I had a scheduled interview with Dr. Hitchcock this morning. He was very friendly, personable, and easy to talk with. Our conversation extended well beyond simple prescription refills. We talked about cholesterol (I currently take medication), blood pressure (ditto), and overall health. He offered tips on handling the Tirzepatide vials and listened to my personal progress and goals. He offered a couple of options heading forward discussing the pros and cons of each. He even offered tips on exercise improvement and how best to pad my calories upward to insure a reasonable level. Although the telehealth call was only 15 minutes I feel like I had a complete conversation with my primary care physician. I should receive text/email notification of my 3 month prescription soon followed by fulfillment and shipping from the pharmacy. All in all a great experience.

Hello guys,
I though this place could be the best place to understand more about a role which I’ve applied for after reading requirements which I think i suit.
Role titled as in title… may you please lend me your expertise in the job market? Recruiting called me and informed me of a technical interview covering sd-wan, meraki, wireless and network security topics.
If you could please discuss with me what to focus on along this topics, but the real deal is if someone could explain what will be my daily tasks, my main job under a title like that… i know job post should be stating that and it did but I want to hear from you if someone landed a similar job….
Right now, i work as a level 1 technical support for orange business service provider support Phillip Morris International… and this position introduces me to multiple technologies and vendors…. Is it worth to leave this great chance of exposure and engagement with these many vendors/tech?
Is the sdn prov role of higher level than SP service desk? Or is it just the same but limited to sdwan?
Thanks in advance

Hello guys,
I though this place could be the best place to understand more about a role which I’ve applied for after reading requirements which I think i suit.
Role titled as in title… may you please lend me your expertise in the job market? Recruiting called me and informed me of a technical interview covering sd-wan, meraki, wireless and network security topics.
If you could please discuss with me what to focus on along this topics, but the real deal is if someone could explain what will be my daily tasks, my main job under a title like that… i know job post should be stating that and it did but I want to hear from you if someone landed a similar job….
Right now, i work as a level 1 technical support for orange business service provider support Phillip Morris International… and this position introduces me to multiple technologies and vendors…. Is it worth to leave this great chance of exposure and engagement with these many vendors/tech?
Is the sdn prov role of higher level than SP service desk? Or is it just the same but limited to sdwan?
Thanks in advance
Also if someone could share resources, that would be awesome… I’m currently using meraki learning hub and finding it a great source of familiarizing with meraki

In November, I applied for an internship that I was really interested in and made it to the interview stage. However, I had travel plans scheduled for two months later, which would keep me away for four months. This clashed with their availability (it wasn't made clear in the job description how long the internship was), so I wasn’t chosen as a candidate because of this. They even reached out to me to clarify if there was any chance I could join the brand for 6 months to be certain. Despite this, I expressed my interest and asked them to keep my application on file. When I returned from my travels, I noticed that they were looking for interns this time round on their Instagram. I applied again the next day and followed up on an email thread I had with the recruiter from the previous year.
I have received no response. Honestly, I thought my chances would have been better because of the previous contact I’ve had with the company.
I even noticed they advertised the position again the following week, so I reached out once more. Still, there was no response. Now, I’m torn between following up again or moving on. I am super keen on the company, and the internship is quite significant for me in trying to break into the industry, especially since I do not come from that background. It’s the closest I’ve been throughout my job search.
Should I be persistent and reach out again for the third time?

These are the things I learned about residency that I wish I could tell myself as a July intern on wards service. I know many of y’all here will disagree with a few, but this is how I see it. There’s definitely quite a few missing, so y’all fill in what I forgot.

• You earned the right to be here. You’ve proven you can do it so don’t doubt yourself.
• You’re not expected to know everything on day 1. Your job is to show up with a good attitude and ready to work hard.
• Listen to the nurses. Some of these critical care nurses, especially. Ask for their input and don’t brush them off as mere nurses.
• Write things down. Print a list and make check boxes by each patient for what needs to get done that day. There are interns who forget things and interns who write things down.
• The first thing you need to learn is to tell sick from not sick, and that can be tricky at times. Later on you refine that until you see a whole spectrum of how sick a patient is.
• Don’t waste too much time pre-rounding. Brief pertinent exam, ask patient about changes in symptoms, but the highest yield is asking the nurses.
• Call consults before noon if you can. It’s a courtesy to the consultant/their team plus they’re far more likely to be seen that day, avoiding a delay in workup for the patient.
• Your note doesn’t have to be an essay. Keep things simple and don’t get bogged down in eloquent explanations.
• However, document your reasoning well. Especially in tough cases, drop a paragraph about why you’re doing what you’re doing and the patient agrees.
• Auto text or whatever your EMR uses. Make an arsenal of these. Use them for everything. If you have a kind of case you see a lot, template out a note so you make sure you’re documenting all the important stuff in an efficient manner.
• Be cool to your co-interns. Y’all are about to spend the next few years together. Don’t leave them in a lurch or punt to others all the time.
• Call the seniofellow/attending, especially at first. Even if they give you attitude, it’s ultimately their responsibility and they should know that.
• Try to update families daily if you can, especially for your ICU folks.
• Never, ever lie. Even once will destroy your credibility.
• Have a good attitude in a way that refuses to be bullied - don’t take that shit.
• Read all your own images. Then when rads drops a report, read that and see if you can find what they’re describing for every notes finding. It’ll make you a better doctor.
• Get to your new city as early as possible. Do things like car inspection, dentist appointment, vet appointment, etc. before July kicks off.
• Our profession has a high rate of substance abuse. Do what that what you will.
• Sit down with your family and SO and let them know what to expect and try to explain how intense this job is. When there’s a difference between expectation and reality, you have problems. Either way, it’ll strain your relationships.
• Because of this, be deliberate on spending time with your SO/friends/family even if you’re dead tired.
• Wear comfortable shoes
• Scour the hospital for the best restroom. Sometimes having a proper relaxed shit can turn a day around.
• Get to know your chiefs. Go to them with problems earlier rather than later.
• Use every minute of PTO
• Step outside the hospital for a few minute a day when you can. See the sunshine.
• Make friends with the cafeteria staff and they’ll hook you up to no end.
• Make friends with the transporters and techs - they will save you.
• Appreciate the hell out of what PT/OT/SLP do.
• Know how to tell a patient no.
• Pharmacy is your friend - they know things
• If something is emergent, keep calling to follow up. If your crashing patient needs abx, it’s not like some doctor video game where you put the order in STAT and everyone goes rushing. Call down and check the status, let them know it’s needed now.
• Don’t order everything STAT
• Calling people in general gets so much more done and avoids so many headaches.
• You’re going to lose your first patient. Remember how you feel, and make sure you never forget it. You’ll need it later.
• Hang out outside of work, invite the nurses as well.
• Election ‘24 is coming up in November so work is a great place to talk candidly about politics and try to change others’ beliefs /s
• If you’re struggling, reach out to someone.
• Try to get outside on your days off
• It’s not uncommon to end up on an SSRI
• Take the stairs places as much as you can. Cardio and a nice lower body workout.
• Answer pages as they come in. Anything STAT call back the moment you see it. Aim to get back to everyone within 5 minutes if you can.
• Day to night nurse shift change. Wait 30-45 minutes, then go around and talk to the nurse for all your patients. Let them get report and see if they have questions. Explain the plan, agree on when to call you, make sure orders all look good and make sense. We even used to bring candy from the physicians lounge to pass out for this.
• Put the diet order in
• Keep your presentations short and to the point unless someone wants them longer. Know the details, but you don’t have to recite them. You don’t have to say all the exam findings that were normal and not related to the patient’s disease
• Always be prepared to dodge a punch when near a geriatric patient
• Even a 5-10 minute phone call with your loved ones on a frequent basis can do wonders
• Some people are just assholes and you can’t take things personally
• Other people are mad at something else and want to take it out on you.
• Be cool to the med students
• Get good at delivering bad news
• Celebrate delivering good news
• Fuck prior authorizations man
• When calling a consult, have a specific clinical question you need help answering. Know the patient well. Keep the call centered around what you need from them but be ready to provide details if needed. “Dr. X wants you on board” is resident code for “I know it’s bullshit but my attending made me call.”
• Delirium and sundowning are real af. The trick is to get them home.
• Benzos aren’t just “settle down” drugs. It’s like a whisky shot through the vein in the sense that it can also disinhibit people and make wildness worse
• Get to know 1 thing about each patient other than what’s in their chart. What job did they have? What’s their favorite team? Do they have pets? You’ll remember them better when the list is large and it can make the job more rewarding
• If the nurse is worried ALWAYS go to bedside
• If you feel the urge to get a tattoo, do it
• Read everyone’s note each day on your patients
• Case managers and social workers are heroes. Get to know them and work together to get patients proper dispo
• Don’t wear your damn shoes in the call room bed
• Sit down in patient rooms if you can. It shows you’re listening, it’s less intimidating for them, and they’ll tell you more.
• Talk louder to older patients
• Sternal rub like you mean it
• Sit done one day, caffeinate, and do all those stupid compliance modules in a single bolus.
• Never make the same mistake twice
• If things don’t add up, your math is wrong
• Some patients don’t care about their health and won’t look after it after all you do. That’s just the gig.
• If something adverse for residents goes into place on a “temporary” basis, it never goes back the other way. Fight for your rights.
• You’re not crazy - the patient always tells the attending something completely different or remembers some important detail. We get it.
• Have a good comfort show to stream when you come home half dead.
• Trust but verify (that’s actually a Russian proverb Reagan borrowed when speaking about the USSR)
• Remember to love it more than you hate it. Find a way to make it fun. They say it’s the best time you never want to have again. You get to save and improve human lives. There’s no greater calling in the world than that.

For me, the seizure-like events segued into tics and internal tremors about four months ago. I think seizure events are less common than internal tremors, but I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this. I remember in one news report last year another woman being interviewed about Long Covid mentioned this happening to her, too.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry will set up a “special command center” to fight any move by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s top leaders, Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Monday.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan dropped a bombshell earlier that day, declaring that he would seek arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “starvation of civilians,” “willfully causing great suffering,” “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population” and other war crimes.
What is Israel’s best strategy to counter the ICC prosecutor’s outrageous maneuver? Analysts JNS spoke with offered broad agreement that Israel should take a tough stance against the court, including imposing sanctions.
Avi Bell, a law professor at the University of San Diego and at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, told JNS that Israel should “immediately implement an aggressive strategy of non-cooperation.”
Israel should not cooperate, nor allow any citizen to cooperate, with the court. “Don’t allow anybody to go abroad to talk to them,” he said. “It’s perfectly fair given the ICC is threatening Israelis with false imprisonment and false prosecution, that it’s actively collaborating with a terrorist organization in lawfare against Israel.”
To date, Israel has pursued the opposite strategy, said Bell, sharply criticizing the Foreign Ministry and State Attorney’s Office, which have collaborated with the ICC for years.
“Just a few months ago, they invited the ICC prosecutor’s team to Israel to interview witnesses, collect evidence and coordinate with the PLO in Ramallah, which is simply unthinkable to me. I just don’t understand how anybody could be so foolish,” he told JNS.
Given their track record, officials at the Foreign Ministry and attorney general’s office are the last people that Bell said he would want to handle ICC strategy going forward.
“No matter what happens, no matter how much the strategy fails, they just don’t stop,” he said. “They keep going in the same direction.”
Israel should impose sanctions and pass legislation against the ICC similar to what America did, he said.
'Israel must take aggressive action against ICC' - JNS.org

The SIAM Foundation training course, aligned with international standards for Service Integration and Management (SIAM), equips professionals with a comprehensive understanding of SIAM concepts. Participants will explore the organizational structures necessary for effective governance and management, as well as the roles and responsibilities within a SIAM organization. The course delves into key SIAM models and practices, providing a roadmap for integrated process execution and governance, management, and operational models.
IT Service Management (ITSM) processes. SIAM offers a structured solution to address these complexities, making it a sought-after approach for businesses and corporations.
The SIAM Foundation Certification training course is available in four modes to cater to different learning preferences: classroom training, online training, on-site training, and private 1-to-1 training. This flexibility ensures that ITSM professionals and teams implementing SIAM methodologies can choose the most suitable learning format.
Classroom training in Singapore allows participants to engage in real-world scenarios and benefit from the expertise of active practitioners and accredited industry experts. Live virtual or online training offers the convenience of instructor-led sessions accessible from any location. Learners can also stay updated with the latest Agile industry trends through tutorials, articles, interviews, Q&As, and case studies.

Hi guys, I'm an incoming international student for Fall 2024, sent all the documents required for I-20 to the college on May 2nd of this month, but still haven't received anything, and the waiting time for an appointment in my country is quite long, so I will most likely have to make an appointment at some embassy of another country, you don’t know how to speed up this process, the last thing they answered me was “Please allow me to follow up with the international student advisor about your application. We thank you for your patience as we try to process your request as soon as possible.", and by the way, guys who also applied from abroad, how long did it usually take you to get F-1 visa after the interview itself, thank you!

Hi, all! 👋

Intro/Question:

Let me just start out by saying that I’ve been on here for a little while and have admired not only the persistence, dedication, and grit of the women on here, but also the kindness and support in comparison to other groups. I wish I could give/get hugs from you all because a lot of you seem like such wonderful people, and I could really use some of that kindness in my life at the moment.
Now, I guess I’ll get right into my reason for posting this: I’d love some advice/insight/thoughts from y’all on recommendations for my next steps in this career transition towards software development because I’ve been struggling for awhile with finding a FT or even PT role.
Throughout this time, my mental health has also declined greatly (while on this journey, I’ve actually started antidepressant medication for the first time ever because my mental health has exponentially decreased, and have also seen a few different therapists in the same span of time).

VERY brief overview of my journey thus far:

Early Education: Growing up in a predominantly white community outside the main city, I was put into ESL classes despite being born in the U.S. I'm Latina, and my parents--who knew little English at the time--agreed with everything the educators suggested. This meant I was often taken out of critical science and math classes to make time for ESL work. Despite being a straight-A student, I had to work harder than others, and I believe this was one reason why.About a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with combined ADD/ADHD. As a kid, it often took me longer to complete my work. My parents noticed but assumed it was just the way I functioned. My mom often recounted how I needed a "million" breaks while doing homework, which often led to late nights. Despite these struggles, I managed to stay on top of my studies.
Undergrad Education (2015 - 2019): I am a first-gen college grad and earned a bachelors in biochem & environmental science summer 2019. I discovered computer science during my junior year of college (by then, it was too late to take more courses in CS let alone attempt to make a switch without staying an extra year, which my scholarships would not cover). After graduating college, I was still interested in learning more about CS, so I took an Introduction to Programming in C course at my local community college, and not only earned an A, but also thoroughly enjoyed the content.
Grad School (Spring 2022): Enrolled in an online Masters in CS at Case Western Reserve University for those without CS degrees with a $30,000 grant from the dept. Took Discrete Mathematics and Algorithms & Data Structures in Java (those of us w/o a CS degree had to pass these before being able to move into the rest of the program where we’d be merged with those who DID have CS degrees), but paused due to my younger brother's unexpected passing.
Bootcamp (Fall 2022): Received a full-ride scholarship to a bootcamp (1/15 out of 1200 applicants accepted) where I learned full-stack development with Python, JavaScript, SQL, Flask, AJAX, and React, among other technologies. Graduated December 2022.
Further Learning (Spring/Summer 2023): Accepted into Code the Dream’s React course, dedicating over 20 hours per week to mastering React all while volunteering to work on open-source projects.
Internship (Fall 2023 - Present): I was interning at an early-stage Ed Tech startup up until the end of April, contributing to building an app from the ground up. I Gained experience in code writing/reviewing, CI/CD methodology, technical communication, and working on a software development team along with other teams like the content team and design team.

Struggles/Thoughts:

I have been consistently applying for FT/PT roles, internships, etc. with nothing but maybe 4 interviews since graduating from my bootcamp. In addition, I’ve been tweaking my resume for jobs that I feel I could be a particularly good candidate for using Jobscan with no luck.
With regards to the startup, they’ve informed me that they do not have sufficient funding to bring me on. Furthermore, about a month after the internship contract officially ended, the other female intern (graduated from the same bootcamp, although different cohorts) at the startup also let me know that she was being brought on again for an extended contract, and asked if I was offered the same—to which I replied that no, I wasn’t. I guess she also has an associates in CS, which also helps and I am not mad at her for anything and support her and uplift her, but as you can imagine, I am a little disappointed (more in myself than anything, I guess). It just makes me feel a bit crushed. I made myself always available (even after hours), replied quickly, got along super well with everyone, got my tasks all done for the most part. ==> Towards the end, I was tasked with a particularly difficult task, and was able to get through a good chunk of a new game, but was not able to fully finish. During this period, I was also struggling to get ahold of my ADHD meds, but they seemed to be out of stock everywhere, so that also didn't help.

Next steps:

I’m debating whether I should just keep applying, find some other program (AS/BS/MS), or just stop this trajectory altogether (although, I REALLY hope that I won’t have to because it would probably break me 😔).
I know that my math skills probably aren’t on par with those of others in the field, and I know that I need to work on those as well, so if you have any suggestions for free resources for that/what I should focus on with regards to teaching myself these concepts I’d also really appreciate it. I'm currently taking the Harvard CS50 course for credit as well as a Mathematics for Machine Learning course on Coursera (they state that this is for people of all math levels).
I’ve learned a lot and am passionate about continuing to grow as a software engineedeveloper. Any advice on next steps, opportunities, etc. that you feel may be relevant would be greatly appreciated. Thank you SO much if you read this far! 🫶

I’m an international student studying in college right now (Not a well rated college in Canada) majoring in computer programming and analysis diploma. I had a co-op term where I was supposed to find an internship for summer and unfortunately I didn’t find it, had a few interviews, thought I did well, but never got the position.
After that I decided to start working on certifications from compTIA (currently working on A+ and doing Net+ after) and now I’m thinking about getting bachelors at Griffith university and my question is is it worth it. It will only take me 1 year to complete Information Technology Bachelors program since there is a pathway from my college so the only issue is the tuition cost.
I’m not only looking for SWE position but also helpdesk/networking jobs. Will getting a bachelors degree really help me get in the field? Or should I just grind certificates and with my college diploma it will be enough? Thanks

FIRST, WHAT IS THE RED CROSS?
The Red Cross was founded in 1863 by Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman horrified by what he witnessed in the Italian battlefield during the Battle of Volturno. By 1933, the Red Cross was the central humanitarian player in drafting the modern laws of war. In fact, the Red Cross organized the conference that drafted the original Geneva Convention.

ANTISEMITIC BIAS
The Red Cross has a long history of antisemitic bias; most notably, it served as a propaganda mouthpiece for Nazi Germany and even helped top level Nazis escape prosecution.
After the Holocaust, Jewish survivors not only accused the Red Cross of doing little to help them find surviving family members, but also accused them of being apathetic and having “no feeling.”
But the bias didn’t end there. The Red Cross refused to recognize the Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) until 2006, even though it had long admitted the Muslim Red Crescent. This rejection was hardly just a symbolic issue, as it denied the Magen David Adom protection under international law.
Much like the Red Cross served as a Nazi propaganda mouthpiece during World War II, the Red Cross has periodically parroted Hamas propaganda over the years, only to later take back their claims, after the damage has already been done.

WHY ARE JEWS ANGRY WITH THE RED CROSS?
Since the October 7 massacre, Israel and Jews around the world have asked for the Red Cross to be permitted to visit the hostages held in Gaza, many of whom have chronic health conditions and/or disabilities and one of whom was around nine months pregnant. Unsurprisingly, Hamas has denied the Red Cross access, much like it has denied them access to other hostages and prisoners of war in the past, in complete violation of international law.
Though we hardly expect Hamas to act rationally, the Red Cross, which is in contact with Hamas, has made little tangible effort to access the hostages or information about their condition, or to even contact most of their families. Instead, it has dedicated most of its attention to condemning the Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip. It has also chastised Israel about a new wartime law that passed in the Israeli Knesset regarding the conditions of security prisoners if a “prison emergency” is declared.

A LONG HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM
By the start of World War II, the Red Cross, which was based in neutral Switzerland, had a policy of non-interference and “neutrality” regarding the Nazis’ racial policies.
The Red Cross chose only to concern itself with the treatment of prisoners of war from countries that had signed the 1929 Geneva Convention. However, they opted not to interfere regarding the treatment of civilians.
Following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, the Red Cross chose to “conform” to the new regime, rather than oppose it. In fact, an SS general, Ernst-Robert Grawitz, became the head of the German Red Cross in 1933. Grawitz was closely involved in the plans to murder disabled people and in Nazi medical experimentation. The German Red Cross thus essentially became a Nazi medical unit, rather than a humanitarian organization. When pressed about it, the German Red Cross claimed that, by allying themselves with the Nazi regime, they’d have access to concentration camps, which would ensure that the inmates would be “treated better.”

THE RED CROSS KNEW ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST AS THE HOLOCAUST WAS CARRIED OUT
In the 1990s, the Red Cross finally officially admitted that they’d long had previous knowledge of the Nazis’ plans for the total extermination of Jews and Roma.
As early as 1933, the Red Cross received desperate pleas from prisoners in Dachau concentration camp, begging for intervention. By 1942, the Red Cross had full knowledge of the Germans’ atrocities. In early 1945, the president of the Red Cross wrote, “Concerning the Jewish problem in Germany, we are in close and continual contact with the German authorities.” The use of the phrase “Jewish problem,” of course, is indicative of the attitude of the Red Cross, considering the very same phrase was used in the Nazis’ “final solution to the Jewish problem” (in other words, the Nazi plan for the total genocide of the Jewish People).
A representative of the Red Cross who’d visited several of the camps falsely claimed that other than segregation, “no other discrimination was made against [Jewish POWs].”

THE RED CROSS PEDDLED NAZI PROPAGANDA
By 1943, word of German atrocities toward the Jewish People had spread throughout the world. Following the deportation of ~500 Danish Jews to Theresienstadt, the Danish authorities pressured the International Red Cross to visit the camp/ghetto to check on its conditions.
The Nazis saw this visit as an opportunity to spread their propaganda. Nearly 8000 Jews were immediately sent to Auschwitz to counteract reports of overcrowding in Theresienstadt. In Auschwitz, these Jews were placed in a “special unit” in the event that the Red Cross chose to visit them.
The camp/ghetto was “cleaned up.” For example, buildings were painted and a football field was staged. “Cultural activities” were promoted to create the illusion that the Jewish prisoners were thriving. The Red Cross officials were taken on a tour of a pre-planned route and interviewed prisoners who’d been trained on what to say. Unsurprisingly, the Red Cross left Theresienstadt with a glowing report.

1944 letter from the Red Cross alleging they couldn't find any "extermination installations" at Auschwitz https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/exposing-the-red-cross

THE RED CROSS HELPED NAZIS ESCAPE AFTER WORLD WAR II
Both the Red Cross and the Vatican were responsible for the escape of thousands of high-level Nazi officials after the end of the war. In fact, the two worked together to ensure their escape. The Red Cross alone was responsible for issuing around 120,000 travel documents, many to Nazis. They also issued 25,000 new identity documents. It was due to the actions of the Red Cross that high-level war criminals such as Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele were able to escape.
To this day, the Red Cross has refused to comment on these findings, claiming that the travel documents were “misused” by war criminals, rather than acknowledging that the organization took an active role in ensuring their escape. The Red Cross also claims that individual Nazi sympathizers within the organization were responsible for this; in other words, this was a problem of a few bad apples. In reality, recent findings show that this was a systemic problem and that high-level Red Cross officials were well-aware of the issue.
In the decades after the war, the Red Cross continually whitewashed its actions both during and after the Holocaust, only admitting to some wrongdoing in the 1990s.

OBFUSCATING MORAL CLARITY
There are few situations in life where the moral stance should be crystal clear. Opposition to Hamas — and to the Nazis — is one of these cases. Yet, much like the Hamas propaganda machine has worked overtime to obfuscate the moral clarity of 10/7, so did the Red Cross obfuscate the moral clarity of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice.
The second in command at the Red Cross, Carl Jacob Burckhardt, even decried the Nuremberg Trials, calling them “Jewish revenge.”
For a full bibliography of her sources, please head over to Rootsmetals Patreon.
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/exposing-the-red-cross

Hey everyone, I read this sub a ton and learn so much from you all, so I wanted to share my recent journey for anyone who is also going through a layoff or looking for a new role. I was laid off in March with zero notice and previous messaging that all is well internally blah blah, Unicorn cybersecurity startup. Had a layoff less than a year before this one.
Background Job History: 3 Years, Helpdesk/Jr. sysadmin > 1.6 years Sysadmin / Systems Engineer (Managed small company IT infra (Linux, windows servers, internal application), worked with Devs to introduce code repos, CI/CD pipeline etc.) > 3 Years Solution Architect at Cybersec company
Education / Certs: Associates if that even matters, no certs at all (working to change that this year)
Being on this sub and others on reddit I was absolutely terrified, and I had 2 months of severance so I just hit the ground running and hit up everyone I knew personally and on Linkedin. Message everyone you fucking know even if you've spoken to them once, I've found almost everyone extremely friendly and willing to help, especially if I'd worked with them previously. Primarily used Linkedin for job posts and it seemed like there was a steady influx but once you go through all of them in a few days you start to see the same stuff. This may be obvious but UPDATE AND OPTIMIZE YOUR RESUME. Thought I had a good one, sent it out to 3 places and got auto rejected, then my previous manager spent some time with me to optimize it and never got another auto rejection going forward.
Stats wise, it looks like I applied to 110 places since March (add 20-30 to this), I see 47 emails in my "rejected / rekt" folder so over half passed on me and the other 40% are no replies. From my connections I managed to land a couple of intro calls, and I surprisingly had a few internal recruiters hit me up from my cold applications. Roughly 10 intro calls with different companies, 7 of them made it to a second call with hiring manager. 4 of those passed on me, and YOU ARE GETTING NO FEEDBACK from these fucking recruiters. Once they hear the word, they are a ghost and you no longer exist. One thing I've learned at the moment is recruiters are by far the most unprofessional people I've ever had to work with, wouldn't last a day as an SE/SA lol. I've also had recruiters reach out TO ME for a position, schedule a call and then ghost, and then reappearing a MONTH later to schedule a call as if nothing happened. Now that I took an offer, multiple recruiters from previous applications are reaching out for intro calls, ranging from 2-6 weeks after I've applied.
I was far along with a sort of no name company that I was going to begrudgingly take just to have an income and go from there, and a very very good company who I ended up taking an offer with. The interview process with very good company was difficult. Recruiter, Hiring manager 1hr, technical discussion (1hr, lots of cloud questions and troubleshooting type discussion to see thought process), ~1.5hr panel with 4 people on 2 part take home assignment, 1 technical section which was straight forward, and a daunting role play presentation on a system architecture shift. Got an offer 3 hours later, was very proud of myself on the presentation as it was a bitch and I crushed it.
Caveat to all of this is that the role is straying a bit from traditional SE/SA work and is more dealing with current customers and if they are using the product properly and there is potential for new feature use, expansion, etc. New team so haven't figured it out exactly, but the company is phenomenal, and I got a slight base bump and significant OTE bump (70/30 now vs 80/20 before) + RSU's and other nice perks. We'll see if I like the work, but it seems to be a really good team with a lot of members who are coming from SE/SA world as well.
Anyways sorry, that was my morning caffeine rant but figured it could be a useful reference point for someone, cheers.

Demographics Gender: Female Race/Ethnicity: Asian-American Residence: Midwest, suburb Income Bracket: 40k Type of School: Average public school (850 students) Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): First-Gen Intended Major(s): Computer Science and Math Double Major
Academics GPA (UW/W): 3.0/4.5
Rank (or percentile): School Doesn't Rank But was in the 30s out of 850
APs: 10 APs (World History, CS Principles, US History, CS A, Micro, Gov, Stats, Seminar, Research, Calc BC)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, 2 PLTW Engineering Classes (Honors Weighted), AP Research, Drawing 3, and Software Development Capstone (Honors Weighted)
Standardized Testing ACT: 34 Sat: AP Scores: World-5, Principles-5, US-4, CSA-5, Stats-3, Seminar-5, Lang-2
Extracurriculars/Activities Robotics Club/Team Captain: Officer(9-10) Captain(11-12), Falcon BEST 3rd Place and Exhibition Team Leader. In house competition 4 year winner for multiple events
Math Team: Officer(10-12), planned meetings, competitions, and promoted the club for new members. Led team to win Franklin University Number Crunchers, Rose-Hulman Runner-Up, and University of Indianapolis 1st place team
Internship/Mentorship: Interned at local tech lab after sophomore year when I created an amateur Python cybersecurity library. Was a part of a mentorship program after my junior year when I worked alongside multiple tech companies (SEP, High Alpha, etc.)
Personal Blog/Portfolio: Created an interactive website using React and Three.js. Was mentioned in a high school science magazine for it. Used it to show off my accomplishments and make blog posts about dumb stuff.
Varsity Esports Team: 10th grade, semifinalists in Halo Infinite. Gold Rank in Halo and Apex, run a Stardew Valley farm where I created a shared a template for crop and resource tracking. I also have a better Animal Crossing Island than you :)
Co-authored a research paper or the comparative times of multiple encryption algorithms alongside my CS teacher whose Purdue Alumni. In academic revision and in the process of being published to JEI
Science Olympiad: Manager (10-12) didn't really do anything because the president and his friends hated me >:( Did however get $20,000 in sponsorship money from multiple companies
Taekwondo: Captain (8-12) got my ass kicked every other day by kids half my age. But I got my black belt
Speech and Debate: (11-12) Joined because guys/girls in suits. Did OO, IX, and Policy. Wasn't good enough to go to nationals but did clutch multiples firsts in other competitions.
Meme Page: Made a Meme Page... pls follow(vroomvroom.zip)
Awards/Honors
Letters of Recommendation
English Teacher (10/10): Known her since Junior year, and she LOVED me. She also has a large vocabulary and knows how to make me seem better. She wrote multiple for other scholarships, and I read those over. Absolute masterpieces.
CS Teacher (7/10): Known him since sophomore year, and he also loves me. Yet, his vocab is a lot smaller. Still love him tho
Engineering Teacher (8/10): He hates me now, but he pretty much carried me.
Counselor Rec (idk): it's a counselor rec.
Interviews UPenn: Bro, the interviewer was so hot... didn't remember anything else.
Essays
Common App: By far the best essay I wrote. It was a timeline/analysis of my thoughts on religion
Supplements: Struggled to write the scholarship essays... Everything else was fine
Decisions Acceptances:
Indiana Univeristy - Accepted, Honors College
Purdue - Accepted, COMMITTED, Full-Ride
Caltech - Rejected
Carniege - Rejected :(
Cornell - Rejected
Dartmouth - Rejected
Duke - Waitlisted -> Accepted
Harvard - Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
Rice - Rejected
Stanford - Rejected
UPenn - Rejected
USC - Deffered -> Accepted
Vanderbilt - Accepeted
WashU - Rejected
Yale - Rejected
UIUC - Rejected
UChicago - Rejected

Hello! i just got my acceptance letter from NTU English and I'm really excited about it! I had my interview yesterday with one of the professors! Rather than a strict interview, I genuinely just felt it was a chit chat session of enlightening and informative nature <3
I took combined literature in secondary school but didn't take Lit in JC. I did do pretty well in GP out of all my subjects and I love reading books so I thought English would be a good major for me. But of course, after not annotating books and poems for 2 whole years, I do have some concerns and questions(that i didn't manage to ask my interviewer)🫨

1. For those that didn't take H1/H2 Literature or has no literature background, did the introductory courses help to bridge the skills and knowledge of analysing lit?
   
2. Do you usually purchase your literature texts or is a pdf given to you? If you do purchase your literature books, around how much is it?
   
3. For the prescribed electives, on average, how many books are there per elective? or does it vary based on AUs (3 vs 4)? i'm quite interested in South Asian Lit and Modernism!
   
4. By having a Bachelor of Arts in English degree, what are the various industries have you guys interned / worked in?
   
5. Hows the exam structure like? Must you guys submit an essay by the end of the course or is it a group project?
   
6. How many courses/elective do you guys take per semester?
   

That's all the questions I have for now, thank you for taking your time to read (hopefully I didn't sound offensive or too blunt😅) I'm really excited abt joining NTU and I hope I get to learn a lot from ELH🫶🩶

This position was for an accounting/bookkeeping support position that is temporary (for the next 4 months).
The first day was insanely weird, the company is essentially run by a single person, according to him there are other people working in the backend working from home and there is no chain of management it seems (as it really was a secretary in the office and the two of us trainees). I and the other person were simply going through the onboarding process, her training was lengthy but also not helpful as it really was the owner of the company stumbling through the software used for reservations lol. I didn't have to go through that.
Instead the first task that was given to me was to make a spreadsheet containing all the paper receipts that he gave to me. He wanted me to segment everything by date, vendor name, amount charged, sales tax paid (in the receipt), account (I'm guessing this is an accounting concept that I may not be aware of), and description (basically what segment of the 4 companies that he has under his name can be attributed to the receipt entry).
I had no idea what to do for the majority of the day because he was gone for half of the day occupied with other things that were relevant pertaining to his business (he runs a boat company that people reserve). He simply said to get started on entering data into the spreadsheets with me not knowing anything. I later clarified that I don't know which company to attribute the receipts to, as he's the only one who knows that, so we agreed that I would be doing the baseline menial entries (everything else but the accounts and the description) and that I would learn in time.
Also it's incredibly weird and mildly degrading that I'm an errand boy (I helped him picked up laundry (uniforms for the business)) and had to make an inventory of what was in the laundry (alongside the trainee (who was supposed to be a office admin intern, lol)). And he also made me cut the pastries he got for the office...
This entire experience has not only made me question whether or not this is a legit accounting or bookkeeping job but is also making me question how exactly am I going to do the job duties even though I have no knowledge and that there is legit no one to train me. Reddit do I just thug it out or do I genuinely keep looking? Luckily I haven't quit my other job so quitting wouldn't have much of an effect and can be swept under the rug pretty easily, but is this even worth going through being that I have no experience? How would I even sell this experience in an interview?

A recent incident with a long-time patient sparked a recollection of interesting things that have happened in my time at my current pharmacy. I thought I'd share them with everyone and see some interesting stories in the comments.

• The incident in question involved a retired MD with prescribing authority. He's a complete jerk every time he comes into/interacts with our pharmacy, and he's been coming here for a long time. He denied calling in rxs that my PM took over the phone for him, and when I found out that his prescribing authority is out of state, I reported him to that state's medical board.
  
• There's a woman who brings in her Pomeranian and we're always happy to see them. It's always the highlight of my day because she gives me lots of kisses and loves that I give her a prescription bag to tear up. Normally, she would tear up whatever paper was in biting range, so I figured giving her her own bag would be a better idea.
  
• We have a regular who's in his 80s or 90s, and he's almost completely deaf. Every time we interact, I amp up the bass in my voice and remove my mask so he can read my lips. Works like a charm, and his wife is lovely as well.
  
• There were a couple of people who regularly brought in rxs for oxy 15 #90, and it would always be close to closing time. Our staff pharmacist thought it was weird that there would be consistent pain med rxs coming from a doctor of internal medicine and eventually, we found out that every rx they'd had filled (at multiple stores) were forgeries on a legit rx pad. They even thought to add a "Early fill ok due to travel accommodation" on them every so often.
  
• I once had a patient ask me if we could hold off on closing the pharmacy so he could pick up his med. He wasn't there by close, so we closed. It sucks because we'd already billed insurance, so insurance wouldn't approve a new rx.
  
• My last one is about a patient who constantly contacts our pharmacy for one reason or another, but something that irritates me a little is that, when she has her meds delivered, one of two things happens: 1) she has it delivered, doesn't answer her phone, and then wants to come pick it up, or 2) she has it delivered, doesn't answer her phone, and never comes to pick it up.
  

Thanks for reading! Again, I'd love to see your interesting story too!

didn’t get an internal job (promotion) that would have saved me financially. I was recommended by higher ups even. I didn’t give good enough examples in my interview. they told me that they know I can do great work and have seen my examples in action (I work with people with disabilities). I let cptsd win during that interview. I don’t think I will ever get what I want or need if I am wired this way. I feel embarrassed and shameful.

I am a 3rd year CSE undergrad from RVCE I have my IISc internship offline interview tomorrow, can someone please tell me what are the topics that I should brush up and be prepared with.
And what type of questions can I expect?
Really appreciate it if some ex interns can reply to this.
Thanks!

I've been unemployed for almost a year now after getting laid off and burned from a bad temp to hire contract. I have graduated from a web development bootcamp and have been searching for jobs ever since but it feels almost hopeless. 100-200 apps in, I've had about 10 phone screenings, 5 2nd interviews, 1 of which the position was cancelled. Made it to a final round once. I was previously working a call center helpdesk position serving retail employees that was pretty much a miserable meat grinder that cared more about call metrics and NPS scores (despite it being internal employees) than technical abilities. I'm willing to relocate if needed and even work for super cheap if it gets me away from those god damn fucking phones. Any advice or is it hopeless? As much as I'd like to return to college I'm on the wrong side of 30 for that and besides I don't have the money or energy to work full time plus attend college.