The Water Cooler

7:02 AM

morning people

Good morning. Last day in the office for me and I'm outta here.

@Snow I'm not jealous at all no.

Yep. Two weeks away. Can't wait.

@Snow <sigh /> I'd kill, or at the very least maim for a couple of weeks proper holiday

All my time off this year has been involuntary and therefore distinctly not the same thing

Are you not having a break this year? Or is it the contracting thing "no work no pay"?

7:19 AM

@Snow the latter really... the two punch combo to the wallet of the appendix op and the time between contracts cost ~ 10k so it's not really prudent to spend the money going away on top of not earning for however long

I think everyone here should change their names to MCU characters and gang up on @Thanos - it seems only appropriate.

Well that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Is your health ok now?

@Snow hehe.. well I have been referred to as the Hulk before

@Snow yeah basically.. some slightly odd effects from damage to the nerves where they sliced me open but nothing I can't handle

Yeah, like how Vision was weakened by the first attacks. Gotchya.

@Snow exactly.. except I'm not being as much of a wuss about it as he was

:D

More like platoon then. "Take the pain!! Take the pain!!".

7:28 AM

@Snow fortunately actual pain is quite rare from it now.. mostly I get weird itches and the sensation that cold water is running down the front of my right leg

Oh. That's not very dramatic, is it?

At least you get the comedy of feeling like you're peeing yourself.

no it's all pretty unremarkable really.. the water sensation is the strangest and even though I know it isn't real I still find myself getting freaked out when it happens around other people

Are you sure it's not alien worms burrowing inside you?

@Snow thanks for that image.. now I may never sleep again :D

This might help

Yeah, watch this one

7:37 AM

I'm not sure which is more disturbing the links themselves or the fact that you had them so readily to hand

I've watched a few of these. Pretty gruesome stuff.

turn the squick factor all the way up to eleven

7:49 AM

@Snow "I don't feel so good. I really don't want to go."

@Thanos ah good you're here. I checked this handy reference site and it would appear you killed me. I'd like to discuss what sort of compensation structure you're offering? I mean getting wiped from existence has been damned inconvenient

@motosubatsu I call it mercy.

sigh another day, another 'how do I shoot myself in the foot no really I want to' question

Yes, but you have to arrange care for Moto's cats now. With this kind of power, there is consequences.

@Cronax linky?

8:00 AM

workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/113160/… kindly assist me in nipping this one in the bud

'no but I really want to badmouth my previous employer, what's wrong with that?'

'but what if they ask me?'

@Cronax oh that one.. solarflare pretty much nailed it already

yeah, my point being more that it's a duplicate

as all of these badmouth questions are

Yes, solarflare gave the correct answer there. Although the better answer is "Stop pointing that gun at your foot while it's loaded".

I wish we could have this big banner on the interface whenever someone asks a new question that goes like "Are you trying to ask about saying something about a previous employer? Please read <this question> and yes it is a duplicate."

@Snow indeed and since that effectively gives my two little hell raisers control over the infinity stones I don't see that ending well for the remaining 50% of the universe's population

8:05 AM

@Snow Damn, now you have discovered my true motives. I wanted those cats. That's why I bothered going after those stones.

If Thanos can limit himself to removing the half of the population that are convinced their situations are still unique circumstances despite all evidence to the contrary, I may just support him

@Cronax Wouldn't that be a duplicate of the canonical badmouthing question?

Do the answers to this question help you? Why is it not a good idea to "badmouth" a previous employer? Would you be able to discuss the nepotism in the interview without it sounding like badmouthing? — Thanos ♦ 2 hours ago

@Thanos that was my view as well yes

hence my vote to close as a duplicate

Or Thanos can just delete all true duplicate questions on the site. That should leave us with 5, maybe 6 questions.

@Thanos you only think they are your motives.. you poor fool

8:08 AM

especially since I don't see anything salvageable in the question if the duplicate nature is removed

I can no longer cast duplicate votes (well, I can, but don't want to), so I have to now take the roundabout route of posting comments to suggest duplicates.

your votes have become binding with your newfound ~~infinity stone~~ moderator diamond?

@Thanos it's a hard life being king isn't it? :D

Yes, it forces us into words instead of actions.

@motosubatsu Of course, everyone knows that cats rule the universe. Even Thanos bows to them.

8:12 AM

@Snow is it like how MCU!Thanos can no longer truly enjoy *West Side Story" because clicking along has some..unfortunate side affects?

Thanos be like "I'm gonna snap my fingers" and cats be like "We don't give a f". I want to make that meme some day.

@Thanos yeah you better believe that that "50%" thing didn't apply to feline-kind

Yay, my first use of the mod hammer. :D

Did it return?

@Thanos who felt thy wrath?

8:16 AM

@motosubatsu The nepotism question, of course. :)

It didn't make sense to wait for a couple more guys because it was so blatantly a duplicate.

Although I won't be surprised if the OP comes back with, "No, I'm not asking about badmouthing, I am asking about nepotism."

8:34 AM

Possible. He's posted questions on other sites. One of them I really don't want to read.

@Snow yep.. not clicking on that one,

At least that might explain why he's been passed over for promotion/pay rises....

Darn it, I just lost The Game. A year I spent on that, a year!

8:52 AM

@Snow At least losing The Game is a shared embarrassment, since when you lose it you're generally expected to proclaim this fact, thus the people who perceive your proclamation also lose it

Hence the announcement.

@Snow ack.. you..you...ACK! 3 years, 3 fecking years I managed!

Sorry. I know, it sucks.

You're not really sorry are you.

Q: Dealing with interviewers who think you've "forgotten" how to do your job

9:10 AM

3

A little back story... I have a background and education in IT, web development to be specific. I have been programming and writing markup since 2003; that's 15 years. I have worked professionally as a web developer, and I have utilized it privately in my personal life. I took a break from the ...

interviewing software-industry skills

do we need to trim some of the ranting out of this?

Q: How to start conversation about building a team

0

I'm working as a part of a team, however my actual work is related to tasks focusing around 3 or more separate teams, think of a solution architect in IT environment. Since there is a lot of work to be done and just one me, I was thinking of a reasonable way of asking my manager for permission t...

management united-kingdom manager

the core question (the last three paragraphs really) is a decent question IMO but the wall o' text above it reads as more of a "how dare that peasant question my genius?" rant

Somehow I misread "building a team" as "starting a family". Sorry, don't ask why. 🐱

It's 80% whining I'd say.

@motosubatsu We will have to keep some of that rant, otherwise it sort of invalidates my answer. 😁 Although I don't mind getting rid of the answer entirely if that helps improve the question.

9:13 AM

I'd just plain strip the first 80% out but that would invalidate some of the existing answers so is perhaps not the best edit

I don't think invalidating existing answers should be reason not to turn a bad question into a good one

@Thanos I was typing my last comment before you posted yours..great minds and all that.. it's not just yours it would invalidate though

Morning all

morning

Good morning Nofel. Are you back in the UK again?

9:20 AM

Morning @Nofel

Yes @Snow I bring the rain back

It seems that way. Thank you Nofel!

U don’t like sunshine?

Sunshine is good, excessively high temperatures on the other hand...

@Nofel sshh.. it's actually not raining here in Manc (for now)

9:25 AM

I had 32 degeee of sun. It was good!

with the Dutch level of humidity anything over 24 celcius is problematic for me :P

in Mediterranean climes though, 32 degrees sounds quite pleasant

@motosubatsu it’s been pleasant since I landed here just sprinkles yesterday. I hope it stays like this. Made me see it how rainy season is bad for body

I been contacted via recruiters

It’s hard to say why u left last company

I told what mister positive told, “it wasn’t a good fit”

Then question is why, I pointed out 2 things. One it was too far for me to give my 100 pc and I wasn’t told about business so I wouldn’t know how to do and what to do.

The strange thing is one recruiter asked me for a reference even before sending me off to her clients coz she needed 2 ref. Is that legal?

why would asking for references ever be illegal?

the case you mention is fairly common actually, if one of the clients the recruiter is sending your resumé to requires references, it's better to give you ample time to prepare those references

by prepare, I mean contact those references, to check that they are still OK with being your references, and if so informing them that they can expect to be called for that purpose in the near future

But that’s something post interview and pre short listed

Not pre submitted for a job requirement

Q: Is answering a question with a question always a comment?

9:41 AM

that's not always the case

usually, the recruiter will propose you to their client, and tell you tell them your references so you can get them ready while the process at the client is started

so the references won't get contacted right away, they just want to ensure there is no delay when the client gets to the point where they want to talk to references

there are also rare cases where the client wants to talk to your references before even granting you an interview, although in the cultures I've worked in that's a rare and unusual way to do things

Feeds

0

In this question I have asked several questions in the comments, which are to a degree rhetorical - they could be considered answers in themselves if the words were rearranged, but the OP doesn't specify whether they are already doing those things so I felt it better to ask for clarification. The...

discussion comments

I had bad experience so speak from them. They throw my cv everywhere and when I apply on my own I am told we had ur cv for many recruiters where I never gave consent. So they use reference as well. It ends up bad

@Nofel you want to find a different recruiting agent then

an ethical one should work with you to identify roles that may be of interest, notify you where they are using your info (in Europe, anyway - under GDPR)

@Nofel Yeah that sounds like a bad recruiter. Even without GDPR concerns, a good recruiter should only propose you for roles that you're interested in and have consented to.

I had to give it a read on what GDPR says

9:54 AM

@Nofel GDPR basically requires organisations to gain your consent for using your PII

they also must protect it appropriately

It is to allow you to control your data better

(they also could be fined a huge amount if they allow a brach)

GDPR is being wildly misunderstood though by a lot of people

For the full information: gdpr-info.eu

@motosubatsu oh I didn't see the answers written after mine.

@Nofel absolutely poured with rain in Manc yesterday :(

@Thanos I'm torn.. on the one hand I think it's useful for the OP to hear some of the advice he's getting regarding that aspect of his question but on the other people are focusing on that aspect at the neglect of the last bit which is the actual question

@Cronax which is funny

I'm collecting inappropriate GDPR notifications from many organisations

who have totally misunderstood

There are a large number of people who seem to misunderstand the "right to be forgotten" part

GDPR appears to be the new PCI..everyone is misunderstanding it and getting into a flap about all the wrong things and likely missing out some important bits in the process

10:07 AM

@motosubatsu @Thanos which question are you talking about?

@motosubatsu that’s coz it’s a long EULA kind of thing which consumer don’t wanna read. They shld knkw from to produce a concise understand video or tutorial for consumer who just wanna do a tick on “I agree” which is almost all of us.

@Nofel As a consumer, it's important to know your rights though, especially when it comes to privacy. It's not acceptable to just blindly tick a box and be done with it in this case. That's part of the reason why the GDPR is so important

the ico in the UK has a good range of briefings on it, eg ico.org.uk/for-organisations/education/education-gdpr-faqs

@Cronax this one: workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/113153/…

@Cronax I just saw a video on GDPR in 2 minutes and It make more sense

10:15 AM

@Cronax while I agree with you.. this is precisely what 99% of the general population does. Hence facebook

I don’t have Facebook. Still I see my profile there! Coz I had one at one time

@Nofel which was your mistake.. your life, soul, thoughts, and probably your firstborn child now belong to Mark Zuckerberg

Lol nice way to put it. Internet MSN messenger gave way to keep in contact. Facebook took that and exploited it

@Nofel facebook exploited the fact that when it comes to trusting strangers with their personal information people are (in the words of Zuckerberg himself) "dumb f##ks", or to put it a bit more charitably people are very poor at evaluating non-tangible threats

sure, most of us can work out that a big angry bear might eat us - our evolutionary history has ingrained that quite well. But the nebulous concept of what a nefarious person or company might do with our personal data not so much

Well he took advantage of “let’s stalk ur ex while being invisible” who wouldn’t go for that evil. Everyone wanna stalk their ex!

10:30 AM

No, I really don't want to do that.

@Nofel well I wouldn't.. but then I'm not really into being creepy

I lost my concentration due to social media. Now it has my life screwed up. Checking and updating, liking and commenting. Even I left Facebook I still go to bbc or dawn (local new of my country) like I need my fix of nictonine. I am tired of that. I cannot focus on one single thing. Look at me. I keep loosing job coz I cannot excel in anything coz concentration is gone

@motosubatsu I studied people in my local area mostly 3rd world countries do it coz no jobs, no speedy net to work. So why not stalk ex or someone else gf

I had a look on my partner's mobile phone yesterday while trying to work out why her battery doesn't last long. The past 7 days, 56% battery was used up with Facebook.

I can write a book of mind and personality paralysis social media does.

I tried suggesting that she not use Facebook for a couple of days and seeing how the battery life increases.

10:34 AM

@Snow if the new diamond edition of you is going to go around being all helpful and helping me improve my answers instead of writing the classical "same but better and sooner" answers of old then I guess he can stay :D

Yea one of factor I was always out of battery

@Nofel erm.. because it's creepy?

@motosubatsu lol. Yeah. And I deleted my comment to make you look better too.

@Nofel well you could... if you could stay away from social media long enough to write it

@Snow yeah...the new Snow can stay. He's much better now :)

I think that teambuilding guy is really wanting to be made a team lead. Otherwise, it's just not going to work out.

10:36 AM

@motosubatsu stalking isn’t creepy in many countries coz there is no rule. It produces same result as seeing porn but legally.

I started to play mind logic games to get me into rehab or thinking

Just quit using Facebook. That's what I did.

2

I have channelised through chess which my nephew taught me in Pakistan into knowing myself better and seeing how I am kind of guy who throws everything on wall and see what sticks. Part of it come from just putting naive status on Facebook when ex and me had fight.

I did too @Snow and that was the best thing I did. I am against it.

Do we have a stack for board games? I got questions for chess

I always get checkmate FML

Yes, there's a chess specific stack.

and one for board games in general boardgames.stackexchange.com

@Nofel ick...you actually just managed to make it creepier with the porn reference

The Chess one is pretty advanced though. It's probably an idea to get a few books and play against a computer to get up to skill. @Neo likes Chess. He might have some pointers.

10:42 AM

Just had a go at fixing the "neurodiversity in berlin" Q

Yet another word learnt.

@Snow it's usually used by NT people who are trying to show how totally PC they are about NAT folk but I like it better than being called "brain damaged" or "soulless" or "retarded" :)

@motosubatsu In view of the recent events and his apology adventures in several places, that applies to Zuckerberg himself too.

@Thanos <shrug /> he was only sorry that they got caught

@Snow I did the same, and that's how I started spending more time here and became a mod. :) Although to be fair, I could have become group admin of hundreds of groups on Facebook if I had stuck around there. :p

10:50 AM

@Snow yeah.. I can't help but feel that he's being a bit naive, well intentioned but naive nevertheless

@motosubatsu Of course. As is everyone high up in the corporate sky.

@Thanos of course.. and all it would have cost you is your soul

@Snow He can always ask "who likes icecream?" and take it forward from there. ;)

@Thanos the vast majority yes.. since acting in psychopathic ways is a well proven successful business strategy it shouldn't be a surprise that people with those tendencies make up a large proportion of C-suites in big corps

it's not always a bad thing.. it's just something to bear in mind when evaluating what they say and do

@motosubatsu Good edit, by the way, on the ADHD jobseeker in Berlin question. Bonus points for a proper edit summary.

11:01 AM

@Thanos I do try on the edit summaries.. even though I'm pretty sure that next-to-noone reads them!

Getting ready for my first day back to work..... sigh.

@Crossedtheriverstyx ouch..the first day back always sucks

11:24 AM

@motosubatsu my bad sorry

Hi @Nofel I've been catching up on your posts. It sounds like you're identifying and correcting your problems. Keep it up!

Q: Dealing with interviewers who think you've "forgotten" how to do your job

2

A little back story... I have a background and education in IT, web development to be specific. I have been programming and writing markup since 2003; that's 15 years. I have worked professionally as a web developer, and I have utilized it privately in my personal life. I took a break from the ...

interviewing software-industry skills

so many answers already, but still I can't help but want to add another one because none of the existing ones seem right...

or at least, not completely

I almost wish Kilisi would answer it with his brutal honesty

11:44 AM

@Cronax hold my beer

3

@Crossedtheriverstyx Oh, this is going to be interesting. :p

lol. I would have gone in harder than that.

@Cronax I know.. I've been tinkering with an edit to my answer for the last 20 mins or so but I'm not quite getting there for some reason. Possibly because of lack of sleep but I'm just not bringing my A-game today

Okay let me try to put into words what I think the correct answer is

In an hour though, because I have a meeting now XD

12:03 PM

The correct answer is: "Language is just syntax - it's where to put the semi-colons and curly braces. What matters here is my knowledge of .Net and the platforms you're building on. That's where my key skills are, and that's where they're current. The language used isn't a concern for me."

12:31 PM

@Cronax That question reminds me of the point I was making yesterday: everyone views "I interviewed but didn't get an offer" as a failure, when in fact it may just mean that you're not fit for the job

I agree with the answer @Snow just posted here in chat, but from the interviewer's perspective, there are probably other people out there who are just as skilled AND have relevant experience in the specific language

I feel like the question is kind of asking, "how do I talk people in to hiring me for jobs for which I may not be the best candidate" and the answer may just be, "you shouldn't, because you're not the best candidate."

Sometimes people need to be shaken out of their preconceptions. Passive-aggressive as it might be....

Hmmm... I have baby tomatoes in my lunch box. I can see the tops of people's heads over the cubicle partitions.

@Snow you know what must be done

@Snow Make sure that after you toss a couple, you plant the half-empty bag of tomatoes on someone else's desk

I must resist.

@Snow I think that applies to the interviewer and the candidate in that particular question. Interviewer needs to open his eyes that some of the people he thinks are hacks are actually good programmers, and the candidate needs to understand that he's not superman and he might just not be a good fit

12:41 PM

@dwizum amateur! what you need to do is take 2-3 from the packet ready for throwing.. then give the remainder to someone else ("I've just got too many and I'm watching what I eat before my holiday!").. then throw the ones you kept back. Upon throwing them yell "Coworker! Stop that!"

Best Puzzling question I've seen in a while

@Snow nice :)

now throw those damn tomatoes!

@Crossedtheriverstyx r u Richard?

@Snow thanks!

@Crossedtheriverstyx I realised I am far behind tech stack as I don’t have commercial exp. with new tech and everyone asking new tech. I find myself in tight spot.

Personal project != commercial experience

@dwizum when I interview people, I care less about the language than the skill. If you know any "C" type of language, I'm not concerned with how long it's been. If you know something close.

@Nofel yep it's me.

@Nofel if you're a little behind, look for "Legacy systems" as a keyword.

@Nofel true.. but that doesn't mean that personal project experience is worthless, if you've got general commercial experience then that's the main thing

12:56 PM

Old skills aren't necessarily a drawback, they actually make for a good niche market

If you know COBOL today, you'll never be out of a job.

According to the mentor in my last work. I need to be good in JavaScript in order for me to work on angular

I have JavaScript tutorials I couldn’t end it coz I don’t practice as I have realised. Coz I get lost and first I use to leave a chapter which I cannot understand and move on, which is helpful but so is steeping way from it

I got 3-4 shorts jobs on my cv. That raises eye brows

@Nofel it's all about where you want to end up. You could get a job where JavaScript is secondary to your regular duties, get good at it, then go from there.

Just 3 jobs that were long until I decided to move on

@Nofel I was out for five years, you just need to try harder. You can do it.

@Crossedtheriverstyx could have on my job where manager was a arse but then damage would have be greater

1:02 PM

@Nofel you can explain that you shifted your career focus and had a few bumps in the road as you adjusted.

Going back to Pakistan I realised I had a lot in me that needed to unloaded from that job and last job helped me

@Nofel this is why so many of us were screaming for you to get out.

You were starting to think you were worthless, and we knew that wasn't the fact.

I am not master either. All calls I get say ur not too good with angular

IDrinkandIKnowThings

I think I just caught my first decent break in a while. I found an employer willing to work with me :)

the last salary u were on was a senior role

@IDrinkandIKnowThings be easy on him.

1:11 PM

@IDrinkandIKnowThings gratz!

@Nofel after my stroke, I had the same problem, in fact, one of the questions I asked had to do with that

@Crossedtheriverstyx I don't disagree with this at all - my point was simply, if you have two equally-good "general" programmers, and one happens to have a lot of years in the specific language I'm using, and the other doesn't - wouldn't you choose the one who did?

Q: How do I address both being overqualified, and unable to perform at past levels?

11

I have been working in IT for over 20 years now, and had another career before that. My problem is that I don't want, and can't take the stress of the positions I am qualified for. The stress will literally kill me. I can handle lower stress/responsibility positions with no problem at all, b...

interviewing resume

@Nofel ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

@Crossedtheriverstyx the arse manager job was a longest one I had since in uk . I had a thought maybe I m wrong coz I cannot settle in a job and one day my Mrs said u had that job coz ur manager was physically in the room, u need to be managed and not remotely,

@Crossedtheriverstyx which problem

@dwizum It would depend on the needs of the role. If it was a junior position and I had someone with better technique and less experience with the language, I'd take him with someone with experience in the language but poor technique or personality.

@Nofel I took several steps down in both pay and responsibilities to take my current job.

I had a good deal of the same issues you are having.

@Nofel I suspect you

@Crossedtheriverstyx Yes - but - again - if you had two equally skilled people, and one had years of experience in the specific language - you'd take that one, no?

1:17 PM

@IDrinkandIKnowThings result!

@Crossedtheriverstyx I had that thought and I am thinking of it

My point is - general skills are great, but in a saturated market, general skills aren't enough to compete with people who have general skills PLUS specific relevant experience. That post reads like, "I have good general skills, so I should be considered no matter what, because I'm really good" and overlooks the fact there there are probably lots of other "really good" people, some of whom may also have the specific language.

@dwizum If all other things equal (almost never the case) then anything would bump one over the other.

U make a good point but with me I can start lower but when ur bills doesn’t meet, u get worried.

@Nofel true, but you can only do what you can do.

1:21 PM

OK, done with my meeting. So here's my thoughts:
Firstly, there are two kinds of programmers. The dedicated language or domain specialists and the generalist 'problem solvers' that will simply use the best tool for the job. Subconsciously, interviewers are looking for one of these types when interviewing, and they may even be unaware the other type exists.

@Cronax I go for the problem solver, clearly.

Technique over language specialists unless it's a job that requires a specialist

In the question we were discussing, the OP was clearly the second type as well, but the interviewer was clearly looking for the first type

@Cronax yep and that = BAD FIT

Sometimes you need to walk away

learning to identify this disconnect is crucial as a developer I think, because otherwise the interviewer will think you're a bad dev and you will think they are dismissing you based on wrongful criteria

@Nofel Yeah, I was worried about not meeting my bills too. It destroyed my health and took about a decade off of my life expectancy.

@Cronax now that you mentioned it, I've rarely seen someone who is both. I only know one person who fits the role and he's so good that most places can't afford him.

1:25 PM

yeah not many people realize that there's a difference

dedicated specialists will be able to change languages, but far less easily because they'll generally be very stuck in their specialisation. As the saying goes, "if all you've got is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail"

@Cronax I'm more of a problem solver myself. So, I usually blow tech interviews BADLY. I keep my own code libraries and go for solutions over platform or language. Most of the positions I've held have been maintenance coder types, working on multiple platforms and languages

@Crossedtheriverstyx my wife says u shld spend time with mom as my mom is in her 70s still she go to her institute, my parent created when she was 30

Instead of loosing another job.

While being there, my mom didn’t let me spend a dollar and everything and all gifts she spend her own money as I was visiting Pakistan

I was that opinion to help my mom at that age but I am not sure of meeting expense

@Nofel You need to protect your health (mental and physical) first. If you don't, you'll eventually crack, then you'll be of no use to anyone. This may be a time where you just need to retreat and scale down your life. You can always build back up.

@Nofel and as snow said earlier, withdraw from facebook.

@Crossedtheriverstyx That's my point exactly, knowing that you're a problem solver should change how you approach interviews

if you can make it clear that you're a problem solver and can turn it into an interview about how you work to get to solutions, they should actually get a good idea of how good you are

so you should bomb fewer interviews

also @Crossedtheriverstyx the analogy of your answer has a fatal flaw: car mechanics do have problems getting hired if they are unfamiliar with modern cars, where you have to be able to work with all the electronics, which is what the OP was being 'accused' of

1:45 PM

I'm a problem solver. I solve problems by removing myself from projects. ;-)

@AnneDaunted So you're actually more of a solved problem? :D

@Cronax :-)

Q: How to convince interviewers you have not forgotten how to do your job after a long break?

Ooi folks, I culled about half the post on the "forgotten programming after a break" question. Does anyone else wants to snap their fingers?

5

I have education and work experience in IT, specifically in web development. I have been programming and writing markup for 15 years. I have worked professionally as a web developer, and utilized those skills in my personal life. I took a break from the IT industry for the last 2 years because ...

interviewing software-industry employment-gaps

@Cronax which is why I specified the oil filter wrench. My brother, god rest his soul, was an aircraft mechanic who started as an auto mechanic.

Literally anyone can use an oil filter wrench.

@AnneDaunted I've solved problems by removing other people from projects.

@Crossedtheriverstyx Facebook I last used was 2 yrs back

2:00 PM

@AnneDaunted Isn't that basically a reworded quote from Tron Legacy?

I haven't seen Tron Legacy.

on the "how to sign off an email" question the OP has just added the following link: uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-sign-off-on-an-email-2015-6/…

I have to say I read the article with something of a sceptically raised eyebrow - not that I particularly care about how someone signs off an e-mail. In fact as long as it isn't out and out offensive I don't even give it a second thought

more that I've literally never seen an e-mail sign off that was just "Best"

the OP is in the UK AFAIK so I don't think it's a cultural thing

is this really a common practice?

What the heck does "Best" mean by itself?

I always sign my emails with 'Kind regards'

@Snow exactly

2:06 PM

I don't really bother looking at other people's email signatures either. Unless they do some crazy stuff like blinky text and gif images. (I have seen more than a couple of each.)

I'm the best, you're the best, best of luck?

as far as I am aware, 'Kind regards' is the official way to sign off

best wishes on your anniversary?

if I saw just "Best" I'd assume they meant to write "best regards" and forgot to finish it

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?

Why “best” is actually the worst

2:08 PM

Or maybe it's short for "Bestie".

I suppose you could get some comedy mileage out if it if your name happened to be george

Bested

Just make sure you don't typo an extra 'a' in there. ;)

Anyway, does that email signature sound question like primarily opinion based?

@Thanos or god forbid you type a u instead of an e..

Oh, I remember I had once typod an 'f' out of 'shift'. It was sent to a couple of middle level managers as well. Fun times. :p

2:13 PM

@Thanos we've all done that... it's like a right of passage

Was any of you around when I had one of my rants/questions in chat on Blake & Partners and their terrible unsubscribe practises?

That's one place where autocorrect would have helped but doesn't.

@Nzall Hmm, never heard of Blake & Partners before. Sorry. :(

a previous boss of mine once mistyped "sorry for the inconvenience" in an email to a client such that the autocorrect "fixed" it to be "sorry for the incontinence"

@Nzall sorry not ringing any bells

@Nzall anything we can help with though?

Quorra: Flynn shared them with me. I've read them all.
Sam Flynn: Huh. Light reading. Tolstoy, Dovstoyevsky, I-Ching. "Journey Without a Goal." Must have a killer ending.
Quorra: Flynn is teaching me about the art of the selfless. About removing oneself from the equation. But between you and me, Jules Verne is my favorite. Do you know Jules Verne?

Quick summary: years ago I applied to a company through an opening they moderated. The past couple months I've been receiving an email every 2-3 weeks on another opening. I clicked unsubscribe on each mail, and sent an unsubscribe reply, but either that didn't work or they chose to ignore them

2:16 PM

@dwizum Thanks for the interesting read.

@Nzall GDPR might help? obviously they still need to actually get off their behinds and comply but it would give you a stick to beat them with?

The quote comes up again near the end of the movie but I wouldn't want to spoil it

So 2 weeks ago I looked up their general contact address and sent them a mail, explaining I tried to unsubscribe like half a dozen times so far with no result, asking them through that method to unsubscribe my AND remove my data from their servers in accordance with EU regulations like the Right to be Forgotten and the GDPR

they called me today

It was SO DAMN SATISFYING to be able to interrupt the person who called me and say "I sent a mail to your info address a couple weeks ago asking to be unsubscribed and to delete my data through the GDPR" and then casually drop the term DPO

@Nzall fingers crossed it will "stick" this time!

@motosubatsu oh, I hope it will too for the most part

although a small part of me wouldn't mind further escalation to their DPO and maybe the privacy regulator in Belgium

but I hope for the most part it doesn't have to come to that

2:25 PM

@Nzall Oh, I remember that one. I remember I had a long conversation with you on that topic, though I was known by "Masked Man" back then.

yeah as satisfying as it might be to see them get slapped for it that means alot of hassle and red tape to deal with

just popped outside for some..er. "fresh air" and holy crap it's muggy out there! you don't so much breathe the air as you do bite it off in chunks and chew it

@motosubatsu I hope just referencing the terms GPDR and DPO, as well as pointing out that they apparently don't have their info address monitored properly, is enough to push them into action

@Nzall it's the right time to mention GDPR as it's such a hot topic right now

Why these frequent name changes? They are a bit confusing.

I'm not changing. I am who I am.

2:32 PM

@motosubatsu I mean, another issue is that if you click the unsubscribe link on one of their emails, they only remove you from THAT email sender. They got like 30 recruiters, each with their own list apparenly

I don't have another explanation as to why I'd continue to receive emails after unsubscribing

@AnneDaunted I have no idea what you are talking about. :)

@Snow I know, and I appreciate that (I wouldn't mind you changing your name into Snow White since you'd still be recognizable, though).

@Thanos I didn't mean you either. Rather guys like Masked Man (haven't seen him since the election...).

Laugh, but no.

@Snow same here.. I remain motosubatsu because otherwise I'd just feel wrong

@Nzall that could be the case.. but still it's annoying as hell on the receiving end I expect

@AnneDaunted Who is this Masked Man? Never heard of him before. I don't remember interacting with him here. I don't think I have ever seen him on this site. No, definitely not. Not a chance. None at all.

2:36 PM

@AnneDaunted yeah.. I thought that was a little strange too, I mean who flounces off in a huff when they win? Still it was good of @Thanos to step in to cover at such short notice. In fact I like him better than that Masked Man fellow

@Thanos Be glad! Now that he is gone I can speak openly about him...

@Thanos he left just before you arrived so you dodged a bullet there!

"Thanos dodged a bullet" sounds very odd.

@Thanos well obviously you wouldn't need to dodge an actual bullet, what with you being the nearly immortal Mad Titan and all but they do tend to ruin your clothes if nothing else

I do have the Time Stone. :)

Actually, Masked Man vs Thanos would be an interesting battle. Masked Man's primary ability involves teleportation and intangibility. I wonder what happens if he teleports Thanos into his pocket dimension.

2:46 PM

@Thanos fairly sure the Tesseract (Space Stone) allows for interdimensional travel so result= Thanos wins

Good point.

@Thanos unless of course he could teleport say Thanos' left arm independently of the rest of him, thus separating him not only from his arm (which I expect would hurt somewhat even for a Titan) but also crucially from the Infinity Gauntlet

which btw is another way they could have defeated him in Infinity War.. Dr Strange can create portals, portals which can be used to sever limbs when they close. Do I need to draw them a freaking picture?

honestly I don't think the Avengers were even trying that hard..

@motosubatsu I was thinking of the same, and yes, Masked Man does have the ability to sever people's limbs using his teleportation.

@Thanos ok so if MM can surprise him then BOOM! MM Wins

Moreover, the author of that manga has an unusual fetish for severing character's limbs. The best part is 9 out of 10 characters who lose their limb are not bothered by it at all, they just continue fighting and half of them even go on to win the fight.

2:58 PM

@Thanos yeah because succumbing to shock and massive blood loss is for losers

@motosubatsu Doesn't one of the infinity gems give immorality? I mean, in the comics canon, Thanos was like the 3rd strongest being in the entire universe, after the Living Tribunal and the One Above All

In one case, one character's arm was set on fire. Lesser mortals would scream in panic "OMG, my arm is on fire!!", but not this guy. He just shrugged it off, then used his other arm to sever the burning arm, just so he could continue fighting.

Hmmmm, I think that when my month is up, I'll change my nick to Charon.

@Nzall yeah but if you chop off the arm wearing the infinity gauntlet then he no longer has access to the perks of the gems

@Crossedtheriverstyx Why a month?

3:02 PM

@AnneDaunted you can only change your name once per month

or, once per 30 days or so, rather

@Thanos somebody missed the "Stop, Drop, and Roll" PSA :D

Either that or "Lobster Mobster"

@Crossedtheriverstyx And you want to change it now every month?

@AnneDaunted yes, I want it at least as fresh as my underwear

Ok folks. I'm out of here for the next two weeks. Please don't treat Thanos kindly.

3:03 PM

@Snow vacation?

Yep. Two weeks in Scotland Mc ScotlandFace.

have a good one @Snow I've gotta dash myself, vets appt for one of my feline overlords

@Snow And your mod duties?

@Snow are you bringing a translator with you?

@Crossedtheriverstyx no just a really short prison sentence

DarkCygnus

3:20 PM

oii

"You should have aimed for the arm" sounds pretty lame, but that would have worked too.

I am off to Bhutan for a week as well. Looks like the mod election didn't go as planned at all. :|

I saw Deadpool2. B+ rating. worth the money, but drags in places. Difference between DP1 and DP2 would be the drinking game. DP1: Take a drink everytime the F-Bomb is dropped. DP@2 take a drink every time someone says "family"

I will be around here for one more week though.

@Thanos Good, good, plenty of time to wreak havoc.

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx Agree with you on DP2. B only the + is too generous.

DarkCygnus

3:37 PM

@Crossedtheriverstyx >:)

lol, the suggested edits button is red, when I pressed it .... no reviews

3:50 PM

I feel like the indicators next to the queues in the menus are often wrong