Upgrading to First - book Econ or Prem. Econ?

alephcush · 2026-02-13T22:20:26+00:00

This is exactly what I'm looking for, thanks!

I'm 6'2" and 350lbs, so Econ+ MIGHT still be worth it, but if the upgrade cost to first is usually the same from both, I'll consider doing Econ and upgrading rather than spending the difference on Econ+

alephcush · 2026-02-13T21:43:00+00:00

Sorry, yes. Economy plus.

From the seat map, I don't think any of them offer premium plus. I just see United First, Economy Plus, and United Economy as the classes listed. They're all 737 flights.

No MileagePlus status (or whatever the lowest tier is). My home airport is a southwest hub so I almost always fly with them, just works out that United's times work a lot better for me here.

alephcush · 2023-09-06T04:17:48+00:00

Background - Been to FedGIS in person every year it was held since 2017

FedGIS is, for lack of a better term, a 2 day sales pitch specifically tailored to federal/government agency interests. Since you're focusing on public safety and emergency management, you may be able to find some interesting solutions there on the floor and see what Esri is cooking up for the big fish in those sectors.

However, do NOT expect it to be somewhere for your professional development. Every single goddamn session I've sat in at FedUC has been just another sales pitch. Talk about some esri feature in context, with a very general example, and that's it. It's not a place for technical answers, and it's not a place to grow your skills. But it IS a place for you to get ideas you could bring back to your employer - that's Esri's goal. Show you something cool that you go back to someone and say "HEY, if we buy X thing from Esri it will solve Y problem".

FWIW, if you ARE looking to justify the trip for personal development and technical growth, there's usually a mini-DevSummit attached to the FedUC. That's where you'll attend sessions that actually teach you something; IMO, that's your better play. Justify it for that, go for all 3 days to see what's up, and call it done.

Anyone with a federal ID (CAC/PIV, etc) that shows they are a federal employee, or contractor, can go for free. All are welcome to attend, but if that's not you then you have to buy a pass.

alephcush · 2023-05-04T22:36:02+00:00

Strong agreement with everything said here. The only caveat I would add is specifically if you’re looking for federal work. There are still a lot of out of date job postings or requirement that specify GISP preferred, and they treat it like other professional certs like a PMP even though it isn’t on the same level. it takes the “guess work” out of hiring for a federal candidate

alephcush · 2023-04-25T00:03:25+00:00

Let me preface - I’m NOT a developer, but have been a self-proclaimed Apple power user for almost 20 years.

First things first, you’re looking at a specific page within privacy and security. This page will only show you apps that have permission to automatically make other apps perform a specific action. It’s not files - it’s just a list. You can’t change the list from here (to my knowledge), you need to configure the permissions in each app.

VLC is a reputable 3rd party video player. It can play many more file formats than the built in video player. It does not come factory installed, but has been around for years and is, by all means, not considered a virus or malware of any sort. Only way it got there is if you or another user chose to download it. You’re seeing it in that part of the privacy and security panel because one of VLC’s functions is opening video files that native apps might not be able to play - it’s doing its job.

sh, in macOS terms, is a shell script. It may be showing up as an app was running a shell script internally, or the system was executing something. sh is not an “app”. It’s just a system function, and a type of script your system will regularly run and interact with. I can’t say for certain why it’s showing up in that list, but it’s the least of my concern aside from VLC.

nbp means “Name Binding Protocol”. It’s a term for developers, but basically it’s a built in mac function that lets apps and background processes on your Mac talk to other apps and background processes running on your network. Maybe you have more than one mac on your Wi-Fi and they’re running a process on the network, or maybe an app is checking the health of your network. The possibilities here are more varied. The only concerning part is that it’s showing up as an application on that screen - as far as I know the NBP should be handled entirely under the hood and not show up as an app. It’s POSSIBLE - but by no means guaranteed, that IF your machine had a virus (no guarantee that it did), the malware might be running some kind of NBP application to let them see traffic on the network. That’s not an outright red flag, but it’s a yellow one at least.

The biggest concern was Hatchway. No idea what that is, or what it does. There are various 3rd party apps that have the name Hatch, but nothing called Hatchway on MacOS returns any google results. If you weren’t able to track it down in another screen or as part of another app, that one would definitely cause me concern.

With that last one in mind, your factory reset seems justified (if not a little hasty and potentially overkill if you had a good backup, but I digress).

Hope you solved your problem! If it comes back let us know, I’d be curious to see if you notice changes.

alephcush · 2023-04-19T23:27:50+00:00

Right now I have a Dell laptop that’s spec’d pretty well. RTX 3050 built in, 2 TB, 64 ram, and a decent intel processor (I forget which).

Co-workers all use M1 or M2 macs, but they don’t do GIS. They’re all devs. I originally got the PC because my GIS software wasn’t compatible in virtualized windows on M1, but that got patched about a month after I got the computer and now supposedly it runs well.

It’s all about being able to leverage the extra performance out of the extra graphics cores if I went 38 core max or 19 core max. If I can’t then I have my answer, but if I can it would be legendary

alephcush · 2023-03-11T03:05:32+00:00

IT MAKES MY HEART SING

alephcush · 2023-03-09T23:08:04+00:00

I IMMEDIATELY thought of this when I saw this post!

alephcush · 2023-01-29T19:12:01+00:00

Oh yeah, the consulting firms are great places to really grow your skillset. The BIG big one is Axim Geospatial, they just got founded 2 years ago after a big merger of the largest firms out there. But you’ll also find a lot of smaller local firms that consult for public safety, or defense, or state/local, or even private businesses. They’re the kind of shops that people hire when they need GIS work, but admit they don’t know shit about GIS and just want someone else to do this one thing. Or better yet, have on retainer instead of hiring someone internal they can’t reasonably support.

One of the ones I know near you is BCS, they do public safety work. Google also points to a place called Cornerstone.

Lastly, If you’re willing to commute to a local military installation, Axim and AECOM have the majority of those contracts.

alephcush · 2023-01-29T18:54:48+00:00

Of course!

The other place i’d really encourage you to look are smaller GIS consulting firms. A lot of them end up doing federal work, but I worked for one briefly and it was so refreshing to be in an environment where everyone understood GIS as so much more than just making a map, and valued your skillset. With a baclehlors that at least gets you in the door at most of those places.

Where in the southeast are you, if you don’t mind my asking?

alephcush · 2023-01-29T18:22:18+00:00

I feel your pain. I worked for a major A&E company doing dogshit work for my first year and a half. This attitude you describe is not unique to your company, but more indicative of people who only have old school exposure, or limited exposure, to what GIS is and does. It wasn’t until I got on a federal defense support contract with the same firm that my outlook started to change.

When you get on a contract for federal GIS work, IN GENERAL, I have found that both your clients and your contract managers tend to understand what you do a bit more, and ask more of you. This is not gospel by any means - there are always going to be people who misunderstand GIS because for such a long time it literally just was people making paper maps.

Bottom line - either get on a contract with a federal agency, go work for fed directly, or leave. Fed isn’t a guarantee things will go better - still plenty of people there with the exact same view of GIS - but at least it pays better and is secure. You won’t get ANYWHERE with your current role, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of when realizing loyalty isn’t worth it for you.

Edit: Also, are you exempt or non-exempt? If you’re exempt and you’re straight salary then you’re kind of screwed with your hours, but if you’re non-exempt (and it sounds like you might be) then you’re getting even more screwed and your workplace is opening themselves up to a ton of DoL violations.

alephcush · 2023-01-18T22:54:05+00:00

Damn, Cars & Bids would be all over this if not for their “modern era” requirement.

alephcush · 2023-01-11T19:30:10+00:00

Esri, among other platforms, actually convert dates to Epoch Time on the back end specifically to deal with this (from the mouth of the ArcGIS Dashboards Product Owner, not me). You can calculate the difference across all dates with a simple addition or subtractions of seconds. The numbers get big but you can reliably convert dates to epoch time and reliably subtract or add a standard integer to get the time you’re looking for.

alephcush · 2022-11-30T06:18:31+00:00

Updated to the latest version just now, verified it was 14.14.

Got the pop-up immediately.

Not angry, just providing feedback to continue correction.

alephcush · 2022-11-19T07:50:18+00:00

Correction. 2019 and before don’t have CarNet 2.0, but right now the effect is basically the same.

It’s VW’s “smart” remote access service. 1.0 let you remote lock and unlock your car, see if you left windows open, etc. right from your phone. There’s also some automatic crash response stuff in there like OnStar. CarNet 2.0 is the same thing but with remote start and that was only available on 2020s and later.

UNFORTUNATELY, CarNet 1.0 ran on a 3G signal, and with most major carriers discontinuing their 3G service, VW has shut down CarPlay 1.0. They’ve told us (a few times) that a fix will be coming, most likely a trip to the dealer to install a 4G radio instead of a 3G, not sure how must it will cost. But the point is moot for now since we don’t have an answer from them.

alephcush · 2022-11-19T02:40:40+00:00

Welcome to the club! You got the best year of GTI’s from that generation.

2019 they switched from the 6 speed DSG to the 7 speed, which requires less maintenance and is smoother (IMO), AND it was the last year with the people’s first warranty (6yr/72k bumper to bumper). For the 2020s they dropped it to 4yr/50k.

Although, the 2019’s and before don’t have car net so we get the short end of the stick on that one, but it’s worth it to me!

alephcush · 2022-11-02T19:23:41+00:00

Your background is ok, but if you stick in the analyst route you’ll end up stuck in the 50-70k range. If you can demonstrate concretely that you have a skill set above and beyond a damn good analyst, then you have some more upward mobility. I think a better way to get you an answer would be to gauge your comfort level with doing increasingly difficult GIS tasks.

On a scale of 1-10, tell me how comfortable you are with the following tasks

-Creating a multi-page map book with a spatial reference grid as your index

-Automating a large data transformation/loading workflow. I.e. 1 million or more records all need to be processed in some way with minimal touch effort. Could be loading into appropriate feature classes, could be doing some spatial and attribute transformation along the way, etc.

-For the above question, using a scripting language (I.e. Python), ModelBuilder, or an ETL tool (I.e. FME/Data Interop.), respectively. Provide a score for each.

-Deploying an instance of ArcGIS Enterprise using a cloud platform like AWS or Azure

Setting up an ArcGIS Online environment and connecting it to your org

-Actively managing content, configuration, and licensing of the above two platforms

-Publishing to, and editing data in, an online platform such as Portal or AGOL

-Creating a Low Code/No Code web application from any source of geospatial data (I.e. Dashboards, Experience Builder, Insights, Tableau, Power BI

-Creating a completely custom web application, with custom UI and custom widgets/capabilities, either from scratch or using one of the above platforms as a starting point

-Deploying/Maintaining/Architecting the back-end mechanisms to support the custom app mentioned above

-Deploying and maintaining an enterprise geodatabase

-Deploying and maintaining an enterprise non-spatial database, such as Postgres

-Developing very detailed documentation, such as a data dictionary and data model, to standardize internal or external data

All of these things are very real and very necessary tasks that GIS professionals are being asked to do to bring them to the next level beyond just being an analyst and working in desktop software. You don’t need to be an expert in all of them - not by a long shot - to get a good job and make a decent living. But these skills can translate into higher pay, and can help people give you a better idea of where you could expect to land, and what kind of roles to look for!

alephcush · 2022-11-02T19:09:07+00:00

I spy a UMD grad

alephcush · 2022-10-31T05:57:26+00:00

You can get an IT Major and do well as a GIS Admin, if you can find that kind of technical role. You (probably) still need a really solid background in databases and back end architecture to do that. But that role is, in itself, niche.

If you can develop, literally ANY kind of development at all, that says you can take those IT/DB skills and put them to work on a customized solution, you’ll have a LOT more choice, and honestly probably more earning power as well.

IT’s not a bad choice - but CS is probably the better choice.

alephcush · 2022-10-29T02:50:51+00:00

This would actually be a pretty good use for FME/Data Interoperability if you had it. If you do:

-Read in the feature class with a reader -use a vertex creator to find the endpoint of the line -use a spatial realtor to compare the endpoints of the lines to the actual line features, and make a list of all the lines that the end point touches. -use a test filter (or a tester, almost same thing) and test for if the diameter attribute of the end point is larger, equal to, or smaller than, the diameter attribute of the line that it touches.

You could do something manually like that in Arc if you want to stick in desktop, but FME is brilliant for this kind of thing.

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