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Comment Headhunters (Score 1) 444

To everyone suggesting experience is superior to certifications and education, I completely agree. Unfortunately third party head hunting contractors hired by Fortune 500 human resource departments do not.

Your experience, intelligence and charisma will impress the hiring manager and might even get you the job, but.. you never got to meet him/her because you got rejected by the asshole third party headhunting contractor because your resume was not bit for bit identical to the job posting, even if you're an internal candidate for Christ's sake. Back in the good ol' days you could probably convince a human resources associate that even though you don't have required certification X, experience Y makes up for this. Today, that human resources rep has been replaced by a third party contractor whose job is to thrash through the thousands of resumes and present 25 precisely qualified candidates to the hiring manager. The hiring manager will never see any "maybes" or "close enoughs" or "willing to settles".

My advice is to hand tailor your resume to the specific job posting each time you submit it. If a job requires a certification or degree, you'd better have it. If it says "or equivalent experience", I'd put an "Experience Equivalent to Certification X" section right up top on my resume and emotionally prepare myself to be bumped by the hundreds of other candidates that actually have Certification X.

If you have Certification Y and the job posting doesn't mention Certification Y as a requirement or a desirable, leave it off. If you can get through the phone interview with the headhunter and get an interview with the hiring manager, this might be a great time to bring up Certification Y, but to a third party headhunter, superfluous education/certification can only over-qualify you. While suggesting you have a certification that you do not is dishonest and immoral, I've never heard of anyone getting fired from McDonald's because they forgot to mention that they graduated magna cum laude from Princeton.

If you are lucky enough to be happily employed I'd recommend taking every opportunity your employer offers to obtain education at their expense. Even if you don't need it now, having a vast portfolio of degrees and certifications will empower you to craft precisely targeted resumes in the future

If you are unemployed or looking to switch, I would hit every job posting for which I am precisely qualified first, then target jobs for which I am over-qualified at companies that will have much opportunity for advancement. If you are unemployed and under-educated/certified, target entry level positions at companies that will pay for or assist with training and education. "Does the hiring company offer education assistance?" is always a good question to ask a jack ass headhunter.

Comment Re:From the No-shit-sherlock department (Score 1) 716

I think you're further confusing the issue here.

You imply the OP's claim that dogs are smarter than cats is wrong. To prove it, you describe how dog training works, go so far as to compare dogs to humans, offer no evidence that a cat can be trained, and ... then jump to "cats are more intelligent."

I don't follow.

Comment Re:There is no such thing as cheating (Score 1) 693

Right. Why learn that 2+2=4 when you can just look at the guy's paper next to you? Learning is such a joke.

I once had a teacher that assigned ridiculous amounts of homework, and whenever students complained he explained how they were learning to prioritize their time and work hard. I pointed out to him that it was a calculus class, but he didn't seem to agree his lessons weren't relevent.

Comment This isn't Sam's club (Score 4, Insightful) 233

If a membership card expires after a year, then if someone steals that card he can at most get a year's worth of benefit out of it. After that, it's useless."

Unless, you know, you log in and it prompts you to change the password. Now it's not only useful to the person who stole it, but useless to the person it actually belongs to.

I personally don't think password changes should be required unless there is a specific reason. Someone hacked your account? Change your password.

If you have passwords for a couple dozen systems (very easy) and each of them requires you to change your password every 3 months, you're going to start forgetting them. So you don't, you're going to start writing them down or storing them in some way. Or you're going to increment a number in your password, so it's still basically the same. Or you're going to use the same password for slashdot and faceboook.com (see that? it's a spoof site designed to steal passwords) and your bank account.

Comment Re:Structural Unemployment for Middle Men (Score 1) 443

You can either respond by being a jerk about it (although you're holding aces backed with eights as a large middle man), you can attempt to become part of that distribution model (have you thought about selling steam gift cards?) or you can do nothing.

Wow, I can't believe these game retailers don't see it the same way you do. Try telling a mouse in the clenched teeth of a bull snake "you can either wriggle around in a nearly hopeless attempt to save your life or just submit." How do you think that would work?

well that's just some good old structural unemployment where the hostile market of capitalism violently guides you to better serve the consumer in a new and -- here's the scary word -- innovative ways

Seriously? I'm sure most businesses are founded with the idea that they exist because they can treat the customer better than the next guy, but it doesn't take long before dollars and cents speak louder than satisfied and dissatisfied customers. Do you work because you want to provide a service, or do you work because you like to be able to eat?

Tell that same mouse it's alright that it's about to get eaten because it's natural. Cycle of life. Fuck self preservation. Whatever.

Comment Re:Disturbing to see TSA still behind the curve. (Score 1) 633

didn't offer ANYTHING as proof; in fact, I didn't even argue the OP's point.

Your statement implied that evidence is required to show that the TSA is not improving things. I would argue that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and in the absence of evidence that they are actually improving things, the default assumption should be that they are not.

Huh uh. Read it again. As I said, I didn't claim the TSA had improved. Let me phrase it as simply as possible.

Without any incidents, you can't say the TSA is being ineffective.

Comment Re:Disturbing to see TSA still behind the curve. (Score 1) 633

Even ignoring the fact that you are just begging for a "correlation is not causation" lecture, when was the last time you heard about a successfully thwarted attempt? You offer lack of evidence to the contrary as proof, which is utterly absurd.

I didn't offer ANYTHING as proof; in fact, I didn't even argue the OP's point. What I DID do was question how anyone could possibly come up with his conclusion. He DIDN'T say "the end doesn't justify the means," he said "I don't like the means, and I claim the end is a failure even though nothing has happened."

I've never had someone do a full body X-ray when entering a concert or sporting event, nor have I been frisked.

Wonderful. I've never had someone do a full body X-ray at an airport, and you apparently don't go to any sporting events or concerts.

(which, due to changes in cockpit door construction, can no longer feasibly be used to do great harm unless the terrorist has a pilot's license)

http://www.secure-skies.org/fortifieddoors.php

that you think requires so much less personal freedom than any other location

What do you do when there is increased risk? You mitigate it.

comparable number of people

I'm not sure how you're figuring "comparable number of people." Unless someone is sneaking a nuclear fission weapon in to a football game, they aren't going to hurt nearly as many people as, say.. oh, you remember... that airplane thing with the World Trade Center. Whatever.

The TSA is likely made up of your standard government agency moron just like all the rest of them. But complaining that you can't bring your printer cartridges, and acting like no more wifi on planes is the end of the world is just plain stupid. In review: a guy made a bomb out of a printer cartridge. What would YOU do?

Comment Re:Disturbing to see TSA still behind the curve. (Score 1, Insightful) 633

I'm not sure what is different "these days," but I've never used wifi on a plane, and I've been able to tolerate my flights.

More importantly, in what way is it so painfully obvious to you that the TSA isn't effective? Which recent bombing or hijacking is the evidence?

What is it about entering a plane (which, as we've seen, could potentially be used to cause great harm) do you think entitles you to more personal freedom than entering a venue for a concert or a sporting event?

Comment Why do it anyway? (Score 1) 381

The whole 3d push doesn't make much sense to me. Here, tickets cost $2.50 more. They're giving away a pair of glasses with each movie. Half of the cost of those glasses HAS to be paying their workers to deal with them. The projectors are expensive. The cameras are expensive. Editing MUST be more expensive. And no one really feels 3d adds much value. The movie industry is 100% saturated and not going to grow. The extra profit margin in 3d has to be minimal at best, and the increased risk isn't negligible.

Why, again, are they pushing 3d?

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