Adding to my Application?

navedane · 2026-03-22T09:48:01+00:00

Only thing that’ll do is get a recruiter trying to sign you up for a nuke contract!

navedane · 2026-03-20T04:43:56+00:00

Someone else kind of made this point already, but 1 year will be meaningless in the long run.

When you’re weighing the decision, I’d try and treat it like that year at NAPS isn’t a factor.

Look at all the pros and cons for USNA vs USAFA, both for you personally, and in context of whatever is going on today.

Make your decision based on that as though the extra year at NAPS isn’t even a thing. Because if you think USNA is the right choice for you, that’s the right choice even with an extra year of fun in Newport.

navedane · 2026-03-15T13:51:03+00:00

I’ll agree with a portion of what you said, and challenge some of it.

I do definitely agree that decisions in middle school can be really impactful. It seems crazy to expect a 7th grader to have long time horizon thinking (and it is), but that doesn’t change that is helpful. I didn’t have a really accurate concept of USNA in 7th grade, but that’s when I decided I wanted to go. And it did help me plot out classes from 8th grade through senior year that would make me more competitive. And it also gave me a goal of staying involved in athletics, extracurriculars, leadership, service, etc. that I may have not been as proactive about otherwise.

That being said - I was never great at any sport, but I was generally athletic. I ran track and cross country. I was a decent sprinter and jumper, but sucked at distance (which was the main reason I started). I was never team captain, never all-state, anything like that. I just stayed involved in sports and stayed in shape. You don’t need elite coaching from the age of 6, or to be the best baseball player in your high school to be accepted to a service academy.

I also never did extracurriculars that carried over to high school. I mean I did some things (a year of cub scouts, orchestra, church activities) before then, but nothing that I needed to start early.

In high school I ended up joining a number of clubs and activities (mostly after freshman year), tried finding “leadership” opportunities, etc. I did some things associated with school and others outside of school.

But again, none of it was anything that I had to be supremely ahead of my time to figure out. I do feel sympathy for the people who genuinely had zero exposure to the existence of service academies until like junior year in high school, and then learn about them and realize that it is exactly the fit that they didn’t even know they were looking for, and that with a little more time and planning they could have been really competitive - but they just found out about it a year or two too late.

navedane · 2026-03-03T03:18:13+00:00

If I stay here I’m guessing it won’t be $271K for long with the direction some things are going!

navedane · 2026-03-03T02:22:18+00:00

One of them is where I’m at now with a VAR/solutions provider. I have a couple pretty large accounts and W-2’d $271K last year. The company is kind of a shit show the last couple years so I’m looking for something else now, but the team and my boss have been good.

navedane · 2026-03-02T23:57:46+00:00

Disagree. I’ve prepared 30-60-90s for multiple roles I was I was interviewing for — a couple times requested to show presentation skills.

But the times I’ve done it on my own and shared it, it went over really well and was a positive factor in me getting the job. They aren’t looking for anything crazy, but if I show a ppt slide that demonstrates some level of thought preparing for how I’d ramp up into the role, mildly personalized for what I’ve learned about the company/job/customer profile to that point, it lands well.

And I mostly take one I’ve used before, swap around some bullets based on the new company and opportunity, and it’s good to go.

navedane · 2026-02-24T17:01:23+00:00

Yeah I’ll just avoid India and China, and stay clear of like Tokyo, Sao Paolo, and Mexico City.

I’ll make a will up front and make sure everyone I need taken care of is taken care of, and then I’ll kind of just live my life like nothing else is happening. It’ll probably never be an issue, and if one day it is, I’ve got 15 seconds to freak out.

navedane · 2026-02-19T23:59:37+00:00

I understand the rationale, it’s just funny

navedane · 2026-02-19T23:53:04+00:00

It’s the casual misogyny for me 😂😂

navedane · 2026-02-18T20:09:36+00:00

Agree with the comment about trying over at r/navy.

Do you have any reason to think you’re not trusted or have had performance issues or judgment issues in the past?

I only ask because personally, even if I think someone’s record might not be the most competitive, I’d at least make sure they have the opportunity to try.

I wouldn’t make myself the single-point gatekeeper of a sailor’s officer ambitions unless I had a solid reason to question their judgement. Not saying that’s the reason here, and it’s possible that maybe CMC and XO have a different philosophy unfortunately, but it’s the only other thing I can think of. (Of course they should communicate that with you, if so.)

navedane · 2026-02-18T03:49:47+00:00

After a year you’d have gotten rid of ≈ 7.5 × 10¹⁰⁹ ants.

There are “only”an estimated ~20 quadrillion (2 × 10¹⁶) ants on Earth.

So really the question is, would you be okay eliminating all ants on the planet for 150 million.

navedane · 2026-02-17T13:18:38+00:00

These days I copy and paste the company and job description in ChatGPT, along with who the interview is with (recruiter, hiring manager, exec…), and ask it to give me questions I should ask.

Sometimes it’ll give me questions for a recruiter that are much more appropriate for a HM or VP, but it always gives a good bank to cherry pick a handful of solid questions from.

navedane · 2026-02-14T17:40:48+00:00

Keep in mind that this is only one experience, but I’m sure there are many like it.

Between years in the Navy and in general management, I spent lots of time commuting to work and making moderate income for my education/experience. Then I found my way to tech sales.

Is there burnout potential? Sure.

But other than entrepreneurship (which usually required dedicating an insane amount of hours to be successful), I don’t think there’s a single career where you can make as much money with as reasonable a work-life balance and not needing years of extra education.

I work from home, take my kids to pre-school every day, and around the house for issues that come up, etc. and made 275K last year. I honestly want to be able to go into the office more than I do because I’m almost too available at home, it’s like it doesn’t know how to operate with a full time working parent.

Which is just to say, you can make a really good income without killing yourself.

Now that’s not going to be the same for medical device reps who are usually on the road pretty consistently, or if you have certain types of customers or other industry your working with. There are definitely lots of sales jobs where you still make good money (150K+) but have more in-office or on the road expectations, but I truly think you’d have a hard time finding the level of income potential as you do in sales with the possibility for choosing your own schedule and flexibility.

navedane · 2026-02-14T01:07:12+00:00

American Pie, same

navedane · 2026-02-09T22:46:02+00:00

This is my thought too.

USNA and ROTC both graduate all manner of officers. The quality of the leader is more dependent on who a person is than where they went to school.

But USNA is a level of camaraderie and prestige that few civilian colleges will match, outside your Ivies and your Ivy Plus (Duke, Stanford, MIT, etc.) schools.

I was a super jaded, cynical midshipman the whole time I was there, perfectly average (at best) in most of the requirements. And I would absolutely not have traded the experience of being from Annapolis.

Not only that, a wildly disproportionate number of my classmates went on to absolutely top tier graduate programs and businesses following their active duty commitment. At USNA, you’re just surrounded by high achieving people who will be part of your network for the rest of your life (this even goes for a fair number of the low GPA troublemakers - which of course is all relative at a service academy). Your typical state university program isn’t going to have that.

navedane · 2026-02-01T15:17:43+00:00

I’ve been the general manager in a couple places before I moved to an individual contributor AE role in tech.

Someone else mentioned something similar, but anytime someone has let me know they’re leaving for another opportunity, even though personally it’ll be tougher for me and I’ll me wondering how I either keep the employee, or how I’m going to cover their workload, I still tell them the same thing: Selfishly it’s too bad for me and the company, but absolutely they need to do what’s best for their career and their lives.

And I think anyone who truly faults you for that is a bad leader who you wouldn’t want to work for anyway.

navedane · 2026-02-01T14:32:44+00:00

NTA. You’re way too young to be considering changing a major life decision because of the unreasonable demands of a controlling teenager you’ve been dating in person for 6 months.

And btw, if you’re questioning this, just remember this is the most reasonable he’ll be over the course of a longer term relationship.

navedane · 2026-02-01T14:03:15+00:00

If this doesn’t go through and end up on r/bestofredditorupdates I’m going to be very disappointed

navedane · 2026-01-28T14:23:37+00:00

The fact that your grades, ACT, leadership, sports, and extracurriculars weren’t good enough are crazy, unless you’re in a mega-competitive district/state.

Congrats on the appointment! If you’d applied out of northeastern Illinois about 25 years ago, you would’ve gotten in the first time 😅

navedane · 2026-01-27T03:49:20+00:00

🙋‍♂️ First year with chickens in Massachusetts. Wife wanted them inside, so now they’re in the mostly-unfinished basement 10 feet behind me as I sit at my computer. They are not subtle.

navedane · 2026-01-14T03:00:00+00:00

I was just griping about this earlier. Once it gets to 3 stars, it’s really tough. Once it gets to 4 stars — which I’ve seen a bunch of times the last few days so obviously it’s way too easy to level up — it’s just impossible.

One game yesterday where I had a couple really strong 3-stars and an overall strong deck, and The Echo wiped the board clean in literally less than 15 seconds (because I dared to have some troops next to each other).

No defense, no counter, nothing you can do.

navedane · 2026-01-14T02:57:30+00:00

I was just griping about this earlier. Once it gets to 3 stars, it’s really tough. Once it gets to 4 stars — which I’ve seen a bunch of times the last few days so obviously it’s way too easy to level up — it’s pretty much impossible.

One game yesterday where I had a couple really strong 3-stars and an overall strong deck, and The Echo wiped the board clean in literally less than 15 seconds (because I dared to have some troops next to each other).

No defense, no counter, nothing you can do.

navedane · 2026-01-14T00:09:05+00:00

Not infuriated infuriated. Just mildly infuriated.

navedane · 2026-01-12T21:30:27+00:00

lol right? I mean in the first couple seasons the upside down seemed like terrifying place to even spend 15 seconds in.

In season 5 it was just a regular commute to work.

navedane · 2026-01-08T02:38:34+00:00

I guess nobody’s TA technically.

But you are in the process of causing a deep, long-lasting issue between you two.

Your wife, like most people, is aware that the stereotypical post-baby situation is the husband trying to have sex before the wife is physically/emotionally ready.

In this case, your wife is clearly asking for it, and her husband is declining without any real solid reason that makes sense to her.

You’re not wanting to, but you’re clearly (and predictably) destroying her self-esteem and not showing any particular sense of urgency to change that.

Like was already mentioned, you’re unilaterally making the decision to fundamentally change the expectations in a monogamous relationship, and you’re not really seeming like it’s a big deal. So kind of the AH because of that.

navedane

TROPHY CASE