The Water Cooler

12:04 PM

@Flynxi It's too much for a cover letter, wait until the interview. BTW, I'm the prince of desperate situations. I came back from a stroke, homelessness and years being unemployed. You can do it, it just takes determination

Flynxi

@TheSnarkKnight Thank you for the encouragement :) it really helps!

The Snark Knight

People don't hold any of that against me because I use it to my advantage to show just how damn strong I am. "I faced this kind of adversity, I can handle anything you throw at me"

Flynxi

You must be quite a strong person :)

The Snark Knight

@Flynxi Use that youth and energy to your advantage. Don't be embarrassed by anything or people will use that against you. Be proud of who you are, confident, and determined and you can overcome anything.

Strong? Me? Determined is more like it. Too stubborn to die, too stupid to quit maybe, but determined as all hell

Snark Shark

Like a tall Tyrion.

Flynxi

12:08 PM

@SnarkShark I was trying to pronounce that try-re-on until I went a googled it xD

@TheSnarkKnight That is really amazing though!

Snark Shark

I had to google it to spell it...

Flynxi

@TheSnarkKnight So what cities do you think I would have a decent chance in? Or should I not go to a city?

I was thinking Austin, Tx?

Mister Sort of Positive

The voting gods have not been kind this morning....the force is weak....time to go to the dark side....where they have votes and cookies.

Snark Shark

My company has a location in Austin. No vacancies, unfortunately.

@MisterSortofPositive I apologise. Normal service will resume in 2.7 days.

Mister Sort of Positive

Very sad, it is.

Snark Shark

12:22 PM

@MisterSortofPositive this one will cheer you up....

Mister Sort of Positive

Wow. Where does this shit come from? LOL

Snark Shark

or this one, perhaps...

motosubatsu

everytime I visit IPS my already negligible faith in humanity decreases that little bit more

Snark Shark

Or we can ponder upon the irony of putting this on hold...

Mister Sort of Positive

I don't visit that one @motosubatsu

motosubatsu

12:27 PM

@MisterSortofPositive if you do you'll soon be Mr No Longer Positive

Snark Shark

Aha. Mr DV has arrived. I see him on a daily basis; he's like the cat that shits on my lawn.

2

Mister Sort of Positive

Your stalker friend?

Snark Shark

Joe arrived, two minutes after Mr DV. no, it can't be....

Lilienthal

Joe has been on for at least 15 minutes if it's any help. :)

Snark Shark

Curious <drums chin with fingers>

On the plus side, I found the hidden stash of chocolate biscuits in the office.

motosubatsu

12:35 PM

@SnarkShark say it isn't so!

Joe Strazzere

If it helps, I upvote what I think are good/useful questions and answers. I don't downvote a lot, unless I see what I consider to be a particularly bad question/answer. I don't stalk anyone. If someone interprets my voting that way, I'm sorry for that.

Snark Shark

@JoeStrazzere No intent here, I'm just bantering. You remain my Sir, Sir....!

Mister Sort of Positive

All Hail Joe! ( Dilly Dilly )

Snark Shark

@JoeStrazzere I have never seen you on my lawn.

Joe Strazzere

@SnarkShark Looking back on my voting so far, I did downvote one of your answers that came across to me as advice to intentionally deceive an interviewer. Just being honest - I have rather strong feelings about that sort of thing.

The Snark Knight

12:38 PM

@Flynxi You have a decent chance in any city :) Austin isn't bad, and since you have family there, even better. Texas is doing better than most.

Snark Shark

@JoeStrazzere Which answer was that? I might have been bad at expressing my intentions, or I might have had too much/little coffee at that time.

Joe Strazzere

1

A: How do I avoid explaining the reason for my sabbatical in an interview?

I took some time out to be with my family This would be ambiguous enough for most people. You might want to subtly imply that a family member needed caring for, or that you were stressed in your previous job and needed some time to unwind and gather yourself. There's no much else you can s...

Snark Shark

Thought it might be that. To be fair, the user is actively wanting to deceive the interviewer by not stating the reason for the sabbatical. If you exclude deception, there's no way of answering that question.

Joe Strazzere

@SnarkShark I think there is a difference between avoidance and deception. I think JohnHC's answer was much better, and far more appropriate. Just trying to be honest here...

Snark Shark

Fair enough. I deleted my answer.

Mister Sort of Positive

12:45 PM

@SnarkShark What? I voted for that.

motosubatsu

@SnarkShark that was the wall I came up against while trying to formulate an answer.. I couldn't quite bring myself to suggest a lie and the question is almost in Obvious Rule Patch territory in how far it goes to prevent the "correct" answer which is just to be honest

Joe Strazzere

@SnarkShark why did you delete it? I noticed that someone seems to delete a lot of their answers. Is that you? If so, why?

Mister Sort of Positive

It wasn't a bad answer...

The Snark Knight

@JoeStrazzere I told people that I had to deal with an illness in the family. I didn't mention it was mine

Mister Sort of Positive

This one is on the line IMHO. Un-delete that sir.

The Snark Knight

12:46 PM

@SnarkShark undelete your answer.

Mister Sort of Positive

Agreed @TheSnarkKnight

The Snark Knight

@SnarkShark you have multiple people with high reps telling you to undelete your answer, and according to the logical fallacy of appeal to authority, you must now do so.

Snark Shark

If there's a better answer than mine, I'm always ready to step back. I occasionally delete my answers, but only if they immediately attract negativity.

The Snark Knight

@SnarkShark differing perspectives always help. Be a bit more arrogant. For example, I almost never think I'm wrong.

Mister Sort of Positive

I voted to un-delete it.

Snark Shark

12:48 PM

Besides, I'm too busy working out how to get my name change into chat.

motosubatsu

@TheSnarkKnight since @SnarkShark could also be considered a high-rep user it's closer to being peer pressure :)

The Snark Knight

Hah! We are going to undelete it ourselves.

Mister Sort of Positive

need one more please

The Snark Knight

@motosubatsu Okay, 50K PLUS users.

motosubatsu

@TheSnarkKnight pedantry has been satisfied :)

The Snark Knight

12:50 PM

I'm thinking of changing my avatar to this....

Mister Sort of Positive

@Snow

As in Snow from the Hunger Games?

Snow

No, not in my head. From GoT, but means pretty much the same thing.

motosubatsu

@Snow I was thinking it was more along the lines of the weather - it's great fun when you're around but makes getting any work done rather hard?

Mister Sort of Positive

Ah... Jon Snow...

good one

Snow

@motosubatsu No one, but no one will be tobogganing down my back, thank you very much....

2

@MisterSortofPositive More generic than that. "Snow" as a name means something in the GoT universe.

Mister Sort of Positive

1:01 PM

@Snow I have read the books, what does it reference that I am missing?

Snow

Ok. Why isn't Jon a legal successor to the iron throne?

Joe Strazzere

@TheSnarkKnight Ha! Nice.

Mister Sort of Positive

@Snow Duh. Got it.

That is too deep to be amusing...

Jon Snow: "What's my name?"
Samwell Tarly: "Jon Snow."
Jon Snow: "And why is my surname 'Snow'?"
Samwell Tarly: "Because you're a bastard from the North."

Boom!

Snow

Someone might get it. And I wouldn't want to be outwardly offensive.

Mister Sort of Positive

Some will some won't. Its a bit vague, unless you change your pic to Jon Snow.

Snow

1:04 PM

Nope. I like my avatar. It's one that's recognizable at most sizes.

Mister Sort of Positive

I like your avatar too

I was thinking of using it too and changing my name to Winter is Coming

Snow

And even changing it to Jon Snow isn't what I'm intending here.

Mister Sort of Positive

yes

your aiming towards bastard I think...

if not, I am lost...

which is not new

Snow

You have the truth of it now.

Although "The Hound" might have been better, darn it.

But then I'm not sure I want to be known for slapping teenage girls around...

Mister Sort of Positive

LOL good point.

Snow

1:08 PM

"The Hand"? Hmmm, altogether different connotations there...

motosubatsu

@Snow spoilsport :(

Mister Sort of Positive

yeah, I would not use that one without the little pin thingy

Lilienthal

There's some sweet irony in my answer on the "should I fix typos?" question being riddled with them.

motosubatsu

nothing like imposing arbitrary restrictions to make someones job that much harder: workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/101111/…

@Lilienthal I assumed they where humorously intended

Lilienthal

Hah, no, I'm not quite that witty.

But I only get 6 minutes per hour on this website so I tend to be writing against a deadline when I answer. ;)

motosubatsu

1:10 PM

@Lilienthal foolish human.. I gave you the perfect out! :D

Lilienthal

:)

Hmm, there are loads of tidbits I could throw out but this is awfully close to a list question that's difficult to pull off in this Q&A format. — Lilienthal ♦ 10 secs ago

^I guess this is on the edge of on-topic and the potential value of detailed answers overrides the inherent list-nature of the question?

Some specific practical points of advice for new managers is I guess reasonably scoped. Though you probably could still write a book about that subject.

Mister Sort of Positive

@Lilienthal VTC as to broad..

at least IMHO

Snow

Back to the Wall for me. Later, friends.

Nofel

Thinking of email my manager about my dentist appointment made 1 month back, but it is next day to our major release

good idea?

motosubatsu

@Nofel when you say next day - which side?

Nofel

1:15 PM

forward

Snow

Change the appointment. At least that's what I'd do.

Mister Sort of Positive

@Snow Winter is Coming.

Nofel

no coz it will be month ater

The Snark Knight

Evil means never having to say you're sorry

Nofel

Ah,Today in meeting my manager pin pointed my is and are things

Snow

1:16 PM

Ghost, to me.

Mister Sort of Positive

LOL

Nofel

i told him if they want to baby feed them they shld tell me

he said yeah

Mister Sort of Positive

Now put your sword away before you cut off your foot

Nofel

who

The Snark Knight

ugh.... I love it when you give something over for testing, and they never test it, then notice a bug months later that would have otherwise been easily found

Nofel

1:32 PM

hahha

sounds like my TL

he get angry, tell me to delete something and when it is demo he ask where is it

and i remind him bt he rejects the alligations

Chris E

2:30 PM

always make a trail. Email him summaries of changes, etc.

Then when he asks something and rejects what you say, you can point to the email summarizing what he told you to do and that you sent it to him.

motosubatsu

@Nofel listen to @ChrisE he speaks the truth

2

Kaz

2:56 PM

@TheSnarkKnight I may be using this currently in my job search. "You're 23, haven't worked at a name-brand company and have no degree" - "You're right, most people my age have only just left university and are working for a big-name company in some graduate scheme, whereas I've been promoted 4 times, helped build a company that's doubled in size every year I've been here, and have spent a year simultaneously working full-time and studying full-time."

Lilienthal

Pfffffff. Managing is a lot more work than I gave it credit for. :)

motosubatsu

@Lilienthal it's one of those thankless tasks

RhysW

@Lilienthal Depending on the manager! Some manage to do loads of work but somehow still achieve nothing.

motosubatsu

@RhysW same could be said of most roles though

RhysW

oh definitely, not exclusive to managers

my manager hates managing, he just wants to dev

motosubatsu

3:11 PM

@RhysW quite common where good devs get "promoted" to management for the wrong reasons

the two are very different skill sets yet many companies really haven't learnt that yet

Nofel

It is that time of the year where I ask the question I asked many yrs ago "How much information should I give"

so deployment day, TL wants me to write step by step

of what I did and how can they do it

RhysW

he's the manager because he was the only one here for a while. thankfully for him he still gets to dev, a lot.

Nofel

while I donno shit abt thier deployment.

RhysW

and he does a good job of managing, he just doesnt like doing it

Nofel

@ChrisE He says "u dont need to email for small changes, If I or someone else is busy it will take ages"

motosubatsu

3:19 PM

@Nofel if his objection to the e-mails are on the basis that he doesn't want to delay the work by you waiting till you get "formal" approval you can phrase the message more like "as discussed I'll do a,b& c changes to x,y and z. let me know if you need anything different or if this isn't right"

that should make it clear that you aren't going to sit there twiddling your thumbs till he replies but still covers your back

Snow

Gah. It's frustrating to see a rep notification, only to find that it's for a site that you don't really care about any more...

motosubatsu

@Snow which site (out of curiosity)?

Snow

Worldbuilding. It's actually my favourite answer there, so not all bad in reality.

motosubatsu

I like the idea of the worldbuilding site.. I've never really gelled with it for some reason though

Snow

It's mainly people thinking up hypothetical Sci-fi questions

motosubatsu

3:24 PM

@Snow often with utterly absurd conditions

Snow

Of course. And everything has to be ripped to shreds because the question violates the root mean square rule.

But this is the answer in question here. I may have spammed this before.

RhysW

@Snow "I want water to flow uphill on my planet, but i don't want it to float away, how do?"

motosubatsu

@Snow haha.. worth it for the pic alone!

Snow

How does gravity work on my inside-out planet?

@motosubatsu If that photo of Picard didn't exist, then pretty much any Alan Rickman photo from Galaxy Quest would have done.

motosubatsu

how do you defeat an unstoppable army that has literally no weaknesses and can never ever die, or be imprisoned, or reasoned with, or anything? then the asker will get pissy when people answer with with weaknesses he hadn't specifically excluded and apply Obvious Rules Patches to the question

@Snow totally.. loved that film, I should really watch it again

Snow

3:32 PM

I am slightly guilty of the same kind of question here although I thought it was a nice experiment.

motosubatsu

@Snow you see I'd say that falls on the interesting side of the line

RhysW

I think I have become a machine that turns pepsi max cherry into code

motosubatsu

@RhysW have you tried the ginger variety>

?

Snow