Its pretty refreshing we closed the last two games and not collapsed, lol. We were pretty damn close to be honest being 1-3. Because we dug deep like the old ravens we used to be many years ago, we are 3-1 and im happy with that. Winning is all that matters.
" Its like Muhammad Alli, it wasn't pretty, it wasn't perfect, but it was us"
That's how old of a Ravens fan I am. This game reminded me of that, haha.
My secret clearance investigation up until this point has taken a full year, and I have not received a denial or a warning of a denial, neither have I received an approval. I asked my FSO recently and she said it was "Eligibility Pending". She said she doesn't know what is taking so long with it.
Apparently this is unusual according my research, normally secret clearance investigations take 6 months at most. I think what could be holding it up is my recent mental health diagnosis. My therapist said that I had a condition that "impairs my judgement" thing is, there is almost nothing on my clearance investigation at this point that could deny me.
I have bipolar disorder, up until this point I have been fully compliant with treatment and medication. I have made all my appointments, never have been hospitalized, never have been court ordered to be forced into treatment or take medications. My research about the process tells me that its very rare for clearance to be denied solely based on mental health reasons. Its like 0.5 percent. Im not kidding when I say I am sqeauky clean. There is almost nothing like I said. So it has to be my recent mental health diagnosis. I was diagnosed in May 2025. My clearance investigation started in September of 2025 or October. I already met with my investigator, he already met with my therapist. Nothing has really moved since then.
So what is going on, how can I get answers to see what is holding everything up?
You know when you watch that episode as an adult versus being a kid. It just hits different. Because as a kid, at least when I was kid I knew that adults had to pay for shit. What I didn't know was HOW MUCH SHIT. It's not just about what you pay for either. It is also about personal responsbility, being careful and cautious about the decisions you make on a daily basis. Dealing with stupid shit, stupid shit you thought only existed only in school happens in adulthood all the time, and you gotta navigate that. She didn't have to worry about kids or pets.
Speaking of the stuff she has to worry about paying for in adulthood. George only charging 300 dollars for rent, even for 2004 that probably wasn't the going rate. She didn't have to pay a security deposit or first and last month's rent. She didn't have to do a credit check, provide pay stubs, or endure rent increases. She was 15 at the time, so no need to worry about gas or vehicle maintenance, or a car payment. She didn't have to worry about electric being paid, or water, she didn't have to worry about health insurance, or dental, or vision.
Basically I am saying Carmen got off easy, George gave her a trial run. What Carmen experience being an "adult" was really nothing.
I don't know other people's experience when it comes to jobs here.
However, in my 12 years bouncing between various shops. I can say that if you end up making a bad first impression or get off to bad a start. It's hard to get out of, mistakes made when you first start SHOULDN'T be held against you. My experience though is they are and reason being is because time is money. When you make mistakes and when someone has to got behind you and fix it? Then that is time and money you have wasted, which are incredibly valuable for obvious reasons in the business world.
If you say something out of turn, that is weird, or unfunny, in a mistaken attempt to sound the opposite of those things? They are gonna hold it against you. Fairly or not, that is how it is. The thing is, it's not that they want to. They have to, there are something called performance reviews. There is also something called the probationary period. If you end up screwing up or becoming a problem early on, then long term they are gonna question if you should be there.
From my experience, before the job I have now. I started off badly and made a bad first impression. Now matter how much I tried to improve or fix things. Same thing with my job before the last one. It just didn't count or matter, nothing would cancel out my earlier mistakes. I ended up getting let go and ended up having to quit the other one. It may not sound fair, but to them they hired me to do a job.
One job lasted two years which should have converted but didn't( they always had an excuse why they couldn't after that)
The other lasted 4 months
All because I made a bad first impression. Do your job, take notes, listen, and do it right.
Hopefully this gives someone hope
In my experience, as a NOC Analyst Tier 2. With 7 years in client service desktop support roles, and 5 years in NOC/administrative roles. I have not in this current job market had an issue finding a job. I have a 4 year degree in computer networks and cybersecurity, I have 3 certifications, Security Plus, New Relic Fundamentals, and AZ900. My salary is currently 81k, here is the story.
I got laid off from a job I had for 2 years making 77k, fully remote. I actually flipped out then. Because I kept reading stories about the terrible job market and how remote work was going away. I was in a smaller IT market, than where I used to be, but still big enough to support me. I spent 2 months, applying to 20 jobs a day, at the least, not just easy apply by the way. I would get 3 to 5 interviews every week. Remote, hybrid, and full time. I had potential employers messaging me. I literally had an offer, for a security systems engineer position close by to me for 65k a year. 1 week after I got laid off. It fell through because the interim clearance didn't come through. So I kept pounding away, doing interviews, and eventually I found a client support services position that was fully in person for 51k a year roughly, probably safe to round up to 52k. I figured I would give this a run, I actually believed people when they said btw that I could not succeed in my current market finding work. It took me two months, TONS of applications, and lots of interviews. But I found a new job in basically almost no time compared to the stories I have seen on here.
Unfortunately for me, this job did not work out, wasn't the right environment. I did everything I could to make it work, because I knew the state of the job market, I had money coming in despite how much I hated it and figured with a new car payment to suck it up as long as I could. Eventually things came to a head and I decided to put in my two weeks. I was taking a big risk according to people on here. Never leave a job until you have one lined up. Unfortunately I was having such a bad experience that it was affecting my mental health. Which was very poor at the time.
So, I left, started even looking for jobs that I could relocate for. That was in March, I figured if I wanted something good, I had to look outside my local market. Funny enough, when applying to the bigger market. I had less success compared to the market I applied in locally. Probably because obviously, no employer likes hiring someone needing to relocate. The success I had initally was 1 job, which was a Tier 2 Desktop Support position nearby, fully in person for 63k a year. It was a public trust position with the NOAA, naturally being that I had no other offers in hand. I took it, and was slated to start in May. Then get this, another call, with a sister company that that my 2 year company I discussed at the beginning had an opening in their NOC, Tier 2 for 84k a year, less depending if I wanted benefits or not. THEN, get this, I HAD ANOTHER CALL. A NOC tier 1 position in, two hours away wanted to offer me a job.
I had 3 offers to choose from, 3, in what everyone is claiming and I believed is the worst job market for tech. All contracts, so I naturally shyed away from the 20 dollars an hour role 2 hours away. Narrowed down between the NOAA full in person desktop support role which is a public trust position with the government, or a fully remote NOC tier 2 role with an electric utility company which is the bigger salary, better title, and fully at home. The choice in the end, especially considering how unreliable and unsafe government work is now, was obvious.
Extra things to consider, I am not a big guy in this field. I am not a SWE, or someone like Data Analyst, or Cybesecurity, or anything like that really. I am middle level, granted bordering on higher level. But still, I am not someone that you would consider to be a heavy hitter in this field. Yet I got all this interest, all these interviews, and 5 job offers in six months. People told me, and told others. It is easier to find a job, when you already have one. I experienced the opposite. I actually had MORE interest and found a job more quickly, than compared to when I was hired for example at my client services position the first time I got laid off.
I simply dont know how to explain it, other than hard work with all my applications and interviews. The fact I had a tight network of people I knew helped a lot, I spent my career building connections with recruiters, doing them favors and them doing me favors. Hopefully this doesn't cancel out everything I just said LOL. Maybe my resume is really good. Maybe I am just a likeable guy with great experience and a great attitude. Maybe all of the above, IDK, I will say this much here.
I don't know much I believe the claims about a bad job market, because, all the stories I saw about experienced and qualified individuals being a YEAR out of work and really believed that would happen to me. It didn't, instead, I struck gold basically. I personally believe, that the job market may not be as bad as people say. In fact, I believe that anybody who works hard enough to get a job will get one. You just gotta set yourself up right. People say network here, and I did that, get experience, and I did that, stay relavent, and I did that.
You can succeed too, where others have failed. Dont believe the stories, go out, and get what is your's.
Man seriously fuck these people.
They are such spoiled brats, they have no idea how good they have it. They never had to live through an era of truly debalitating disease like our grandparents or great grandparents lived. Polio, leporsy, tuberclosis, smallpox, measles, diptheria, mumps, and etc. They have never really had a fear of these diseases. People who are anti vaxxers don't know what it's like and take modern medicine for granted.
Prior generations would have KILLED to have the advancements we have today, and they are spitting in the face of generations of scientific advancement. For what purpose is all of this for? What are they gaining from it? It's one of the most mind boggling things to me and honestly if it wasn't such a waste of time. There would be a well deserved smear campaign on these people.
A few months ago I had a choice, both of these jobs are contracts. Not full time pemanent roles
One was for a Tier 2 Desktop Support position with the government, which had a public trust clearance attached
Another was a NOC role at a private company.
One paid 63k a year and mostly onsite, that was the Tier 2 desktop support job, and the other was the NOC role which was 81k a year and fully remote. It was a tough choice, but I went with the NOC role. I felt that I would be taking a step down in my career if I went with the desktop support role, it was more money, no need to worry about wear and tear on my car, and also less stress\work. Things are going great since making that decision, my boss said he was lucky to have me and I should converted soon full time.
Sometimes I wonder though, if I should have gone with the government role. It came down to stability, what was more stable. Both were contract jobs, one was working for the federal government mostly in an person capacity for less money. The other was working an electric utility company which frankly always has money coming in. In light of what happened because of DOGE, a government role, especially a contract role I felt was less secure, especially since it was with the NOAA, which is under threat of being cut. I felt the remote job was better, I also had issues with mental health, worried about gas prices because of the Iran war, and needed to pay debts. I focused on what was best for my household and me. I felt the remote job was best for my household. The problem is the current administration is hostile to federal workers. I was scared of that, I didnt want to base my income on the whims of what the administration wanted. I didnt trust working for Trump and a Republican led government whose voters whom I have talked to want to cut the government more.
Something about this though is nagging me, like maybe I made a mistake. Government jobs, even contract jobs are known for being secure, right? Is that still holding true for most positions? I hear horror stories about people in government roles who got let go and who are going to food pantries and they havent found a job in over a year? Are those just stories or is there any truth to them? I missed out on a clearance, potentially a stable job, chance to branch off into the public sector? I have turned down government jobs before for a chance at the private sector and so far its yielded great results. It just feels the same strengths of government work just isn't what it was. Which forced me to make a really hard decision. One I still ponder because I wanna do what's best for my future.
Did I do what's best, did I make the right call?