[Rant] Minor Rant III: For a Few Hollers More

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Fun Size said:
I just failed the Amazon coding test so hard. Didn't even get one of the two done, which is mind boggling to me. All I do is code, and code fast, and somehow in this one instance I just froze at the top. Eventually my brain kicked in, but it wouldn't have mattered. It wasn't until there was only fifteen minutes left that I decided to print the input at the start, only to discover it wasn't the input it was supposed to be, so even if I coded it perfectly, it would never have worked. I honestly have no idea what to do with that.
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A few months ago, I was interviewing for a job, and completed a coding test comprising of 3 separate coding tasks. They were a Java house, and I'm not a Java guy, but they said I could do the coding in whatever language I liked (there were various compiler options in the drop down). So, I said "I'll do the first one in .Net", completed it and then said "Well, let's do JavaScript for the next one, and Java for the last one".

This was an "open book" test, meaning I could use any web resources I wanted, so long as I finished on time, and it was a screen share, so they could see what it was I did. So I finished the JavaScript one just fine (since I've been using it since it was invented). Then on the last one, I reminded them "I've never coded in Java, but I know how to use Stack Overflow". I finished that one too.

They said no one had ever completed all 3 before. And I still didn't get the job.

All that's to say, don't beat yourself up too much over it. These things are super stressful, and I found myself floundering at times on things I knew well. I had a good 5 minutes of freeze-up at the start, but thankfully was able to shake it off and get 'er done. I think most places just want to see you work under pressure and the 'completion rate' is of lesser importance.
 
Dei

Dei

I will say that my husband does these kinds of interviews all the time, and he designs some of the questions to be just beyond a person's current capabilities, just to see if they are willing to ask for help, what kind of help they ask for, and if they can complete the task with said help.
 
mikerc

mikerc

Broke my glasses when I tripped & fell yesterday. So I go on Specsavers website to order replacement glasses, except instead of letting me order & pay for new glasses online it's "fill in this form & we'll call you during work hours about your glasses. Oh, and even though we're going to contact you by phone you still have to give us your email address - for reasons".

So I do that & they phone today. Except rather than phone my mobile - which was the number I gave them on the online form - they instead decide to phone my home landline that they must have had on file from before. During work hours. When I'm not at home because I'm at work! Why even put a mandatory phone number field on that form if you're not going to use the number I give you? :censored:
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
mikerc said:
Broke my glasses when I tripped & fell yesterday. So I go on Specsavers website to order replacement glasses, except instead of letting me order & pay for new glasses online it's "fill in this form & we'll call you during work hours about your glasses. Oh, and even though we're going to contact you by phone you still have to give us your email address - for reasons".

So I do that & they phone today. Except rather than phone my mobile - which was the number I gave them on the online form - they instead decide to phone my home landline that they must have had on file from before. During work hours. When I'm not at home because I'm at work! Why even put a mandatory phone number field on that form if you're not going to use the number I give you? :censored:
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Rhetorical question, I know... but the answer is they harvest and sell your personal data.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
My wife got me an electric blanket for Christmas since my PC is in the cold, cold basement. Within a month it had stopped working so we got a new one. That one stopped working last night. She uses a heating pad for her back and they crap out after a couple months and we have to buy new ones.

Look, I know we use them continually for long periods of time and that the heating elements probably have a shelf life, but come the fuck on, man. It's fucking ridiculous. Built in obsolescence is a huge pain in the ass.
 
Celt Z

Celt Z

Dave said:
Built in obsolescence is a huge pain in the ass.
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Meanwhile, it looks like we may have to finally replace our oven...that was installed in 1965.

But I'm with you, I HATE when I purchase something and no matter how carefully I use it, it craps outs shortly. It puts me in such a bad mood.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Dave said:
My wife got me an electric blanket for Christmas since my PC is in the cold, cold basement. Within a month it had stopped working so we got a new one. That one stopped working last night. She uses a heating pad for her back and they crap out after a couple months and we have to buy new ones.

Look, I know we use them continually for long periods of time and that the heating elements probably have a shelf life, but come the fuck on, man. It's fucking ridiculous. Built in obsolescence is a huge pain in the ass.
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Could you get some kind of space heater, instead?
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
ThatNickGuy said:
Could you get some kind of space heater, instead?
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Space heater won't work down here for a number of reasons. First, they are super expensive to run as much as I'd need. Second, we have ONE OUTLET in the whole basement. So if I were to plug in a space heater, I'd be blowing fuses left & right. Trust me, I know this from experience. :rofl:
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Dave said:
My wife got me an electric blanket for Christmas since my PC is in the cold, cold basement. Within a month it had stopped working so we got a new one. That one stopped working last night. She uses a heating pad for her back and they crap out after a couple months and we have to buy new ones.

Look, I know we use them continually for long periods of time and that the heating elements probably have a shelf life, but come the fuck on, man. It's fucking ridiculous. Built in obsolescence is a huge pain in the ass.
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Bizarre. When I got a cat, I got a heating pad for him to sit on. It has pretty much run continuously for 8 years.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Some blankets have a safety that won’t let them come on if the environment is too cold (yes I know that’s dumb). So if it works upstairs but not in the basement then that’s probably it. Otherwise if they are totally dying then I am assuming they are just being bent up too much.

Have you considered anything like this instead?
lifehacker.com

Heat Yourself instead of the Entire Room to Save on Your Heating Bill

Most of us are accustomed to heating the entire room or house during winter, but if you live alone or have extremely adaptable housemates you can save
lifehacker.com lifehacker.com

—Patrick
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
PatrThom said:
Some blankets have a safety that won’t let them come on if the environment is too cold (yes I know that’s dumb). So if it works upstairs but not in the basement then that’s probably it. Otherwise if they are totally dying then I am assuming they are just being bent up too much.

Have you considered anything like this instead?
lifehacker.com

Heat Yourself instead of the Entire Room to Save on Your Heating Bill

Most of us are accustomed to heating the entire room or house during winter, but if you live alone or have extremely adaptable housemates you can save
lifehacker.com lifehacker.com

—Patrick
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Have I considered heating myself instead of the room? You mean, like with an electric blanket?
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Dave said:
Have I considered heating myself instead of the room? You mean, like with an electric blanket?
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Yes, like with an electric blanket, only not with an electric blanket.
The referenced articles (if they're the ones I think they are) mention things like using brooder lamps, pet beds, strategically draped cloths (you could use your hoard of broken blankets I guess), USB hand warmers, etc.

--Patrick
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

I am the team leader for my department. One of my responsibilities is to convene the monthly team meeting. It's not a big deal, but we're required to sit down at least once a month to talk about issues related to our department's work.

As I might have mentioned previously, currently out of my team of four (including me), I am the only one who's here Monday to Friday on a full time basis. Everyone else takes at least one or two days off a week due to health reasons or personal reasons. To ensure that we have sufficient manpower on any given day, these guys very kindly ensured that they don't all take the same days off. So, for example, Editor A takes Monday and Tuesday off, Editor B takes Wednesday and Thursday, and Editor C takes Friday.

This arrangement is good from a manpower perspective, of course, but it is not conducive to finding a time to hold our monthly meeting, because there is no day of the week where we're all here at the same time. So now my higher-ups are asking me if we've had our meeting this month, and I'm all like, "Erm..."
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
PatrThom said:
"Which is more important? Meetings, or productivity?"
Maybe it will catch on...

--Patrick
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I guarantee you there is at least one executive, who will brook no agument, that productivity requires meetings, and if you aren't having your meetings, you are not productive, no matter what any other metric says.
 
evilmike

evilmike

bhamv3 said:
I am the team leader for my department. One of my responsibilities is to convene the monthly team meeting. It's not a big deal, but we're required to sit down at least once a month to talk about issues related to our department's work.

As I might have mentioned previously, currently out of my team of four (including me), I am the only one who's here Monday to Friday on a full time basis. Everyone else takes at least one or two days off a week due to health reasons or personal reasons. To ensure that we have sufficient manpower on any given day, these guys very kindly ensured that they don't all take the same days off. So, for example, Editor A takes Monday and Tuesday off, Editor B takes Wednesday and Thursday, and Editor C takes Friday.

This arrangement is good from a manpower perspective, of course, but it is not conducive to finding a time to hold our monthly meeting, because there is no day of the week where we're all here at the same time. So now my higher-ups are asking me if we've had our meeting this month, and I'm all like, "Erm..."
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Tell your bosses that you have accomplished this through the magic of holograms:
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

bhamv3 said:
I am the team leader for my department. One of my responsibilities is to convene the monthly team meeting. It's not a big deal, but we're required to sit down at least once a month to talk about issues related to our department's work.

As I might have mentioned previously, currently out of my team of four (including me), I am the only one who's here Monday to Friday on a full time basis. Everyone else takes at least one or two days off a week due to health reasons or personal reasons. To ensure that we have sufficient manpower on any given day, these guys very kindly ensured that they don't all take the same days off. So, for example, Editor A takes Monday and Tuesday off, Editor B takes Wednesday and Thursday, and Editor C takes Friday.

This arrangement is good from a manpower perspective, of course, but it is not conducive to finding a time to hold our monthly meeting, because there is no day of the week where we're all here at the same time. So now my higher-ups are asking me if we've had our meeting this month, and I'm all like, "Erm..."
Click to expand...
Tell them you've had the revolutionary idea to make the meeting an email, and throw in some productivity buzzwords to convince them
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Ravenpoe said:
Tell them you've had the revolutionary idea to make the meeting an email, and throw in some productivity buzzwords to convince them
Click to expand...
I used to just send monthly emails but the higher-ups asked me to stop doing that and actually have in-person meetings. I think it was because some people apparently weren't reading the emails, so certain things weren't getting done right, so they wanted everyone to sit down in a room thereby making sure that everyone got the message about certain things needing to be done.

So, basically, the people who didn't read their emails ruined it for everyone else.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Yesterday, I put two eggs on to boil.
I then got wrapped up in a video game and suddenly remembered the eggs when I heard them banging around in the pot as the water was roiling*.
"Oh no!" jumped up grabbed pot switched hot water for cold and then ate them after a few minutes.

They were perfect.

Now I have the joyous disappointment of having made perfectly cooked boiled eggs but not knowing how I did it.

--Patrick
*Yes, this really is the word I wanted to use here.
 
Simfers

Simfers

If it's hard-boiled eggs, I've never missed by using this method:

1. Take them out of the frudge;
2. Fill a pot with water and set it to boiling;
3. Fill a bowl with very cold water;
4. When the water is boiling (doesn't have to be a strong boil, just some bubbles), slowly lower the eggs in them. Reduce heat to medium-high (actual temperature may vary depending on stove-top);
5. Leave them in there for 10 minutes;
6. Take them out and put them in the cold water. Leave them in there for a few minutes (never timed it, I guess 2-3?); and
7. Peel, season to taste and enjoy.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

My usual method is to start eggs in cold water, heat to boiling, then cover and reduce to low for 13-15min.
Replace hot water with cold, let stand a couple minutes, then peel & eat. I'd say I get a better than 50% success rate with that method.
This time they boiled an extra ?? minutes, were removed from heat and put into cold water at OHGODOHGODOHGOD speed and then allowed to stand for maybe 5min.

--Patrick
 
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