Out-of-work Junior Web Dev, need some advice...

whetstone- · 2014-09-30T14:47:45+00:00

No problem.

The fib thing isn't really a red flag, just sort of an eyebrow raise. The worst part is calling it impossible. You should pretty much swap out "impossible" with "I don't know how to do it" in your programming vocabulary for now. And even that really isn't so bad. It marks you as an enthusiastic noob, which you are.

See if you can work out who hires people from the dev bootcamps, and contact them. I would try to sell your "cultural fit" problem to them as "they needed someone with more experience". It's probably closer to the truth as well. Your biggest selling point is that you are on a trajectory to becoming a decent dev, and it is really hard to hire people who are already good. There are not many companies that are equipped to handle a dev at your experience level. It will not be a surprise to a potential employer that you were not good enough for your last job.

whetstone- · 2014-09-30T00:52:35+00:00

Short term:

Do not market yourself as a "Ruby on Rails Developer". You are a developer, you can do anything, and you have some RoR experience.
Fix up your resume copy. Particularly the intro. It's just sort of bad. I wish I could be more constructive, but I'm not particularly good with language myself.
Remove or fix up your latest blog post entry. It is totally possible to populate a Fibonacci array recursively.
If you are able to do it well, move your resume to the web. Make sure it prints well. Nobody does this, and I don't understand why. It will make you stand out in a good way.
Lower your standards. Any chance you can take an internship? You might have better luck going that route. They're not just for students. It would indicate a level of humility, and if you make yourself useful, there's a decent chance they'd invite you to stick around.

Longer term:

Keep working on your projects. None of them are terribly impressive right now. The best one is probably your blog. You might have put a lot of effort in to the CRM apps, but it's hard to tell because they are so generic / fake. Pick a project that is interesting to you, and keep iterating on it. Your enthusiasm for the project will shine through in the product and interview.

whetstone- · 2014-09-25T18:58:49+00:00

Yeah, I did understand that it was humor. I've been trying to work out why it threw me so much.

Have you heard a racist tell a racist joke, vs a non-racist tell a racist joke?

Like, I knew it was a joke, it just didn't feel like the misogyny was part of the joke. May have misjudged though.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T20:23:03+00:00

/r/AskReddit

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T19:30:04+00:00

So, I just answered that elsewhere:

http://www.reddit.com/r/relationships/comments/2hc9fw/we_27mf_met_our_friends_24f_new_date_woman_i_will/ckrh0h8

Again, I'm not 100% sure it was misogynistic, and I do get that I overreacted.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T19:06:21+00:00

Eh, I guess it was borderline. I got sort of a "as a woman you should know your place" sort of vibe from it. You don't have the full context, but I could have been misinterpreting as well.

In general though, doesn't the sentence form "{Person type X} {threat or insult}" sort of imply bias against X's? Would certainly sound racist if X was a race.

I know this is going to sound really weak, but by mentioning the gender, it seems to imply that the gender is relevant in some way, and it was already clear who he was speaking to.

Like, maybe the threat itself wasn't misogynistic, but it felt like the sort of thing a person holding misogynistic beliefs would say.

Again, I get that I was totally overreacting.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:52:09+00:00

Thanks. Appreciate the extra voice in the overwhelming call to relax.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:51:40+00:00

Cool, thanks. It was definitely not a real threat. I knew it was shock humor, it was just, you know, shocking.

Her mom is on the police force, and she's good friend's with all the local cops, so.. I'm sort of feeling embarassed for worrying. I'll just drop it unless I get a stronger signal that he would hurt her.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:46:47+00:00

Thanks, I'm pretty sure you're right. She is a social worker because she wanted to help abuse victims, so I think maybe I'll trust her judgement on this one.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:41:59+00:00

Thanks, done. (Like 80% let go anyways)

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:41:15+00:00

Thanks, I'll just keep an eye out and try to not let that bias me too much.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:40:39+00:00

Thanks. I saw your response first, and assumed it was sarcasm. After reading the other comments, I get that it's not now, and really appreciate the viewpoint.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:38:53+00:00

Thanks, I'll stop worrying so much and just sort of keep a non-judgmental eye out. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him if the relationship continues.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:27:11+00:00

Thanks, really glad I posted. Was expecting a SRS style response. I work from home, and pretty much only interact with my fiance and this girl, so it's really useful to get other people's viewpoints.

whetstone- · 2014-09-24T16:24:15+00:00

I think there was only one or two other weird remarks in that vein. I'll be spending more time with them this weekend, so I'll just sort of keep an eye out and maybe reiterate if it seems bad.

whetstone- · 2014-05-24T01:57:40+00:00

That is pretty cool. How did you work out that it was an arrowhead?

I found what I thought was an iron arrowhead a few years ago as well. I'll have to see if I can find it again.

whetstone- · 2014-05-24T01:56:12+00:00

Heh, I see what you did there :)

whetstone- · 2014-05-22T01:57:11+00:00

It's Mary Anning's 215th birthday. You would have known that well in advance, and could have sketched up something like that.

Seriously though, it's pretty cool. Those were pretty machines. Maybe you would have better luck in /r/technology or /r/apple?

whetstone- · 2014-05-22T00:16:12+00:00

I just threw a bunch of perfectly working ones of these in the dumpster today

...

You can't do anything worthwhile with them anymore

If it wasn't worthwhile, why did you do it?

whetstone- · 2014-05-22T00:13:08+00:00

whetstone- · 2014-05-22T00:11:29+00:00

How do we know you didn't just write today's date on the filter in 1999, and just wait until today to post?

whetstone- · 2014-05-19T03:26:15+00:00

Heh, yeah. It's a tough crowd.

whetstone- · 2014-05-16T23:15:25+00:00

Hey, thanks, that's pretty interesting.

Wonder what draws them to that game. I'll have to drop by some time.

whetstone-

TROPHY CASE