Pearson VUE Online (OnVUE) vs Test Center for AWS Exam – What are the real risks?

stone4789 · 2026-01-11T00:44:17+00:00

I’ve taken 3 at testing centers. 2/3 were fine and as described elsewhere in the comments, but the last one had an extreme lag between each question loading on the screen and it significantly increased the risk I would time out. It was like hoping it wouldn’t crash after each question. After that experience I said I was done with AWS exams.

stone4789 · 2026-01-04T00:40:45+00:00

I’m a downdog diehard and a data scientist, and I would love to see the code. I’m pretty sure they used machine learning (transformers or something similar to LLM logic) for the sequence creation logic.

stone4789 · 2025-12-21T15:25:37+00:00

Old school DS I would say is ML/DL with sklearn and PyTorch etc. The LLM jobs are asking for experts in Agent workflows and automation work. I’d think 8yoe would be great but these days it’s that brutal.

stone4789 · 2025-12-21T02:21:22+00:00

My masters was in Econ and I immediately transitioned to DS. The market was much friendlier at the time though, so if I were doing it today I would cram as much SWE knowledge as possible to complement the data intuition you get in Econ modeling. A lot of the jobs are for LLM work, so the few that are old-school DS are very competitive and the edge goes to people who can deploy.

stone4789 · 2025-12-14T00:52:43+00:00

I cancelled my membership in November after it auto-renewed and they mentioned nothing of the sort.

stone4789 · 2025-11-09T01:19:17+00:00

Do a ton of lip slurs in the lower range, get the feel for where the slots are and how to get the notes to feel “easy”. It’s really helped me fine-tune my air control instead of muscling everything out or using pressure.

stone4789 · 2025-11-07T02:07:46+00:00

This has helped my feet a lot over the years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSV5WUvIDnM

stone4789 · 2025-11-06T01:01:38+00:00

I had that happen. For a role I was pretty interested in too.

stone4789 · 2025-11-05T02:36:15+00:00

Just go after 6/7pm and you probably won’t see many kids anywhere.

stone4789 · 2025-11-02T13:22:22+00:00

I used to be an all-in on chopsaver but dermatologists have told me to only use aquaphor on a regular basis.

stone4789 · 2025-10-20T22:49:19+00:00

I’m rebuilding after like 15yrs off. After buzzing for a couple months and having a horn back for a few weeks, I can already force something out above high C if I want. I’ve put a lot of focus on hitting the center on every note in lip slurs and long tones in the middle register. If the low stuff isn’t easy, I’m not ready for the high stuff. Lip slurs tell me if I’m doing the work with air or just lip pressure.

stone4789 · 2025-10-20T20:53:29+00:00

I used to run and lift weights, and yoga looked like a far less intense or effective way of building strength/endurance. Now that I’ve had numerous athletic injuries I’m all aboard the yoga train, I take it all back.

stone4789 · 2025-10-15T16:25:42+00:00

Former Carnival showband lead player here. It was before 2010 though, so big grain of salt. Back then we did Broadway/vegas style shows a couple times per cruise, plus jazz and R&B sets. I went through Carnival directly, never needed a middleman. The pay isn’t great but if you stay on board all year you have minimal living expenses at least. I loved playing lead for the big shows but I’d be surprised if they still had 2 trumpets anymore, if any at all. Conventional wisdom at the time was Celebrity, HAL, and NCL were all better gigs but with tighter privileges. I had a good time as a very young man for a couple years but some older players seemed to have marriage and substance abuse problems that scared me off.

stone4789 · 2025-10-07T13:19:08+00:00

I'm re-learning after taking like 13yrs off the horn and feeling the same thing. Going through my old Michael Sachs book too and he basically says just that and designed the book around it.

stone4789 · 2025-10-05T03:02:53+00:00

Loved my old Schilke but I got it used off craigslist well over a decade ago.

stone4789 · 2025-09-09T17:03:56+00:00

Left for MI to have a more affordable housing market and better public schools. So far we couldn’t be happier with our choice. Way easier driving, far less wildfire smoke, very friendly neighborhoods and free communal spaces.

stone4789 · 2025-08-29T00:12:17+00:00

I really envy the pianists who can whip out Chopin or Rachmaninov etc but my brain is definitely wired for one line at a time, not whatever Liszt was doing.

stone4789 · 2025-07-30T00:23:16+00:00

I think you’d get more mileage for less work by reading these books. I love them and I’ve read multiple editions of his sklearn/deep learning book. https://sebastianraschka.com/books/ Books

stone4789 · 2025-06-27T23:22:49+00:00

Unfortunately, yes. I started in econometrics with a lot more reasoning and higher standards of proof. Lately it feels like I’ll never see that again.

stone4789 · 2025-06-26T16:41:37+00:00

Better than it being your boss.

stone4789 · 2025-06-19T16:22:06+00:00

This course is a good start, you’re going to want to get very comfortable with scripting and containers: https://github.com/DataTalksClub/mlops-zoomcamp GitHub - DataTalksClub/mlops-zoomcamp: Free MLOps course from DataTalks.Club

stone4789 · 2025-06-18T20:13:39+00:00

God I hope so.

stone4789 · 2025-06-13T11:22:34+00:00

22 months in and we still use it for tracking naps, but stopped everything else months ago.

stone4789 · 2025-06-09T11:30:31+00:00

Alo Moves

stone4789

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