How is your career going?

[Jeff V]

I'm a published author, and I'm pretty sure I have no such line in either place. Maybe I should?

And some people want to appear to be a subject matter expert in that field... and what better to "prove" it than publishing a book?

Maybe that's why...I don't prostitute my resume in the same circles that published my writing.

[Sudy]

So, at 10:00 this morning... when I was already 15 hours into a 12-hour shift on 2.5 hours of sleep, the ops manager, my boss, sent me an email that the developer of our security software just notified him we had to run an update across our entire company by midnight tonight, or the software would cease to function. Apparently a former programmer "had" to enter an expiration date once upon a time, and they chose 23:59 12/30/2020 for whatever reason.

Well, this software is notoriously buggy, and it's been my job to test and help roll out updates for several years. There's usually a several day testing and preparation period. We don't finalize the rollout until multiple departments have signed off on it. Well, when I had to return to "temporarily" supervising the night shift over a year ago, we effectively stopped updating. I just couldn't make the time unless I wanted to work 60+ hours a week, and I wasn't getting anything out of it. I couldn't really bank hours because I was indispensible in my secondary role.

So now, I'm 21 hours into my 12-hour shift, rolling out a pandora's box of updates going back 1.5 years, to prevent us from going out of business in eight hours. This is the first time I almost lost it on my boss. I can't even take an extra day off to make up for this for a week, because I have to cover for the new night shift supervisor who's on vacation. After that, I'm supposed to go on vacation, but it's possible that will have to be delayed due to all the troubleshooting I'm going to have to do for this emergency update in the coming weeks. Not to mention we're headed into a holiday weekend when the developer is going to be hard to reach if we have an urgent emergency.

[gbasden]

This sounds like a great time to do some negotiations for a salary increase.

[Isgrimnur]

“How much am I worth to not flip my shit and walk out?”

[Jeff V]

Got an email the other day from a job I applied for earlier this month, asking for some time slots to arrange a call. Three days ago I provided said time slots.

Crickets...

[Kasey Chang]

Did not get the apprenticeship, but then, always figured it was a long-shot. *sigh*

Let's see how the existing interview goes.

Did get another lead to interview, it's for tech support but have odd hours as I need to support east coast SUPER-EARLY. But that's not a problem, I usually sleep odd hours any way. They want to setup a time for initial interview. I told them I'm good on 4th or 5th as nobody would be active until then. Haven't heard back.

[hitbyambulance]

the LinkedIn UI is a horrific mess these days. i try to avoid using this site as much as possible

[Kasey Chang]

Apparently California EDD is suspending just about EVERYBODY's Unemployment benefits and requiring people (such as me) to "recertify" "due to possible fraud" and has apparently made the news. Won't get any instructions until tomorrow though. *sigh*

[Kraken]

All of my clients are OK with my 20% raise from $50 to $60/hr. The one that matters most won't raise my weekly cap, so I'll be working a little less rather than making any more money...but I think they'll come around when their fiscal year starts in July. They need me.

Meanwhile, a client who gave me scarcely any work last year due to a budget freeze has dropped three large jobs on me in the past week. I'm working more hours than I like to do and had to grind thru the weekend, with a couple more long days still ahead, so my Q1 billings are going to be phat. I billed 7 hours today...which might not sound like much, but that's actual butt-in-seat, nose-on-screen time with breaks subtracted out -- I'm scrupulously honest about my billing, even though nobody ever challenges me.

One of these jobs involves full substantive editing. I haven't explained yet that I get $90 for that, vs. $60 for copy editing. We'll see tomorrow if he bites.

In short, my career's going swimmingly. Wish I'd started it 10 years ago, but the stars hadn't aligned yet. It took a particular set of circumstances to go from 0 to 60 in two years. Even though I could, I don't plan to retire anytime soon, because I'm enjoying this.

[dbt1949]

I am still retired.

[Jeff V]

So my wife's job is now running on full staff, Covid having run its course through the place. That means no OT available, and that's been helping pay the bills the 8 months I've been out of work. So she decides to look into a part time gig at another nursing home. At 8 am, I helped her update her resume. By 10 am, she had an interview scheduled.

I've had 3 interviews in 8 months.

[dbt1949]

Have you reached 62 yet?

[Paingod]

So the owner that struck last time in wanting me to develop an Intranet site (which is still painfully underdeveloped and barely in an Alpha stage, let alone "running") is now considering tasking me with video editing. Because that's what IT is good at? I've always said my motto was "If it you can plug it in, I can support it" - but not "If you can install it, I can do anything for you"

After telling them, months ago, that I lacked the skill to make a good looking & functional Intranet site, they're still asking me for updates on it. It's a project I had written off as being too far out of my wheelhouse to do well. They're just not interested in hearing that.

I sometimes wish that IT wasn't seen as a catch-all for any sideways hair someone in management gets. I'm going to have to propose they find someone to develop this to look good instead of shoveling it onto my desk - give me a budget and I'll give you a nice site. This isn't the first time I've been asked to develop websites for companies I work for. I'm fully capable of working out the schematics and technology, but woefully incapable of making something that looks better than a website from 1982.

[Jeff V]

Have you reached 62 yet?

If I was, we'd likely be living in the Philippines now. She is currently establishing our future there, with an eye on going when I'm 62 but it's probably more likely I'll have to work (if I can find it) until I'm 70. That's unless the chicken farm she's building becomes fabulously successful, enough to support it's own operation in the province and providing enough profit to support us living comfortably in Manila. I don't foresee that happening without investing in modern chicken ranching facilities, the business she'll create would be a local thing, selling eggs and chickens to people who don't have any money in the first place.

[Jeff V]

One of the jobs I applied for today refused to process the application without entering date of birth. WTF, isn't that illegal?

[Jeff V]

The other day, I applied for an asset manager position, responding to a listing on Indeed. I did not realize until I got a subsequent email to log into the company site and complete the application that the job is actually 3 hours away in Indiana. It seems when I applied for a different asset manager job last week and clicked the box to "send more jobs like this" they created a national query, all of my previous job alerts have been local-ish. No problem, I figure, I simply won't log in and complete the application.

Guess who called today.

[coopasonic]

One of the jobs I applied for today refused to process the application without entering date of birth. WTF, isn't that illegal?

Nope. However that information shouldn't be shared with the hiring decision maker or used in making a hiring decision. It is generally required for verifying employment eligibility and background checks.

[Paingod]

Speaking of illegal... I wonder how well businesses in Maine are faring now that it's 100% illegal to inquire about previous pay during an interview process. I had one place, just after the law was passed and made active, still asking and I tried to courteously let them know it wasn't allowed anymore. The HR person tried to argue with me that they still could.

That's an outdated concept that a lot of places clung to so they could try and pay people as little as possible. The rationale behind the law was that the pay inequalities women experienced would often ripple from one job to the next because of this one question.

[Jeff V]

Speaking of illegal... I wonder how well businesses in Maine are faring now that it's 100% illegal to inquire about previous pay during an interview process. I had one place, just after the law was passed and made active, still asking and I tried to courteously let them know it wasn't allowed anymore. The HR person tried to argue with me that they still could.

That's an outdated concept that a lot of places clung to so they could try and pay people as little as possible. The rationale behind the law was that the pay inequalities women experienced would often ripple from one job to the next because of this one question.

Oh, the latest is to ask your "salary requirements." For me, that's not easily answered up front, it depends on elements of the job not necessarily revealed up front (lots of travel? Lots of child care expense. WFH? Less work expense and child care expense).

[Kasey Chang]

Gah. Just got rejected by the job where I made it to second round of interview. Back to more applications. GAH!

[Jeff V]

Wife applied for 5 jobs this week. Got bites on 4 of them already. Her intent now is to work a second full-time job, and is leaning toward a lesser-paying, easier work assisted living facility. I will be a full time Mr. Mom unless I manage to get gainfully employed, and even then we might need to find fulltime childcare options.

[Jeff V]

Applied for a half-dozen jobs this week, got one rejection and no positive responses.

Wife doesn't know how to handle multiple offers. She got offered one rate at an assisted living facility near our house, accepted it, then accepted somewhat more at an assisted living facility close to her current job (which she's keeping because it pays the most). The other two she declined to interview -- I told her she should get offers then go with the highest one. Well, the first one came back with a written offer that was less than the verbal offer, so she jumped on the chance to decline. I was not keen on the idea of her juggling 3 jobs anyway. The one close to her current job is just 5 minutes away so she won't have transit issues with start times. She'll maintain her current days off (every other weekend and one weekday), partly for sanity, partly so if her primary job has OT to offer, she has bandwidth for it.

[coopasonic]

I am a senior (experience, not age you jerks) individual contributer (in other words, not management) on a tech team. A couple weeks back I told my boss I wanted to move to a different department because I didn't like how the work was being handled and the way the team was being run. We had some extended discussions about other opportunities for me in the department and what was wrong with the team. Next month I take over running the team. That did not turn out how I had expected. I had been thinking about making the jump to leadership for a while, but didn't expect it to fall right into my lap. This could be... interesting.

That was a year and a half ago... it didn't actually pan out as someone backed out of the swap. Now there are two open people leader slots and my Director has asked me to step up. The slot I am likely to take involves leading two of the best, most talented people I know. It's both exciting and intimidating for a serious introvert with social anxiety.

In another 18 months I look forward to telling you how it never happened, again.

[hitbyambulance]

Gah. Just got rejected by the job where I made it to second round of interview. Back to more applications. GAH!

clearly you need to make the career shift into nursing

Oh, the latest is to ask your "salary requirements." For me, that's not easily answered up front, it depends on elements of the job not necessarily revealed up front (lots of travel? Lots of child care expense. WFH? Less work expense and child care expense).

this is easily gamed sometimes. when asked that question, i always give them about a salary requirement about 15-20% higher than my top-range expectation. nearly always the recruiter has come back with 'oh that's too high, they're/we're offering $xx - $yy' - which is how i found out about all these crazy lowball offers from the past year

[Isgrimnur]

Colorado has a new law to require publishing of salary ranges.

[RunningMn9]

Whenever they ask me about salary requirements, I decline to answer. My theory is that I don’t want them to resent my requirements, and I’m not interested in countering. Make an offer that you are comfortable with and that you think is fair. I’ll either accept it or I won’t. So bid wisely.

That only really works when I already have a job though. The one time I didn’t it worked out a little differently. They asked what my requirements were and I told them that I can only tell them what it would have taken to get me to leave my last job, but since they stopped paying me, I wasn’t sure what that info was worth.

They gave me the number and I’m still here (although I work for a different contracting company now).

[Isgrimnur]

Dollars is irrelevant without considering other benefits. I may not see the 11%/year pension I get for a number of years, but it certainly does wonders to offset the lower salary that I get working for a smaller company. And I got them to pay >$90 of the costs for my Master's degree, which were not insubstantial.

[Jeff V]

Whenever they ask me about salary requirements, I decline to answer.

I decline when I can, but it's a required field now in most online application systems.

[stessier]

And I got them to pay >$90 of the costs for my Master's degree, which were not insubstantial.

I couldn't come up with a good joke, but there's something in there, I'm sure of it. Something around inflation causing Cracker Jacks to cost more than $90?

[Jeff V]

this is easily gamed sometimes. when asked that question, i always give them about a salary requirement about 15-20% higher than my top-range expectation. always the recruiter has come back with 'oh that's too high, they're/we're offering $xx - $yy' - which is how i found out about all these crazy lowball offers from the past year

I've tried that and I'm convinced it keeps them from calling in the first place. My first interview when I got laid off was with Robert Half. The interviewer told me I was being underpaid at my last job, and shared with me their annual salary review. In the Chicago Area, it seems my job typically pays 20% more than I was making before. I got approximately no call backs citing a greater number, and just a few citing what I was making before. I do not want to prostitute myself for less than that, although I'd accept less in a role that is substantially or completely WFH.

Yesterday I got a positive email response from a job I applied for a month ago. The job was being advertised as being within 50 miles (the search radius on all my web queries) but is actually about 100 miles away in Kenosha. Google maps says the tollways will take me there in about 90 minutes during non-construction season (all but 3 months of the year), time subject to quintupling in a heavy snow flurry. 2 hours if I still to back roads. Better than the 3 hours to Lafayette, but we'd probably have to hire a third parent to take care of the kids.

[dfs]

I got approximately no call backs citing a greater number, and just a few citing what I was making before. I do not want to prostitute myself for less than that, although I'd accept less in a role that is substantially or completely WFH.

IIRC we're of about the same vintage. When I left my last job (which was my career) I started taking a long look at what I wanted and needed from my next job. What I really wanted was to keep my wife on company health insurance. That's what I really wanted. I went part time and took less $ than I could have to boot because I wasn't really in it for career advancement. I found a growing company where I could take on the role of "really competent junior coder" and I think they're happy with me and I'm thrilled with them. My low salary gives them flexibility on projects payed by fte slots and I play the role of wise retired guy who putters around the office part time. Think about what you want and then go for it. Lots of things you can compromise on, but knowing what you want and then going for it will make you enjoy the job more when you do have it.

If you want to work from home....be clear about that, but recognize how it limits what they can do with you and compensate.

[Jeff V]

If you want to work from home....be clear about that, but recognize how it limits what they can do with you and compensate.

Oh I certainly do, which is why it's a complicated question. We have good insurance through one of my wife's jobs, and she wants to continue working 2 jobs even if I find work if it's doable. It's more doable if I'm at home -- we could send our daughter to all day preschool, but my son is out of school at 3:30 and has too many days off on top of it (like yesterday when they closed because of a meager 2.5" of snow). Unfortunately, its usually unclear whether remote work is possible (and those who advertised it have not called back).

Targeting part time might help.

[Kasey Chang]

At this rate I may as well start writing books as I can't even get a tech support helpdesk job. They said they want 2-3 years of experience, I have over ten. But I get rejection within 48 hours of submitting an application. It's for a mobile gaming company helping players. What's so hard about that? Yet they wouldn't even take a second look at my resume.

I can't get a tech support job because I haven't done it in a couple years.

I can't get a webdev job because I have the training but not the experience.

I am basically screwed.

[Isgrimnur]

Who are you networking with?

[RunningMn9]

Whenever they ask me about salary requirements, I decline to answer.

I decline when I can, but it's a required field now in most online application systems.

Yeah, I mean it's not universal advice, and it's certainly much easier to do when I have a job.

A note for Kasey Chang - I feel for you. I've been in software development since 1996. I've worked for 5 different employers during that time. Every single one came about because I knew someone. I have gone on interviews and gotten offers from places where I didn't accept them, but I haven't had to do that much. That just seems to be the way of it.

[ManAboutNothing]

the LinkedIn UI is a horrific mess these days. i try to avoid using this site as much as possible

I can confirm this. And the 'leads' you get tend to be pretty flaky as well...i've had my line there for game dev/design/whatever for months now. Had 3 messages about them reading my profile thoroughly, been interested, I give them good contact times, and then...crickets. I'm beginning to think its a waste of time for that purpose, at least for my segment of work.

[Kasey Chang]

Who are you networking with?

At this point, practically no one.

People I've worked with I've long lost touch, or in the wrong industry to give me any help.

[Isgrimnur]

[Kasey Chang]

I know that already.

[Isgrimnur]