The Off Topic Topic

[Zanza]

If you are depressed now, you shouldn't start programming. That's not exactly the way to bliss and happiness. It's a tedious, mind-numbing job.

[Josquius]

Plus it's a hard thing to get a job in unless you're a total whizz (which it's hard to be without a job and actual experience)

[Ideologue]

If you are depressed now, you shouldn't start programming. That's not exactly the way to bliss and happiness. It's a tedious, mind-numbing job.

Heh heh heh.

Maybe I'll just go back into food service.  All in all, working in restaurants isn't so bad, except the money is weak--but you do get subsidized food, lots of free soda (like the free soda I used to have at Doc Review, LLP, until they took it away), and it's great exercise--I probably never looked better than when I waited tables.  Having a college degree, not being a drug addict, and having learned to bury my worst tendencies toward anger and resentment would probably put me back on track for management in a couple of years.

The big trouble there is my age.

[Ideologue]

Oh, and also the fact that I would probably not be able to have sex for two to four years.

[Ideologue]

Plus it's a hard thing to get a job in unless you're a total whizz (which it's hard to be without a job and actual experience)

Food for thought there.

[Ideologue]

So I just looked at the Boeing page for Charleston.  Guess how many jobs didn't require a STEM degree of some sort?  One.  Was I even qualified for it?  No.  Three years secretarial experience.  Also, male (probably).

[Josquius]

If you're just looking for easy work and a change of pace then come to japan. Stick to ALTing and it's no so bad if you don't have any ambitions

[LaCroix]

Heh heh heh.

Maybe I'll just go back into food service.  All in all, working in restaurants isn't so bad, except the money is weak--but you do get subsidized food, lots of free soda (like the free soda I used to have at Doc Review, LLP, until they took it away), and it's great exercise--I probably never looked better than when I waited tables.  Having a college degree, not being a drug addict, and having learned to bury my worst tendencies toward anger and resentment would probably put me back on track for management in a couple of years.

The big trouble there is my age.

why don't you pass the bar and look for a position at a law firm? i remember you saying once that you could probably get through character and fitness. so, what's been holding you back?

[Ideologue]

50% lawyer underemployment rate; two years spent in doc review developing no skills other than how to do doc review; lack of connections; lack of desire to be a practicing attorney.

[LaCroix]

50% lawyer underemployment rate; two years spent in doc review developing no skills other than how to do doc review; lack of connections; lack of desire to be a practicing attorney.

any particular reason why you don't want to be a practicing attorney?

for the other factors, you could always do pro bono work for the experience and connections. from what i've heard, that can be a viable path toward finding employment since you're essentially advertising yourself to the legal community. plus, the challenge and reward would probably help with your depression. it means working unsatisfying jobs for another two years or so, but that's what you'll be doing anyway. you already have the JD, might as well use it

[Iormlund]

"business intelligence".

I thought that encompassed all use of data analysis, not just hounding employees. For example, I designed an application that looks for certain patterns amongst billions of datapoints to increase production and reduce downtime at energy plants.

[Iormlund]

If you are depressed now, you shouldn't start programming. That's not exactly the way to bliss and happiness. It's a tedious, mind-numbing job.

That very much depends on your mindset and the type of coding involved.

Being a code monkey is indeed a hellish job. But if your tasks include design it can be quite fun. Of course the problem is getting there.

BTW I finally decided to go with the VW supplier job. Mostly design and programming. So far it looks rather interesting, with a lot of things I haven't done before (distributed safety, servos, hydraulics). I've offered myself for the Kassel posting, maybe early next year.

Plus it's a hard thing to get a job in unless you're a total whizz (which it's hard to be without a job and actual experience)

That very much depends on location and skills.

[MadImmortalMan]

Eurail seems expensive. I want Austria, Slovenia and Italy and the website has €350 per person for 5 travel days. It's the same for only Austria.

I suspect I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I know you get a lot of different options with that.

[The Larch]

Eurail seems expensive. I want Austria, Slovenia and Italy and the website has €350 per person for 5 travel days. It's the same for only Austria.

I suspect I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I know you get a lot of different options with that.

Where are you looking for it? I have 250€ for Austria + Slovenia and 220€ just for Italy.

[MadImmortalMan]

I'm using this:
http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/select-pass#passtable