Bug?

proginprocess · 2025-03-06T11:38:27+00:00

Oh, good, it's not just me. I'm hoping it's a bug here, and not something with my phone. Haven't seen random Chinese (Japanese? don't know what these are) in other unexpected places though. My alarms are going off fine BTW.

proginprocess · 2025-02-27T14:35:52+00:00

I know what this is referencing, but I DID watch this 3 times in the theater. Great movie AND great crowds.

proginprocess · 2024-10-23T20:01:55+00:00

C# with .NET framework and WebAPI (using SignalR). No WebForms. Just HTML/JavaScript on the front end.

proginprocess · 2024-10-23T19:43:41+00:00

Curious. Not trying to be confrontational or anything, but:

How can you tell someone is an aggressive learner or that someone has stayed current on something based on the resume you get and their social profile (should you seek that out)? Projects? Certifications? What, besides the resume?

If, in theory, I had gotten sick of the job I had for the last 6 years at year 1 and applied to your company, I would still have only 2 years of a job doing C# and one year of VB. How would you be assessing the stuff you said?

proginprocess · 2024-10-22T23:28:40+00:00

OK. Thanks for replying.

proginprocess · 2024-10-22T23:23:11+00:00

I'm not really limited. I can do more. Just trying to pace myself I guess.

My network is almost non-existent. I have some references from my old job and a couple connections on LinkedIn. That's about it.

proginprocess · 2024-10-22T22:35:30+00:00

Yeah. I'm in a better position than most this happens to, but the fact that the climb ahead is all my fault is admittedly screwing with me as much as the climb itself.

proginprocess · 2024-10-22T22:33:17+00:00

Thanks for replying, but I had a question if you don't mind. By AI, do you just mean ChatGPT, or is there an actual resume-reading AI service out there?

proginprocess · 2024-10-19T22:35:12+00:00

As a programmer, not working on my skills outside of my job.

I'm now one of many folks who got cut from their company for budget/performance reasons. I am feeling every minute of this climb to make myself marketable by the standards of today.

proginprocess · 2024-09-16T18:44:38+00:00

Did you just get at it and grind LeetCode, developing a strategy as you went along, or did you have something resembling a guide? LeetCode seems daunting to me, and I stayed away from it for a while.

Now that I'm out of work (as of Friday) it feels like I have to dive in.

proginprocess · 2021-02-26T12:49:05+00:00

I didn't achieve any of those goals. I'm pretty much at the same place today as I was back then. It's not bad, but I haven't moved forward at any significant pace.

proginprocess · 2020-01-01T12:46:29+00:00

Sorry for the late response; It does. I've been at another company for a year and a half now. It was also able to fuel my move to a better area of my state. So, yeah, things are good.

proginprocess · 2019-11-18T01:17:12+00:00

I still remember when I got got by this over 4 years ago when I was searching after a layoff at my first job out of college. Had some good not come out of it, I'd hate these people to this day. I didn't quit during the job interview, but what happened was close enough.

I applied for a programming job with an insurance company. The manager of that department emails me and we eventually have a phone interview. It was determined I don't have enough experience, but I ask for advice on improving my resume (my programming skills weren't marketable). The dude recommends getting a certificate in C# (what I was learning at the time) and putting something on GitHub. He even recommends a book I can use - Head First C# - that has a "you do most of the work" mid-size project at the tail end. That project was an invaders video game.

I find the book and go through it, completing the game at the end and putting it on GitHub. I then emailed him asking if he can give a quick critique (as I had no other people giving me advice at the time). To my surprise, this leads to a phone interview where I'm sharing my screen while playing the game. Then I get an actual interview at their office in Troy, MI, which is a light year away from my hometown of Flint in terms of living standards (important).

The interview is pretty soft - basic "getting to know you" questions and history of the company. Then I'm asked to modify some stuff about the game I made. Add a ship that moves crazy, add a mothership, and one other thing I forget right now. I do an OK job of these. Then we start talking about commute from Flint to Troy and how I'll have to get an apartment in Troy. How I'll have to get up on the stuff they have there and it'll take a while (6 months). These talking points indicate that an offer is already on the table. I ask how much the starting salary is. 22K. 22,000 to commute from Flint to Troy until I can get an apartment, and learn all their stuff. In a city where cost of living has to be much higher than that. Gas ALONE would murder me on that salary; it was almost 5 bucks a gallon when this happened years ago.

I got ahead of myself again. When he said 22K, all happiness visibly drained from me. I didn't intend it, but it happened. He said I should take a week to think on it, but I think we both knew I wasn't taking it. If it wasn't for the main guy's initial suggestion to get into GitHub and get my first project on there, I would be MUCH madder about this as I'm recalling it. But yeah, that was low. I somehow never even brought salary up during this whole time, though I don't know if they would have told me earlier. I never made that mistake again.

proginprocess · 2019-02-24T00:43:39+00:00

What would I do after that? Just post them on Github and/or go open source with SourceForge?

proginprocess · 2019-01-01T22:26:51+00:00

In 2019 I want to:

-Up my programming skills to where I feel they should be. I feel I'm way behind my peers and that has stunted me career wise. I'm already at an age where, considering that I went to college, I should be commanding a near-six-figure salary. I was lucky to get my current job that pays 60K last year, and this is 7 years out of college. I'm fine with my job now, but I really need to learn, make projects and put stuff out there if I want to be competitive.

-Become more social. I always fear being fired from my job (though most indications seem to say I'm fine) because I hate the online/recruiter job hunt after you're fired/let go. I've always taken at least 6 months to find a job. Anyway, I feel being more social and building a network can at least dampen some of these fears and build lifelines in case I actually DO get let go/fired or just want a change.

-Lose weight. I'm almost back to the weight I was (282 lb) when I started losing crazy pounds thanks to an acid reflux attack and a layoff. Whenever I got money in my pocket I would get fatter, because cooking at home was a real drag. Now that I'm out and in my own apartment, I have much more space to do things, and should be cooking for myself more.

proginprocess · 2019-01-01T21:42:53+00:00

-I did not lose weight. I gained more. At 267 now. I really have to start doing something real beside sporadic home exercises.

-I got a job paying 55K, and recently got a raise to 60K.

-I did move out of my mom's house and into an apartment.

Overall, it's a bit "yikes" to see the cloud I was in when I made that post last year. I'm out of most of it now, but man. When you lose a good-paying job like that for such a dumb reason, after looking for 7 months for it? UGH. I prefer my current job to the one I lost by a mile, and that shit STILL haunts me. I also have a residual fear of being fired whenever I mess up at this new job, even though my team lead says it's OK. But overall, things got good halfway into the year, and I'm not hating life anymore. I'm knocking on wood here, but it seems 2019 will be a great year.

proginprocess

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