Tag: dailyprompt

AI, Cloud Talk, Programming, Security, Tech

I got scammed, here’s how.

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point of view of road with mountains in the distance
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.

light at the end of the tunnel
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.

Man in brown jacket sitting on couch thinking.
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.

businessman giving a contract to someone to sign
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.

businessman on smartphone smiling.
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.

amazed man looking at laptop screen.
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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Cloud Talk, Programming, Tech

Need to Improve? We’re the Improvement

Daily writing prompt
What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?
View all responses

Key Takeaways

Practice doesn’t make perfect.

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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Tech

Before Black & Orange

Write about your first computer.

Before black & orange, we were rolling dices to loading screens.

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couple sat at computer smiling.
Kim: What site is that?
Eric: Scriptingthewhy
Kim: You know Z-Daddy too!?
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, please support by following @pexel.com

DSL of Yesterday

Do you remember the wonder years of venturing to the library to use a computer if you didn’t have one at home? For me, it wasn’t a long walk but nevertheless, it wasn’t worth the effort for a half-hour use time.

You see, this was back in the days before the internet became a seedy place to distribute false information, perform criminal activities, and hide the fact that you might be discovering puberty at a young age from your parents. Remember kids, with great power comes great responsibility.

To give you some insight into the reason why we didn’t have a computer, it wasn’t attributed to discovering puberty. My family was more like the Jackson Five minus the record deal and singing “ooh, child things are going to get easier”, in short, we couldn’t afford to buy a computer. And yes, I know that’s not one of their songs, but it fits the tone of this story, so hush.

Since my parents attended school in the era of “make love, not war”, having something in the house that our parents couldn’t understand how to use was considered witchcraft. However, years later, I hopped into the working force and landed a job that paid slave wages. I manage to save up enough coins to make a purchase on eBay and snag my very first computer. Was I proud of this event? Well…I had to sell my body and time to corporate overlords, so you tell me.

To be technical, I had a computer before, but I don’t count it since it was a hand-me-down, and let’s be frank, no one enjoys using hand-me-downs. It was the bane of a nerd’s existence, all the reasons not to have a computer back in the day, using the phone jack, waiting for a page to load, hearing that god-awful loading sound, and if someone in your house just so happened to pick up the phone, you could call it a day, game over man.

The laptop I purchased was a 2010 MacBook Pro, got it for a decent price, and I waited because technology changes every three years. So it was only a matter of time before the internet horrors of yesteryear became a distant memory. I also made some upgrades to my MacBook and still use it to this day.

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Do you remember your first computer? Script a comment about it below.