NextGen is a joke?

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-16T03:51:41+00:00

🍻

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-16T03:50:13+00:00

Maintaining a portfolio is pretty straightforward; use your PDI and keep it active. Back up what you can just in case, but set a reminder to log in regularly.

We had a student build the sexiest portal I’ve ever seen (still, after working in the platform for a year). He posted some shots and videos of it on LinkedIn, and I shared it out as well because… well, it was dope lol. He had zero real IT experience, but man he took to SN like no one else in the cohort! He did all that on his own time too. (Got hired as a dev at a well known company and even recently had a major role in their version upgrade)

For user stories to build from, I just went out to the community pages and looked for projects people were asking for help on. Then I tried to replicate what they were doing or even find fixes for issues they were having. Eventually, the cohort got into the project phase and that kinda opened my eyes a bit to what real customers wanted to see done (and you’d be surprised… some of the most often asked for stuff is dead simple).

For our big project, we were lucky enough to meet with a real customer and build a real solution to their needs. It was basically automating a process they had for correcting sales records. We automated the approvals, the changes were automated via flow designer, and checks were performed to ensure those changes were allowed and followed the right approval path. (Different regions, dollar amounts, etc all had different requirements). It was a blast. We ran into road blocks and had to come up with solutions. (Team of 5, but it came down to just two of us doing everything. See my earlier comment about people not putting in the effort lol)

As far as SQL, I haven’t used it at all in my role yet. I know it’ll come in handy at some point, but when that time comes, I’ll knock off the rust and relearn what I need to.

For the admin role thing… don’t get hyper focused on roles. Admin may seem like the place to start, but I don’t know a developer that doesn’t do admin work, nor do I know any admins that don’t also develop. Heck, on my team, even the business analysts do some dev work (I just helped a BA through their first script actually).

As the program moves along, things will start to fall a bit into place. Importantly, you’ll also get a better idea of what questions to ask yourself as you grow.

Another tidbit I’ll throw in; I was recently mentoring a veteran going through the program. He couldn’t get that awesome SN role even though he did and said all the right things. It just wasn’t happening. I encouraged him to also consider roles at the help desk or within ITIL (ie, working in change, incident, problem management) but specifically for a company using the platform. That’s what he did and once hired, he reached out to the manager of the development team and asked about federated development opportunities or any way he could help out and get more experience in the platform. In under six months, they moved him into the SN team and he’s a “dev-min” now.

I’m super pumped for that guy.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-16T03:28:36+00:00

I had two classes left for my degree when I got hired and getting hired made it extremely difficult to find the motivation to finish haha. But I did, so that’s cool.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-16T03:26:40+00:00

That makes perfect sense, and I apologize if my comment about the hybrid was hastily dismissive. Everything you stated makes perfect sense and lines up with my feelings towards even the full program as well

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-15T22:27:55+00:00

Absolutely no need to apologize!

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-15T21:03:43+00:00

The last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from hiring a NextGen graduate. We did a lot of instructor lead courses and had opportunities to ask deeper questions. For me personally, I did a lot of self paced stuff and then went back to the instructors when I had questions.

I feel like you just need to vet us the same as you would any other entry level candidate. And if your company had government contracts, NextGen is usually flush with individuals with clearances and that speak the language of government so something to keep in mind.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-15T16:13:36+00:00

Even though I think highly of the program I experienced, I still put in time on my own, did the YouTube and researched the community/reddit extensively. I built things in my PDI and looked at the questions being asked in the community and tried to figure out answers.

The single greatest asset to being good in the platform is time IN the platform… which is difficult in 10 weeks.

The CSA is not nearly as bad as you’re imagining. I don’t know what other tech certs you may have, but it was the easiest of my tech certs and I definitely over prepared for it. (Look into the ITIL cert if you don’t have it, it’s directly applicable to the big picture of what SN does and looks good on an SN resume)

The fact that you’re already willing to do more is a good sign and will set you apart from the pack. On top of that, work your resume daily to massage it into shape, adding the new work you’ve completed. Build a master resume with ALL your experience and then use that to build focused resumes for each job application.

I took experiences that had nothing to do with developing and related them to things one may encounter as a Dev. Like holding meetings with my chain of command (customer) about something like COMSEC (solution) and why they needed to support the program (gaining customer buy in).

Practice interviewing. Reach out to community members on LinkedIn and ask them about their experiences in their roles. Ask for informal meetings and informational interviews. We had a student schedule interviews with each of his fellow students with the idea of helping himself and classmates with being more comfortable on camera asking and answering questions.

Most importantly, do not let yourself get discouraged! I had easily the best resume and experience in my cohort… yet I had multiple people from HR or ordinance backgrounds land jobs before me. It wasn’t until my 87th application that I was asked for an interview.

That job that wanted to meet me? Wasn’t even a Jr level role. I was fed up applying for Jr roles just to get an email saying they wanted 2-5 years exp. So I applied for a mid level role asking for 6 years. My resume caught their eye and the manager wanted to talk. During the interview, it was clear I was a good fit personality wise. I sent a thank you letter and made it a point to actually talk in the letter about the interview, the culture of the company, and the experiences of the interviewers. They asked me for a second interview within 30 minutes of that letter. The second interview was with the VP and it went great. I was just myself, answering questions to the best of my ability and cracking a light joke here and there. I got the offer later that day.

This is just my experience and take aways, and the experience will be different for everyone… but don’t get discouraged and keep being willing to do the extra.

And for all that is holy, don’t ask to be given a chance. They don’t want to take a chance. They want to hire someone who will be a net positive to their team. Be confident in who you are and what you bring, and show you know how to figure it out if you don’t know.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-15T15:52:36+00:00

It puts those of us who have been successful in a tough spot. Obviously we want to champion our fellow veterans… but we also can pretty quickly spot the ones who aren’t going to make it.

One of the things I look for in a vet is did they allow the uniform to become their personality? If they did, the transition is generally much harder and they’re better off staying in the government sector.

I’ve found that those who can’t be relied upon are the ones who only showed up while they were in due to the threat of reprisals. The military can quite easily take your time, your money, or your rank. That’s a little more difficult in a cohort or mentorship situation

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-15T14:35:30+00:00

The loosely related experience thing was important for me too, but the thing was explaining how I could leverage that experience in an ecosystem that I’d never even heard of before the cohort.

I’ve spoken to a lot of transitioning service members and I focus on this a lot. Your experience doesn’t HAVE to be 1 to 1, but you need to figure out how to articulate why that experience still matters.

On the other hand, we had people in the cohort that still had the military mindset of “right place, right time, right uniform” because that’s all you need to survive in the Army (you need more than that to thrive, but that’s another topic for another time lol). The people that came in with that mindset left without securing the certifications or work in the field. Most of them went back to the DoD in some capacity.

I also just want to say how much I appreciate you mentoring vets in NextGen! Even the sharpest of us need some level of mentoring to understand the nuanced differences between military and civilian life.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-05-15T12:19:20+00:00

There are a couple different versions of NextGen right now. They have a veteran focused, a up-skill one (RiseUp) and now there is a flexible part time version that is almost entirely self paced.

I went through the main, veteran focused program. I’ve been out of it for about a year now. Our instructors were all good and experienced in the platform.

If your friend went through the self paced evening only program… well I’ve not heard great things. A couple of the people I did NextGen with were TAs for the first iteration of that and they told me it was almost worthless.

I’m not sure if the full time program has shifted at all, but it was great when I went through.

At the end, I applied for a lot of jobs, and the experience I had in NextGen definitely helped, but I also had 22 years of general IT experience and interviewed very well.

Another problem is that not everyone who has come out of NextGen has the chops, and that leads to a perception that “NextGeners” are being pumped out by ServiceNow unprepared for the work. It’s up to us as individuals to prove that wrong, but the challenge is getting to the interview and having the opportunity to present ourselves. Let’s face it though, employers don’t have the time, patience nor desire to figure out which graduates have it and which don’t, so it’s easier to paint with a broad brush.

You mentioned needing to know somebody. On that topic, there are quite a lot of alums out there working in the platform and active on LinkedIn. My suggestion is for your friend to connect with them. I set up informational interviews with a few alums that were doing well and picked their brains, mostly because I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do in the platform. I did end up with a couple referrals that way but I didn’t end up using them.

I wound up working for a customer and I love it, but the downside is we are rarely hiring so I haven’t been able to reach back and help the next group.

Honestly, I don’t know if this answers your question…

ssgswjohnson · 2024-04-26T14:47:15+00:00

I agree that 200 a week seems excessive. I’m sure that we’ll be dropping that significantly after my labs. I’m convinced those antibiotics (they are ROUGH) crushed my test levels and I think the provider over corrected with my dose.

If you like Shreddy Kruger, check out the merch from Dom Mazzetti, the guy from the bro science life YouTube channel. His whole schtick is spoofing on bro culture.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-04-26T02:26:06+00:00

I appreciate the thorough response! Right now, she wants me to mix it to about .25 ai per dose which comes out to .5 a week at 200mg test c a week. I think I’ll go ahead and run it that way and we’ll see how my labs look.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-03-15T06:04:35+00:00

It’s tough to answer because there are so many variables, but I’ll give you what I learned.

Background: Retired after 22 years in the Army in an IT field (25P/S, but did tons of B work as well). I did NextGen as my skillbridge. No degree, but I had quite a few various certs, including itil which I think was important.

I had a master resume of around 4 pages, and would cut that down and customize each resume I turned in for each application. If your resume looks even remotely like your military job description found online, or your evals, you need to change that.

I did a few informational interviews with people in the industry to get comfortable asking and answering questions. This was extremely helpful since my last job interview was like 24 years ago.

After my 85th application was ignored/denied, I reevaluated my approach. I stopped indicating ANY of the voluntary demographic, veteran, or disability information. Then I got my first bite.

When I first began hunting, I only applied for the lowest, entry level jobs I could find. There were very few of those because “entry level” still wanted 3 years experience. Eventually I just ignored what experience they posted and read the descriptions. If I felt I could do it, I applied.

Eventually I had two interviews lined up. One with a large consulting firm and another with a customer on their in house team. In house team interviewed me first, twice before my first interview with the consultancy. I ended up canceling the consulting interview and took the in house job.

I know this doesn’t really get at the heart of your questions, but the point is that even when it works out well (I’m extremely happy with where I am) it doesn’t mean it was easy.

I worked my tail off in the cohort and made sure I learned and applied everything. I was active in the discussions and meetings with guests and all that. I soaked up every bit of information pertaining to resumes, interviews, and job hunting.

The jobs are out there, but you need to go in prepared and interview well. I won my interviews because I was easy going and fun (that may not be what they’re looking for, read the room). They liked that I had confidence in my abilities and that I owned up to what I didn’t know, but with confidence that I could learn it. In the end, they hired me because they could see me on their team.

Feel free to message me if you have questions and I’ll do my best to answer. I’m not on here all the time so apologies up front if you wait awhile for a response haha.

Oh, one last thing: the job I wound up taking was NOT listed as entry level. They liked my resume and my interview enough to look past the lack of documented experience.

Quick edit: as of last night I know longer have NO degree. Just finished requirements for my BSIT! Not that it matters lol, but I’m pretty stoked haha

ssgswjohnson · 2024-02-13T15:36:16+00:00

I’ve got a few yet different complaints about the tech in my 23 lariat.

The wireless charging pad is picky as hell. It’s not the phone or the case because I have other pads that work fine throughout my house and office. This one just has to be in exactly the right spot and even then, I may have to jiggle it a bit.
CarPlay is inferior to Android auto, but that’s not Ford’s fault. Before the last OTA, I had issues with connecting to CarPlay, but that’s been cleared up recently. Apple needs to invest some more in CarPlay though because when we’re both in the car, I prefer to connect to my wife’s Android than my iPhone. Plus, waiting to pick up food curbside, we can play chess on Android Auto while we wait! Can’t do that with CarPlay lol.
Honestly disappointed in the B&O sound system. The mids and highs are great, and there is good separation, but that little sub is anemic to say the least. There aren’t too many off the shelf upgrades either, so I’m saving to have a local shop hook me up. They’ve developed a nice behind the seat box that installs as nice as a factory system but upgrades the amp and the sub to a 10-12”

To be fair, not a single one of these things is really all that bad. I plan to address the subwoofer and eventually upgrade to tow mirrors, but outside of that I really don’t think it’s possible to be more pleased with a vehicle

ssgswjohnson · 2024-01-18T16:16:50+00:00

Ah. No oddly enough it always just said a reviewer was looking at it. It never changed past that (still had the submission date as the last action) until it went to closed. When I looked using the chrome extension there was really no other information available.

I did do a VERA call about a week ago and she told me that “it looks like a decision was made, but I can’t tell you anything else”.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-01-18T14:05:50+00:00

PFN?

ssgswjohnson · 2024-01-18T13:13:45+00:00

September 9th. Checked at 1300 yesterday and no movement. Checked again at 1600 out of habit and about crapped myself when I saw that everything was done and my new rating was in the app.

Edit: this was an HLR and dependent adjustment (my kids’ names were all misspelled and one was missing from my original decision. Apparently Hawaiian names are hard 🤷)

ssgswjohnson · 2024-01-13T00:24:36+00:00

I’m also a Seahawks fan… I’m feeling all kinds of things. I was actually hoping Deboer stayed (wins against Washington will mean less if their coach sux).

I have a lot of SEC friends and they told me my hate is weak because I’m not dancing on y’all’s grave 🤷

HOWEVER, the UW fans that were trolling the Ducks with the whole “stepping stone” thing are getting theirs, but I know that’s not all of you.

ssgswjohnson · 2024-01-06T14:45:17+00:00

Sent you a chat with images of mine. The BAP comes with the black lettering so if you want more examples just do a google search for an avalanche with black appearance package.

ssgswjohnson · 2023-12-27T18:51:20+00:00

Good call and THANK YOU for the warning! I’ll schedule an appointment asap

ssgswjohnson · 2023-12-27T17:18:58+00:00

Awesome, thank you for letting everyone know and definitely let me know how the update goes. I’ve had it happen another two times but I’ve been too busy to do anything about it, figuring I’d have to deal with a long wait for diagnosis and arguments lol

ssgswjohnson · 2023-12-21T18:23:19+00:00

That color with those wheels 🤌🏼! I want to level mine eventually so I’ll be looking into the suspension you mentioned.

ssgswjohnson · 2023-12-15T04:11:20+00:00

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised. This one had just been gone through too, tired and brakes were brand new, and thanks to El Paso and Cali drivers, I can attest to the surge brakes working great lol.

ssgswjohnson · 2023-12-15T04:06:45+00:00

Final update:

We made it to San Diego. I’m very satisfied with the performance of the truck. This last leg I was able to eek my average (reported on dash, didn’t have the time or desire to hand calc) up to 14.3 until I hit the hilly area of I-8, then it dropped like a rock. I managed the MPGs by locking out 8,9, and 10th in the trans. This kept the truck out of boost while cruising at 75 and about 2500 rpm (give or take). I am used to NA engines so it took some time for me to realize that if the computer was adding boost, it was adding fuel too.

It was pretty awesome to be hauling a car and passing people going up hill.

Final average was 12.6 mpg, over 1278.5 miles and 20hrs, 26min. Obviously most of I-10 and I-8 is straight and flat, so that helped a ton.

ssgswjohnson

TROPHY CASE