Yup, that word. Big one, ain't it?
For some, anyway. Mostly those of us who're still staring the Career Choice down the barrel.
Which is what I'm doing now.
What should I go into? Is it worth sticking with technical writing, at least for the moment? I'm not managing to get anything resembling a solid job, at least not yet.
I'm planning on going to a counsellor here on Thursday, in the UJIA (they help people from the U.K. who want to move to Israel, and they also handle us Australians and the South Africans). She seemed to think there was still point in me considering technical writing, so maybe I'm just not looking in the right way.
Although...from the little I hear, regular technical writers are usually the first to go if there's layoffs. So even if I do continue in that, I'm probably going to branch out some into something else...
And although I still know very little about most of these, here's the short list of possibilities I've come up with so far, either for learning while working or just to learn full-time:
| Cisco CCNA | - | from what I've heard, this is hard. I'd might have to take a course or two before going for this one (MCSE or some networking prep, maybe). And that's just the beginning level of Cisco. I think. |
| Oracle | - | several possibilities here. It's DB, and I already know Access. I could start with SQL and work further up, I suppose, or go for DBA. |
| Java | - | also apparently hard to learn. I'm mildly embarrassed to say that although I play several Java games on Neopets I know absolutely nothing about it. |
| Programming | - | pick a language, any language. C? C++? Another area I have little clue about. |
| Helpdesk | - | my brother does this. I think he has a MCSE or something, plus practical experience in dealing with nearly-comletely-computer-illiterate people. You probably need incredible amounts of patience, but since stupidity is about as common as hydrogen atoms, there's little enough chance you'd find yourself out of work. |
| QA | - | quality assurance. Don't really know much about this either...but I'm pretty good at spotting mistakes. Most of the time. |
That's all I've managed to come up with so far, and that was despite giving Google a pretty good workout. And right now I'm still trying to figure out which of them I'd like to take, which are stupidly difficult, and which are worthwhile...
And if anyone out there who's reading this has any advice or suggestions, please do speak up?
Thanks! :)
And another long blog silence. I really have to work on this regular posting stuff.
Anyway, I've been busy. Got sucked in, but good, to the other side of the online site (Digital Dreaming). They go for the White Wolf systems over there--Changeling: the Dreaming mostly, although Vampire: the Masquerade started up recently, and they're going to add Werewolf as well in due time.
Either it's me, or the White Wolf system is just more complicated than the d20 one. But then, I'm just getting into it, so maybe it is me. Changeling itself is pretty complicated, though. Takes a lot of thought to try and keep it sorted. And Vampire's just the thing for a bad-day-at-work time ::grin:: I've now got one of each, although neither character is more than a few days old.
Changeling:
As far as I recall, this is Rachel's favorite system. And it's sure got the makings for a lot of fun roleplaying out things! The base concept--a mortal being with a fae soul, neither of which really exists in the same reality and can't interact with the other--is pretty intriguing, and offers lots of mischeivous possibilities.
The Storyteller over there tends to run a fairly political game--noble versus commoner etc. etc.--and I can say I've been pretty well corrupted already. Even players are expected to run the occasional story, and I've come up with one that's got political angles. Well done, Kerry!
So I put together a Nocker (They're the crafters of the Changeling world, and borrow more than a few things from the Jewish religion. Gematria and social structure, mostly.) named Mike, of the Weapons Guild. He looks about...well...how many of you recall that 'fake' good Magneto character from the X-men? The one who called himself Joseph? His Mortal Seeming looks pretty much like that, white hair and all. Minus the yellow and blue spandex, of course. His Fae Mien is quite a bit different. His specialties are experimental, with edged and handheld (as opposed to huge, hulking war machines) being preferred.
Note to self--try and find a decent picture of that character. In civvies.
Vampire:
Isn't this the definition of political scheming? I mean, classical vamps just love controlling people. When they're not biting them, anyway...
I actually have no clue how this game's going to go, aside from being pretty sure that there'll be a lot of political maneuvering going on. But the ride'll likely be fun!
So, one Nosferatu for that game. Yes, I know that's usually just the common name for vampires in general, but in this system it's a particular clan of vampires. Even worse than 'butt-ugly,' but they specialize in stealth (I wonder why?) and information brokerage. If it's to know, they know it.
And it'll be great if you're just in a really black mood after a hard day. Step out and bite someone.