The Frying Pan

@Arrowfar to

it's a typically charming Scots way of saying 'fuck off', basically :D

so, how are we all?

10:54 AM

Anyone an idea whether using my pizza stone when making pâte á choux will ruin it?

(preheatd to the correct temp, of course, not full heat)

Or should I ask on main?

use baking parchment

heat transfer and moisture drawing properties will be virtually the same, and you won't ruin your stone

I wasn't thinking about putting them directly on it, but wondering whether using it with parchment would be a problem...

It's how I do pizza

No parchment for bread and pizza, agreed.

no, I'm saying I use parchment for pizza

makes it much easier to transfer off the peel, stops cheese ruining the stone if it bubbles over the side, and prevents any possibility of sticking

results are exactly the same AFAICS

11:11 AM

Morning All.

Ah, @Cindy and @Cerberus booted their computers...

Morning, @MafaldaHopkirk!

@MafaldaHopkirk mornin'

How are we all

I've been educating the room in the charming patois of the Caledonian peoples

?

11:12 AM

specifically 'get tae fuck'

One of me favourtie sayins alongside "Hawd on a wee moment"

@MafaldaHopkirk - As you see, he stuck to the essentials...

@MafaldaHopkirk 'you hawd it, I'll dawd it'

@Stephie It really is al our language has, we needed to borrow the 'english' language

@ElendilTheTall That's a great one!

So sad...

11:13 AM

@MafaldaHopkirk did you see "Only An Excuse" on New Year's Eve?

@ElendilTheTall Yeah :P

Connell's Haunels!

Connell's Saunels!

@ElendilTheTall Or, one of my favourite quotes from the thick of it, the "Gorbals Goebbels"

Heid-the-Ba

@ElendilTheTall I’ll gie ye a skelpit lug!

user116848

11:19 AM

Hi @MafaldaHopkirk

@MafaldaHopkirk och, away an bile yer heid

@Arrowfar Ullo!

@ElendilTheTall Keep the heid!

11:30 AM

Actually, No

uck, NSFL

Hahaha

Jolenealaska

12:55 PM

Good night guys.

@Jolenealaska cya later moderator

1:09 PM

Night, @Jolenealaska!

Uh-oh - I just dv'ed an answer and the poster isn't known to take it lightly. Let's see how he takes it.

@Stephie <gets popcorn, settles in>

I think one of our mods gave him a gentle "nudge".

My very generous kids have shared their cold woth me.

tbf your comment could be more... diplomatically phrased

@ElendilTheTall Suggestions welcome...?

Assume he misread?

"The question asks specifically about cane sugar, not corn syrup"

At present you're basically asking him "WHY ARE YOU STUPID?!"

1:19 PM

Changed, thanks. Left the note about cane vs. beet and regional differences, though, as he is somewhere in the BeNeLux / northern France area, iirc.

that reads better

I'll send the bill in due course

:D

I'll add an extra Ritter Sport ;-)

pff

the fabled Ritter Sport

Open a hack chat, send me your address and I pay my debts asap.

user116848

1:44 PM

Dammit! After a couple of months we'll get the worst weather known to man. Heat, humidity, grossness and whatnot.

@Stephie you're here! Do you happen to have a minute, or whatever time a hiring manager spends on looking through a cover letter?

I think I must have made my usual share of grammatical mistakes and weird word choices, but can't find them myself.

@rumtscho sure.

written for dkfz.de/en/stellenangebote/index.php?id=017/2016

First glance (w/o reading):too long.

@rumtscho is this your cover letter?

1:51 PM

Noted.

@ElendilTheTall yes, it is.

oh god yes, too long

3 paragraphs tops for a cover letter

I have heard of one page, and know people who got taken with 4 pages.

1. Short introduction - "I am applying for such and such, I am confident i can be an asset etc'

@rumtscho rule of thumb: if you can't say it in three paragraphs, you probably can't in seven,

@rumtscho, you might want to remove the link unless you like visitors...

2. Explain current situation and experience in 3 or 4 sentences

1:54 PM

@Stephie will do soon, mods are not bound by the 2 minute rule

I pulled a copy, which I'll delete when we're done.

3. Explain skills and sum up

@ElendilTheTall In this case, I need two types of experience

one is in writing software

the other is in doing scientific work

well, you incorporate that

I think I wrote 3-4 sentences about each.

1:56 PM

You can skip mentioning the diss at the beginning.

"As you can see from my attached CV, I am highly experienced in both software engineering and scientific research methodology"

Hey guys!

@ElendilTheTall it so happens that I already know the project he is recruiting for

so, for example, I wrote that a special challenge in my last project was to create clean data and a nice search interface

because I know that this is a challenge of his project

@rumtscho, let me get my other computer. I'll get back to you soon.

this makes it wordy, but makes me seem a better fit, I hope

I also wrote out the name of my project, "Models in translational oncology", because his own new department happens to be a department for translational oncology

each sentence I wrote there is oriented at a need I know he has

2:01 PM

The cover letter is mainly to get them to read your CV, and the CV is where you put your achievements

Afternoon :)

but if you've got those keywords, it is a good idea to put them in the cover letter too

I'm sure Stephie will see you right

Really? I have seen it done otherwise. The CV is drier and less informative.

@ElendilTheTall Exactly.

the CV should be drier but more informative

2:02 PM

Hi @rumtscho, back again.

I remember my boss hiring somebody for a new position in our workgroup, she discussed the candidates with all of us

@MafaldaHopkirk alright fannybaws

We spent at least as much time on the cover letters as on the CVs

@cindy we are strangers in a strange land I think

this is a country that expects all the applicants educational certificates at the time of application

@rumtscho Ok, so basically you can keep the information, but need to boil it down a bit. Also, carefull, how you word that you are an insider. This can backfire, if done badly. You can, however, point out that you'll probably be faster in your "Einarbeitung" as you already know much abiut the inner workings of the DKFC.

2:04 PM

I did not foresee any backfiring

ouch, head on train crash in Bavaria

what could go bad?

you don't want to appear presumptuous

I certainly want him to know that I am an inside candidate

@ElendilTheTall I think you may be correct. :)

2:05 PM

@rumtscho make you seem someone who is too set in his ways or too connected to other departments or too sure of getting the job as "obvious choice"

aside from everything else, there is a policy that he is required to invite me for an interview then

@rumtscho Huh?

If you are already an DKFC employee?

@rumtscho Won't he know that from your CV?

good morning

@Stephie it is prescribed at our institution that candidates from inside the institution have to be invited for an interview.

2:06 PM

@jay wotcher

@Cindy Indeed, he will.

wotcher?

@Jay Hi!

@MafaldaHopkirk have you had mental hailstorms this afternoon

@Stephie So, shorten that part, or throw it out altogether?

2:07 PM

@jay exclamation, BRITISH, informal: used as a friendly or humorous greeting.

Oh i see.

WOTCHER!!!!

corruption of 'what cheer?'

@rumtscho re-phrase to point out the advantages.

"I know my way to the office and have a nifty system for getting free coffee from the vending machine"

@jay how goes the war?

@ElendilTheTall I know the caretaker and the cleaner on a first name basis and can guarantee that we will never run out of toilet paper and get all leftover cookies from the big meetings. And I have a key for every door, so should you ever need something from your biggest rival'S desk....

2:10 PM

Hehe. I wrote that I know the owners of systems with which his system will interface, and know the business processes we have in place for things he will need too, like ensuring that his application is in compliance with German privacy laws

@ElendilTheTall We are winning of course. (what war are you talking about again?)

@rumtscho, how much time do I have for proofreading / suggestions?

@Jay it's a turn of phrase

@Stephie I am planning to hand it in tomorrow. I am working on a shorter version now as we speak though, so if you want to look at it again later, wait for a second link.

Stop it with your British colloquialism

2:13 PM

@rumtscho I have to leave in like 15 minutes.

@Jay all right, me old china

(erm, not racist, Cockney rhyming slang)

I will have something soon. But if you can only look at it again tonight or tomorrow morning, that's OK for me.

China plate = mate

lol

> ich bewerbe mich um die Stelle als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (Kennziffer ...) an Ihrem Institut.

Then continue with something like

> Seit <Zeitangabe / Zeitspanne> arbeite ich am DKFC im Projekt "...".

> Zu meinen Aufgaben gehören <auflisten>.

2:20 PM

@jay which would you rather have, British colloquialisms or this crazy gibberish ^?

> Besonders Augenmerk liegt (oder "lag") hierbei auf einem sauberen (besseres Wort?) Datenbestand und einer benutzerfreundlichen und starken Suchfunktion basierend auf gut strukturierten Metadaten.

lol

ok you have a point

what kind of a word is wissenschaftliche, honestly

it sounds vaguely obscene

:27445661"scientific", adjusted in casus and genus.

@Stephie I know what it means, but jeez

it's huge

2:22 PM

keep reading....

benutzerfreundlichen... user friendly?

yup.

> Für dieses Projekt..... Tumorbiologie eingelesen.

ok, @rumtscho, next paragraph.

> Zeitgleich arbeite ich an meiner Dissertation (Abschluss voraussichtlich MO/YEAR) zum Thema XY.

Wenn die Diss Deine Qualfikation erhöht, beschreiben, sonst sehr knapp halten.

Besoders gut wäre, wenn Du zeigen kannst, dass Job und Diss zusammen Dich für die neue Stelle qualifizieren.

Die Dissertation als Thema is nicht ganz auf die Stelle passend

@rumtscho Dann nur das rausziehen, was an dort erworbenen Kenntnissen nützlich ist.

aber die Stelle ist für Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Softwarebereich, und das Schreiben der Dissertation war wissenschaftliche Arbeit im Softwarebereich

daher die nächsten Schwerpunkte: Software Engineering und Requirements Engineering Methodologie, Statistik, empirische Forschung, Publikationen.

2:29 PM

Eben. Das rausstreichen.

warum rausstreichen?

Ich werde diese vier Sachen in der neuen Stelle brauchen

Nich "löschen", sondern rausstreichen = betonen.

Sorry, slang.

haha, die Bedeutung kannte ich nicht

@jay schnell, sagen etwas in Englisch!

@ElendilTheTall Ni shi sha gua

2:31 PM

@rumtscho - later. Have to go.

@Stephie OK, thank you very much for your help!

any time!

I think it's quite streamlined already, I am now doing the last paragraph on my own.

OK, almost 300 words less, that's indeed a win

Good luck @rumtscho!

thanks

OK, another thing - maybe you @Cindy will have an idea there

I don't know when my dissertation will be done

is it better to write down a month which is only a bad guess, a more vague estimation like "second trimester 2016", or nothing?

2:44 PM

hmm

@rumtscho I think I would go with vague estimation. I don't like to be too specific with things like that as a delay can always happen. But you do want him to know that it is near completion.

agreed

second trimester 2016 is accurate yet vague

it's all about plausible deniability

:D

Yes, it gives you wiggle room.

I'm all about wiggle room

3:14 PM

@ElendilTheTall Well, that's certainly the case... we go counter clockwise but I see idiots going clockwise to make a left turn all the time. They just put two of them in my neighborhood to slow down traffic because they cut through our neighborhood to skip a light and they'll just go the wrong way all the time.

@Catija you need to do a PSA on YouTube

as someone who has lived in the UK you are uniquely qualified

Don't be a dick: yield to the left

I have a feeling that it won't get viewed enough. I'm tempted to ask CGP Grey to do one, though. That would certainly get tons of views.

do it

You have to put the informative video on a large bilboard in the middle of the roundabout

it seems a fundamental problem is that US drivers are generally not as willing to yield as their European counterparts

It's a similar attitude that means you get shafted on healthcare

"Fuck you buddy, I got mine"

3:20 PM

@rumtscho Oh my, that would cause its own collection of issues.

you know, the way airports schematically show you how to put your keys, laptop and belt in the case while waiting on the security line

"DO NOT LOOK AT THIS INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO"

better, make a series of non-animated boards on the road leading up to the roundabout

@ElendilTheTall Ugh, it's horrid... "Don't make me pay more taxes!!!"... but you won't have to pay for healthcare... "NO TAXES!!!"... sigh

"Why should I pay for someone who doesn't work to have a life saving operation?"

3:21 PM

@rumtscho It's not like they don't have signs... people are just assholes.

uh, I don't know, maybe because they're a fellow human being?

perhaps you need those one way in-road barrier flappy things

so people can't go the wrong way

you need a sign "no assholes allowed on that road" then.

I've been saying someone should add those one way tire puncture spikes... but I have a feeling those won't go over well, either.

3:23 PM

I guess a camera snapping offenders and sending fines will do too.

@rumtscho do you drive?

Well, considering they're being assholes in the first place by cutting through a neighborhood to avoid a stop light...

@ElendilTheTall no. But I get driven now and then. And in case it wasn't noticeable, I was joking since the "put a video in the middle" idea.

OK, application prepared, with updated CV and everything

will print tomorrow on the nice printer at work

I even watched a video of the professor online - he's nice.

Thank you all for your support and ideas

I have to do some other stuff now.

Good luck!

@rumtscho it was noticeable :)

bless your cotton socks

good luck with the job app, you'll nail it

did you mention your cheekbones? ;)

3:34 PM

I had, but then you said "make it shorter" and I deleted!

but in fact, my cheekbones are there

in Germany, the applicant is expected to have a picture on the CV

ah, well then you're a shoe in

all that's missing is a kayak paddle in my hands

the cheekbones are the icing on the intelligent, experienced and qualified cake

and the willingness to do 160% of the workload for one person

perhaps you should learn to wiggle them for emphasis

3:36 PM

because that position is sure written up as if it's too much for a human to handle

"Rumi, you're fired!" "Am I?" <wiggles cheekbones> "Oh, you."

haha

if I get the job, I'll learn it from the boss

@rumtscho Wow... that's... um... I'm pretty sure that in the US you're not allowed to require an image because they don't want people basing their employment choices on how an applicant looks.

he has sweet dimples, and they move when he talks

@rumtscho do you have a crush on your potential boss already?

3:38 PM

No. I am even surprised I remembered that he has dimples.

But when you mentioned my cheekbones, I remembered how his cheekbones looked

uh huh (¬‿¬)