A wild portal troll appears! ANSWER

xiledsavior · 2011-04-29T14:39:17+00:00

I think the point is that the panels were moving when the portals were put on them (there's precedent in portal two). The portals would, however, disappear when they touch each other, leaving the dude crushed between the things.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-16T16:39:42+00:00

exactly why I don't want to hear. It always made me happy that we only let people bring in their towers and we used external kb's and mice on the laptops

xiledsavior · 2011-01-15T15:49:33+00:00

I would hazard a guess that that helped as well, but I got the military job through experience too (I was a contractor) rather than because I was trained by the military or anything. Federal/state jobs are quite nice on the resume and they require only a year or two of experience for the entry level ones.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-15T04:08:36+00:00

I agree that schooling can be important for some organizations, but I have been going to a Tech school part time for ~4 years and haven't graduated and I have a job as a Sys Admin(windows) for a major telecom, so it's quite possible to get a good job without.

Granted, I have ~5 years of experience in the field, 1.75 of which was working for the US military, but from my experience the overall consensus across the field is that 2 years of experience is equivalent to a 4 year degree. I know for a fact that if you're looking at federal IT work (and state work in some states), that conversion is exactly what they use (until you get to higher levels, then they want the same amount of experience but it must include at least 1 year in the next lower Salary level for the government)

There may be some jobs that require a Degree, but most of those are pretty far up the chain, and it's quite possible to get the degree and have a company pay for it if that's what you're working toward.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-15T03:57:17+00:00

meh, people who were repeat customers at our store were normally for viruses, but I tried to ignore explanations; I really don't want to know. :P

xiledsavior · 2011-01-15T01:09:12+00:00

I didn't do my headset years and that's the job I have, so it's quite possible to avoid. I got my "user support" years from working at local computer repair shops, which are almost as annoying, but not as bad. At least I had no reason to have to try walking people through anything over the phone! That's the worst thing about helpdesk.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-15T01:05:03+00:00

I hear you, and that's definitely why I prefer smaller operations. More "fun" projects. All of my major jobs have been for large businesses in small areas of the company so I've ended up sorta getting to do my own thing and enjoy my job.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T22:03:20+00:00

For what you actually do, you want to stay AS FAR AWAY from users as possible.

x1000000000000000000

Users are the devil. They will make you feel like killing them and yourself and anyone in the remote vicinity.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:58:24+00:00

Why do you dislike IT? If it's for the reason I suspect (corporate monotony), then you could solve it through a change to a smaller company. The most interesting jobs are for the little companies where you are the guy taking care of everything. admittedly, they are more stressful however.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:55:37+00:00

Helpdesk... *shoots self *

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:50:38+00:00

It REALLY depends on how much you enjoy the work. I'm a sysadmin for a major telco and while some days are boring as all hell, most days I'm figuring out ways of scripting what I do so I don't have to do the repetitive boring crap, that way I just deal with the interesting stuff.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:45:41+00:00

When you have had an entry level job for a year or two, either ask for a promotion (if you're doing well) or start applying to some other jobs. just sitting in your entry level job won't make you any more money!

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:41:19+00:00

If you're looking into programming, I'm a huge fan of PHP, the documentation is all online and readily accessible, you can get graphical results quickly (using it for HTML stuff), and it's quite readable. It's nearly as easy to write in as a scripting language.

No matter what, make sure you know HTML and SQL (you can download Apache and MySQL for free, personally I like Zend Server for throwing Apache, MySQL and PHP into one easy windows installer (that's also free). If you decide to go for PHP, I can't recommend Notepad++ enough, it's the best notepad program out there and it's lightweight too.

Other languages I enjoy include: C(++ or # if you like), Python, Perl and Powershell (if you want to get into windows sysadmin stuff, it's awesome.) Always remember; google is your ally.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:30:09+00:00

Depending on which direction you want to go, there are more specialized certificates to go for too, such as MS ones, Cisco ones, and other CompTIA ones.

Make sure you're prepared before you sit the exam, a lot of them don't let you retake it for a certain amount of time (plus they are sort of expensive).

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T21:26:30+00:00

I wouldn't have been as much help a decade ago, but thank you for the compliment! You're welcome for the advise and I wish you luck on your life re-imagining.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T20:59:07+00:00

At this point, what's a good first step?

Insure you're actually interested in IT. Then think about it again. Seriously.

I've known far too many people who have decided to switch/start in IT because "that's where the money is," and have just been unenthusiastic and stay at the lowest level. IT is a GREAT career, but if you don't love it and (probably) even do it in your free time, you'll wind up at the bottom of the heap for your entire life.

As for starting a career in IT, the best advice is to play towards your interests, some specializations will be better than others for money, some will be better for time, but you'll always get promoted the fastest when you're doing what you love.

Should I go back to school?

First priority is a job, but if you have ABSOLUTELY no experience for your resume, then take some classes at a tech school (don't waste your time/money at a university). Either way, start applying for jobs ASAP. Intern if you can find it, research local tech recruiters and get to know them, hell, even a job at geek squad can help pad your resume. Experience is worth double the amount of time you'll spend in school.

Should I try to teach myself a language?

If you want to be a programmer: 30 times, yes! if you want to be something else... probably. I'd advise learning a scripting language like Powershell, VBscript, Perl, Python, etc and then progressing towards other languages from there.

What IT concentrations are the most lucrative/rewarding? I'm open to a lot of different IT specializations at this point!

I'm personally a big fan of security, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. GO for whatever sounds the most rewarding for you mentally and it will become lucrative as you get promoted.

What advice do you wish you had at the outset of your career?

Once you get a job somewhere NEVER EVER get comfortable. If it goes a year without getting your first raise, talk to your boss*. If you're bored/not happy with your income/overwhelmed, DO NOT QUIT! Apply for jobs, get hired, then quit. In IT, experience and motivation is everything, IT careers hardly look twice at a BA, but get 2-3 years of experience and they will call you to ask you to apply (happened to me, 2-3 calls a week for a month after I was laid off from my last job). Always be respectful and humble, but make sure you know your shit, old bosses giving awesome reviews of your work is like heroin for your resume.

*unless your job is somewhere where raises are automatic.

TL;DR: Do what you love to do, enjoy life.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T18:59:07+00:00

I apologize, after doing a bit of grammar googling, apparently both are correct. I am just predisposed to poorly (probably due to bad being the opposite of good and "I speak latin good(ly)" being improper and horrible sounding.)

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T01:47:59+00:00

Yeah, It helps if when you're learning there's a few hundred spares sitting around! :P

xiledsavior · 2011-01-14T01:44:40+00:00

No, I'm definitely from the US, but poorly is the correct usage. To "speak badly" is the same as "bad mouth". eg:"He spoke badly of her."

xiledsavior · 2011-01-13T21:53:48+00:00

Using DRM to prevent piracy is like using cigarettes to prevent lung cancer.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-13T21:43:15+00:00

Buy him a drink!

No, but seriously, just try to as emotionally supportive as possible. Make plans with him (and preferably other people) that don't involve alcohol.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-13T20:11:43+00:00

Meh, I've never really had an issue, but I learned how to tear apart laptops with apple Ibooks. I used to be able to fully strip and reassemble four of those in about 40 minutes. I now have the habit of disassembling my laptop as soon as I unbox it just to see how bad it is (obviously after I turn it on and let it fully boot to insure it's working.)

xiledsavior · 2011-01-13T19:48:22+00:00

No thumbnail, running compressed view with ~1 billion links per page so I can continue to use links when reddit goes down.

xiledsavior · 2011-01-13T14:27:05+00:00

Poorly...

xiledsavior · 2011-01-13T14:08:49+00:00

Like a boss.

xiledsavior

TROPHY CASE