How (and why) to Ramble on your goat sideways
06-20-2016, 10:17 PM
Boost Pope
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Ugh...
Fast & Furious did about as much to enhance the image of automotive culture in general as Sex Trek and Sex Trek II: The Search for Sperm did for the image of sci-fi-themed porno films.
Fast & Furious did about as much to enhance the image of automotive culture in general as Sex Trek and Sex Trek II: The Search for Sperm did for the image of sci-fi-themed porno films.
(No, I'm not making that up. They were really bad... Like, imagine how bad you think a low-budget **** film which is a parody of Star Trek would be. It's worse than that.)
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06-20-2016, 10:22 PM
SADFab Destructive Testing Engineer
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Ugh...
Fast & Furious did about as much to enhance the image of automotive culture in general as Sex Trek and Sex Trek II: The Search for Sperm did for the image of sci-fi-themed porno films.
Fast & Furious did about as much to enhance the image of automotive culture in general as Sex Trek and Sex Trek II: The Search for Sperm did for the image of sci-fi-themed porno films.
(No, I'm not making that up. They were really bad... Like, imagine how bad you think a low-budget **** film which is a parody of Star Trek would be. It's worse than that.)
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06-20-2016, 10:33 PM
Boost Pope
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Are you that goddamn lazy?
To be perfectly clear, in case anyone here is too ******* stupid to infer this from context: THE FOLLOWING LINKS ARE EXTREMELY NWS, AND I HAVE OBSCURED THE URLS USING TINYURL BECAUSE EVEN THEY CONTAIN **** THAT WILL TRIGGER THE CONTENT FILTER OF WHATEVER CORPORATION'S TIME YOU ARE WASTING RIGHT NOW WHEN YOU SHOULD BE WORKING, AND ALSO PROBABLY GET US KICKED OFF OF ADSENSE.
Review and screenshots
T0rr3nt link
IMDB entry
IMDB entry 2
To be perfectly clear, in case anyone here is too ******* stupid to infer this from context: THE FOLLOWING LINKS ARE EXTREMELY NWS, AND I HAVE OBSCURED THE URLS USING TINYURL BECAUSE EVEN THEY CONTAIN **** THAT WILL TRIGGER THE CONTENT FILTER OF WHATEVER CORPORATION'S TIME YOU ARE WASTING RIGHT NOW WHEN YOU SHOULD BE WORKING, AND ALSO PROBABLY GET US KICKED OFF OF ADSENSE.
Review and screenshots
T0rr3nt link
IMDB entry
IMDB entry 2
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06-21-2016, 02:40 PM
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How in the world is this legal? Yes, it belongs in the other thread.
OHP Uses New Device To Seize Money During Traffic Stops - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
OHP Uses New Device To Seize Money During Traffic Stops - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
It's called an ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine, and OHP began using 16 of them last month.
Here's how it works. If a trooper suspects a person may have money tied to some type of crime, the highway patrol can scan and seize money from prepaid cards. OHP stresses troopers do not do this during all traffic stops, only situations where they believe there is probable cause.
"We're gonna look for different factors in the way that you're acting,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. John Vincent said. “We're gonna look for if there's a difference in your story. If there's someway that we can prove that you're falsifying information to us about your business."
Here's how it works. If a trooper suspects a person may have money tied to some type of crime, the highway patrol can scan and seize money from prepaid cards. OHP stresses troopers do not do this during all traffic stops, only situations where they believe there is probable cause.
"We're gonna look for different factors in the way that you're acting,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. John Vincent said. “We're gonna look for if there's a difference in your story. If there's someway that we can prove that you're falsifying information to us about your business."
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06-21-2016, 02:50 PM
Yesterday while I was eating dinner with my family, 3 patrol cars pulled up in front of my house and stopped for 5 or 6 minutes. I had no reason to believe anyone in my house was in trouble -- I had a normal day at work, came home and was eating dinner with my wife and child, I hadn't even done any weird google searches.
And yet, I had a fleeting moment where I thought, "Well, ****. Braineack's going to be posting a story about this in his police thread in a couple weeks."
And yet, I had a fleeting moment where I thought, "Well, ****. Braineack's going to be posting a story about this in his police thread in a couple weeks."
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06-21-2016, 03:24 PM
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How in the world is this legal? Yes, it belongs in the other thread.
OHP Uses New Device To Seize Money During Traffic Stops - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
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OHP Uses New Device To Seize Money During Traffic Stops - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
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06-21-2016, 06:41 PM
Sooooo...
Around 4 PM today I get a call from the recruiter, but not the call I wanted. She said that she had to apologize, but the department VP who gives final approval on new hire offers has been out of the country and won't be back until late next week, and once he returns they will be trying to tie things up for the 2nd quarter. Long and short, it will probably be a couple weeks before they can extend a formal offer.
On the positive side, she did say that all of the feedback and information she's received has been overwhelmingly positive, and asked that if I get any other offers before I hear back from them, to immediately call her so that she can see if things can be moved along any faster.
It could have been a much worse call, on balance. Just have to wait a bit longer.
Around 4 PM today I get a call from the recruiter, but not the call I wanted. She said that she had to apologize, but the department VP who gives final approval on new hire offers has been out of the country and won't be back until late next week, and once he returns they will be trying to tie things up for the 2nd quarter. Long and short, it will probably be a couple weeks before they can extend a formal offer.
On the positive side, she did say that all of the feedback and information she's received has been overwhelmingly positive, and asked that if I get any other offers before I hear back from them, to immediately call her so that she can see if things can be moved along any faster.
It could have been a much worse call, on balance. Just have to wait a bit longer.
I did have an interesting conversation with my boss though -- a conversation I kind of knew was coming. He asked me to think about doing some contract work for them if/when I leave. They can hire employees but there are 3 or 4 systems that will either come to a crashing halt or will eat up so many hours of labor from people inexperienced with it that it would make more sense for them to pay me a consulting fee occasionally to keep things working. I'm completely open to this idea because I still like the company (and my boss), and I have a hard time passing up more money for something I know how to do.
So -- how do you calculate a consulting fee? I did my googling but I'm seeing a lot of "So you're an entrepreneur!" kind of articles, not actual practical advice about the calculation. A few questions that popped into my head:
* Do I start the calculation from the salary I was making when I left this company, or the salary I make at the new company? I know the new salary would be advantageous to me, but I'm not sure if it's relevant -- my current salary (plus a bit more, since they are offering me more to stay) is what I'm worth to my current company.
* How much of a buffer do I need to cover taxes? 30%? 40%?
* Is it worth registering a corporation? I know you can consult as an individual but what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
* If you calculate a consulting fee based on normal full-time rate (whether that's the current company or new company), do you add any buffer for the loss of benefits? It seems a little petty, but then they were always proud to remind me of what my benefits cost and how it was part of my total compensation.
As I said, I still like this company, so I'm not looking to soak them for every penny. And realistically, the "negotiation" will probably come down to them offering a fee and me either agreeing or passing. But I'd at least like to know that I'm in the ballpark.
Thoughts?
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06-21-2016, 07:28 PM
Take whatever you are making now add 15-45% to get what you're actually costing the company (15% being a "no benefits" package, and 45% being a very comfortable benefits package), and then mulitply that number by 3-5 times.
Seriously.
You will only be "consulted with" on the systems that the company deems "most difficult to work with", therefore your average hour of work will be of far greater significance to them. You won't be asked to spend a % of your hours doing mundane crap work that an entry level can accomplish. If you set your consulting fees too low, then you will continue to be a bitch boy to them - possibly at a cost savings to them and a financial loss to you. If you agree on too high a fee, they'll still pay it; they'll simply put more effort into finding/training a suitable replacement in the meantime. Really the hourly fee should be "how much should i charge per hour to make me not want to go on a killing spree when I'm in the middle of hour 3 of fixing someone's virused-as-****-and-not-enough-ram computer?"
If you were making $50k/year before, than $100/hr for consulting is probably very reasonable.
Seriously.
You will only be "consulted with" on the systems that the company deems "most difficult to work with", therefore your average hour of work will be of far greater significance to them. You won't be asked to spend a % of your hours doing mundane crap work that an entry level can accomplish. If you set your consulting fees too low, then you will continue to be a bitch boy to them - possibly at a cost savings to them and a financial loss to you. If you agree on too high a fee, they'll still pay it; they'll simply put more effort into finding/training a suitable replacement in the meantime. Really the hourly fee should be "how much should i charge per hour to make me not want to go on a killing spree when I'm in the middle of hour 3 of fixing someone's virused-as-****-and-not-enough-ram computer?"
If you were making $50k/year before, than $100/hr for consulting is probably very reasonable.
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06-21-2016, 08:32 PM
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06-22-2016, 10:05 AM
Thanks, that's helpful.
I'm sitting in on the interviews for my (kind of) replacement. Just had a guy with a degree in Information Systems with an emphasis in Networking who couldn't explain what a subnet mask was. Didn't even try, just said, "I know it's normally 255 something."
I'm sitting in on the interviews for my (kind of) replacement. Just had a guy with a degree in Information Systems with an emphasis in Networking who couldn't explain what a subnet mask was. Didn't even try, just said, "I know it's normally 255 something."
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06-22-2016, 10:10 AM
Was he not able to explain the concept of a subnet mask or was that just his straight answer?
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06-22-2016, 10:22 AM
Interviewer -- How deep is your networking knowledge? For example, what is a subnet mask?
Interviewee -- Ah...I mean, I know it's normally 255.something but...I'm sorry...
Interviewer -- That's okay, I know I'm putting you on the spot. Can you explain what the subnet mask does?
Interviewee -- No, sorry, I'm just drawing a blank.
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06-22-2016, 10:45 AM
mkturbo.com
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Verbatim:
Interviewer -- How deep is your networking knowledge? For example, what is a subnet mask?
Interviewee -- Ah...I mean, I know it's normally 255.something but...I'm sorry...
Interviewer -- That's okay, I know I'm putting you on the spot. Can you explain what the subnet mask does?
Interviewee -- No, sorry, I'm just drawing a blank.
Interviewer -- How deep is your networking knowledge? For example, what is a subnet mask?
Interviewee -- Ah...I mean, I know it's normally 255.something but...I'm sorry...
Interviewer -- That's okay, I know I'm putting you on the spot. Can you explain what the subnet mask does?
Interviewee -- No, sorry, I'm just drawing a blank.
Then again if I was going for a job interview it is one of the spots I would spend an hour reading up on to get all my knowledge back.
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06-22-2016, 11:15 AM
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New kid, straight out of school? first interview? nervous as hell?
RE: Consulting rate...what everyone else said. what you were paid broken down to per hour, then like 8x that.
RE: Consulting rate...what everyone else said. what you were paid broken down to per hour, then like 8x that.
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06-22-2016, 11:18 AM
Nope, 40+ year old, worked 10+ years in ATT's DSL dept, went back to school after ATT merged his dept and eliminated his position.
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06-22-2016, 11:38 AM
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I mean, what were you reasonably expecting as an answer?
I would expect something super generic like "a subnet mask helps the TCP protocol determine if a host is on the local or a remote subnet" but no way would I expect anyone to sit down and start breaking out the binary.
I would expect something super generic like "a subnet mask helps the TCP protocol determine if a host is on the local or a remote subnet" but no way would I expect anyone to sit down and start breaking out the binary.
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06-22-2016, 11:41 AM
Boost Pope
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Are you serious?
I had a similar encounter while interviewing people for a maintenance engineer position at the TV station. Kid is maybe 30, describes himself as computer-savy. This position involves being "the guy" who provides rapid-response support for the newscast outside of regular office hours, either from 3am - 11am, or from 3pm - 11pm. So he's gotta be pretty self-sufficient when it comes to problem-solving.
Asked the guy "So if you need to set a static IP address on a machine, how do you do that?"
Deer in headlights.
The correct answer is "what OS am I working with?", though I'd have accepted an explanation of how to do it in Windows, since that's >75% of the machines here. But not even having a clue...
We didn't hire him.
I had a similar encounter while interviewing people for a maintenance engineer position at the TV station. Kid is maybe 30, describes himself as computer-savy. This position involves being "the guy" who provides rapid-response support for the newscast outside of regular office hours, either from 3am - 11am, or from 3pm - 11pm. So he's gotta be pretty self-sufficient when it comes to problem-solving.
Asked the guy "So if you need to set a static IP address on a machine, how do you do that?"
Deer in headlights.
The correct answer is "what OS am I working with?", though I'd have accepted an explanation of how to do it in Windows, since that's >75% of the machines here. But not even having a clue...
We didn't hire him.
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06-22-2016, 11:42 AM
I mean, what were you reasonably expecting as an answer?
I would expect something super generic like "a subnet mask helps the TCP protocol determine if a host is on the local or a remote subnet" but no way would I expect anyone to sit down and start breaking out the binary.
I would expect something super generic like "a subnet mask helps the TCP protocol determine if a host is on the local or a remote subnet" but no way would I expect anyone to sit down and start breaking out the binary.
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