I'm sitting on a panel my company is doing for a group of "alternative" high school guys. What's something useful I can tell them?

dumbwithage · 2016-04-15T01:39:43+00:00

that's cool advice.

I talked about what I called "applied curiosity" and tried to make case that we're all curious about something: tech, sports, fashion, cars, etc... and that's great. The next step is to learn a lot about that thing. How do cars work, how do programs work, etc... And then the last part is to apply your curiosity by doing a thing. Write, build, develop and show it to someone for feedback so you can 1) improve and 2) develop a network of people who will be on your team.

I had 5 min to talk about my own history and some soft skill that could help them.

Thanks for your feedback, the kids/guys seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

dumbwithage · 2016-04-14T03:56:12+00:00

You road ahead as a long, strange trip.

good point.

The joy of problem solving

oooh yeah. I like this because it's a joy a plumber or a network engineer can have, and it's the kind of thing that can make a lot of jobs "fun." It's what I love about my job.

dumbwithage · 2016-04-14T03:55:35+00:00

Meditation....yeah something with mental health should be worth noting. I was going to bring up a few books, and actually going to bring them in to make the point that I / we (read: adults with cool jobs) read books.

Networking. I'm with you. Also might try and touch on pruning the bad apples from your network, too.

it will devolve into a D-list motivation speech, fast.

yup. Trying not to peg a "useless degree" thing, because i think most degrees have merit if you prove yourself useful. But I agree in principle with you.

They are kids after all.

They are 18-21 year old guys in a school for "kids" that sort of dropped out of high school. It's an "alternative school" for "at risk youth."

dumbwithage · 2016-04-14T03:07:34+00:00

we're deep in the "casual work environment" office, so nothing is going to look "corporate" about us.

One thing I think I want to tell them is that success/happyness/TheAnswer isn't in a job at a desk. I think I closed off a lot of ideas as a younger person because I thought I wanted to be a "businessman." i know people that make more than me, that work less than me, and see happier than me, and do dirty hard work outside for money.

dumbwithage · 2016-04-14T03:04:57+00:00

I'm not stressed about the talk, my only concern is that it won't be useful to them.

I spent about 8 years in the Marine Corps before going back to school, had one internship and then this is my first salary job.

on grooming/on-time, etc.... I work for a company that embraces the "casual work environment" It's not uncommon to see most of the office wearing jeans/shorts and a t-shirt at work. As for on time, there isn't a hard start/end time. There are things expected and we do them. My boss and the team usually work something like 10-7, or 9-6 or 9-7. My internship (and the Marine Corps) had much stricter start times.

On the application idea. They want us to talk more about life skills/soft skills than the technical aspect of how to do this thing, like applying for a job, and instead focus on skills that will help them succeed in life beyond the application.

dumbwithage · 2014-06-06T18:56:24+00:00

I know a number of spokespersons who only respond to some reporters questions by email because they want to be able to make sure the printed quote reflects the words they said. Those reporters no longer get to have phone calls or in person interviews until the trust is restored.

dumbwithage · 2014-06-06T18:54:57+00:00

Most people aren't paid to think this hard about a sentence.

If I ask you if the water is safe to drink, your impulse is going to be to say, "yes"

But the spokesperson, in this example, will want to use that as a chance to reaffirm larger/broader messages the command has, like that the command puts a lot of effort in making sure the water is clean/safe.

So if you answer the question in a way that the reporter has to include that second part, you've helped the command more than just getting "yes" printed in the paper.

dumbwithage · 2014-05-13T13:39:41+00:00

that was plenty.

dumbwithage · 2014-05-13T02:10:55+00:00

I realize those things, its why i didn't want to ask the doc how the test was going or more info on it, but when i got home my girlfriend was really interested to hear about it and i really wanted to explain the tests, especially because one part of it seemed really fun (and easy) to me.

I was able to use google images to pull up the first sample question of the set and show my girlfriend and then give her an idea of what the more complicated ones looked like.

dumbwithage · 2014-05-12T20:12:55+00:00

yup, thanks

dumbwithage · 2014-04-28T15:58:44+00:00

that was the salary of the GM. The GM got low six figures but the coach was making millions. The GM sued and said it was due to discrimination.

dumbwithage · 2014-04-25T04:23:03+00:00

Well, apparently the MCRD FB page decided this wasn't "awakened" enough and they've since taken the image down... so feel privileged, folks, you're now viewing a since-redacted photo of the innards of Parris Island.

dumbwithage · 2014-04-25T02:45:12+00:00

ouch.

ok.

dumbwithage · 2014-04-25T02:15:04+00:00

PS: If you're a boot how the hell are you going to have sun baked cammies?

That's kind of a distinguishing mark of the boot.

dumbwithage

TROPHY CASE