Marks256

I live about 25 miles from Rochester, MN. There are two Walmarts, so you know it is high class! There is only one Radio Shack, though. But they had to close one of them because of lack of business. I got $90 worth of stuff for $10 at their going-out-of-business sale! There are quite a few houses going up, too... I don't know if that is a good thing or not...


Keep your head up, DigiTan.

EDIT:

Start here. http://www.score.org/index.html It is a service of retired/current CEOs and Entrepreneurs that have come together to advise the people just trying to get started.

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DigiTan

Yeah, at this point I'm searching coast to coast. I even started applying randomly in the dozens.. If this industry's out to ruin my career, I say it's time it make it their problem. As of June 1st, I'm giving up the job search. If no one wants me in the field, then I need to find some mission in life. My problem was I spent all this time trying to find a job instead of tracking down the people who ruined me. They're obviously well-organized so this needs my undivided attention. Not the way I planned on spending my summer vacation, but just think of the rewards.

It looks like SCORE has a local office. I'm setting up appointment for this week. After I get this mess cleaned up, I don't want to waste any time trying to figure out where to start building the business. I have a few old friends who would probably interested if the plan is well thought-out enough. And I'd wager SCORE is no stranger to blacklisted job seekers.

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crust

2 things ...

I am sad that people believe that PhDs are earned by "penciling in answers". Many people don't know what it takes to finish, and those of us that do don't appreciate the myth that it is a total joke to get a PhD. If you are going to knock it, at least give people credit for sticking it out.

I personally and those in my research group spent an obnoxious number of hours researching, experimenting, compiling, thinking, and writing to earn a PhD. Forget being compensated, I PAID to do that. I finished my research and had my algorithm fully functional just after Christmas of 2002 -- Approximately 14 months of pure algorithm development. And that was after I had completed 45 hours of additional graduate level coursework (note courses, not internships, or TA, etc) alongside research. I wrote EVERY DAY from 1 Jan until 15 Feb and then started the foils for my presentation. It took me 4 more years past a MS to finish a PhD.

Secondly, we are looking for HW, FW, and FieldApps engineers, in Austin, TX. It is not an easy job and you must be a self starter. We build test electronics (basically massively multiprocessor systems with lots of digital and analog electronics, 40-80 CPUs, FPGAs, etc.) along with the needed libraries and API for users to program them.

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3iMaJ

I completely agree. I've spent thousands of man hours thinking, working, writing, and rewriting papers, algorithms, and presentations just to get as far as I have for my PhD. This is no joke, its serious business. Coursework is a childs play compared to the real point of a PhD which is research. I thought having no classes and purely researching would be less work, but in reality I probably work twice as much work as I ever did when I had classes either during my masters or earlier in my PhD.

Perhaps there are schools out there that act like diploma mills for PhDs, but its well known which schools the mills are, and are respected (or not) accordingly; making the degree not worth the paper its printed on.

mneary

Now you're going to track down those who ruined your life? Pardon me, but this doesn't seem to have come up before. Last month it was your age, intelligence, and race that everyone's afraid of.

In either case, you seem to be looking backward instead of forward.

On a positive note, many inventions have licensing value. Are any of your 13 inventions possible candidates?

3v0

I can not know, but I do not think the people at your school were stupid enough to actively and openly attempt to prevent you from getting a job. That could be grounds for a lawsuit. What possibly used words like competent rather then excellent and outstanding. We are in the middle of a depression and it takes more the competent to get a good job.

Why do you see this as their fault.

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mneary

You could consider updating your LinkedIn page. I don't know if anyone looks there, but if an employer googles you it would be nice to have something positive there instead of the tiny amount you currently have.

Marks256

Let me know how your SCORE experience goes, DigiTan. I am interested in starting my own business after college, myself. Let us know what you learn.

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DigiTan

Thanks. Some of my highschool friends are finishing their EE programs and returning to Austin. They're already considering starting a company (if they haven't already). The way I see it, that's just 3 weeks to come up a viable startup plan and hope we can put something together.

I'd like to start up something related to my training. All the success stories seem to dictate that to retire young, you either capture a "trend market," or find ways to cash in on a commodity. That part seems easy enough, but it's the startup costs/time that has me worried. But I guess that's what the Score appointment is for.

I think it's more likely someone did it unilaterally. There's only 2--possibly 3--people I know who would motivated enough to go on a character assassination campaign. The other possibility is a mistake in my academic/job records that's making it look like I lied on my resume. Whatever happened, something about my personal records seems to be making all these companies behave the same way. But all this is just 1 possibility. What I need to do is run a comprehensive background check and start interviewing people to flush out anything suspicious.

I'm betting it's a mix of both. What I don't see are other graduates going through this. There were other grads very similar to me in both personality and experience, and none of them are unemployed.

Well, for the licensing, I'd say there's at most 3 licensable, marketable ideas in there. Coming with consumer-quality prototypes for all three would cost less than $2500 as far as I can tell. One of the first things I want to do if we start a business is look into getting all them licensed and certified. I need to ask SCORE about patent law too.

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Hank Fletcher

Don't forget that a lot of money can be made doing something that already has a considerable market. For instance, some markets seem incapable of saturation, such as pizza joints and coffee shops. What does it cost to start a lemonade stand? Start small, start successfully, by making sure your risk is always within your means. That way, success is inevitable, instead of just a lottery.

You've got that wrong. You're getting paranoid, because you're stressed and in what seems to you to be a tighter spot than it actually is. Let it go. Mulling over potential vendettas is a form of self-hypnosis. You're repeating a negative mantra that will negatively influence your abilities as an entrepreneur if you persist.

Be mindful of when the negative thoughts are knocking at your mind's door. I know at times it can seem like they're always there, but exercising your ability to focus on the positive can start small, and soon becomes addictive because of the rewards associated with thinking positively. For a fraction of the time and effort thinking negatively requires you can easily become a successful businessman. Abandon your interests in vengeance.

The best revenge is living well.

DigiTan

No, someone needs to pay for this. I was a fool to think I'd ever get hired. For the past 6 months, I've been trying enter a system that's been groomed for years to exclude me. No one sends out 300 applications without an offer. The very least I can do for myself is start fighting back. I'm going to take from them what they took from me. And I'll have no regrets doing it.

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* About

rjvh

It's good to see that you have at least still the fighting spirit but please for your self put that energy in something for youself and don't waste it on other people that you think they oposed you in the past

it won't bring you where you want to go and as hank already said being sucsessfull and happy is the best revenge that you can give them

Robert-Jan

phalanx

Now that's the go-get'em attitude you need to succeed!

phalanx

You come off as someone who thinks they are entitled to a job because of meeting a degree requirement. If you are sending out as many applications as you say you are and they are all going unnoticed, that is a very strong argument towards you not presenting yourself properly. No one needs to pay for your inability to get a job other than you and you alone. If anything the system is designed to scoop up minorities with an engineering background because they are far less common in the workplace than your average white land owning male. If you can not make potential employers see what you are capable of it is completely your fault and you need to take actions to correct that.

Perhaps you should post your resume and a typical cover letter here so people can try and figure out why you are going unnoticed.

Also, if I were an employer and could link your name to the posts you made here, I wouldn't hire you either. You may want to think about that next time before posting about getting revenge on people that haven't done anything wrong.

mneary

You still have a blank LinkedIn page. It might be worth enhancing it.