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Post by The Captain on Sept 5, 2018 8:19:07 GMT -5
Cei-U - sorry to hear about the COBOL programming job. I had to take four semesters of COBOL in college to get my MIS degree, and I can't imagine doing it for a living. Four semesters? My total training was eight months of classroom work (resulting in an associate degree) followed by a four-month internship with PACCAR, where I subsequently worked for a hair over four years. I hated that job with a passion but it wasn't COBOL's fault. COBOL did open the door, though, for other opportunities (I loved business process analysis) so I'm grateful for it... but I'll die a happy man if I never have to write (or debug) another line of code.
Cei-U! I summon the JCL!
Yeah, four semesters over 16 months of it. Our MIS department had a professor with tenure who had convinced the PTB that COBOL was essential to the degree (even though this was in 2000). Since he was the only professor who taught it, it was job security for life for him. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 8:32:23 GMT -5
I tried COBOL Programming and I was good; but I didn't get any job at all because I wasn't fast enough to write the code for the program to execute properly.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 5, 2018 8:39:30 GMT -5
I tried COBOL Programming and I was good; but I didn't get any job at all because I wasn't fast enough to write the code for the program to execute properly. Sorry, Mech, but that makes zero sense. "Fast enough" how?
Cei-U! I summon the confusion!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 11:11:42 GMT -5
I tried COBOL Programming and I was good; but I didn't get any job at all because I wasn't fast enough to write the code for the program to execute properly. Sorry, Mech, but that makes zero sense. "Fast enough" how? Cei-U! I summon the confusion!
I was tested for employment for various positions from various companies and they all told me that I did a great job writing the code of which I was assigned to write it. They interviewed and tested over 200-300 applicants and I did write the code in 50 minutes -- while over 120 did write the code in 30 minutes or less. So, they hired the guy that can do it in 30 (actually 25) minutes or less and not me that can do it in 50. They ended up with a candidate that can do the job twice as fast than I can. With that in mind ... they hired him not me. With that in mind, I've stopped writing code in COBOL and did something else working with System Administrators working a fixing (paid better) servers that I can do in lightning speeds and did it well for 22 years until I got laid off from Boeing because technology got a hold of me and I just couldn't keep it up and finally can't do the work anymore. That's why I don't work anymore ... and became a dinosaur worker because of technology overcame me. That's how ... I lost my job at Boeing. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 5, 2018 11:30:24 GMT -5
That is certainly the harsh reality of corporate jobs, if not just jobs in general. Everyone is always expendable. Probably the best job I had, and the people I worked for, and I was the sacrificial lamb that was lead to the slaughter for something my supervisor did. And did not learn that till years later at the job I'm at now what happened all those years ago.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 5, 2018 12:14:46 GMT -5
Ah, now I understand. Yeah, I can totally relate. Since the improvement to my health after losing all that weight, I've occasionally considered reentering the workforce but my skill set is twenty years out of date and no way a sexagenarian old fart is gonna compete in productivity with some coked-up twenty-something. Sucks, but it's reality.
Cei-U!
That's why I write!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 15:27:56 GMT -5
I have worked in the medical field all my life. After college I was a Dialysis Technician for 4 years. Then grad school and a Physician Assistant in Family Medicine for 22 years. When I left that job they estimated I had seen over 50,000 pts. I left to work part time in an Urgent Care until full retirement in 8-10 years. We have our house paid off so we will travel and have fun while both of us still have good health.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 5, 2018 16:22:16 GMT -5
and (briefly, as a child) a professional clown. Story please! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 5, 2018 16:26:45 GMT -5
I'm a high school English teacher in my twelfth year. I teach Freshman English (regular and honors), Creative Writing, and occasionally mythology. I've previously taught 7th and 8th grade English too. Prior to that, I have been a supermarket manager, a librarian assistant, and a door-to-door knife salesman. I was never a professional child clown.
Easiest job I ever had: Librarian Assistant.
Most fun job I had: Teaching
Job I was worst suited for: Supermarket manager
Number of jobs total: 6 (3 different libraries as a librarian assistant)
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 5, 2018 16:31:39 GMT -5
I'm a high school English teacher in my twelfth year. I teach Freshman English (regular and honors), Creative Writing, and occasionally mythology. I've previously taught 7th and 8th grade English too. Prior to that, I have been a supermarket manager, a librarian assistant, and a door-to-door knife salesman. I was never a professional child clown. My dad did that back in the 80's. Maybe early 90's. Company was called Cutco and they (and I remember from my dad's sales pitch) had scissors that could cut a penny in half. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,870
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Post by shaxper on Sept 5, 2018 16:33:14 GMT -5
I'm a high school English teacher in my twelfth year. I teach Freshman English (regular and honors), Creative Writing, and occasionally mythology. I've previously taught 7th and 8th grade English too. Prior to that, I have been a supermarket manager, a librarian assistant, and a door-to-door knife salesman. I was never a professional child clown. My dad did that back in the 80's. Maybe early 90's. Company was called Cutco and they (and I remember from my dad's sales pitch) had scissors that could cut a penny in half. Yup. That's the one, and I still have the scissors. Excellent product, but they absolutely exploit their workers, and I was totally wrong for the job anyway. |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Sept 5, 2018 16:53:38 GMT -5
I've been a technical writer since 2001. I produce step-by-step instructions for production personnel, field installers, and customers. Currently, the company I work for makes cabinetry in both wood and sheet metal for use in restaurants and convenience stores. We have three manufacturing plants in the state and I am the sole tech writer for all three.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2018 17:21:16 GMT -5
Retail management for the last 25 years; Naval officer before that (out of college). Worked for Barnes & Noble for 20 years; worked for Lowes and Gordmans, briefly; now work for a printing and & shipping company. Was trying to get out of retail a few years ago; but, once you've been in for 5 or more years, no one considers your experience for other work, even though you possess the same skillset. Retail wasn't bad for most of it; but, the corporate mindset (and lack of real leadership, not shouting at people or spouting motivational phrases from a 5th rate management book) really has destroyed retail in this country. At least at my current job there is a sense of accomplishment, when we complete projects.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 5, 2018 18:28:29 GMT -5
Retail management for the last 25 years; Naval officer before that (out of college). Worked for Barnes & Noble for 20 years; worked for Lowes and Gordmans, briefly; now work for a printing and & shipping company. Was trying to get out of retail a few years ago; but, once you've been in for 5 or more years, no one considers your experience for other work, even though you possess the same skillset. Retail wasn't bad for most of it; but, the corporate mindset (and lack of real leadership, not shouting at people or spouting motivational phrases from a 5th rate management book) really has destroyed retail in this country. At least at my current job there is a sense of accomplishment, when we complete projects. One of my past bosses was really into 5th rate motivational posters... There even was one over the toilet, saying “if you think you can... you can!” To which an anonymous hand (which looked a lot like mine) added “and if you can’t, try ex-lax”. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2018 18:35:30 GMT -5
Only decent business book I ever read was Scott Adams' The Dilbert Principle. He said in there, somewhere, that a manager's leadership skills are in inverse proportion to the number of motivational slogans on their wall.
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