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Teeter posted:Anyone able to point me in the right direction for some good reading about ISTQB and software testing? I've had a book recommended to me (by Rex Black) but I'd like to see if there's good stuff online to start me off. ISTQB is bullshit. The problem is that there are no real professional standards in the QA field so certificates like that have cropped up. It's like two hundred bucks and you don't want to work at a place that takes having one seriously. http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/category/certification James Bach in general has a lot of good advice and cuts through a lot of bullshit - I'd suggest clicking through all of his blog. This article on test automation is one of my favorites: http://www.satisfice.com/articles/test_automation_snake_oil.pdf
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Jul 17, 2015 11:16
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Bruegels Fuckbooks posted:ISTQB is bullshit. The problem is that there are no real professional standards in the QA field so certificates like that have cropped up. It's like two hundred bucks and you don't want to work at a place that takes having one seriously. Great, thanks! I think that the place I'm starting at uses it as a general guideline or at least a good keyword for establishing base knowledge, but they don't require certification or put that much stock in it. If they do, I'll have them pay for it. Software testing is new to me so knowing the material is much more important than ISTQB or anything specific like that. I'm reading through this article on certification now, I'll check out the rest of the blog later. Thanks for the info
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Jul 17, 2015 18:37
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I don't know anything about ISTQB, but I'm going to guess like most entry-level certifications it's hardly worth the paper it's printed on. I also have no idea what your current skill set or qualifications are so my advice is going to be super duper general. I got started in tech doing software QA, which quickly developed into automated testing, and then more into infrastructure automation (devops), and then into full-time software development a couple years down the road. I've been a tester, I've worked with a lot of testers, and I continue to work with testers. My advice to anyone just starting as a QA is: start learning to program. Even if you have no aspirations of being a software developer, the software world is quickly evolving toward more automated and programmatic testing. Having some basic programming chops is not only vital for automation purposes but it is invaluable in helping you understand what it is you're actually testing. Understanding what the basics of the debugging process are makes your ability to do defect analysis so much more valuable. Being able to read and understand log files and data dumps, monitor network traffic, troubleshoot environment configurations, and things like that puts you easily in the top 25% of testers. If you can do some simple programming to begin automating deployment, log gathering/parsing, populating databases with test data, etc. then you're in the top 10%. If you can write an automated integration test suites then you're top 1%. There are still a lot of all-manual, low-tech, black-box testers at large enterprises, but that's kind of a dead-end career path IMO. The glass ceiling is fairly low in terms of pay, the industry trends are moving to depend on it less and less, and if you ask me it's also just mind-numbingly boring. Not going away entirely any time soon, though. But at smaller companies in a faster-paced environment those types of people are just dead weight. That said, if you start working more toward a more technically-hands on test role like an SDET or QAE then really the world is your oyster for the foreseeable future.
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Jul 18, 2015 02:26
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I feel like this thread might be able to help my find my way. I feel like my career and life is stalling. I'm 31, graduated late (at 28) with a BS in Business with a concentration in accounting. I'm a "cash poster," which doesn't really stand out on a resume as a particularly impressive job. I interviewed for a Jr revenue accountant position within the company, but the feedback was I "wasn't a factor." I chalk that up to my interviewing skills and that my personality clashes a bit with that particular manager. It's likely that to move up I'll have to switch companies. I just don't know what that switch is and how to make it. In the past two and a half years at this job, I have started and abandoned studying for the CPA exam, taken MBA courses at two different grad schools (and considering committing to a 3rd) resulting in simply wasting a lot of money. I want to carefully consider my next move to stop wasting money, and more importantly, years of my life. So here are the options open to me: 1. Start searching for a new job immediately. I'm currently making "okay" money, and my commute is just over a ten minute walk. I'm north of Boston and could take the train in every day, but that would add at least a couple hours a day commuting and $250 a month to do it, so the opportunity would have to be amazing, or pay a lot more. I would still consider it. 2. Keep current job, resume studying for the CPA and finish it this time This would be an immediate boost to my marketability, but my heart wasn't in studying for it last time. 3. Keep job, complete MBA at no-name local university This would be a little over $10,000 including tuition assistance from my job. That gets all the education requirements for the CPA out of the way, as well as something to put on my resume, but MBAs are a dime a dozen. 4. Try to get into a more highly regarded MBA program This is probably a stretch. My undergrad GPA was 2.9964 or something like that. May be a worthwhile investment for the opportunities it provides. 5. Spend no money, develop skills through self study I feel like this one could benefit the most. The price is right, and I could master Excel, VBA, MySQL etc in my free time without worrying about assignments and test prep deadlines. And those practical applications are likely more useful to a company than a degree anyway. Finance is what I'm most interested in. Accounting and other business roles second. I think the best course of action in the short term is to stick with the job while developing skills. Possibly studying for the GMAT for when I make the decision to start and finish a grad program. I do think completing the right MBA whether inexpensive or prestigious will be worth it for the cost. Worst case scenario, a couple years go by and I've saved money and have a couple years more experience at my current job.
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Jul 18, 2015 03:14
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My first thought is to look for another job. You are correct in that you have probably reached the ceiling in the company. If looking for another job falls through self study would make you more useful long term and more able to progress in a job. It also is something you can talk about in job interviews even if your knowledge is limited it can help you a lot. Studying for CPA is useful if there's where you want to end up and it is also good for job interviews. I'm sure there are other ways to meet the educational requirements other than an MBA. An MBA is something that would be useful if you are in a job where progress is possible but you have had two tries at doing some of the courses. Are you really that interested in getting an MBA?
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Jul 18, 2015 21:58
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Sorry for the novel, but I'm a bit lost as to what to do currently. I was studying to change careers to medicine. To do that I had to do a Graduate Diploma so chose IT since thats my undergrad and I figured it should be fairly easy. I've also spent the last 2 years studying for med entrance exam, sitting it, doing pre-requisite subjects required by the closest university to me. 4 months to go until all my study is done. My partner was made redundant a year ago and has been unable to find a job in his previous field due to a permanent injury. He's currently looking at options to study to change fields. He was going to be my financial support to study medicine so that's gone out the window suddenly. I'm now having to focus on my IT career again. I was putting up with my work situation due to the reasonably okay money for my knowledge while I study, but have been here 5 years now. The past year has been an extremely stressful time. I work in a 2 person team, where both people need to be able to pretty much do everything the other can, so IT manager and desktop person (currently me). There is little difference between the two apart from the manager does the budget, and approves time of the desktop person. We do everything from first level support to backups/server/network admin for our site. When I first started there were 3 people, so I was primarily just 1st/2nd level support, but cutbacks happened and I learnt a lot quickly. My manager is completely useless and I've had to teach him a number of basic desktop tasks. As I wasn't confident with my server/network skills when he started I didn't realise how hopeless he was until the past year. 80% of our staff come to me for assistance as "He doesn't say anything", "He's not comfortable with women", "He doesn't actually get anything done". So while I'm trying to manage most of our users, I'm organising our ESX rollouts and other things he doesn't understand in the slightest. My company has a global footprint and my manager happens to be from a country we need assistance in and has been sent 3 times now, ranging from 2 to 6 months leaving me on my own to do all the work. In this time I have had no major payrises (just inflation 2-3%), and no title change from when I first started. He has gotten them nothing, leading me to believe he is leading them on with his ability to retrieve the money, lying just as much as he has about his IT ability. My 2up manager is aware of how useless he is, and has been trying to make him redundant for months (I've seen the evidence of this innocently when I assisted the HR lady) however as the CEO is sending him overseas to retrieve money, is unable to do so. I'm told when he leaves I'll become team lead with associated 10k payrise, however there is no timeframe on this. I sincerely believe my 2up wants this, however dont know how long the board/CEO will try to retrieve the money. I was told 30th June deadline for decisions, but he's still here. With 4 months to go until my current study load finishes (doing 3 subjects a semester to get in done in time as it was for medicine applications which I'll still have an interview for so still going in case a miracle occurs (lotto!)). Do I wait it out until the study finishes? Should I wait longer than that, do some certs ie Vmware/Microsoft and then bail? I probably cant earn the money I'd be on with the 10k payrise anywhere else. I might manage a 5k payrise though. Devious_05 fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Jul 27, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 10:57
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Looking for work while studying and working is likely to be very stressful. While your current work situation doesn't sound like a good environment it is probably worth sticking around until your study is done. Once your papers are out of the way then spend the time looking for another job. It looks like you're the support for your partner studying at the moment. Student loans are a possibility but lifestyle, current payments and the total debt at the end of both of you studying is likely to be significant. Just saying it's an option but necessarily a good one. In relation to other certifications you may find a new employer that will put you through those so only stick around and do them if you struggle to find work without them.
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Jul 27, 2015 01:08
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I should've said I'm in Australia and we don't have student loans that cover anything but tuition (though tuition loans are from government and only go up by inflation so thats a plus). I earn too much for him to get any government payments to study. I think I just need to suck it up for next few months, but I'm not sleeping properly as I get so frustrated at the situation, so keep coming back to the "I should leave now" thoughts. Thanks for the suggestions.
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Jul 27, 2015 12:22
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It's easy to get bogged down in thinking about the situation at work. It's tough to deal with but see if you can change your perspective and look at your current work as something that will end soon when you find another job. You need to do what you can to stop thinking about it so you can get better sleep. We all go through situations like that and it can take up a lot of your thinking. Realise it's a situation outside of your control.
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Jul 27, 2015 20:07
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Well, this seems like a decent place to post my dilemma...hopefully I am right! I really have a couple of dilemmas, but I would like to concentrate on one of them in this post: my company of ~500 employees just got bought out by a massive corporation. A Fortune 25 company in fact. I think you can imagine what usually happens to IT staff when a buyout occurs...I can certainly imagine. The thing is, I want to stay. I like the looks of the company that bought us. My problem is getting noticed as an employee with talent that the buying company wants to keep. At my "old" company, there was nowhere for me to go. I see the new company as a chance to move into an organization where I can make upward progress. Ordinarily I would just do the usual bust rear end and get poo poo done, but I have a reality to face. My boss(es) are the type to hide me. Nobody outside of them know who I am, and aren't likely to learn who I am. Without some kind of recognition outside of them, my fear is that when the time comes to pull the plug on our systems, I will be let go without fanfare because they have no idea who I am or what I am capable of. Example: They have project lists from which they dole out work to me. I do the work and they report to whoever (was the Executive Leadership Team, but now will be their bosses at the new company). My concern is that it is THEIR names on the projects, and not mine. Thus to the new company it simply looks like they are getting the work done and doing a great job in a pressure situation, when in fact, I am doing the work and dealing with the pressure. I understand the interplay of roles between manager and employee and I get that the manager will get some of the credit for their teams completing projects. The degree of credit they receive relative to mine, is dependent on the manager, in general and my bosses have traditionally been secretive about my involvement in our projects. My issue is I expect I will be getting NO credit for getting things done. We've got complex projects coming down the pipe that are in a time crunch and are going to require me to bust my rear end. I want some recognition for that so I can hopefully leverage into a position at the new company. Hierarchy: Me, my boss (a director), his boss (former CIO, but now a VP in the new org), his boss (IT VP at the new company), a business unit President, the CEO. My immediate goal is to secure a position in the new organization based on my talent and good looks. I have been introduced to the new VP of IT and have his contact info. Our introduction meeting with the new VP went well for me, I feel. Amongst my team-members of ~12 employees, I felt I stood out with my ability to communicate and present. I asked a couple of decent questions (relative) and also suggested a couple of things which went over well; one of them got a "that's a great idea" from the VP. I want to continue to get my face in front of this guy somehow. Would it be OK for me to follow up with him directly on my suggestions? I feel like it is possible my bosses would not like this, but I do not really know what their reaction would be. Should I care about that insofar as I have career goals to attain here? I can manage their anger, if any. I am mostly concerned how a follow-up would look with the new VP; essentially going around my bosses. Note that the guy is not in our office, and I have not seen him around either, so a hallway/elevator meeting is unlikely. I have another meeting this Thursday about our transition. I am not sure if the new VP will be there or not. Should I wait to see if he is and then try to make another good showing and then try to catch him in the hallway, or on the elevator? Business/Career Goons, how I can get the recognition I so richly deserve?
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Aug 12, 2015 16:25
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My first thought is (sorry for the cliche analogy) even if you win this "battle" its a losing "war". You get the new VP to listen, you stick around. But if your bosses are keeping a lid on you and you still report to them, then its going to be the same poo poo. With a larger company you might be able to lateral out from under them but its often criminally easy for selfish managers to hold onto their people, often by doing nasty things. So, I would be ready for that as well. Thats about as far as I can get without talking out my rear end. I'm not sure what you should actually do. If it were me I would talk to my bosses and the new VP. Tell the boss I like my job and I'm worried etc. Try to get them to go to bat for me, because even if they want to take the credit, they need someone to do the work. The new VP its grab some time to see what they're focused on, how I can help because i've done x and y or know about whatever. If there's no hope because they're dropping the IT staff regardless, maybe you can catch that. Then you're ready to go job hunting and can use your focus there instead of at your current job. It might make your current managers mad but IDK... if they're like that then they probably aren't doing you any favors anyway so why value that relationship?
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Aug 12, 2015 18:09
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The system I work on is definitely going buh-bye. They have stated as such. They have also given us a time table of 18-24 months for that integration/plug-pulling to start. I don't have a reason to believe they are not telling the truth here other than :business:. This means that my current bosses will also be looking for work, either within the new organization, or outside. The upshot of that is my department will disperse and it's likely I will have a new boss, whether with the new company, or otherwise. At least it's nice to know for sure that my current job will end as opposed to having to question it I suppose. The downside is my bosses have even more reason to highlight their successes and fail to mention they had help since they too will be looking to shift into the new organization. Given the information above, I am not all that concerned about saving relationships EXCEPT that I genuinely like my boss's boss. He has always been one to make sure I was happy and is a straight shooter. Still, he takes his cues from my boss, who is primarily the one responsible for keeping me from grabbing any of the limelight. If my boss says I'm doing a good (or bad) job, his boss accepts it, no matter what the actual truth might be. I suppose this is why you try to hire good people to work for you. So you can let them do their thing and report the results to you with only general guidance and direction. I've left unsaid so far that I think my boss tends to skew things against me (for whatever reasons) just enough to keep me from breaking out. I'm concerned the new company will simply accept what he has to say, like his boss does now. Anyway, that is really my concern, that our new overlords will only get my boss's review of my talents, skills and capabilities as opposed to how I perceive them to be. I accept that I might suck (I don't think so - I came here from another company as an all-star), but I want to make sure *I* prove that I suck, as opposed to them just accepting it because my boss might say so. A lateral move is absolutely a possibility. I just want to make sure I put my best foot forward and stand on my own merits, which I feel gives me a better chance. So, I am looking to intervene if I can. I'm just not sure how to go about that.
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Aug 12, 2015 19:10
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Devian666 posted:It's easy to get bogged down in thinking about the situation at work. It's tough to deal with but see if you can change your perspective and look at your current work as something that will end soon when you find another job. You need to do what you can to stop thinking about it so you can get better sleep. We all go through situations like that and it can take up a lot of your thinking. Realise it's a situation outside of your control.
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Aug 13, 2015 14:37
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Devious_05 posted:Out of the blue today I get a call telling me my manager will be gone by end of next week, I'm being promoted to senior and getting my own junior along with a 12k payrise. I was slightly stunned, but problem sorted. Thanks for the advice. It's looks like you weren't the only one having issues with your manager. Certainly some good news all around and at least you can focus on doing your job now.
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Aug 14, 2015 00:44
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Interesting
JIZZ DENOUEMENT fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Dec 23, 2019 |
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Aug 14, 2015 07:10
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Ok
JIZZ DENOUEMENT fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Dec 23, 2019 |
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Aug 14, 2015 07:32
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I just wanted to post a status update, even in the absence of much interest in my problem, lol. I have requested, and was granted a meeting with the VP of our new company, and my boss's boss will be present as well. This forum was offered in our departmental meeting yesterday and I decided this would be a great way for me to get my face in front of the guy and talk some shop. Basically, my goal is to let him know that I want to transition to the new company rather than leave. I plan to discuss the ways in which I can make this possible. I also want to cover my short-, medium-term goals to see how those align within the new company. And last, the long term goal for my career. I have some time to prepare, so I'm going to figure out more about how I can help them, as opposed to how they can help me achieve my goals. It's a 2-way street, right? If anyone has any tips, or suggestions, I am all ears! Thanks!
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Aug 14, 2015 13:44
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Show up with a solid plan to make/save money for the company. Use actual figures in your estimates. That is basically all the VP cares about and it will demonstrate that you're on the same page.
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Aug 14, 2015 20:16
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MrKatharsis posted:Show up with a solid plan to make/save money for the company. Use actual figures in your estimates. That is basically all the VP cares about and it will demonstrate that you're on the same page. This is a solid approach. If you are talking benefits to the business this is what makes sense to senior management. You'll also be talking the same language. If your long term goal is something that will help the company or mean you will stay with them longer that is also a positive thing for management to hear.
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Aug 15, 2015 04:18
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After turning 30 years old last week I've been having a huge, prolonged panic attack about my non-existent career. I've been working as a GIS Technician for the last 7 years and make $29k/yr. I started immediately after getting my BA in Geography and chose the job because I felt like I should do something related to my degree. Unfortunately I don't actually have any real interest in GIS and I'm totally disengaged from the grunt work I'm doing all day in addition to not being particularly good at what I do. I recognize that I somehow let seven years elapse in my current situation without improving my skill set, and that's fairly shameful, but there's no point in beating myself up over it now. I know the only real career path for a pure GIS person is to essentially become a programmer, and I don't have any natural talent in that area. I feel like in pursuing this path I'd be bashing my head against a wall trying to make myself fit into a purely technical role that plays into my weaknesses. So I'm adrift without any technical skills apart from the basic Excel/Access/Word stuff and I'm seriously considering applying to an entry level office job at my local university in hopes of parlaying it into a more satisfying Student Services position that might eventually pay ~$50k. Is this a dumb idea? I generally like academia and feel like it'd be a good environment for me. On the other hand I feel like I'd somehow be screwing up by abandoning my "career path" at 30 just because I don't derive any satisfaction from it. Of course I never made any headway in that career to begin with, which makes starting over a little less painful (particularly since entry level work here already pays the same as my current job). Apologies if any of this sounds whiny or like I'm not willing to learn new skills. I recognize that I'll need to. I was just very complacent and naive about my career for a long time and am paying for it now with a lot of mental duress. Any advice is welcome. Tacier fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Sep 9, 2015 |
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Sep 9, 2015 03:38
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Tacier posted:After turning 30 years old last week I've been having a huge, prolonged panic attack about my non-existent career. I've been working as a GIS Technician for the last 7 years and make $29k/yr. I started immediately after getting my BA in Geography and chose the job because I felt like I should do something related to my degree. Unfortunately I don't actually have any real interest in GIS and I'm totally disengaged from the grunt work I'm doing all day in addition to not being particularly good at what I do. I recognize that I somehow let seven years elapse in my current situation without improving my skill set, and that's fairly shameful, but there's no point in beating myself up over it now.
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Sep 9, 2015 03:45
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Tacier posted:On the other hand I feel like I'd somehow be screwing up by abandoning my "career path" at 30 just because I don't derive any satisfaction from it. Of course I never made any headway in that career to begin with, which makes starting over a little less painful (particularly since entry level work here already pays the same as my current job). It's more like your career path sounds like a dead end without increasing your skills or capabilities and at that pay it's not really worth staying long term. For your work you may already have a number of skills that relate to other fields. I would look at other related fields that use GIS information. Maybe your existing skills and knowledge overlap with a profession like surveying, or related fields. There is also potential in changing jobs for the same role as that's how most people get pay increases these days. Or you could look at what your employers/managers/team leaders have as qualifications to do more than a technician job (if that's programming only then forget that).
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Sep 9, 2015 04:05
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Tacier posted:After turning 30 years old last week I've been having a huge, prolonged panic attack about my non-existent career.
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Sep 9, 2015 04:49
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Dik Hz posted:What are you good at and what do you want to do? Obviously if you lasted 7 years at your current job, there is something about it that you like or are good at. What is it? Seriously, if you hate what you do and you're not good at it, you don't last 7 months. Let alone 7 years. Those are great questions and a big part of why I regret not moving on sooner is I still don't have a good sense of my professional interests, but I feel like a more public facing position would be preferable for me. I'm personable, articulate, and a good communicator--all of which means nothing to someone who wants a python/Java/SQL guy, but might be a selling point for a Financial Aid Counselor or Admissions Advisor. To be honest, much of the reason I've stayed where I am is because the job was low stress and in my hometown along with my family and social network. The idea of leaving those things was anxiety inducing for me and probably subconsciously influenced me to stay longer than I should have. Devian666 posted:I would look at other related fields that use GIS information. Maybe your existing skills and knowledge overlap with a profession like surveying, or related fields. There is also potential in changing jobs for the same role as that's how most people get pay increases these days. Urban/Regional planning would likely be a path that would benefit from GIS skills. I've never taken a course on the subject, so it'd probably be worthwhile to find a good planning textbook to gauge my interest. A Masters in planning would be a big financial outlay, but I really should investigate the job outlook and explore the possibility. moana posted:gently caress careers. Few people in our generation have careers; the world is changing too quickly to settle in a career path. I switched my focus completely just before I turned thirty and I expect that I'll be changing fields in the next few years. Yeah, the career-for-life thing is something I definitely internalized somewhere along the line and it's taken me a while to snap out of that notion.
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Sep 9, 2015 06:49
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Tacier posted:Urban/Regional planning would likely be a path that would benefit from GIS skills. I've never taken a course on the subject, so it'd probably be worthwhile to find a good planning textbook to gauge my interest. A Masters in planning would be a big financial outlay, but I really should investigate the job outlook and explore the possibility. This course seems to have a significant planning section to it. A free course is always a good way to get a taste of the field and may or may not help. https://www.edx.org/course/quality-life-livability-future-cities-ethx-fc-02x#! Careers for life tend to barely exist and where they do it's best to change companies or end up working for yourself to escalate your pay.
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Sep 9, 2015 07:28
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Hi guys. I am a naive young person who is only just making the leap towards their future and finding out what my adult life will be like. Currently, I'm in the fortuitous position of someone who spent their adolescence outside of the US and is going to university to get an MD with 0 student loans (tuition is free here). The salary for a doctor in South America is vastly inferior to that of one in the US, but it's still nothing to sneeze at and the money is less important to me than doing something I enjoy. That said, I would like to at least keep the possibility of moving to the US or Canada or New Zealand or some other English-speaking country in my future without being out of a job. So can someone tell me (even though my plans are far-flung into the future and abstract at this point in my life as a naive young adult) a little about the process of revalidating medical credentials in other countries and how many hurdles and hoops I can expect to jump through?
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Sep 22, 2015 02:13
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It depends on where you received your MD and potentially how long you have been practising in relation to New Zealand. You'll need to check the rules for Australia and the US as they may differ. https://www.mcnz.org.nz/get-registered/registration-self-assessment-tool
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Sep 22, 2015 03:27
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Took a two week vacation abroad to unwind and collect my thoughts. I think the best decision is to commit to, and actually finish the CPA. It takes less than a year (ideally) and costs less than $3,000 for a prep course and all the exams. Regardless of what field I go in to, that investment is going to pay for itself multiple times over. Now to figure out how to do that while working 60 hours a week.
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Sep 22, 2015 11:56
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Tacier posted:Those are great questions and a big part of why I regret not moving on sooner is I still don't have a good sense of my professional interests, but I feel like a more public facing position would be preferable for me. I'm personable, articulate, and a good communicator--all of which means nothing to someone who wants a python/Java/SQL guy, but might be a selling point for a Financial Aid Counselor or Admissions Advisor. I've kind of fallen rear end backwards into poo poo and up the ladder my entire career, but the common thread is not being scared to move on and move away. I've JUST taken a new position in a different city, and now have to move my wife, 13 month old son, and sell the house in 3 weeks. It's stressful as poo poo. In fairness, this new position gets us back to our support network & friends, but we've done about 4 years away from it all. It was awful and that's why we're moving back, but I'd have never had the opportunity for this new position without the move & 4 years time served away. My longest stint at one company has been 6 years, but it was through 3 different positions. My positions have also all been technically focused, but client-facing - it's the most enjoyable to me because I get to have my cake and then have cocktails at a nice restaurant while schmoozing around. I'm 33 and have more than tripled my salary since I was 24 and had my first job out of college. My advice is simply don't be scared.
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Sep 22, 2015 14:51
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When is it acceptable to start applying to new positions? I won't be out of my current contract until May 2016, and ideally would start somewhere in June or July 2016 I'm currently teaching in academia on a temporary-ish full time position in an engineering department. There's potential for my position becoming permanent but I'd (likely) have to apply and go through the hiring process anyways. While this is good for me because my salary would go up, there is the possibility that they'd find someone else for the job. e: and the job doesn't exist in the department yet. The area I'm in is pretty rural so it's practically guaranteed that I'd be moving for whatever position I apply to and I don't want to get into a position where I have to move cross country, find an apartment, and start a new job in a 2 week time period. As long as I put my start date appropriately, is it too early to start applying to potential jobs now? Mr Newsman fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Sep 23, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2015 21:15
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Mr Newsman posted:When is it acceptable to start applying to new positions? I won't be out of my current contract until May 2016, and ideally would start somewhere in June or July 2016 It's never too early if the prospective employer thinks your timetable is reasonable. I bailed on a job I'd had for 5 years shortly after having them pay for my degree and using the sabbatical I had earned after those 5 years. Around year 4.5 I'd started applying internally for jobs doing stuff full time that I'd already been doing on an interim basis (training/SOP writing, curriculum design) and I'd been turned down a ton of times, the last straw being when I saw the position I had been turned down for posted externally in the same week, after a long day of putting in extra hours filling in that position's responsibilities. Realized I was just being tapped as an ad-hoc underpaid intern and got pretty mad about it. Polished my resume, got in touch with some folks via LinkedIn, was referred by a recruiter, and went from app to formal offer in 2 weeks. It's paying about $20k more yearly for the same type of work but in a bank rather than a payment processor, I like putting in overtime, and they're already recommending me for a promotion with the next budget cycle as well as getting me series 7 certified so I can do work related to the investment side of the business. It's been less than 6 months. I made sure to point out my schedule needs (e.g. making sure I had good terms leaving the old job in case they had some form of clawback for benefits) early on with the recruiter, and nobody was caught unawares with a long lead-up to my start date. I mean you're looking at a 10-month or so timetable start to finish, 8 months at absolute minimum. If that's a normal lead time in your field, go for it. Just make sure they're aware of your plans early so that you're not wasting your time going through a hire only to have to walk because you needed 3 months when their availability was in 1.
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Sep 24, 2015 09:10
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Curious if anybody happens to know anything about starting/owning a contemporary art gallery? I've been considering it for a while now, but I'm not entirely sure the logistics and total costs of it all.
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Dec 15, 2015 07:16
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I'd like to work with culturing algae or working in the ornamental fish industry. I'm pretty open, but do people have advice?
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Dec 15, 2015 08:57
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Bruegels Fuckbooks posted:ISTQB is bullshit. The problem is that there are no real professional standards in the QA field so certificates like that have cropped up. It's like two hundred bucks and you don't want to work at a place that takes having one seriously.
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Dec 22, 2015 23:26
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My partner is transitioning from education to...well, whatever can pay a living wage. He has a BA and MA in history, and a couple years' adjuncting experience. He also worked as a journalist for a few years before grad school at a couple small newspapers. After making little money and with no full-time collegiate teaching prospects, he's started looking for a new career path. There's the option of getting certified to teach high school, too, which is a potential option. He's a bright guy, but doesn't have any technical skills -- no web dev, social media, software suites, etc. I've been pushing him to look for technical writing and communications positions, but would appreciate any insight anyone has about shifting his professional trajectory: ideas about areas to explore, etc.
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Dec 24, 2015 18:49
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Once people start in a job what is the typical career development process? My employer bangs on about developing people but really I've not found it very useful. It seems like the natural next step for progression is to be a manager but I have no interest in doing that as I feel like I'm a very hands on person. I looked at other jobs within my company which are effectively the same as what I do now but they pay a lot more and do things differently, e.g. use a different project methodology. I said to my boss I'd like to study and get a cert for that methodology and my boss said there's no way he will let me spend work hours doing something that will help me find another job. So I ended up agreeing some bullshit like improving presentation skills. I get why they don't want to help people find another job but I'm just curious, what do other companies expect people to do in terms of self-development?
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Dec 29, 2015 17:54
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stickykeys posted:I get why they don't want to help people find another job but I'm just curious, what do other companies expect people to do in terms of self-development? They don't want you to actually build your career for yourself, but want you to make a plan of career growth that benefits the company. If it happens to match up, great! If not, you just bs what you can and keep your real plans to yourself. Your real career dev plan and the bureaucratic one HR has you fill out have completely different goals, even if they are the same.
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Dec 29, 2015 22:03
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stickykeys posted:I get why they don't want to help people find another job but I'm just curious, what do other companies expect people to do in terms of self-development? i'm in software dev but most of my self-development time/budget is used for attending conferences and doing CS research
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Jan 2, 2016 05:03
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stickykeys posted:I get why they don't want to help people find another job but I'm just curious, what do other companies expect people to do in terms of self-development? I think a lot of it has to do with what you do at a company. If there's a way they can put you on rails in terms of career growth and basically minimize the amount of transferrable expertise you gain on their dime, then you're either spending time or money (or both) to become marketable outside the company, which they probably won't let you have enough of to begin with, let alone the self-respect needed to think of yourself as a lucrative hire elsewhere (else why would you be leaving). A lot of companies will say, deadpan, that they want to develop you as a professional and if you choose to leave that's not a problem. They're lying and will try incessantly to keep you from getting certs and experience that you can take elsewhere, especially if they're a big place with a large overseas tech presence and are paying you 30% below the field's average. In my line of work (AML), nearly everything is industry-wide. Certifications, knowledge of regulations, filing procedures, and so on. That's due in no small part to the fact that the responsibility is first to federal regulators/the law and second to the business and having special snowflake ways of doing stuff looks bad when auditors come by. I lucked out in that sense and had my prior employer pay for my schooling, realized halfway through my 5th year with the place that I could do better, and managed to get an offer at a much better place with about $20k more annual salary. If you're in a software role where different businesses prefer different rainbows of certifications, well, good luck. Your best bet (short of getting those certs on your own time/dime) is finding employers whose preferred skillset is similar enough to get you hired but different enough to allow you to learn something new. After a few years you'll be where you want to be, hopefully.
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Jan 3, 2016 18:57
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I quit teaching about a year ago. Currently I'm doing insurance processing work (I liked my last position, but this one seems like it's not going to work out in the long run) and working on an associate's in computer science. (It seems like lots of jobs like people who know SQL, and I might even turn out to be an okay Java or .NET programmer) Anyway, here's my question. How do I turn a master's in English lit into a positive for a future employer that isn't a college? I can't hide it well, because I taught English for seven years. That's a hell of a gap to have on a resume. I know not every employer is going to like it regardless of how it is framed, but it would at least be nice to be able to make it stop looking like a negative.
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Jan 7, 2016 02:31
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