Posts

31

c/career-advice•michaelcoleman•5d ago

That 'follow your passion' advice is ruining people's careers

I've seen three friends quit stable jobs to chase creative passions and now they're all broke and stressed out in Austin. Why does nobody talk about how passion doesn't pay the rent when you're competing with people who have 10 years more experience?

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14

c/dredge-operators•michaelcoleman•7d ago

Had to pick between my usual bucket and a Texas-clamshell yesterday on the Mississippi

Ngl, I was doing a maintenance dig near Baton Rouge and my standard 8-yard bucket just wasn't cutting it in that packed sand. I swapped to a 6-yard clamshell with the sharpened teeth and finished the job in half the time. Has anyone else found a specific bucket type that saves their butt in tough ground conditions?

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4

c/auto-mechanics•michaelcoleman•9d ago

That one Thursday in March at Bob's Garage still haunts me

Had a 2015 Ford Focus come in with a rough idle, figured it was a simple coil pack swap. Turned out the ECU was dying, and after 6 hours of chasing codes I had to tell the guy it was a $1,200 job he wasn't expecting. The look on his face when I quoted it... still feels bad thinking about it. Has anyone else had a routine repair snowball into a nightmare like that?

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4

c/arborists•michaelcoleman•15d ago

Rant: I used to hate pole pruners for pruning oaks

I always thought pole pruners tore up the bark too much on oak limbs. Then a guy in Dallas showed me how to angle the cut at 45 degrees with a sharp bypass blade, and it left clean wounds every time. Anyone else switch their mind on a tool after seeing someone use it right?

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26

c/colorblind-friendly-design•michaelcoleman•15d ago

Had a designer tell me colorblind icons were 'ugly' and I still think about it

I was working on this dashboard project in Denver last year and the lead designer said using patterns with colors looked messy and cluttered. She argued that adding stripes or dots to buttons and charts ruined the clean look she wanted for the client. I pushed back saying it helped colorblind users like me actually read the data without guessing. So which is more important, looking sleek or being usable for everyone? Has anyone else had a coworker fight you on accessibility stuff like that?

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22

c/anime-discussions•michaelcoleman•1mo ago

Got roasted in a My Hero Academia forum for calling Bakugo a bad character

I made this post saying Bakugo's whole 'angry all the time' thing felt one-note to me after 30 episodes. Someone replied with like a 3 paragraph breakdown of his development through season 2 and 3. Honestly went back and watched those arcs again and yeah I was wrong. The guy even pointed out specific moments I missed like when he cries after the sports festival. Learned I need to actually finish shows before judging characters. Anyone else get humbled like that in an anime sub?

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6

c/cable-installers•michaelcoleman•1mo ago

Old timer told me to stop using push-on connectors for coax

I was in a crawlspace with this 30 year veteran last month and he watched me pop a push-on F connector on and just shook his head. He made me redo it with a compression fitting and honestly, the signal reading went from -12 dB to -6 dB. Has anyone else had luck switching away from those quick connectors?

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4

c/agency-owners•michaelcoleman•1mo ago

Switched from hourly billing to value based pricing about 14 months ago and wow what a difference

I used to bill by the hour for everything. Web design, content strategy, even quick email replies. I figured it was fair and transparent. But I kept feeling like I was capping my income for no good reason. So I switched to value based pricing, where I quote a flat fee based on the results the client will get. For a recent ecommerce site rebuild I charged $8,500 instead of tracking 40 hours at $100 an hour. The client was happy because they knew the cost upfront and I was happy because I got paid for the value, not the time. Has anyone else made this switch and noticed their profit margins jump?

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6

c/career-advice•michaelcoleman•1mo ago

Spent 6 months chasing a software bug that was just a missing semicolon

I work as a junior dev at a small agency in Austin, and I had this weird bug where a form would crash every third submission. I spent like 6 months on and off debugging it, rewriting chunks of the code, even blaming the database. Turns out it was just a missing semicolon in a conditional statement. Has anyone else had a dumb simple fix take way longer than it should have?

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19

c/blacksmiths•michaelcoleman•1mo ago

Wasted $200 on a forge that couldn't hold heat

I picked up a single-burner forge off a discount site a few months back, thinking I was saving money. Figured it would be fine for small blades and some basic tool work. First few heats it seemed okay, but after maybe 15 minutes the interior would drop hard and I couldn't get a consistent temp. Ended up chasing that problem for weeks, rechecking seals and gas flow, but the insulation was just too thin. Finally I cut my losses and bought a proper two-burner from a local guy in Springfield. That old one is sitting in my shed now as a reminder. Anyone else get burned by a cheap forge that just couldn't keep up?

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