How are you being impacted by COVID-19?

NL seems to be back to normal for the most part besides people still working from home. Establishments are open again without the mask mandate. I have only been required to wear my mask on public transportation. And though still advised, I do not see people social distancing anymore.

Traveled to LA for vacation in July and the mask mandate was reinstated a week into our trip. Besides that things were fully operational. I must admit it was nice to have less crowded airports and flights.

DeadZits

I was unemployed from June 2020 to March 2021 because of covid. It was very hard for me because, like most people, I do have rent and bills to pay. Well, to make it short, I survived by using up my savings and working odd jobs for some people I know. I'm actually considering a new career in IT and getting home-based work.

Johnhe0414

DeadZits said:

I was unemployed from June 2020 to March 2021 because of covid. It was very hard for me because, like most people, I do have rent and bills to pay. Well, to make it short, I survived by using up my savings and working odd jobs for some people I know. I'm actually considering a new career in IT and getting home-based work.

Covid may have opened the door for more "home-based" work. At least i am seeing it with my organization as well as our neighboring local government.

DeadZits

Johnhe0414 said:

DeadZits said:

I was unemployed from June 2020 to March 2021 because of covid. It was very hard for me because, like most people, I do have rent and bills to pay. Well, to make it short, I survived by using up my savings and working odd jobs for some people I know. I'm actually considering a new career in IT and getting home-based work.

Covid may have opened the door for more "home-based" work. At least i am seeing it with my organization as well as our neighboring local government.

Yeah, it really did change the landscape of how people work. Covid might be a negative, but realizing we can all stay at home while being productive at work is a real positive.

Mike7

Mike7 said:

Working from home since Feb last year including a job (and domain) change to new company in November. It was a unique experience as all interactions including interviews, onboarding and meetings were conducted online. Current company even shipped work laptop to my home, and I only met my new colleagues and managers in person early this year

My domain change is from security to cloud computing and it is coming to a year. There is still a lot to learn in my current role; but with more companies adopting cloud, I think I made the right decision to ensure employability. Just looking at recruiters' messages in my LinkedIn inbox, I see a fairly even mix of security and cloud roles, with some asking for both cloud and security experience.

Mike7 said:

Mike7 said:

Working from home since Feb last year including a job (and domain) change to new company in November. It was a unique experience as all interactions including interviews, onboarding and meetings were conducted online. Current company even shipped work laptop to my home, and I only met my new colleagues and managers in person early this year
My domain change is from security to cloud computing and it is coming to a year. There is still a lot to learn in my current role; but with more companies adopting cloud, I think I made the right decision to ensure employability. Just looking at recruiters' messages in my LinkedIn inbox, I see a fairly even mix of security and cloud roles, with some asking for both cloud and security experience.

got bored of security?

Mike7

UnixGuy said:
got bored of security?

Got bored doing pure security

This is not my first time changing IT domains either; my previous roles include database admin, app dev, project mangement, Windows/Linux admin among others. In my current role as Solutions Architect, I need to talk to different teams at customer side, be it security, database, infra, network as we assist them with cloud migration, so my prior experience helps. To be fair, security is a common concern from customers.

There is nothing wrong with specializing or security. Guess I got bored, and prefer to be a T-shaped rather than I-shaped professional.

Mike7 said:

UnixGuy said:
got bored of security?
Got bored doing pure security

This is not my first time changing IT domains either; my previous roles include database admin, app dev, project mangement, Windows/Linux admin among others. In my current role as Solutions Architect, I need to talk to different teams at customer side, be it security, database, infra, network as we assist them with cloud migration, so my prior experience helps. To be fair, security is a common concern from customers.

There is nothing wrong with specializing or security. Guess I got bored, and prefer to be a T-shaped rather than I-shaped professional.

That's a great position to be in, gives you a lot of exposure and keeps thing interesting!

I'm curious,

how is the transition 'back to normal' in the US? are more companies embracing 100% WFH?

In Australia, we had a strange take on the pandemic so we are a bit behind, there is an ongoing debate whether companies should go back to the office, or be office 3 times a week or 100% WFH

How's your experience been?

Suffice to say I'm enjoying WFH

In the US, it differs state-by-state, county-by-county, and even city-by-city. Each level of government has a different take on masks, vaccination, and individuals needing to show their vaccination status to gain access to facilities (aka, "freedoms"). For example, in Southern California, my county (Orange) is pretty much wide open with masks only being worn by employees in some retail establishments. In Los Angeles County, the restrictions (masks, social distancing, etc.) are still very tight, and in the City of Los Angeles they just introduced new restrictions requiring proof of vaccination to gain entrance to many types of venues and businesses. The city of San Francisco is also on very heavy COVID restrictions still, but the people who live there seem to prefer that change in their lifestyle and have adapted.

Allowing employee to return to on-site work locations is a per-company decision, and many have re-populated their offices. The "hybrid" work model is used to transition people into working on-site just a few days a month to start. I'm sure it will be adjusted to get people back into the office full-time over the next year or so.

UnixGuy said:

I'm curious,

how is the transition 'back to normal' in the US? are more companies embracing 100% WFH?

Really depends on the company and what your job is. For the most part the location I work or, most people are onsite 4 to 5 days a week. In my division, you must be onsite at least one day a month they can "observe" you to maintain your access. Thus 100% remote is not an option. For the company overall, they keep pushing back the "reentry" date.

TechGromit said:
For the company overall, they keep pushing back the "reentry" date.

Yes, I've noticed this too. I think this is due to labor lawyers waiting to see what "real" legislation comes out of WashDC concerning the workplace. Even businesses that do not directly deal with the Federal gov'ment may be pulled into even-yet-more compliance restrictions.

JDMurray said:

TechGromit said:
For the company overall, they keep pushing back the "reentry" date.

Yes, I've noticed this too. I think this is due to labor lawyers waiting to see what "real" legislation comes out of WashDC concerning the workplace. Even businesses that do not directly deal with the Federal gov'ment may be pulled into even-yet-more compliance restrictions.

So your suggesting they are worrying about being sued if they force employees to return to work too soon? If you were hired for a job where you have to be onsite, I wouldn't think you have a leg to stand on if you filed a lawsuit over an employer forcing to live up to your obligation to return to work onsite. Too many people take a mile if you give them a foot. They are somehow "entitled" to work remote now? Employers could have easily just laid everyone off till the pandemic ended, but many chose to work with there employees to keep them employed, safely compromising.

I think labor attorneys that I've talked with think that the Federal legislation released so far related to COVID is insufficient for them to determine how to best mitigate future risks to their organization. My remark is about GRC and has nothing to do with the employee's point of view. It's interesting how you spun it around to that.

Johnhe0414

JDMurray said:

I think labor attorneys that I've talked with think that the Federal legislation released so far related to COVID is insufficient for them to determine how to best mitigate future risks to their organization. My remark is about GRC and has nothing to do with the employee's point of view. It's interesting how you spun it around to that.

GRC = Government, Risk and Compliance?

Yes, how orgs will maintain compliance with GRC is a major thing corporate attorneys worry about. No org wants to go to all the trouble and expense to move 100K+ people back into their offices and then the gov'ment does a reversal and imposes more restrictions that forces WFH again. Requirements for on-site PPE, vaccination status reporting, vaccination requirements, etc. must all be decided and done before a big move back on-site should take place.

TechGromit said:

JDMurray said:

TechGromit said:
For the company overall, they keep pushing back the "reentry" date.

Yes, I've noticed this too. I think this is due to labor lawyers waiting to see what "real" legislation comes out of WashDC concerning the workplace. Even businesses that do not directly deal with the Federal gov'ment may be pulled into even-yet-more compliance restrictions.

Employers could have easily just laid everyone off till the pandemic ended, but many chose to work with there employees to keep them employed, safely compromising.

Do you believe they simply chose to do so out of good will?

We just entered another lockdown. Schools closed a week early and non-essentials are shut down. Mask mandate back in place at grocery stores and our kids' sporting activities are all cancelled. Still working remotely so business as usual there. Boosters being rolled out right now.

Time to ditch the NL and move to Florida or Texas?

JDMurray said:

Time to ditch the NL and move to Florida or Texas?

No way! SoCal is my true home

In Orange County, I hope! Los Angeles County has been a real dumpster-fire since last year.

JDMurray said:

In Orange County, I hope! Los Angeles County has been a real dumpster-fire since last year.

I did notice the homeless explosion when I returned home for the summer. That was insane!

LA is my homebase where most family/friends are, but I feel comfortable in OC, Ventura, and IE as well. SoCal is not perfect, but still the place I call home. Maybe that will change after more time in NL, but we shall see

On a positive note, the cyber security is market in Australia is booming and now employers are open to interstate candidates working remotely. Wages have gone up and there is a 'war on talent' going on as it's challenging for employers to sponsor overseas candidates on visas (but I believe they managed to find a work around).

Looking forward to 50% wage increase if I manage to get it.

UnixGuy said:

On a positive note, the cyber security is market in Australia is booming and now employers are open to interstate candidates working remotely. Wages have gone up and there is a 'war on talent' going on as it's challenging for employers to sponsor overseas candidates on visas (but I believe they managed to find a work around).

Looking forward to 50% wage increase if I manage to get it.

Damn I'd love to relocated to Australia, The Australia national Debt to GDP ration is 42%, vs. 122% for the US. A safe debt to GDP ration is under 60%. Also the government yearly budgets are for the most part balanced, in 2019 they had a balanced budget, Technically the United States had a balanced budget in 2001, but that didn't last long. In 2020 the US federal government had 3.4 trillion in revenue and spent 6.6 trillion. Any fool can see this is unstainable in the long run.

TechGromit said:

UnixGuy said:

On a positive note, the cyber security is market in Australia is booming and now employers are open to interstate candidates working remotely. Wages have gone up and there is a 'war on talent' going on as it's challenging for employers to sponsor overseas candidates on visas (but I believe they managed to find a work around).

Looking forward to 50% wage increase if I manage to get it.

Damn I'd love to relocated to Australia, The Australia national Debt to GDP ration is 42%, vs. 122% for the US. A safe debt to GDP ration is under 60%. Also the government yearly budgets are for the most part balanced, in 2019 they had a balanced budget, Technically the United States had a balanced budget in 2001, but that didn't last long. In 2020 the US federal government had 3.4 trillion in revenue and spent 6.6 trillion. Any fool can see this is unstainable in the long run.

I don't proclaim to understand the GDP argument above, but there are definite advantages (and disavantages) to living in Australia. I have a few American friends who relocated here. It's a lot quieter here, smaller population ( I think California has more people than all of Australia), significantly lower crime rate and I think overall better social welfare system (free health care etc).

The advantages for being in the US (according to my American friends and those who lived in both countries), Australia is expensive and in the US you can make more money in general if you're a highly paid professional in comparison. Cost of living seem to be one of the main issues in Australia. There US market is also 100x times bigger than Australia so there is simply more opportunities and more stuff in general.

Pros and Cons. For the record, I've never been to the US.

UnixGuy said:

I don't proclaim to understand the GDP argument above...

The point is eventually the US is in for a economic disaster. Either A. The government cutting defense spending and social service back substantially, due to the fact that the Government will no longer be able to borrow the money to "balance" the budget another year kicking the day of reckoning into the future. Or B. The Mass printing of currency that will lead to hyper inflation. I think it would be best when this happens to be elsewhere, avoiding the hardships others will face in either scenario. What better place to ride out the hurricane than Australia.

It's already started, the credit rating for the United States was downgraded from AAA, to AA+. It's only a matter of time before it's junk bond rating of D. Could be another 10 or 15 years, but it will happen.

TechGromit said:
Could be another 10 or 15 years, but it will happen.

The same thing can be said for an asteroid hitting the Earth too.