Work/life balance is achievable depending on your title.
The workforce landscape is changing to digital.
Work/life balance becomes harder to obtain as the higher ambitions rise.
Then I say, “Nah, I’m good. I’ll just work from home.” Photo by Helena Lopes, please support by following @pexel.com
Acting in Balance
Do you want to know something funny thing about life? It grants us a never-ending learning experience. We here at Scriptingthewhy are familiar with many subjects on computers, malware, and items of the like.
However, life is one thing we’re still trying to get a handle on. Or at least understand the inner workings of life. To us, it seems like someone handed us a VR headset and said” Go forth, venture, and see the world.”
Being in this, what some would argue, a VR simulator, it seems like we’re always “on”. Viewing how our society is structured, the landscape suggests that we may be set to “on” for the upcoming years.
A quick shout-out to not being able to retire, we were looking forward to the gold watch, finally seeing our families, and flatlining on a sandy beach with a drink at hand. With us always being “on”, how do we manage the work/life model is a question we’ve been asked.
We’ll try to answer it although it’s a mixed bag. Keep in mind this could get trippy.
We can juggle most things, don’t ask us to juggle like them. Photo by Los Muertos Crew, please support by following @pexel.com
So, there are many things we manage and manage well. However, the work/life balance or attempting to balance work life and home life tends to be an issue. How is it an issue for us?
Technically being categorized as content creators, content needs to be created for consumption, this ties into getting paid. Years ago, working in some form of labor was a trade-off for receiving payment, but now the landscape has shifted to online where obtaining viewers and views leads to a bigger payday.
Remember the saying “He who has the gold, makes the rules”, that has now changed to “He who has the most viewers, has the power.” The downfall of being content creators aside from being in another overcrowded market, is everything can be and is at some point turned into content.
This is a dual-edged sword as you can gain new experiences but in the same step lose your audience. We know this fear all too well.
Any content creator will tell you. One misstep could ruin everything. Photo by Inzmam Knan, please support by following @pexel.com
Consistent panic aside, you want to know how we manage a balance. Sorry to disappoint you, we don’t. Most of our attempts are met with failure, but this is expected. However, don’t worry, we do make time for lunch at least.
A work/life balance sounds like a good idea, but it seems to be another tool used to keep people poor. Take a view of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, they’re taking part in a multitude of projects to keep funding. To us, the quest for work/life balance seems like mediocrity, finding some way of justifying staying in place.
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Click here to read about how we were almost scammed.
Click here to read about a time before black and orange.
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Either see how far you’ve come or how far you have to go. Photo by Matt Hardy, please support by following @pexel.com
Beginning to an End
It has been a rough ride trying to look for a job in Information Technology (IT). All I want is to change careers and improve my quality of living. Is that too much to ask? Pouring countless hours into Bootcamps, completing online courses, and doing code-along projects.
Fixing up my resume to suit resume screening needs. At this point, things have been pretty interesting, to say the least. After months of facing countless piles of rejection, something came through finally.
I finally got my big break, and this was going to be my meal ticket into the big wide world of IT, and with studying areas such as cloud computing, Python programming, and machine learning, it was clear I was on my way to the big leagues. Someone reached out to me and offered me an interview.
My thoughts were, I finally made it past the computer screening. Someone looked at my resume and envisioned the potential.
Not all lights at the end of the tunnel are created equal. Photo by Xi Xi, please support by following @pexel.com
Moth Set Ablaze
This company wasn’t to the likes of Microsoft, but it wasn’t too small either. I was determined to make this work, even if I stumbled, I was going to give it my all. Like Vin Diesel, I was doing this for “family”.
They gave me a bit of information about their company such as whom they were backed by and what role they are recruiting for. Day came to interview… which was an email by the way. Googled it (it’s a thing) but didn’t think too much of it.
The interviewer was late for the time we agreed to (didn’t think too much of that either), readily filling out this questionnaire. Some questions were easy, others had me trying to figure out how to word my responses.
Whatever the case may be, this was my light at the end of the tunnel, and I wasn’t going to let this slip by since I worked so hard to get here. Tried not to be too in my head. It’s not like I was sitting across from them where I could judge how the question is being asked.
Despite the opposition, by determination I will make it. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, please support by following @pexel.com
Promise with a Dash of Doubt
After filling out the questionnaire and sending it back. I anticipated,” thank you for your interest, despite the fact we are desperately hiring, we decided to go with other candidates”.
However, to my surprise, I received an email the next afternoon congratulating me on the interview and that the board wanted to move forward with my application and grant me the position of application engineer.
I was informed to keep an eye on my email because I would be receiving an offer letter for employment from human resources (HR) to fill out to start my hiring process. My dreams were coming true, and I could finally and wholeheartedly say I was a part of the oh-so-coveted IT world. I could see greatness on the horizon.
This offer may seem good now but give it time. Photo by Andrea Piacquaido, please support by following @pexel.com
Beware of The Hand That Feeds You
Later that night, something wasn’t sitting right. I kept reviewing the email that was sent which included that I was going to receive a check via paycheck or electronic deposit that was going to use for purchasing my soon-to-be home office equipment.
This had me promptly questioning with a; “Say what now?” But I quickly dismissed it with an “oh well, I need a job, and if this is going to be my foot in the door. I’ll take it”.
But something still didn’t sit right. I couldn’t just be given a job this quick, and it is a six-figure salary. After scanning the questionnaire several times and viewing there was a street address. I decided to go and see if my having the job was real.
I tracked all my way to this lovely building (which held Microsoft by the way), walked in, knocked on the door, and was greeted by an older fellow who had an AirPod in his ear. I explained my situation and asked if there were any hiring managers around, I could talk to, but before I could get the words out, he replied “It’s a scam, I’m sorry”. My suspicions were correct, how nice.
When they’re trying to scam you, but they don’t know who they’re dealing with. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, please support by following @pexel.com
Turning Tables
Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make the best of my situation. I waited for my offer letter to be sent to me, which I received right as I was being informed this was a scam. I took to LinkedIn to see If I could connect with these people.
However, turn out to be a dead end. The names did not match the faces. I decided to have some fun to offer up some good spirit and email them a proactive email. I sent the one (the interviewer) an email telling them how happy and hopeful I was to get this position and how I couldn’t wait to start working.
That I wanted to know more about him and how well he was connected to the company and the board. Also, I needed the requisition id number since I needed a list of my duties of what was going to be expected of me. And to the other (HR) email informing them that I would not be needing money for the office equipment since I already have the items.
It has been a while now, so I presume they cut their losses.
This guy must know his stuff, he asked for the requisition id number. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, please support by following @pexel.com
Look Out!
When dealing with a situation like this there is a two-prong attack.
The Interviewer (attacker one)
-Will reach out for a role, you may or may have not applied to. This person will engage and offer an email interview or interview in some form of messaging service.
The hiring manager or human resources manager (attacker two)
-Will send the offer letter and request to purchase office equipment or mini-office equipment.
List of office or mini-office items
MacBook
Dual Monitors
External hard drive/backup system
Laptop Stand
A high-quality webcam
Comfortable desk chair
Hp LaserJet Pro M15w Printer
Computer Hardware and Software
High-Speed Internet Access
Stress Ball
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Learning one programming language can make learning another easier.
Learn to improve from failure, don’t fail to learn.
Did you want cheese on the fries? We just wanted a simple answer. Photo by Antoni Shiraba, please support by following @pexel.com
Perfect Chasing Pefect
Perfection, what is it? Is it something achievable? Do we want actual perfection or do we, at its core, want to be better than others? These are all questions we might ask ourselves at one point or another, but perfection is highly sought after, and that much is a fact.
Clearly, perfection is an idea, more of a motivational tool than anything. We can see it with a phrase like “Practice makes perfect.” We all know this phrase; we’ve all applied it. However, it becomes increasingly evident that practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes better.
So, today’s question and what are we getting at? Keep reading, you may find that you and we have a few things in common. Ah, there’s nothing like sharing common ground.
Getting out of the friend zone? Now, that’s something to consider. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, please support by following @pexel.com
We were asked; “What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?” It’s funny how none of these questions we’ve been answering are computer-related, but we’re still going to answer them anyway.
We believe, and we think many others can relate to this one, that operating outside of our comfort zone would be a small improvement. Although, to some that might be seen as a large improvement. It all depends on where you fall in life.
We’re not saying being in the comfort zone is bad, but it has the same benefits as being in the friend zone. You still get to talk to the person you’re crushing on, but the downside is the rewards are little to any. We’re not speaking from personal experience, but from the stories we’ve heard, regret is something consistent.
Hey, did you know that a house is just an expensive prison? Photo by Ron Lach, please support by following @pexel.com
Why is getting outside of our comfort zone a small improvement? While yes, a comfort zone is a place where you find less stress, no one may harm you, and your skills do not require additional practice. You can become stagnant without realization.
Picture living in a nice house, there’s plenty of food, and relaxation is never a problem. This sounds great, ideal, everyone wants this. Now, on the other side of this coin. Picture the food begins to taste uneventful, night and day pass, and days begin to blend.
Adding weight to this side of the coin, are stories from your peers advancing in their careers, making a discovery, or coming up with an invention circulating in the media. These stories come from going outside to experience the weather and experiment with ideas.
In a computer sense, you knew we had to tie computers into this somehow, the beginning stages of when you’re learning to write code consist of staring at a black screen. We’re not joking, you can ask any person in programming, and they’ll tell you that most of your time consists of staring at a blinking line while you try to piece together what you want the computer to do.
With an idea at hand, you begin to type a line after some time spent staring into the void. Being a newbie, the number of syntax errors grains on your nerves, and builds frustration, but you stick with it.
You soon find yourself going from having difficulty writing one line of code to writing simple functions- one or two lines of code that perform a task, to building complex algorithms- are a set of instructions to perform a task. After which, go on to learn other programming languages.
A quick pro tip- it’s easier to learn another programming language after obtaining an understanding of one, they follow the same structure. Our point is that you can’t grow grey matter if you don’t challenge it.
Our comfort zone has been writing topics about IT (Information Technology), but we’re stepping outside of it by answering these questions. We’re seeing small improvements. How about you?
Click here if you want to read about our life direction.
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