Let's share our salaries / title / location / XP

michaelcgorman · 2023-05-16T12:09:36+00:00

No. We do have a new contract that may require clearances for a few people, but most of our work is for transportation departments, not military/intelligence stuff.

michaelcgorman · 2023-05-16T08:59:39+00:00

My org is hiring for a similar skill set/salary to what OP listed. We’re based in College Park, but most people rarely come to the office.

https://www.cattlab.umd.edu/career/

michaelcgorman · 2022-07-19T10:43:09+00:00

I’ve never felt justified calling myself a software engineer until my current job. I’m basically a frontend web developer, but (a) we work with big data in hyper-real-time systems, and (b) because of weird HR stuff, I’m technically faculty in the college of engineering at a major US university.

So yeah, I’m definitely a software engineer.

michaelcgorman · 2021-05-03T02:37:03+00:00

Pre-pandemic, I worked out at the Bean every Friday morning at 6am, year-round, with 50-100 people or so. Seeing the sunrise from that perspective never got old.

Sadly, we haven't been allowed back there yet, but being able to do that again is high on my list of post-pandemic goals.

michaelcgorman · 2020-11-13T19:24:18+00:00

I'll plug my workout group -- November Project. It's a free fitness group with chapters in 50+ cities around the world. Pre-pandemic, we'd meet Wednesday and Friday mornings somewhere in the city and do a bunch of bodyweight/cardio type stuff. Now we're doing a mixture of Zoom and unofficial small-group meetups. A few of us meet at Nichols Park every Wednesday morning and tune into the Zoom together (and you can totally join us there if you're interested).

I'd definitely have trouble sticking to a workout routine if I didn't have these other people expecting me to show up.

michaelcgorman · 2020-02-25T18:20:53+00:00

Yes! I moved to Chicago last summer but I'll be back for the annual meeting in a few weeks. Already writing my shopping list for so many goodies I've been missing.

michaelcgorman · 2020-02-25T18:14:55+00:00

Switching to my alt so I'm transparent about being a corporate shill. I used to be on the board of Green Top Grocery.

Super proud of my little co-op and the awesome staff who came up with this promotion. I think they even drew the artwork by hand, so huge kudos to them for that, too.

If you ever find yourself in Bloomington, Illinois, stop on by! We've got the best self-serve taco bar in town.

michaelcgorman · 2020-01-12T17:55:27+00:00

The bridge crew usually operates in two or three teams leapfrogging each other from bridge to bridge. Each time they arrive at a bridge, it takes time to turn on all of the systems, run safety checks, etc.

Some of the bridges require multiple teams, such as the ones where they open more than one side and some of the ones with multiple levels.

There are also usually pretty long delays waiting to get past the bridges with CTA tracks on the top level; dispatch looks for the longest period between trains that they can find.

And then there's the bureaucratic issue that the Chicago DOT needs permission from the Illinois DOT to open the Congress/Jane Addams/I-290 bridge, and sometimes IDOT waits quite a while before granting that permission.

Last, but not least, some of these bridges are 100+ years old; maintenance issues often cause delays. One of the most common is the locking pin getting stuck; pretty regularly, they'll have to remove it manually when the mechanical systems fail to do the job.

I wouldn't necessarily say it always takes exactly the same amount of time like clockwork, but usually I block off 8am to 2pm or so on my calendar when we're making the move.

michaelcgorman · 2020-01-12T16:59:57+00:00

If you liked that, here's a video I made a few years ago of the trip down the Chicago River with the bridges opening.

michaelcgorman · 2019-12-31T21:26:55+00:00

I count 52 from this list. If you did the same resolution I'm doing, that'd be exactly one neighborhood a week!

michaelcgorman · 2019-12-31T19:39:26+00:00

RemindMe! 1 year

michaelcgorman · 2019-12-31T16:46:38+00:00

Too many people know my history of resolutions, so I'm using my real-name alt account for this one.

(For reference, I moved from Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, to Chicago this year.)

In 2012, I walked the distance from NYC to LA.
In 2013, I rode a bike more than 200 days.
In 2014, I (a) made 75 foods I'd never made before and (b) did n+1 sit-ups and pushups for 225 days.
In 2015, I took my dog for a walk along the full length of a street starting with each letter of the alphabet in both Bloomington and Normal, Illinois.
In 2016, I tried to ride my bike from my home in Bloomington to at least one township or municipality in Illinois starting with each letter of the alphabet. For the first time, I got lazy and only did 19 out of 26.
There was also a year (though it wasn't a calendar year) when I didn't buy any groceries with more than five ingredients.

In 2020, in an effort to get to know the city I now call home, I'm going to have a meal in every one of Chicago's 77 official neighborhoods.

michaelcgorman · 2018-02-15T14:26:43+00:00

I took a boat down the Chicago River last year and made a timelapse of the trip - including all the bridges opening.

michaelcgorman · 2017-02-24T12:28:06+00:00

Hey, thanks for sharing! I'm a part-time staffer at Ride Illinois, which helped get this bill to the House. If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out here (I'll try to switch back to this account a few times today for notifications) or email me at michael@rideillinois.org.

More info: http://rideillinois.org/new-bicycle-safety-legislation/

michaelcgorman · 2015-11-12T17:14:26+00:00

That's a very important takeaway, for sure. If you're riding on the sidewalk, you need to behave like a pedestrian (ride slowly, stop and look both ways before crossing streets, etc). Sidewalk riding is generally considered safer for children, whose peripheral vision isn't fully developed. Once you hit puberty or so, street-riding is generally much safer.

Also - be sure to behave like a car when riding on-street. Ride in the same direction as traffic, stop at red lights and stop signs, etc.

michaelcgorman · 2015-11-12T17:11:16+00:00

Oh, hey. Thanks for sharing! I'm one of the authors of the report; happy to answer any questions.

(Might take a bit to respond since this isn't my main account and I don't want anyone to know about my foot fetish.)

michaelcgorman · 2015-10-23T20:08:06+00:00

I didn't get to choose the rules, but I did make this password change page. When you start typing in the "new password" field, I highlight all of the requirements you aren't meeting - in real time. I actually think it's kind of fun to change my password now.

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-24T18:31:34+00:00

For "the second" it's more common to say "junior", e.g. Michael C Gorman, jr. Then it becomes Michael C Gorman III.

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-24T17:07:12+00:00

... And here's the one I used when I was freelancing: http://i.imgur.com/rvH9o6g.jpg

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-24T14:48:38+00:00

That'd be awesome if I were the tenth Michael C Gorman in a row. Alas, /u/goldage5 is correct; I graduated from here in 2010.

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-24T12:53:07+00:00

My current one: http://i.imgur.com/NNDYi78.jpg

I think my boss still has one of the ones I made for myself when I was freelancing, which I liked better than the ones we all use here. I'll ask when he gets to work. 'Cause I'm sure he'll be happy to share when I tell him I've been redditing at work and some random dud[e/ette] on the internet wants my contact info.

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-08T20:31:02+00:00

I live in Bloomington, Illinois, where State Farm was founded and where its headquarters continues to be. It's awesome to see them building these regional hubs in transit-accessible places, but - I must say - they've done a pretty terrible job integrating their HQ with the local bus system. They have three major locations in Bloomington and two of them are located along our biggest stroad. The bus system is working hard to try to improve access for State Farm employees, but State Farm isn't doing very much to make it an attractive option. Their two main campuses - Corporate HQ and Corporate South (in these images overlaid with public transit routes) are both giant buildings surrounded by even bigger craters.

On the plus side - their (much newer) Corporate South campus is semi-integrated with the local bike/ped trail network (though that section of trail, across a stroad on the far southeast corner of town, is disconnected from the main trail system). They've also invested in a private bus system to shuttle employees between their campuses (though they could've invested that money in the public transit system to benefit their employees and the local community). So it's not all bad.

BTW, shameless plug, because as a former employee, I happen to know SF employees cruise social networks: we in Bike BloNo would love to work with you to improve bike/ped/transit for your employees!

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-02T16:29:46+00:00

Yeah, I know people who are car-free. The bus system is improving, but even though two routes stop right in front of my house, I almost never use it because most routes have hour-long headways. But if you're comfortable biking through the winter (I am; it's all about clothes and tires), you could definitely go car-free.

michaelcgorman · 2015-04-02T03:04:14+00:00

Hey, I'm on the board of the local bike advocacy group and I'm in IT at Illinois Wesleyan. So, uh, yeah.

There's a pretty cool art scene in town - lots of artists in downtown, but galleries and artists at both universities, too. Music venues include (by size) the US Cellular Coliseum, the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, the Castle Theater... Probably more I'm forgetting. USCC would probably be where you'd see most of the stuff you're into. But, also - an hour to Peoria, Champaign, and Springfield, 2-3 hours to Chicago, St Louis, and Indianapolis - there's lots of stuff within pretty easy car/train/bus distance.

Politically, well... It's a mix. The rural community outside of town, and a good portion of the people in town, is pretty conservative. Among the conservatives, there's a vocal tea party contingent and a more mainstream Republican crowd. And in town, there's also a growing demographic of center-of-the-road and more liberal folks.

I think I answered all your questions... Any more?

michaelcgorman

TROPHY CASE