The Water Cooler

ryanyuyu

01:31

Do you guys do resume reviews or know somewhere I can get one? I haven't written one or updated my other ones in a while.

Chris E

06:19

@ryanyuyu Sorry, we really don't. It's just a Q&A site.

Draken

09:18

StackExchange seems to be coming to a crawl today, lots of weird lagging issues

Or maybe it's just the Workplace, either way something is lagging....

Tinkeringbell

@Draken It's Friday, isn't everything supposed to be slowing down for the weekend? :P That said, I don't have any issues over here... maybe it's the internet connection?

Draken

09:41

@Tinkeringbell Other sites are fine, just StackExchange keeps having weird moments where it really lags. Something is going on, no idea why though

Tinkeringbell

@Draken Yeah, IPS seems a bit slow loading the notification window just now. Didn't notice it before..

Draken

09:53

Wheeeeeeeee

Tinkeringbell

"It's not you, it's us"... why does that read like a cheesy break-up line :/

Draken

@Tinkeringbell Because it's over between Stackexchange and myself, they took the dam dog. That was my dog!

Tinkeringbell

@Draken Hahaha :D what about the kids? :P

Draken

@Tinkeringbell They've been shipped to a boarding school, they'll become singing and dancing kids like Annie

Tinkeringbell

10:18

Oh good. Glad I'm not stuck with those :D

Masked Man

12:18

@ryanyuyu You could post your resume here in chat, some folks here might volunteer to help you out. But not on the main site.

Richard U

13:26

Wow, is there something in the water? The nastiness in the comments is out of control. At this rate, I'll end up with the Marshal badge in a week.

motosubatsu

@RichardU it does seem to have been a bit... lively of late

Tinkeringbell

@RichardU I did exactly that. Need help? Where?

Richard U

@Tinkeringbell I've just been going through the first few pages. Just flag 'em when you see 'em. Help keep TWP clean. :D

@motosubatsu I've gone over my flagging history, and there's been a sharp spike since, of all days, Valentine's day.

Tinkeringbell

Will do, but then work has priority :P I thought there was some serious nastiness that needs addressing. I've seen chatrooms where people share links in such cases, so people can flag and it might be removed before a mod arrives ;)

What's the policy on no-longer-needed here anyway? Are good jokes allowed to stay for example?

Richard U

@Tinkeringbell oh no, it's not as bad as all that. Those tend to get squashed in minutes. This is more a general meanness that should get the comments deleted, but aren't anywhere NEAR the kinds of things that magisch got, for example. Nor is there much swarming.

ryanyuyu

13:44

Does anyone have time to review my resume? I have a few concerns on some of the sections.

Richard U

@ryanyuyu post them in here and see what happens

ryanyuyu

My resume. I have specific concerns on my Skills and Projects sections.

Is it ok to just list a bunch of proficiencies? Is distinguishing between things that I feel I'm almost an expert in from things that I'm just ok with make sense?

Tinkeringbell

@RichardU Hah, okay :) Good to hear, I hope things clear up soon ;) Just keep flagging stuff :P

motosubatsu

14:16

@ryanyuyu may I be brutally honest?

ryanyuyu

Please

motosubatsu

@ryanyuyu cool.. always wise to check first!

ok.. here we go:

Draken

@ryanyuyu I would recommend that either you stick to capitalising skills or you don't You have this weird tendency to put some in caps and not others which should also be in caps. Be consistent. E.g. SQL and html. Can you expand on your work experience section? It's a bit empty and really needs more detail about what you did

motosubatsu

1. It's incredibly hard to read

this is mainly down to the formatting, which seems to be all over the place and makes it hard to quickly scan to relevent information

Richard U

Agreed

motosubatsu

14:18

if I can't find the info I'm looking for in a CV in about 30 secs of scanning it's heading to the bin

ryanyuyu

@Draken I can research "official" capitalization rules for the tech. Or should I just stick to making them consistent, even if it's not "official"?

motosubatsu

2. your work experience descriptions tell me nothing

ryanyuyu

Should I cut the Projects section and use those specific example in Work Experience?

motosubatsu

it uses words but says nothing

yes put them in work experience - and say what technologies you were using

Richard U

@ryanyuyu you should google "Sample technical resume" and start from there.

Draken

14:19

@ryanyuyu Preferable to go for the official guide to capitalisation, that way you are consistent to the industry standard and not all over the place

motosubatsu

that provides context to your claimied skills/proficiences

ryanyuyu

@RichardU Ah, I was missing the "technical" part of my resume searching.

motosubatsu

basically how I digest dev CVS (and I've done more than my fair share of dev hiring): 1. look at skills section to see if they have the technologies I'm looking for 2. look at the work experience section to see how they evidence using those skills (ie so I know they aren't just a tech that they have read the wikipedia page on)

ryanyuyu

For the position I'm applying for, the things I worked on for my internship aren't very relevant. Should I just leave it off? Or is it still useful to note, since it's my only other work experience?

motosubatsu

are they still technical skills?

ryanyuyu

14:24

Yes.

motosubatsu

then yeah mention them

at this stage in your career it's better to list all the tech skills, you'll have the room and there are benefits in showing that you have a more rounded tech skill set

Richard U

@ryanyuyu the standard format of a technical resume is to list your skills first in descending relevance to the position, then in the job experience, it's typical to write "Designed Widget automation tool using C# and SQL." You want a technical summary on the top, with bullet points in the job description demonstrating their use

motosubatsu

plus you never know whether they may have some uses for those skills in the business/role but haven't considered them essential enough to list in the main job advert

ryanyuyu

Ok cool. Thanks for all the feedback. After my next attempt, would y'all be fine seeing the (hopefully improved) resume?

motosubatsu

@ryanyuyu also what @RichardU says

Richard U

14:26

@ryanyuyu,motosubatsu is correct as well. There may be a "nice to have" technical skill that isn't listed on the job order that might get noticed

motosubatsu

it helps immensely with the scanning process I described earlier (and you have no idea how many CV's I've been sent by recruiters with completely the wrong tech stack!)

ryanyuyu

Ok thanks. I appreciate all your advice.

Richard U

@ryanyuyu to echo the point again, When I'm looking for someone skilled in office automation, VB.net and SQL server, I don't want to find them on the end of your list of technical skills, and if I do see them at the end, I'll assume you're not very good at them unless it's a very short list.

@ryanyuyu thanks for being mature and taking the advice as it is intended. We're being a bit brutally honest, but it's all good advice.

ryanyuyu

I appreciate the honesty. It's very helpful. If I don't know what's wrong (and how badly wrong), it's hard to improve.

Anyway, maybe you will see me again in a few days. With a new an improved resume.

Richard U

@ryanyuyu you'd be surprised at just how poorly some people take the advice.

motosubatsu

14:31

@ryanyuyu cool :)

Richard U

@ryanyuyu do google "technical resume" and go on sites like Dice.com to get a better idea.

Draken

@RichardU Nahuuuuh, you're wrong, everyone takes advice wonderfully in the world

ryanyuyu

Will do. Bye.

Richard U

@Draken don't do that when I'm drinking my coffee! Now I have to clean off my monitor ;)

Masked Man

@Draken Of course, I don't seem to recall a single instance when someone posted a question and started arguing in the comments when they didn't get the "advice" that they wanted to hear.

Feeds

14:39

0

Q: Re-open "What are the problems with asking my employer to work less than 40 hours per week?"

We have this question which has been closed as off topic for being about company regulations or legal advice. However, I believe it's neither, they are asking what are the possible repercussions of asking for a reduced working week. This is a common practice with a lot of companies, and although...

Draken

@MaskedMan I've never seen it, so didn't happen B-)

Richard U

14:51

I miss the Dilbert.com performance review generator....

Over the past year, many of Mr Smith's coworkers have been willing to comment on his work. He has never been caught sleeping on the job. Employees like Mr Smith demonstrate the importance of good hiring practices and the possibility of hiring more people like Mr Smith should be discussed immediately.

Mister Positive

15:22

TGIF

long week, ready to chill a bit.

Richard U

@MisterPositive looks like you've had a rough week. Your answers and comments have been uncharacteristically... harsh? for lack of a better term.

Mister Positive

LOL

Under the weather....will take a stack break over the weekend.

@RichardU I prefer direct versus harsh. ;-)

I liked the Snark Knight by the way @RichardU

Richard U

15:59

@MisterPositive It was time to ditch the snark knight. However, we may see Snark Vader in the future

motosubatsu

@RichardU Raiders of the Lost Snark ?

Snark of the Covenant ?

Richard U

@motosubatsu Prince of Snarkness?

motosubatsu

@RichardU The Snark Lord ?

Heart of Snarkness?

Draken

The Snarkness' new groove?

motosubatsu

16:19

Zero Snark Thirty

Draken

Dude, where's my Snark?

motosubatsu

Snarkest Before Dawn

Draken

From Snark till dawn

Richard U

Snarkness falls

DarkCygnus

17:15

Snark Wars

Snark Trek

Snark Gate - 1 lol

Richard U

Battlesnark Galactica

Richard U

17:32

Snarktimus prime

TheTinyMan

17:42

American Snark?

Dude, Where's My Snark?

(what many people will be saying as a result of the name change xD )

Nofel

Hello all

TheTinyMan

@Nofel Hiya!

Richard U

Greetings people

Nofel

Hey @TheTinyMan n @RichardU

TheTinyMan

My Little Snarky

TeleSnarkies

Nofel

17:44

I asked my last ofc manager my payslip and emailed him asking him of how is he and how is the project.

He replied, with nothing more than the HR will contact me

It made me think. Am I mad or he is for asking him or him not being polite

MetaEd

18:21

@Nofel You are an ex employee?

Richard U

The Snark Tower @TheTinyMan

DarkCygnus

-2

A: When is it ok to leave work early for the day due to feeling sick?

My company makes you work sick. Market basket and we have sick days but if you use them you get yelled at and belittled. Sucks

^ lol

yey, I protected my first question :)

Richard U

@DarkCygnus and helped delete crap!

DarkCygnus

An expected answer coming from Johnny Bravo

Nofel

18:36

@MetaEd yes

MetaEd

@Nofel My guess is your ex manager is required by business ethics to not discuss the business with you now that you are separated.

DarkCygnus

sounds reasonable @MetaEd

Chris E

wow, he created an account just to give a really crappy "answer"

well, unregistered, but still.

Richard U

@ChrisE He's talking about Staples, and he's telling the truth. Still deserved deletion though.

TheTinyMan

@RichardU The Empire Snarks Back

Chris E

18:43

how do you know he's talking about Staples?

asked 5 years ago, protected 14 minutes ago. lol

DarkCygnus

yep

the protection was enabled as he was a user below 100

and answer with negative score

Richard U

@ChrisE "Market Basket" is a term for Staples "Easy Tech", I worked for them after the stroke (gave me a heart attack from the stress there).

Chris E

I still don't get it. what's Easy Tech?

Richard U

19:14

@ChrisE LOL! That shows how good they promoted it. "Easy Tech" was Staples (failed) answer to "Geek Squad". Market basket was the nonsense they pulled. When you sold a computer, you were expected to sell things along with it, and the sale of additional items was called the "market basket". If you didn't get at least 100 dollars in additional sales, you got in trouble.

Nofel

@MetaEd I said to him “How r u and hope project is going well” @RichardU know he was a ahole

It disturbed me today seeing his reply was cold

Richard U

@ChrisE So naturally, the managers told you to check and see if the computer was in stock AFTER you saw if they were going to buy additional items (because the managers got in trouble too). Strangely enough, if a customer just wanted the computer, the PC would be out of stock.

Chris E

That's just dumb to lose a sale on a PC because you don't want to buy extras.

Richard U

@ChrisE It's the old Cobra effect An individual and a store got in less trouble for not making the sale than they did for a low market basket

@ChrisE Also, Staples sells their computers at below cost, in most instances, looking to make up the difference in "market basket" and "warrantee" sales

Chris E

ah, a loss leader. I thought those were illegal.

Richard U

19:23

@ChrisE not unless specifically outlined by law. I know that in NJ, you cannot sell gasoline or cigarettes at a loss, but other products are fair game

@ChrisE if you want to get a steal of a deal at Staples, get a PC on sale, when they ask you if you want a "protection plan" act like you want to get it, but it's too expensive, then ask them if you can get a better deal if you get the plan. They'll drop the price. Take it home, then the next day, return the plan. Tell them that you changed your mind.

Then never go back to that store again, because they WILL hate you.

Chris E

I get my stuff online anyway. Desktops I build myself and either buy the parts online or from Micro Center and Fry's.

And my laptop is refurbished. a 16Gb 15" i5 for about $300.

Richard U

@ChrisE I get mine as refurbs too.

I just like telling people how to screw over Staples.

Funny thing is, the district manager moved to CVS and poached all the best people from Staples. To this day, I have a standing offer to go join them any time I like.

TheTinyMan

@RichardU I do the same thing and I have so many friends who give me shit over it. :-P

(the refurbs bit, that is, not screwing over Staples)

Richard U

@TheTinyMan My family is notoriously frugal. My aunt and uncle were always VERY well off. They never bought new cars, and my aunt wanted a new front door for their house about 20 years ago. She got one that had a scratch in it. It was a 1,000 dollar door that she got for 500, then sanded and refinished it herself.

@TheTinyMan I went more than 10 years without buying a new computer by upgrading the one I had using cast-offs from my friends.

TheTinyMan

@RichardU Heh, yeah, I've gone long amounts of time doing that, too. Until after college, really, since then I've done all of my gaming on laptops, and those are harder to upgrade, and generally you don't get your investment back spent on an upgrade like you could on a desktop.

Richard U

19:32

@TheTinyMan I bought my first laptop in 2010.... for 35 dollars and some free PC repair work.

I only had desktops before then

TheTinyMan

@RichardU Well if we're talking about calendar years that's about when I got my first one too, but as I recall you were a year or two older than I was in 2010. ;-)

Actually it was during college that I stopped really using desktops, because I was on campus all the time and needed my homework, programming projects, etc. to be where I was and I got my first laptop as a high school graduation present.

Chris E

@TheTinyMan My wife was shocked when she found out the laptop I had over a year is refurbished. It's one of the best computers I've ever had and with 16Gb it was a steal (even though ram is still cheap, it's a PITA of laptops)

Tinkeringbell

I got my first laptop when I was 17, so 9 years ago (2009) because I felt it would be useful for school :)

Chris E

@TheTinyMan The only reason I will ever have a desktop again is primarily gaming. Sure, I'll probably still use it for programming, but it will be a gaming rig.

Richard U

@ChrisE I got my dad an 800 dollar laptop for 200 and refurbished it myself. I got one for 300 last month.

TheTinyMan

19:41

@ChrisE Yeah. I'm thinking about running a dedicated server for some games that my girlfriends and I are talking about playing some time soon...not sure if I have an old laptop lying around that'll be fast enough for that or if I'll try to scavenge parts for a desktop for it. :-p

Chris E

I would rent a server rather than have my own

TheTinyMan

@ChrisE Ehh, not a bad thought but I hate spending money on something that I don't get to keep unless I just file it away as "well this is a permanent bill now"

like Netflix :-p

Tinkeringbell

Sooo.... what's the general advice for flirting with co-workers? Guy is seriously cute and we're working on different projects for different clients, but for the same company....

And by now I'm sure he's flirting

Chris E

owning a physical server is too much of a hassle these days. renting allows you to upgrade easily and you don't have t worry about an internet provider (which is something you don't get to keep either :) )

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell Full speed ahead, brakes are for quitters!

Tinkeringbell

19:52

@TheTinyMan Not what I wanted to hear :P But okay, if it's not going to get me into trouble, I might try

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell Well the "is it going to get me into trouble" 100% varies by company...probably country, too. xD

Tinkeringbell

@TheTinyMan Netherlands, international company, I didn't sign a contract that said 'no flirting' :P

Richard U

@Tinkeringbell if it were the USA, I'd say find a new job before you get fired. It's that crazy now

can't help with your less uptight nation.

Tinkeringbell

@RichardU Oh... okay. No flirting :D

Makes life easier too :P

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell That's the coward's way out! ;-)

Tinkeringbell

19:59

@TheTinyMan Maybe, but it's also the easiest :P

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell The coward's path usually is! ;-)

Tinkeringbell

@TheTinyMan hah, who told you I'm not a coward? I always try to play safe

Richard U

@TheTinyMan that's the "employed" way out.

Tinkeringbell

@RichardU Yeah, I really want to keep this job. So, I'll just have to disappoint the guy

Trust me, if there's anything I'm good at ... :P

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell That's the saddest thing I've ever read! D:

Tinkeringbell

20:06

@TheTinyMan Why? It's a skill too, someone has to able to do it XD

If we're both better off not flirting, I have a skill that'll save us both :)

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell Oh yeah? :-p

Tinkeringbell

Yep :)

TheTinyMan

What skill is that?

Tinkeringbell

Not flirting so we'll both be able to keep our job?

TheTinyMan

@Tinkeringbell Oh, I thought you meant "disappointing men" is your skill. "Not flirting" is your skill? :-p

That's definitely practicable, I'm bad at not flirting. :-P

Tinkeringbell

20:12

@TheTinyMan Not that difficult, just close the browser window XD

DarkCygnus

20:37

Dark Swan's comment is also a superb variation. — Fattie 34 mins ago

LOL

Richard U

20:50

@DarkCygnus I have no idea what to make of that character. He's got a nice personality, I just don't know which one is going to show up on a given day

I was naughty

0

Q: Forcing usage of clients laptops

Our company has a client that is a big, slow, national company. They don't want to (or know how) to provide us the VPN access, instead, they sent us some computers with Windows in German. I am a Mac user and while I do not believe in flame wars (which os is better and so on) - I am simply more p...

professionalism unprofessional-behavior clients

DarkCygnus

lol

This one has pretty obvious solution

Virtualize

or Change Language Settings

Richard U

21:10

@DarkCygnus yeah, but I couldn't resist.

DarkCygnus

haha

Yey, another rep cap

I am on 38/50

Richard U

@DarkCygnus me too :D I don't know how many I have.

DarkCygnus

21:51

Oh, I love my boss

so Comprehensive

and motivating

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