Something different... The following isn't going to pay, but it is FAR from a hobby. It it real, physically grounded, complex work that directly, observably, benefits real people. Bridges to Prosperity <https://www.bridgestoprosperity.org/>
What one learned 30 years ago in wood carving, painting (or plumbing) is probably still widely applicable. The intricacies of a particular programming language or environment you learned 30 years ago is likely meaningless. I remember being an expert an version 1.0 of a graphics program. That expertise is now useless: the program evolved, met its end of life and the company that distributed disappeared in an acquisition. Telling people today that I was an expert in 'FabulousDraw' gets me blank stares, the same as mention of the company that distributed it.
Activity in the physical realms is not unchanging of course. But it is more durable than software products. Installing the plumbing in a large building might not leave much of a mark on history, but it will leave more of a mark than doing the "plumbing" work on a corporate web site.
At least if you're a plumber or (was a) typewriter repair person, you can physically show ordinary people an example of what you do and they are likely to at least grasp the general concept.
>At least if you're a plumber or (was a) typewriter repair person, you can physically show ordinary people an example of what you do and they are likely to at least grasp the general concept.
If real people do not care about what you are working on, then what's the point?
Am I working towards a thicker wallet or a few more zeros on my bank account? And if so, why?
>Telling people today that I was an expert in 'FabulousDraw' gets me blank stares, the same as mention of the company that distributed it.
LOL! I couldn't even find a reference to it on Google. Was that the software's actual name?
P.S. ... I noticed that you have been on HN for almost 3 years now and have only left a handful of comments. I encourage you to write more, as this comment in particular was profound imho.
In Long Ago Days, didn't governments hand out benefits that resembled corporations but that were IN EXCHANGE FOR required civic duties? Is there a Historian in the house?
Perhaps dilution of value from hiring non-experts to "write copy" that floods the site with mediocre (or just plain wrong) content? Seeking search engine hits, rather than trying to attract and curate quality, useful, articles.
The "facts" of the event are going to be presented if you go to trial. Prosecution presumably will do its best to paint you in a bad light. What do you have to say in your defense? "I feel terrible and I made a huge mistake" isn't a defense, it's a plea for clemency.
I suppose it is possible that you might get lenient treatment if you were exceptionally remorseful and contrite. Maybe. Or maybe the judge or jury will feel that "We Need To Send a Message."
You claim that you "didn't take anything." But (apparently) you are not being charged with the robbery. So you are in agreement with the Cops / Prosecutor on this. You seem perhaps to think that the assault charge is about the robbery (yes?) but it looks to me that the assault charge is about the threat to use deadly force ("I have a gun!") You should get this clarified with your lawyer. You should also know the differences in sentencing levels between "Assault 3" and "Assault 4."
Even if you did not really have a gun and did not physically harm anyone, the law may still consider that you committed Assault. It sounds like you are not being charged with the robbery... well, that's something good for you. But you were "involved" in a robbery and when the victims of that robbery pursued you, you shouted out that you had a gun. Have you gone on record agreeing to that?
If you haven't gone on record admitting that you shouted out that you had a gun, you could try lying under oath and claim that you did NOT say such a thing. And face two witnesses who will swear that you did say that. That might not work out well for you.
If you did claim to have a gun (even though you did not), in that situation the law might assume that the victims felt (or any ordinary person would feel) threatened. Such a threat might be classified as Assault.
The fact that you were charged with (felony) THIRD degree assault, with an offer to reduce it to "Assault 4 gross misdemeanor" suggests that somebody either is willing to give you a bit of a break (!?), or they figure that going to trial, and succeeding, with the 3rd degree assault charge might be difficult. (Why not charge you with FIRST, or SECOND degree assault... hey, you could be in a worse position than you are!)
So...
Go to trial and lose: you have a felony on your record. I think this is Bad.
Go to trial and get more leniency than the reduced charge offer... you'd be ahead. What would need to happen for you to get that better deal? How likely is that to happen?
If you take the offer: you have a "gross misdemeanor" on your record. (I'm guessing that's less bad than a felony but I don't actually understand the difference.)
Does your lawyer think you have any additional wiggle room? If you overflow with remorse, contrition and abject apologies... could you get 6 months of community service instead? Or something?
This may have been covered already, but... The purpose of a resume is not to get you hired. The point of a resume is to catch someone's attention for long enough to keep you in the race, or get to the next step.
A successful resume is one that will be NOT discarded by HR drones or automated resume scanning software. A successful resume will get you a phone screening or an in-person interview.
If your resume is, as you said, awful, but you are getting to the interview stage then you are getting there DESPITE the quality of your resume.
If you are not getting past the interview step, the problem is not with the resume (it's out of the picture). So "something" may be going wrong in your interviews. I don't have any ideas about how to go looking for what might be going wrong.
This guy has strong opinions that are carefully expressed. Many of his opinions contradict "common wisdom," which I often found eye-opening. He has a lot of interesting things to say. Poke around the site... read some articles, subscribe to the newsletter. It could be helpful.
