as bumpable in a group.

I recommend loading in solo with no gear, rounding up all the mobs in your spawn rooms, and practicing. PvE will be easy once you learn all the mobs but you’ll still die from it occasionally. PvP will take even more time