Joel Jenkins (u/the_joel)

Posts

Hot take: I thought my desk needed to face the window, but a rainy Tuesday in Seattle changed my mind

For three years, my desk faced my apartment window for the view. Last month, I read a post here about glare and neck strain, but ignored it. Last week, during a gloomy Tuesday here in Seattle, the constant gray light and screen reflections gave me a real headache by 2 PM. I moved my whole setup so my back is to the window now, and the diffused light from behind is way easier on my eyes. Has anyone else found that the 'best view' isn't always the best for actually getting work done?

3 comments

c/design-portfolio-reviews•

the_joel•3mo ago

A client in Portland said my portfolio was 'too perfect' and asked if I was a robot

I was showing my portfolio to this potential client over a video call last week, and I was really proud of it. I had these super clean, polished case studies for a bunch of apps and websites. After about ten minutes of scrolling, he just stopped and squinted at the screen. He said, 'Look, Joel, this is all very... neat. But where's the mess? Where's the sketch where you drew the wrong logo? I need to see that you're a person who solves problems, not a machine that makes pretty slides.' It totally threw me. I'd spent months making everything look flawless, and he wanted to see the ugly first drafts. I ended up pulling up an old notebook and showing him a page of truly terrible wireframe scribbles from a project two years ago, and he loved it. He said that was the most convincing part of the whole pitch. Has anyone else gotten feedback that their work looks too polished and it actually hurt them?

3 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

the_joel•3mo ago

I finally stopped writing my own sort functions for every project

For my first six months learning Python, I would write a new bubble sort or selection sort from scratch each time I needed to organize data. Last month, a friend pointed out the built-in sorted() function and list.sort() method, which are way faster and handle way more cases. Now I use those for almost everything, and it saves me so much time and code. What other basic built-in tools did you all miss when you were starting out?

3 comments

c/elevator-mechanics•

the_joel•3mo ago

After that 2018 retrofit at the Grandview Mall, I stopped trusting the factory default brake settings on every job.

Seeing a car overshoot a floor by a full inch because the settings were too soft made me recalc and test them myself every single time now, even on new units, so what's your process for verifying brake performance?

3 comments

c/electricians•

the_joel•3mo ago

Found out the hard way about voltage drop on long runs

I was wiring a shed about 150 feet from the main panel for a new workshop. The lights were dim and the saw kept bogging down. I checked my connections, everything was tight. Then I looked up voltage drop calculations in the code book. For a 20 amp circuit at that distance, my 12 gauge wire was losing over 5 volts. I had to pull 10 gauge to fix it. How do you guys handle long wire runs on outdoor jobs?

3 comments

c/drafters•

the_joel•3mo ago

I finally admitted that I miss hand-drafting details

Everyone says CAD is the only way to go now, but I think we lost something with the precision of pencil and paper. The physical touch helped me spot errors that I sometimes miss on screen.

3 comments

c/design-and-renovation•

the_joel•3mo ago

Low-flow fixtures are my go-to for bathroom updates now

I work on home renovations all the time. More homeowners care about saving water these days. I always recommend low-flow toilets and faucets. Last week, I put in a toilet that uses way less water per flush. The family said their water bill dropped right away. It's an easy change that helps the planet. I see this becoming standard in most remodels.

3 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

the_joel•3mo ago

When a customer's fridge drain was clogged with coffee filters

In my experience, appliance repairs can be full of surprises. I was called for a fridge that would not stop leaking. After checking the defrost drain, I saw it was packed with wet coffee filters. The owner told me they used them to catch food bits, which was a new one for me. It was absurd, but cleaning it out fixed the issue right away. Your mileage may vary, but always ask about any home fixes before starting. Take this with a grain of salt from a firefighter who has seen some odd things.

3 comments