If you want to do cool stuff find the people doing that stuff and start talking to them. Find out what they need and see how much you are interested in doing that. My work in energy is in EE programs and involves getting data out of one system and into another. So lots of process improvement stuff and data stuff.
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I let slip in a meeting that Iâve done some powershell scripting in the past and now Iâm being invited to meetings to see if I can help automate some of the tedious tasks that people have to perform.
For example, yesterday I got invited to a meeting where someone was explaining what she spends a ridiculous amount of time doing:
- Runs a SQL query to find all file attachments with the key term '-delete" in them
- Manually deletes those files
- Send an email to another person to delete the files in another application extension program
- Sends an email to the person who initially uploaded the mistaken files that itâs been complete
I donât know anything about SQL, but I know that if youâre running a query to find files with -delete appended to them, you certainly can add something to that query to delete them. The person that does this work insists it canât be done, but I suspect sheâs saying that because she may not have much of a job if we automate that.
My agency of 3000 people likely has several hundred people performing remedial IT tasks like this that could be automated with a little coding knowledge. My agencyâs processes would improve dramatically if we had one guy who went around the agency automating these tasks, but itâs government work so that will likely never happen.
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A SQL query could delete the record about the file from whatever table it is in, but I donât think there are extensions that would allow it to interact with the file system. It should be able to create a list that could be sent to a PowerShell script that would delete the files. If you have any training budget you should be able to find them some basic PowerShell courses to get them startedâŚ
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The fact that a correction is obviously correct to the person making the correction does not mean itâs actually correct.
I want to work with pvn imo
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thatâs correct in general but weâre talking about ME here
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I figured it would take a SQL â Powershell thing to make it work. doesnât seem too difficult, but somebody would be out of half a job if it was done.
âŚRegardless, Iâm not in a position to do anything about it, really.
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âPartnerâ, at least in Architecture and Engineering firms, means youâre an owner of the business, You buy in for a certain amount of shares, and you have some say in how the business is run. The upside is that you get distributions of the companyâs profits. The downside if youâre on the hook if the company canât make payroll. In architecture, itâs the only way to make big money in the industry.
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If youâre 40 with poor retirement options, you could consider the public sector and soak up that sweet pension. You can still retire early after putting in 20 years and get a decent pension, plus whatever investments you make. My move to the public sector was salary neutral (though a huge increase in benefits and work/life balance). Might be different for you. I think most code monkeyâs working for state government in my state make in the low (very low) six figures if theyâre good. If you know Cobol youâd likely be in an instant hire as thereâs a lot of legacy systems in Cobol and the average age of our Cobol devs is deceased.
Whatâs your stance on the oxford comma?
I donât like the name because it feeds the myth that there is another valid method for comma deployment
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Do you know anything about the giant clusterfuck that happened with the new Berlin airport? Apparently it was basically completely built years ago, but couldnât be opened due to some minor engineering issues around fire suppression?
The next person who walks in and begins a sentence with, âI just sent you an e-mailâŚâ two minutes after they send me an e-mail is getting one between the fking eyes 
.
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Iâm 100 percent from home but about 20 times per day get pinged on Teams with a âjust sent an emailâ message. WTF just ping the damn question then. (Itâs pretty rare that itâs something more complicated that might justify an email.)
I get a lot of âCooler, can I call you with a quick questionâ pings. Sometimes Iâm appreciative of the heads up, others Iâm thinking âmy schedule
is clearly free, just call meâ.
Nah. âCan i callâ def way to go. Calls out of the blue are the worst, what is this, 1998?
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I interviewed with company X last week, it was not a company Iâm particularly interested in, I just like to do interviews to stay sharp. Anyway, they asked me to come back for a 2nd round and I passed. The recruiter (from an outside agency) asked me for feedback, which seems like a perfectly normal thing to ask and like a fucking idiot I responded. Basically I told him the opportunity didnât seem very interesting and the hiring manager made basically zero effort to sell me on the job.
well holy shit, now he wants me to GIVE THEM A SECOND CHANCE and talk to this OTHER guy at the company, itâs really a great company big potential yada yada and Iâm just reminded of why I never give feedback to candidates we take a pass on, they always want to argue with you about why yourâre wrong. I just want to fucking light this guy up and see what he would do if the company had passed on me and I asked him to beg them for a 2nd chance, and if he thinks he could actually talk them into it. Fuck off, I have a finite number of hours.
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I know there are exceptions, and good ones are extremely valuable, but in my experience most recruiters are lazy as hell and donât listen.
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Oh yeah 95% of them are absolutely garbage, probably 75% just fucking useless, 20% actively malicious scumbags. The other 5% are fucking amazing. As long as you know that going in and are assertive enough to boss the lazy ones around and instadump the shitheads, itâs at least manageable
Hereâs a first for me:
What it is like to work on our Applications Team:
You will own and drive your projects from start to finish
Growth opportunity galore!
Enjoy a four (4) day work week!!