TV Discussion Fisto's Disco: The LACWAC Social Thread

Best of fortune TaradosGon!

 

Thanks AkashKedavra_93 anakinfansince1983 and Sgt Crowfield

I should know come the end of next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Why wouldn't you use Star Destroyer grey?

 

Go for it, my colors are summer ones.
2 Sisters, and 7+ female cousins and aunts shaped me well.

 

Phone interviews are rough. I've done a few of them for IT positions and hate them. Best of luck, bro!

 

What thread is designated for bitching about the latest RebelForce radio interview with Filoni?

 

It's funny -- several years ago bio/genetics/molecular/etc-type fields were all the rage, now it's a rat race like everything else. I got a BA in biology a few years back, and continued straight to gradschool since I was a scaredy-cat and didn't want to enter the Real World, but all my friends/roomates/etc who had graduated with me are still trying to find a steady job. Even the medical field seems to have slowed down.

It seems like if you don't have a degree higher than a BA/BS or a crapton of experience, your chances of landing a decent job are slim -- TaradosGon: do you have a degree higher than a BA yet? Because graduate school might be worth it.

 

I can attest to this as well. Although I have a BS degree in an engineering discipline, I decided that it was better to go on to graduate school so as to improve my chances of landing a better job from the get go. My expertise is actually as much in biology as it is in engineering, so having a more advanced degree should be far more helpful to me than getting out to the job market with just a BS. The best jobs available nowadays are typically those given to folks with extensive technical expertise. Just my $0.02, and even now as I'm about to graduate I'm dreading the job search I'm currently engaged in.

 

When my herpetologist friend and I graduated back in '92, it was either master (and perhaps later a doctor) or nothing at all. The intermediate degrees like bachelor came years later here. Hubby for example decided halfway through his studies that he wanted to bail out shortly before the final tests, and since he had already met all the requirements he got his BS instead. But as it still wasn't very well known at the time, he was forced to do freelance work as nearly no company hired people with Bachelor degrees back then.

We did have two varieties of a masters degree, though: the more general type (after which you called yourself Master of Arts, Science etc. ) with three fields of study and the more specialized form (Diploma-this or that) with one major field of study, one secondary field and three minor fields. The Masters degree was usually used if you went into the teaching business while the Diploma degree was used if you wanted to leave the ivory tower for a commercial enterprise or other. So I actually have a Diploma degree, but as it's the same level as Masters I usually use that term when talking to non-German interested parties.

 

Everyone with their college degrees...and their jobs, sadly I still with my parents and going through high school.

 

I'm still with my parents and going through university, and I need to find a job, but there's just nothing available...

 

One thing I've learned that I wish someone had told me years ago is that it's not always your experience/grades/etc that get you employed, but the people you know. It's funny (er, in that not-really-funny-at-all sort of way), because when you're in school everyone tells you to focus on your schoolwork, your standardized tests, etc etc, just so you can become a good-looking number in the system. But from what I've seen working on the hiring end of things, if people know who you are personally (or know someone who's spoken of you), your chances of landing a job are infinitely higher.

Same thing goes for funding agencies (if you're in any of the sciences, including social science) -- I was on a couple of review panels for the National Science Foundation (the big government supporter for research in the US... PBS always thanks them before their programs), and I was shocked at how often panels look at proposals and fund scientists based on how well they know applicant. "Oh yeah I know Joe... he's a good guy. Throw him in the "must fund at any cost" pile." It works in the opposite direction too, but I didn't see that as often.

I suppose this is why internships, even unpaid ones, are often worth it in the longrun. It's not just about getting experience (which is still important!), but making connections.


And why all those damn brownnosers are now ruling the world!

 

Just like the Sith it all makes sense now!

 

This is true. How many diplomas have a GPA printed on them? None that I know of. Being a perfectionist, the first year in college I struggled to keep a GPA of 4 or better at the expense of any social activity (including that with potential future employers) until I was given that same advice. So far, that advice has certainly paid off.

 

Ours have. Or rather, had ... I have no idea if this changed or not over the course of the last twenty years.

Yes, networking is essential. Unfortunately, because I don't like to be involved in business networks. Toadying some corporate bobbleheads in my precious free time? No thanks.

I'm not much of a teamworker, either, unless it's in team-based e-sports (and even then it's more of a necessity than an innate desire). My preferred method of work is being given a general outline of the problem, a deadline ... and that's it. If I need directions, I'll ask. If I don't ask, I don't need directions. I really hate to be forced to discuss details with ten others when I could just implement a solution instead. Sigh ...

 

Pretty much where I think most of the difficulty of finding a job in my field comes from is from lack of connections. Most the the folks I'm networked with in my field just aren't in the Orlando area. They are somewhere between DC and Baltimore, or Rio Ranchi, NM.

 

I have a writing job at the moment and I work with the Tutoring Department. I'll probably pick up a library shift too. Campus jobs aren't "lucrative" necessarily, but most of the time, it's pretty convenient.

 

How LACWACy are you?

Yeah, I threw together a LACWAC personality quiz real quick. I tried to put my personal bias aside the best I could and I think I did pretty well. I tried to include something for everyone, I tried to represent all extremes. LACWACy doesn't really mean anything anymore, so the results don't really matter, but hopefully the Q/A provides some amusement. I suggest you just answer the questions honestly. There's no reason to be dishonest, it's not like there's a right or a wrong, being LACWACy isn't necessarily good, and not being LACWACy isn't necessarily bad. You decide. You might be surprised at the level of LACWACiness for each answer. I tried to make it balanced so no one got 100% or 0%. I tried to keep it focused on TCW so noobs could take it.

I answered it honestly and only got a 79, which is one point below the top bracket.

Grrrr, it cut off one the questions! Oh well.

lol @ the comments at the bottom. That site is so lame, but it was quick and easy.

 

Who even has a name like Nittin?
Anyway, I got a 72.

 

54...

"You're straddling that line between sane and LACWACy. It's not too late to turn back, but go any further and you're lost to Lord Kowak forever."