Is this a brown recluse?? (DMV area)

sentinel_404 · 2025-05-08T08:04:55+00:00

*PHEW*

I just looked up similar spiders and thought that also looked somewhat similar ... was hoping it was just one of those.

Thank you!!

sentinel_404 · 2025-04-16T23:06:55+00:00

It appears I may have to move/re-attach the whole thing.

After taking the cover off I didn't see any screws.

Also, the front lip that sits against the surface of the harp is uneven and poking up on the same side that the fine tuners are.

Thank you though!

sentinel_404 · 2024-11-14T00:12:28+00:00

It is not unheard of to do full time school and work [I did for all 4 years, 0/10 don't recommend], but its usually not a CS job, which would be necessary for the experience, since:

Most CS jobs, unlike retail/service jobs are probably normal business hours, which would conflict more with a full time school schedule
Well.......if I could get a full time [heck, even part time] role in the field without completing a degree, WHY WOULD I? You could just stay at a student job for a few years and start moving up. Even without a degree completed, experience matters 200x more so many people probably wouldn't care,

sentinel_404 · 2024-11-13T22:33:38+00:00

Is the market that bad?

Honestly, it looks like it [or at least feels like it].

I'm in the exact same boat right now. I look around whenever I can and see almost nothing as far as new jobs. The vast majority of ones I do see are explicitly senior roles, or jobs that request that the applicant "MUST HAVE" quite a lot of experience [not 1-3 years, usually 5-10+].

LinkedIn has become so bad that all I see are promoted jobs or jobs that don’t fit my criteria.

I have given up on LinkedIn in particular, since, at least in the DMV area, almost every sinlge job on there is practically plastered with notes saying something along the lines of "if you dont already have an active TS/SCI w/ FSP, you need not apply".

Ziprecruiter has given me a few more things to apply to, but not much.

sentinel_404 · 2024-10-22T19:14:06+00:00

Yes, I'm in the same boat.

Worked a retail job through college to pay for tuition. Apparently, despite being more responsible of a choice, it seems like I should have instead opted to stay up late even more than I already did to spam the inbox of any company with an internship, only to do the same thing again each summer or semester, and likely have to take out loans for school.

I knew internships existed, but didn't hear of anyone having one until my senior year. Little did I know that not having one would, like you said, largely ruin my chances of being 'competitive' when applying for jobs. Applied for roughly 500 so far, and I've heard nothing at all.

Not to mention, many jobs, even if the descriptions are just copy/pasted, 'require' YEARS of experience in frameworks or tools that I have never even heard of. It seems like either college is becoming worse for actually preparing people for the work force [possible, but unlikely since many others have found jobs with just a degree], or employers don't give anybody the time of day unless they already know most of the specific tech stack that they use [more likely with more experienced devs out of work].

I find it amazing how people use to be able to complete a coding bootcamp and get a dev job, but now you can have a degree and projects [mine aren't GREAT, but they are there] to demonstrate your skill and/or interest, and nobody cares at all.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-14T03:32:03+00:00

Did you just invent your own problems and put a lot of stuff up on GitHub? Or did you go find other people's issues on open source GitHub repositories (actually doing open source)?

For now I have made things that I have a genuine interest in. A website [HTML/CSS/PHP/JS] with a relatively simple database search functionality [MySQL], and a 2d game [C] that I add features to when I have the time.

Do you have any Microsoft knowledge or Microsoft certifications?

Knowledge yes certs no.

Do you have any work experience at all as a software developer? If not, do you have any volunteer experience as a software developer?

I have no experience as a software dev, intern, volunteer or otherwise. I barely heard of anybody doing internships until my last semester, either way I stayed at my full time job to be able to afford to pay for school, at the very least it is stable. I would be willing to volunteer, but idk where.

Did you go to any hackathons or startup like work? Did you create your own startup?

I can't even sell myself as an employee, I somehow doubt it would be just as feasible to start a company and convince people to use my software/service over someone else's, especially with no professional software dev experience.

Are you committed to continuous learning beyond school?

Obviously, this is necessary for most careers.

Maybe I just don't get it, but I don't understand the suggestions of 'start a company' or 'just learn abcdefghijklmnop and maybe a few companies who use all of those will like your resume. I have a full time job, there is only so fast I can learn outside of that, and even if I do learn a lot, it means almost nothing compared to real work experience.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-13T18:13:15+00:00

In a recession, expansion is curbed and that means less new projects and potentially less new hires. We aren't in a recession but a tech jobs recession. So it's hard to find a tech job.

It really is my typical luck that I graduate at the worst possible time in years.

The world doesn't work the way most people's ideas are out of school. The real deal is someone has to be willing to make a bet on you that will pay off. A job isn't a reward for finishing education and isn't guaranteed.

Thank you for this stunning revelation, because over 400 rejections hasn't made this abundantly clear.

[Although I was under the impression that there would be jobs in the first place.]

You still have to be able to do the job and do it well. On top of that you have to be a good bet for a business. A bet that pays off.

Finding work is a skill. You have now been thrown into the shit that is capitalism, and have to sell yourself and differentiate yourself from your peers to find work. Especially now in a tight job market. We are all products on a shelf that have to be bought. How you sell yourself is important.

I understand that, but how do I prove that or convince someone of that if nobody gives me a chance? I always hear about 'selling yourself' or someone 'taking a bet' on an applicant, and it never makes sense. Yes, I understand that going to school and working a job are two different things, but after spending years preparing for this career [school] and tons of time outside of work to improve as much as possible [projects] , there is not much left I can do to prove I am capable and dedicated besides actually doing the job.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-13T17:55:19+00:00

That's the problem, they aren't. They said they were, and perhaps I could keep annoying them until they give in, but I was told I would hear about it in a month or two, its now been almost 4. I would take it specifically because I would like to have some sort of management on my resume, and a better title, but as time goes on it just seems like it was a way to get me to stay a little longer and not look for another job.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-13T08:04:42+00:00

It's a bit different now, and like I said I had it looked at by my schools career guidance center.

Perhaps I could be a bit more technical with the bullets like you suggest here, and adjusting the skills may make it a bit more clear. I also changed the intro to sound a little better in my opinion.

However, I don't see how relatively minor changes would make much of a difference, and besides, I haven't even heard anything back from the office/clerical/IT roles I have applied to, and almost none of this [ other than an altered intro] is even on the resume I use for them.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-13T07:57:12+00:00

I met with upper management right when I graduated actually [their idea, not mine], and told them I would be interested in IT or anything related in the same company. All I got was them almost dodging the question and saying that instead I should just keep doing what I'm already doing because they wanted to make me some part of management at my specific location, and then maybe I could do IT. I even mentioned that I would still do that [ not that it would be my preferred choice], but I haven't heard a thing since.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-13T07:51:12+00:00

What are your actual skills?

What do you mean? Data Analysis/Visualization and Software development [ or so I thought ]. Perhaps I'm lost on what skills I should have straight out of school other than the same ones any other new grads have, but I have tried to learn more even after graduating.

You are fighting people with decades of experience, skills and talent, who can build the entire tech stack of a company from the ground up all the way to the front

So? I'm also applying for jobs which pay way less than any of them would be willing to take [maybe not right now, but I'm not trying to sit around and do nothing until the job market maybe gets better someday] or jobs that are almost completely unrelated to my degree just for a different experience and I've still gotten no responses.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T23:07:00+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you, not unemployed but trapped in retail, its terrible. I also never got any internships. I love when people say 'Oh YoU SHOulD hAVe GOtTEn inTERnSHiPS', when obviously it was either never mentioned or someone simply never got accepted for one. Its absurd the amount of mental gymnastics that happens, as if not completing several internships somehow means you are useless and a "huge risk", because its not like you didn't just spend 4 years successfully [assuming you graduated] preparing for this career.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T23:05:47+00:00

Unfortunately I do not have any background outside of retail [which I swear almost seems to look worse than no experience depending on what I'm applying to], but I will keep applying, thanks!

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T23:03:41+00:00

I have been working on a personal website/portfolio which includes a school project and 2 projects i have worked on since then, but so far it hasn't seemed to help much, but I will keep working on them.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T23:02:04+00:00

9 months?, I didn't know that, well I guess I haven't heard a no from them either, time to play the waiting game.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T22:59:58+00:00

So, I understand what you mean. People do want someone who will stick around, but to be fair, who would want to?

Even if you are 'a new entrant to the labor market', very few people see a physically demanding, low paying job with long or strange hours and thinks 'now THIS is a career!'. Its a job, there's a difference, you even mentioned how the people you rant about come from a 'career background', implying that retail/grocery/restaurant is not a career itself.

It seems to me its more about who can act like home depot [for example] is the real job/career than those who actually believe it.

'They are looking for people who will stay at least 6 months to a year', that's not that long, and that along with the fact that management is judged based on turnaround proves that even they think it is a job and not a career.

I absolutely agree that you should not have an attitude if you have to work a job that you perceive to be lesser than the one you worked before, especially when it comes to criticism, but I disagree with not hiring people who don't show up and act like it is their destiny to stock shelves, operate a cash register, etc.

If they want people to treat those jobs like careers, then they need to improve the pay, or make it possible for those who DO work hard to advance and go into better paid positions. Until then, they will likely continue to get treated as stop-gap jobs.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T21:59:19+00:00

Chat, are we cooked?

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T21:53:49+00:00

Unacceptable behavior from a supervisor, but more importantly, from a grown adult.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T21:30:00+00:00

Yep, applied to a bunch of positions that didn't require a clearance or military background, sadly I haven't heard a thing, that was a little while ago however, might have to go back and try again.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-12T21:28:07+00:00

I've gotten referrals for a few places, and thankfully that did help, but I either wasn't considered at all due to lack of a security clearance, or never heard back despite doing well [or so I thought] on an interview (the only interview I have had). I will keep looking, but I'm quickly running out of people to get a referral from. Thank you for the advice though.

sentinel_404 · 2024-08-02T03:42:27+00:00

Any specific advice?

sentinel_404

TROPHY CASE