Kevin's Watch

Malik23 wrote:
But I was very far from home, and missed the family terribly. After four months, things started slowing down so I quit. Now I'm once again just a guy with a useless philosophy degree and a dream of getting published. I got my A+ and Network+ certifications (might get my MCSE, too) so I would have a computer career to fall back on. [Any tips from High Lord Tolkien or Esmer would be appreciated!] It's a little depressing thinking about going to Best Buy or Circuit city for an entry level position in PC repair after my experience in Gulfport. My roofing company is going national, and hail season is starting up. It's really tempting to get back in it.

I never knew there was a hail season!

I've been job hunting for a few months now.
Not that I want to leave where I am but the business has been horrible.
Too bad, best place I've ever worked at too!
Malik, do you have any experience in IT or have you just been teaching yourself on the side?
The days of anyone with with just a cert getting a good job is over.

I hope you've embraced www.monster.com
On the job search page just highlight the region of the stae you want to work in and then choose "date" for revelance.
This will give you a huge list but moster is technical oriented so it's not all junk.
Doing it this way will ensure that you don't miss anything(but will take longer to scroll through everything).
If you just choose "computer hardware" for instance, you might miss something you'd like that was posted under "medical IT" or something.
Not every employer that posts under Monster knows what section to put it in!

If you want to email me your resume I'll check it out for you if you want.
I've had a few classes on resume creation.
Coverletters too.
Or I'll send you mine and you can use it as a template.

And when you say "family" do you mean "wife and kids" or just "mom and dad"?
Because if I was making $500 to $3000 dollars a day doing something I loved I'd kiss my parents goodbye and move the wife and kids!!

If I were you I'd try to do both.
Roof sales on the weekends IT during the week.

Wait, dude, is this a joke?
You make that much money a day doing something that you love that has extreme flexibility and you don't know what to do?

mortem wrote:I am a mainframe computer programmer. Since these days so many people ask, "Um, what is a mainframe?" I have to respond, "Do you remember those pictures from the 1940's with a guy standing in front of a room-sized computer? THAT is a mainframe. Except they're about the size of a refrigerator now."

Not many of us left now, but since nobody trains for them any more, not only do I have job security, but there's not going to be any outsourcing of my job!

I know a guy who programs in some kind of language I've never heard of before.
It's like 2 steps above basic machine code or something.
The whole company relies on it.
If he dies it will cost them MILLIONS!

HLT, thanks for the advice. No, I don't have much experience professionally or otherwise with computers. I had a help desk job for a year before doing the roofing, but that wasn't as technical as I thought it was going to be. Lots of password resets and telling people to reboot! I did help them with Outlook problems, and helped troubleshoot VPN a little. I had a few printer troubleshooting calls. Most of the time I just dispatched the "incident" to the relevant IT team on the floor.

And when you say "family" do you mean "wife and kids" or just "mom and dad"?
Because if I was making $500 to $3000 dollars a day doing something I loved I'd kiss my parents goodbye and move the wife and kids!!

Well, my wife has a promising career she doesn't want to give up. And as for roofing, I'd actually be what they call a "storm chaser." [Yep, one of those people they warn you about in consumer advocacy reports.] I'd have to move the family every 4 months or so. I can't do that to the kids.

Malik23 wrote:HLT, thanks for the advice. No, I don't have much experience professionally or otherwise with computers. I had a help desk job for a year before doing the roofing, but that wasn't as technical as I thought it was going to be. Lots of password resets and telling people to reboot! I did help them with Outlook problems, and helped troubleshoot VPN a little. I had a few printer troubleshooting calls. Most of the time I just dispatched the "incident" to the relevant IT team on the floor.

And when you say "family" do you mean "wife and kids" or just "mom and dad"?
Because if I was making $500 to $3000 dollars a day doing something I loved I'd kiss my parents goodbye and move the wife and kids!!

Well, my wife has a promising career she doesn't want to give up. And as for roofing, I'd actually be what they call a "storm chaser." [Yep, one of those people they warn you about in consumer advocacy reports.] I'd have to move the family every 4 months or so. I can't do that to the kids.

Oh, maybe you could do it on a limited enough basis to be away from them for periods of time but then be there with them more than you would be normally for equal stretches?
Tough call, sorry.

Im a sound tech, I mix live bands, and suppliment my meager income with barwork

Now work in Internet infrastructure services, temporarily based in London. You name it, if it's related to networks, I have probably touched it. Some days, I think it's time I went into another line of work. Used to be in IT for a major US aerospace company that shall remain unnamed.

i have started part time again at my friends dog kennel. feeding dogs, walking dogs.

My background is in Biochemistry and Food Process Engineering (bio-process, which can be either food or drug manufacturing), and ever since graduation I have worked in the pharmaceuticals industry.

Long Version - I am a Computer Validation Auditor for a CRO (contract research org) that provides Clinical Trial Services to the pharma industry. The division of the company I work for is a Central Lab, which means it creates and ships specimen collection kits to clinical trial sites, receives specimens and performs mass testing of these samples, making sure that doctors find out quickly if anything is going wrong with a patient, but mainly to provide quality data to pharma who is seeking to get a new medicine to market.
Specifically, I defend my company's computer systems during FDA and sponsor company audits, because the instruments and computer systems that create, handle, store, and transmit clinical data must meet fairly strict regulatory requirements for investigational drugs to receive FDA approval before it is allowed into the consumer's hand.

Short Version - I work with computers.

DW

Hey Dukka! I think I know one of your coworkers, he's a janitor who works part time in the labs:

I am the Transportation Procurement Manager for the State of WI. This means I oversee the purchasing of the entire vehicular fleet of WI.

Wheee!

in addition to the prison I volunteer at the zoo aquarium on Sundays.

gaffer or key grip for film & television.
and up until very recently I was co-owner of a cocktail lounge.

your best known movie?

(if it's not too prying)

sgtnull wrote:your best known movie?

(if it's not too prying)

hmmm.. alot of crap films for sure (big budget and small)...
but best quality of films must be one of these two:

In the Bedroom en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Bedroom
Session 9 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_9

it's been a few years since I did feature work, more commercials than anything nowadays.

I loved Session 9. a big fan of Caruso. I am from New Hampshire and worked at a big state hospital much like the one in the movie. we had one building that was shut down that was very creepy. there were underground tunnels and the signs for the ect and cold water immersion rooms were still posted. and the was an overground covered walkway from the shut down building. always thought it would have made a great movie set. our hospital was also self contained/self running at one point.

man, i miss New hampshire.

I'm currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Neurobiology... I could go more into detail, but... well, you know

DoD network security fellow.

Purchasing and Marketing Officer for a clinical lab. Almost anything we buy or sell I have to approve. Get's pretty schizo -- as marketer I want to give things away and sell for as little as possible, as Purchaser I want to pay as little as possible. Between the two, it evens out!

I work in sales, specifically framed art. I also work part-time as an extra in film & televsion.

Ozment wrote:I work in sales, specifically framed art. I also work part-time as an extra in film & televsion.

Come on then, tell us what films/programmes you have been in.