Ask MetaFilter posts by marble

Advice for job search for EE new grad in Austin

marble — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:54:57 -0800

Looking for advice on finding a job in Austin, TX for my boyfriend. He's a very-soon-to-be new grad with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. I'm not really sure where to begin looking. Everything I see on Monster or Dice or the like requires 5-10 years of specialized experience in the field. Any recommendations of other sites to try would be greatly appreciated.

I know there are lots of tech companies in town but I only know a few specific ones. Is there a good way to find a list? (I mean, besides looking at posted ads). My Google-fu is quite weak.

The only company I know of that has jobs posted for new grads is National Instruments, and he's definitely going to apply for those. Everything I have heard says that they are a great place to work.

I'm worried it will be an uphill battle trying to find a new grad position for a summer graduate. Would going with an employment agency be the most fruitful path here? And does anyone have any they would recommend?

He is graduating from UT-Arlington on August 9th, and will be in town twice before then so there is the potential to be available for interviews if we can get the ball rolling soon enough. His GPA is a bit above 3.2 for his coursework at UTA, and quite a bit higher if his junior college GPA is factored in. He's 28 and has experience working as a manager at a grocery store, if that means anything. He does not have any specific preferences for which area to go into - mainly he just wants to start building work experience and is quite flexible. However, programming is not something he likes or is particularly skilled in.

I'd be gratetful for any help / advice / etc. I worry if we can't find him a job here pretty quickly, he may have to look elsewhere and I fear for everything that would entail. (I cannot leave the Austin area because I am a non-custodial parent).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Purse contents for the perpetually prepared person

marble — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:44:29 -0800

What are some good items to keep in my purse? The current set of things I keep in there seem to serve me well but I'm looking for ideas that would help me be even more prepared for whatever comes up. Some of the things I keep in there that are non-obvious:
- tums
- otc pain meds like tylenol & ibuprofen
- glasses screwdriver with screws in the handle
- glasses cleaning cloth (I am anal about keeping my glasses clean)
- kleenex
- bandaids
- mp3 player and spare battery for same
- business cards
- stamps
- digital camera (sometimes)
- mini leatherman tool (must remember to remove it before going to the airport)
- nail clipper
- pens and a pencil
- tampons

Obvious items just for the sake of completeness:
- wallet
- checkbook
- phone
- keys (almost always attached to the handle with a trigger snap)

My purse is pretty big so I can add to this. What do you carry? Or what would you carry if you had more room?

Grocery store line etiquette

marble — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 05:08:39 -0800

Grocery store line etiquette - when someone abandons their cart to go get an additional item, do they forfeit their place in line? I was in the store the other day, and in all the "lots of items" checkout lanes there were several people with their baskets jam-packed full of groceries. I hate the store and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. I spied a lane where there was an abandoned cart (with nothing behind it), and figuring that it was fair to go in front of this person, sort of put my cart in a merging position between that cart and the one in front.

Well, the bitch came back, and I sort of made an effort to see if she was cool with the situation, and she absolutely insisted she was entitled to her former place in line, and I should get the fuck out of the way, basically. (No, no outright insults or curses were exchanged). I got rather pissed off (so was she at this point), and though I yielded and headed for another checkout line (because basically I am a wuss), I made a few snotty comments to her as I left.

I did say that since she had abandoned her cart, she should lose her place, but she wasn't buying it. Was I in the right, or was she? There was no one behind her for her to sort of clear it with before she ran off.

In the future in such a situation, I think I'd just move the person's cart back and put myself straight in line, thus putting the onus on them to make a big issue of going around me to "reclaim" their spot, and I'd probably stand up for my position more, since I think it would be more defensible. I wouldn't do this if there were people behind me though, and I'm unable to articulate why exactly.

And I must say I did get some smug satisfaction after I found a much shorter line later on, so I got out of there before she did. HA! So it worked out after all, but I'm curious about the general principle just the same.

If it makes any difference, she came back with eggs, which I know are on the farthest side of the store, so she was gone quite a while - this wasn't just a quick dash or something.