The Professional Advice Thread

[mr.yuck]

@NightmareOnElmStreet

 

As long as your skill level with painting is there, you should be all good. To be honest, it might be in your best interest to get a full time job for a few months to maintain a steady income and moonlight on the weekends doing jobs the size that you can handle and complete on a saturday and sunday. Working by yourself you should be able to paint 3 bedrooms (walls and trim 2 coats)

 

I feel like I should make some youtube videos teaching some basic skills that you can use to make a really good living.

[Dirty_habiT]

I think what @mr.yuckis trying to explain about the rins/repeat part is that you're establishing relationships with these people where you will be "their guy" that they call when they need the types of services you offer.  They're constantly "shopping" for the best deal for their own company to make a profit and if that means firing the team of contractors, or cutting the number of jobs they pass to them, in favor of you then that's what they will do.  It all is going to come down to how much value you add for how much it costs to pay you to do the job.

 

IT is very much like this for a certain group of people that participate in the industry.  They work as contractors and don't really care where the paycheck is coming from, they just work each job as it comes and maintain that way.  The "being as big as you want" part is where you decide how many of these companies you can stand contracting for at once.  If you do it right and are organized about what you're doing you can eventually afford to hire help (because you will probably need it).  If you get competent help then you will feel comfortable sending them to do some of the jobs that you can't do as one man in one day.

 

I used to resurface counter tops and bath tubs.  There is an absolute shit ton of accounts to be had doing this work because people that live in apartments straight fuck up their tubs/tiles/and counter tops doing all kinds of silly shit (lack of cutting board, hair dye operation in the bathroom, etc).  I know this "rehab" industry very well.  I also used to do sub-floor repairs in apartments that had squeaky floors in Dallas/Fort Worth.  There was, also, no end in sight for the amount of jobs there were to do out there.

 

You especially need to have your own equipment, and this is really what separates someone that works for someone else from someone that can do the job for themselves.  If you can't get your shit together to own your own truck and your own tools then you won't be able to start your business and you will have to work for someone else that has paid for all of these things through careful planning and organization.

 

It sounds like you're on the right track and it sounds like Mr.Yuck is definitely a good resource to lean on for specific questions.  I'm out of touch a bit with all that stuff because I've been working IT for years.

 

In regards to your questions about paying for SEO, I wouldn't probably mess with it because it's expensive and it's basically voodoo.  The people that claim they do it well are really usually, doing shady shit to get rankings.... and you don't want to be involved with that.  I'm talking like chinese click farms where they're literally paying a cafe of people to write reviews or click on shit.  I wouldn't recommend messing w/ SEO because you won't need it if you get in good with these other companies in your area that pay contracting firms to do work.  You'll still be "working for someone" but you'll be flexible and working for who you want to work for.... when you want to work for them..... rather than being on this set schedule your boss made for you to adhere to.

[mr.yuck]

Hot damn @Dirty_habiT peefectly stated.

[ndv]

Not to cause any self employment discouragement, but yesterday I received an Email from a customer  letting me know they are now a Net 60.

[NightmareOnElmStreet]

Who knows about index stocks and if so what do you think about them? 

[Dirty_habiT]

Well guys, I'm bumping this thread because I'm doing something new soon for my profession.  I'm entering into the consulting realm.  This morning I submitted my resignation notice to my job that is secure and I'm in no danger of losing.  Earlier this week I was made an offer I couldn't refuse so now I'm shaking my life up a little bit by switching jobs.

 

I will be 100% remote for a San Francisco based medical technology company as their first Devops Engineer working directly for the CTO.  I have never had a job handed to me like this before.  The first interview I had was with the CEO (I didn't even know it was the CEO until the end of the call).  I was very informally "interviewed" and they basically told me the job was mine if I wanted it.

 

Have any of you done something like this, just up and changed unexpectedly.  I've been fired before and had to look for another job unexpectedly, but this is different.  This is weird because I feel like I'm leaving something good for something better, not leaving something shitty for something good.  It's hard to walk away from something that is "good" already.

[mr.yuck]

On 4/21/2020 at 1:42 PM, ndv said:

Not to cause any self employment discouragement, but yesterday I received an Email from a customer  letting me know they are now a Net 60.

I have subcontracted for a company that was net 60. I proved my worth to them and then told them that their pay schedule was unacceptable. They worked with me and put me on net 30 status. A customer shouldnt dictate the time frame in which they are going to pay you for your services.

 

@Dirty_habiT

 

That's amazing, dude. Congratulations. 

[KILZ FILLZ]

@Dirty_habiTi envy you having the guts to make that move. Ive has it drilled into me to play it safe since I was a youngling and it’s hard to break away from that. Props

[KILZ FILLZ]

Great ep on the importance of showing your folk appreciation and saying that you

 

if any of you are leaders in the workplace and haven’t given this pod a shot yet, I would say give this one a listen to see if the series is for you. 
 

[fat ralphy]

Painted my house in the last month - hell still working on getting the porch done.

 

Speaking of stocks - any of you fuck with day trading, thinking of starting a small account somewhere like Robin Hood. Few guys at work did pretty well with the “chinese tesla” and I should have jumped on months ago when they told me to.

[Joker]

I mess with sticks in the form of a 401k and an IRA. I don't personally get my hands dirty because it's just another thing for me to try and learn and eventually fuck up, so I figure I'll let the pros do it. Well, kinda. I'm sure it's all automated and I'm paying a fee for the automation, at least with my 401K. I know my IRA is handled by folks monitoring my account and adjusting where necessary, which makes me feel somewhat good about paying the fee. 

 

@Dirty_habiT-  sorry for the long delay on this, but congratulations on making moves! Sounds like you know in your gut it's the right move even though you have (had) a solid job. Curious how it's working out now that you've been in it for a little while.

 

I personally made a leap in 2012, kinda. For several years prior I had been trying to break into the Graphic Design realm but was getting nowhere, mostly because I had zero experience, and little to zero knowledge of the tools of the trade. It was frustrating but I understood why. I really dug in teaching myself how to use Adobe suite but ultimately chose to only teach myself Illustrator... mostly because I saw it as a great tool for creating outlines and ideas for canvas work. And because of that... the Graphic Design agencies never came calling, what a surprise. And then in the summer of 2012 a guy I used to work with who was now in the corporate offices as a Design Director called me up and offered me a job designing for the company. I told him I didn't know the software very well and he said he didn't care, that can be learned quickly. The big leap/scary part comes in because I left me wife, our home, family and friends and I moved to Seattle for two years to learn all I could about being an in-house designer. It was scary and hell but I knew in my gut that it was the right move if I wanted to do what I wanted to do. And it was the right move. 

 

That's why I think if you know in your gut you made the right decision, it'll only get better. 

[Dirty_habiT]

@Joker- The new job has been great.  I have learned a few new skills and honed some skills I've already had.

• We move VERY fast.  in what's called "sprints" of 2 weeks in length.  We set goals, we meet every morning online for 1h to talk about what we did yesterday and what we're going to do.  This keeps everyone on track.
• Organizational skills.  I've had to manage big changes to production projects by myself.  One of the hats I wear at this company is "Release Engineer for the US & UAE".  Meaning.... I cannot fuck this up, there are real medical patients relying upon the systems that I am keeping alive/upgrading/changing/improving on the backend.  HIPAA violations don't mess around.  If you leak data it's like $10k/record.
• Technical skills.  We are using the cutting edge of clustering technologies for "the cloud".  It's advanced/complicated and requires the ability to really fully understand the "big picture" and how all the little parts of it work.
• Teamwork.  Every day I've been using the skills from previous jobs to gather different people from different teams to work together and accomplish tasks.

My work is DIRECTLY impacting at least 2 peoples' lives right now.  2 diabetes patients.  It's really amazing, we're working with some schools.

 

If I have to pass along the most important thing I've had to use at this job, it would be flexibility.  I've had to work long ass hours.  It's 1099 work though so I get to bill for every hour.  I wouldn't want to do it on salary, I used to think a high paying salary job is the way to go..... and it may be if you own the corporation and you're paying your salary out of the corporation's income and you can decide upon your own hours.  That isn't the case for most salaried workers.

 

The only thing at this job is uncertainty, because these people are "crazy" and they move fast.  Shit and get on everything we do.  Do it fast, do it right, correct mistakes quickly, fix any problem quickly, etc.  Some days it's one wild 3h long task after another, but it's ok.  I've valued my free time more than ever with this job because it doesn't feel like I get a lot of it.  I'm "on call" 24-7 all the time basically even though I'm rarely contacted to do anything because our shit generally runs really well.

 

It's all kubernetes stuff for anyone that's interested.

[Dirty_habiT]

I just told my coworker that all that will happen if we make this change incorrectly right now is that we may waste some of our time and hurt our dignity.  He translated dignity to Ukrainian (i'm watching his screenshare) and then started laughing his ass off.

[fat ralphy]

Any HVAC dudes here?

 

Can I just take my 20 year old thermostat off the wall and wire up a new one?

[Dirty_habiT]

Yes. You can just wire in a new one. Very very small chance it won't work. An early nest thermostat wouldn't control my heater but I bet a new version would. Any thermostat should wire up. Wires are standardized and color coded.

 

 

Turn the breaker off first. 

[fat ralphy]

Sweet - will post feedback when I get the shit done.

[-Rage-]

14 hours ago, fat ralphy said:

Can I just take my 20 year old thermostat off the wall and wire up a new one?

 

In theory, yes, but be aware that some older systems may only have two wires (Red & White) and need a third (Common) wire in order to actually charge the new device. If you install the new device and your heater keeps clicking on and off that means the device can't charge properly and you need a third wire.

 

Learned this the hard way when I disassembled my old thermostat and found just two wires, installed a Nest and nothing but clicking. Had to buy a zone control relay, isolation relay, and 50' of new wire to convert from 2 wires to 3. Paid an electrician to actually install everything. I'm not fucking around with that shit.

[fat ralphy]

Good call @-Rage- - I may have to poke around a bit to figure out what I am dealing with.....

[Dirty_habiT]

2 hours ago, -Rage- said:

 

In theory, yes, but be aware that some older systems may only have two wires (Red & White) and need a third (Common) wire in order to actually charge the new device. If you install the new device and your heater keeps clicking on and off that means the device can't charge properly and you need a third wire.

 

Learned this the hard way when I disassembled my old thermostat and found just two wires, installed a Nest and nothing but clicking. Had to buy a zone control relay, isolation relay, and 50' of new wire to convert from 2 wires to 3. Paid an electrician to actually install everything. I'm not fucking around with that shit.

 

Lol damn!  I called them and told them their thermostat wouldn't control my heater after I wired it up, confirmed proper by the technician I paid to come make sure I did everything right.  I basically paid someone to come do an "install" for me after I had already installed only to find that the guy said I did everything properly and that this thermostat doesn't work w/ my heater.

 

Nest was very nice about it, the sent me a check to pay for the technician and refunded me in full for the thermostat.  I'd like to get some smart "you actually own this shit" thermostat but they've all got alexa/siri on them and microphones and cloud enabled "services".  All of this could easily be hosted on a home computer to keep your privacy but it's not.  I haven't been able to find a smart thermostat that fits my strict requirements yet.... I don't think it exists.

[metronome]

What about the Honeywell?  I have an ecobee in my home and it's pretty shit.  Been meaning to switch for a while but its one of those things that isn't high on the priorities. 

[fat ralphy]

I’m not really tripping - no need for Nest or any integrated shit.

 

Just want something where the buttons work well.

 

Going to buy something this week and install, will report back.

[Dirty_habiT]

I've heard of that.  My main thing is, I'm SUPER against signing up for stuff (even just giving my email).  I don't want a phone app to link to a cloud provider so that that cloud provider can collect stats (microphone recordings, etc) from my home AND control my thermostat.

 

This product, the smart thermostat, is a perfect example of tech companies trying to take advantage of unknowing consumers.  Yes, the thermostat works in most places, that's a great value to the consumer.

 

But, since when, in the history of ever, has a company been able to SELL you a product that benefits them for you to have?  We can even back that up a little bit and talk about the FREE 'products' you're given (social media accounts) and how they benefit the people giving them out.  It's the same shit, data collection.  Of course this makes a good degree of people think "I'm not doing anything that important, who cares if they data collect on my account."

 

I am not doing anything worth listening to, but that doesn't mean I don't want my privacy respected.

 

Let me outline a little scenario, that is VERY real.

 

1.  Install smart thermostat.

2.  Connect to your home wifi.

3.  Connect to cloud account on internet.

4.  You now have an open door in/out of your network, through your thermostat.

5.  All of your other devices and their traffic sit on this same network as the thermostat, internally, in your house/office.

6.  Thermostat has an unknown back door or easy to exploit vulnerability that allows external access.

7.  Hackers use a tool freely available on the internet to find every public IP address that has XYZ hardware/software responding on it..... your IP address is in the list.

8.  Hackers exploit security hole in weak/rushed/beta level of effort software/hardware to gain access to your internal network.

9.  Hackers then use another exploit on your windows computer to install malware on it.

10.  Every transaction and password you type on your phone/computer is now able to be collected and packaged up/sent back to "home" (the hacker's C&C servers).

 

Mind you that ALL of this can be automated.  Like, past the idea and the creation of the software that carries out the above task, no hands have to be on keyboards.  You can just sit there and collect all your free CC numbers and FB passwords pouring in. 

 

That is, when you have an exploit that isn't being actively patched by the software/hardware vendors.  This is what's known as a "0-Day" and there is literally no defense against a 0-day.  Hackers have these exploits literally "sitting on a shelf" and they sell them for millions to people on the black market.

 

What they're used for, who knows..... all kinds of bad shit.  The point is, they're available and this is why home network security is so important.  The last thing you want is your computer's webcam recording everything about yoru personal life and sending it off to somewhere to later be used for blackmail reasons.

 

We don't even have to get into ransomware.  The above scenario would cover that too.  All of your devices could be encrypted and held hostage, basically, until you cough up thousands of dollars in bitcoins for the key to unencrypt all of your data.

 

You are backing your stuff up off site from your computer, right?  You're not saving that password for your backups on your computer, right?  That password isn't the same as any of your other passwords, right?  Etc.  Nobody takes this kind of shit seriously until they get dry fucked hard by it.  They brush it off like "it's the movies".  Must be nice thinking the world is all green grass and flowers out there.  🙂

 

Edit: Don't believe me, just look up https://www.shodan.io/  ;)  Enjoy.

[Dirty_habiT]

https://www.shodan.io/search?query=nest

 

Query's not great, but you get the point.

[Elena Delle Donne]

@Dirty_habiT good illustration here. yeah, no smart home stuff for me. don't get me started on car data either.

 

anyway back to professional advice 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Elena Delle Donne