Well, it's now summer. Over a year of university has been online but will be in person for the most part next semester.

Online was a gift and a curse, made going to the university gym more difficult since I wasn't already on campus, many leg days were skipped.

But, cheating was a great plus. Not only that, but my university adopted a Pass/Fail policy for the past 3 semesters in which you can choose any classes you want and simply have them appear as either "Pass" or "Fail". They don't affect GPA and a "Pass" has the same consequence as passing the class normally with a C or higher (even though you're given a "Pass" starting at a D-).

I took the opportunity the past 3 semesters to do minimal work in my math classes and then simply set them to Pass. Not like the professors did much to try and teach anyway. With the semester I just finished, I basically paid hundreds of dollars to pay another $100 for an online math course made by another university. My professor was making a pretty good hustle.

The only other class I changed to a Pass was a CS class 3 semesters ago with my 3 star programmer professor. I had an A in the class up until the final which I decided not to do. He pulled some BS on that final so I decided I wouldn't even bother. He got back at me though by basically giving everyone 100% on that final who tried, I know he did that just to spite me (emails back and forth - our battle was glorious).



Either way, online courses had their ups and downs. Only 1 professor made us use a lockdown browser which I found several exploits for in about 5 minutes. Seriously, after exploiting it using WinExp, I found that if you simply press the Windows key enough times, eventually it gets through to the OS (within 10 seconds usually). I didn't use any of these exploits during the exam, but it was fun to mess with it for a bit.


Finally, finding an internship/job has been impossible. Only 1 of the many places I've applied to actually interviewed me. My friend who (somehow..) has been barely passing his CS classes and had to retake several of them. I help him out from time to time and his programming skills are very low - but he got an internship. Apparently he knew someone that got him in, but just boggles my mind.

internships are often a racket for sure. the company views them as free work + a shot to find a decent person to hire without the usual costs of hunting someone. The intern views it as a paycheck and resume booster, and some actually try pretty hard to make a go of it. The intern wins a little from that resume boost, the company wins about 1 in 20 on getting someone who is not only good, but is willing to accept the offer and not find something else. We had a really good one a couple of years ago, but she wanted to move out of state and had no interest in working for us, what was the point of that?

Heh. In cycling there's a saying: every day is leg day.
Honestly, I don't understand why people complain so much about leg training. The leg muscles are so much more powerful and have so much more endurance than the arms, and unless you're paraplegic you train them at least a little bit every day.

I'm so glad I'm not in school anymore. I'd probably would have taken last year and this year off if I was. Hell, I had started Japanese in late 2019 and I postponed it. I can understand not doing in-person classes, but they can't expect to change the same amount for remote classes. That's ridiculous.

Apparently he knew someone that got him in, but just boggles my mind.

Nothing surprising there, then. All too often it's not what you know, but who you know.

We had a really good one a couple of years ago, but she wanted to move out of state and had no interest in working for us, what was the point of that?

A resume booster as you said, but wasted time also I suppose. Every programming job I see wants someone with X+ years of experience and wants something specific and completely different than every other job. It makes it seem impossible to be qualified for most of them. I apply anyway, but usually never hear back.

My university had some pretty good job fairs that seemed very promising, but there hasn't been one since Covid.. When they use to have them, employers would basically ask me what year I was in then ended the conversation when I said freshman. Hopefully there'll be more this upcoming year.

Heh. In cycling there's a saying: every day is leg day.

Before I could drive I was a biking addict - grew my legs a ton!

Honestly, I don't understand why people complain so much about leg training. The leg muscles are so much more powerful and have so much more endurance than the arms, and unless you're paraplegic you train them at least a little bit every day.

Well, there's size and strength. If you train your upper body and not your legs, one day you'll find that you can probably bench more than you can squat! That very thing happened to my friend who I workout with sometimes, found that his benchpress numbers were starting to get really close to his squatting numbers.

Also, I remember sitting at a bench at the gym and this guy walks by me with this impressive upper body build - but his legs were skinny, he looked like a monster truck on tiny tires.


When I don't workout my muscles at least once a week, they start to get smaller and weaker. Legs are no exception and I find that when I skip leg days, I have to lower the weight and build back up to what I was doing before.

I can also feel it. When I work my legs out as I should, my thighs actually feel tight in my jeans, not uncomfortably so but noticeable. But when I stop, that goes away, and my legs just become a bit smaller.

I can understand not doing in-person classes, but they can't expect to change the same amount for remote classes. That's ridiculous.

I feel the same, but since I'm not paying for anything myself, I wasn't complaining too much. I pocket some extra money every semester that I never have to give back - just need to keep my GPA high which is a breeze. The Pass/Fail thing they've given us was a great opportunity for a lot of students to pass their most difficult classes that they might not have otherwise.

Nothing surprising there, then. All too often it's not what you know, but who you know.

I need to save the child of some important CEO so I can get a job! Not that I mind sitting in my room all day, but apparently society wishes I don't do that.

Every programming job I see wants someone with X+ years of experience and wants something specific and completely different than every other job. It makes it seem impossible to be qualified for most of them. I apply anyway, but usually never hear back.

You are doing the right thing. Apply, and clearly state what you know how to do. Home projects or major school projects are experience: not all experience is required to be in a corporate setting.

The application game is cruel and a bit out of control. Many places have AI filters that scan keywords and if missing, discard your resume/application. Getting those just so to get to the human means gaming the system -- my last resume had a hideous section at the top full of keywords to break through the wall (I had professional assistance with that part, as part of being covided out of my previous job they gave us 6 months of professional job hunter access). And I went though all of that and got it all working ... and a recruiter saw my linked in profile and I got hired as much off that as from my resume...

anyway, take a look at the keyword game for your resume and get yourself a linked in profile that is a 'resume light' about what you can do, what you want to do, what you have done, and just a small hint about yourself (its not a social media site, keep it very light). Put the looking for work tag on it. Hearing back for rejection is almost a thing of the past. A few places will, but many do nothing.

Many places have AI filters that scan keywords .... to the human means gaming the system ... the keyword game for your resume

That's why we now don't do AI/computer filtering. We found good candidates were being rejected and poor/mediocre ones were getting through (we had a phase where we called to interview several of the AI rejected candidates to get some understanding). We're more likely to reject a candidate with a 'keyword' list then those without them!

we had a phase where we called to interview several of the AI rejected candidates to get some understanding

Nice! Testing the effectiveness of the system. What were the ratios of rejected good candidates and accepted bad candidates?

Can't remember the ratio - but the summary conclusion was that it was rejecting some better candidates than poorer ones who were later interviewed and rejected.

For many of the rejected interview candidates from AI, it was obvious that they had attempted to 'game the system' with their cv and thought they could 'bluster' their way through an interview. The ones that were rejected by the AI but easily passed the interview had usually more in their cv but not using the words/phrases the AI was looking for. Hence we gave up on AI.

Might add a section like that in a tiny font somewhere empty.

You are doing the right thing.

I hope so 🥺

I assume some companies simply have too many applicants and have no choice between using some kind of parser to narrow the candidates down. They probably aren't even very subtle about it and have tight constraints to make the applications manageable.


Mostly, though, I hate putting my information out there on these recruiting websites. To apply for a job that's hosted on some 3rd party website, you need an account, they save your information and 100% sell it somewhere. Looking forward to in-person job fairs where I can actually talk to someone who can't just ignore me behind their screen.


Final thought: I find myself getting stuck between trying to learn things I want to learn and trying to learn things that I think might give me an edge when applying for jobs. Again, just feels impossible to be "qualified" for any specific job.

I find myself getting stuck between trying to learn things I want to learn and trying to learn things that I think might give me an edge when applying for jobs.

Well, you never know. I got my current job because I spent a while reverse engineering a closed-source game to attempt to reimplement it. That project never got anywhere, but just telling the anecdote in the interview was enough, because it was very related to what the company did at the time and it was such a rare skill.

It has been several decades since I haunted the halls of academia, and I couldn't be happier. Learning on my own. What I want to know, when I want.

@zapshe, best to you for pursuing what hopefully be a fruitful and bountiful career for you. Spending the money for a CS education is beyond my means and desire. :)

I actually make some $ every semester, so it's almost like I'm getting paid to get a CS degree. I just need to keep my GPA above a certain point, which is ridiculously easy.

Otherwise though, I feel like all the "important" information I've received could have been given in less than half the time.

Furry Guy,
Same here. I do sometimes wish I had gotten a degree in CS, although I did have to take a couple classes for my Electrical Engineering degree. Teaching myself C++ and HTML was a slow and sometimes confusing process.

But good luck finding a job, @zapshe!

PS: If you want to get a job at Microsoft, here's a tip: One of the things you will need to know for their entrance exam is why manhole covers are square instead of round. If you don't know that, you can't get in. (I learned that from a friend who worked at MS for a while).

Finally, finding an internship/job has been impossible. Only 1 of the many places I've applied to actually interviewed me.

Why am I not surprised at that.
"The wheel is come full circle, I am here."

zapshe wrote:
Finally, finding an internship/job has been impossible.

Yeah, but @zapshe, by your own admission:

cheating was a great plus

I took the opportunity the past 3 semesters to do minimal work in my math classes

I had an A in the class up until the final which I decided not to do

so I decided I wouldn't even bother

Y'know - they probably aren't the greatest things to write on your CV ... or declaim to the world in a public forum.

@lastchance,
Agreed– but I don't think anyone would actually put that on their CV (unsure exactly what that stands for), and I highly doubt "zapshe" is his actual name. Or her name.

So he's pretty safe saying that stuff here.

A CV is like a resume, Curriculum Vitae.

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/difference-between-resume-and-cv

FWIW, in Spanish a CV is exactly a resume. You wouldn't put your life story in one, because most people aren't going to read past the first page. So I don't think the difference is as clear cut as that article makes it out to be.

in Spanish a CV is exactly a resume

6 one way, half a dozen the other. The difference(s) are mercurial.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/what-is-a-cv

In @zapshe’s case it doesn’t matter what language his CV is in because the answer will always be the same - no soup for you.