Smelly Swiss Dilettante

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bos
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by bos »

@Jean Feel free to message me on Signal. I mostly review tech-related resumes, but I assume the same principles apply
Last edited by bos on Sat Feb 22, 2025 9:00 am, edited 2 times in total.

jacob
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by jacob »

Jean wrote:
Fri Feb 21, 2025 2:17 pm
Is there anyone here that could review my resumee and cover letter?
I've been out of the game for far too long, but it's possible to generate your own A/B test. Back in the day (2011) when I last tried this, there were different formats. Academia focused on quantity: List every single thing you ever published or presented and you'd be judged by the quantity. My CV was 4 pages long. However, this approach was dead on arrival when it came to business recruiters and HR.

Business (and business recruiters) had short attention spans but really liked numbers. As such, I made a 1 page resume that was heavily quantified in terms of differences that I made. "Improved XYZ model's precision by 15% with 10k code base" was effective. Whereas in the academic resume, this would be listed as "Publication title, journal, year" and "Presentation of new model @ some meeting". Conversely, "Being part of team ABC" was not.

Testing out differently formulated resumes and seeing what got a response worked for me. For interviews, I'd just bring the different versions.

Add: Tailoring the resume to how the organization thinks about the world and what [the job position] values makes a big difference. In the above, I was promoting myself as a technical specialist. Had I been applying for non-profit management, they might have been more interested in what kind of committees and networks I was part of and far less in terms of whether I optimized something by N% to generate an M% dollar profit.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I'll apply in english because the position is described in english on german language website too.
I could try to run test on companies that i aint attracted too. I'm just not sure if the results could be extrapolated to companies i'm attracted too.
I try to adapt my resume, and i always write a custom cover letter. The cover letter is very emotionally demanding.
I have problem putting myself in other people shoes if for my mental model of the other to work, i need to assume that he is some form of idiot or asshole. So i try to avoid those assumption even if it makes my model wrong. I don't know how to do otherwise.

@bos I was at a carnaval this week end, so i'll transmit you my application when i'll be back.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

If if decided to sustain myself exclusively with pork sausage and beer, that would cost me about
((2*4.20)+(8*0.6))*30=384.- per month.

That would be within my budget.

That amount to about 5 kg per day, so I'de have to walk to the grocery about once every 5 days.

I wonder what would happen if I sold everything I owned besides my house, my forest, and and some camping gear, and started living only on sausage and beer. That would sure be fun for a while. If i add compulsory Health insurance, assuming I'll be unhealthy, It would be 400.- extra per month (cheapest available insurance with low deductible + deductible for the year, minus help for low income). If i dont get sick, I save 1000 (so 80 per month). If I assume good health, thats 210.- per month, but I'm liable for up to 3200 per year (so 250 per month). So if my chance of getting a major disease during the year are less than about 30%, i should go with high deductible, if they are higher, I should go with low.
This is clearly my biggest expense, and I think I should be living on sausage and beer, just so that i get to enjoy our hospitals that I paid so much money for.

sky
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by sky »

I think you should add sauerkraut and potatoes to that diet.

guitarplayer
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by guitarplayer »

Then you’re in eternal October.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

Jean wrote:
Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:15 am
I wonder what would happen if I sold everything I owned besides my house, my forest, and and some camping gear, and started living only on sausage and beer.
You could rear pigs in your forest and sell surplus sausages to finance a more varied diet.

Or offer pannage rights.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

It's illegal to raise cattle on forest land.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

That surprises me.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

Land is zoned as forest, because we want to have forest. If a forest is grazed, it won't be a forest for very long.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

They do this in a forest near me.

https://www.forestryengland.uk/new-fore ... and-acorns

Maybe you could suggest it to you local commune? I suspect it happened historically.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

That's a federal law.
What I should do, is make some place in my forest comfortable for wild boars, and wait for them in september and later.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

It's always the federal government meddling in the private business of sausage lovers.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I think it's great that forest aren't considered to be completly private.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

I very much agree with that. I'm very interested in forests, and I might start a forest thread to discuss them more.

Violets
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Violets »

Jean wrote:
Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:15 am
If if decided to sustain myself exclusively with pork sausage and beer, that would cost me about
((2*4.20)+(8*0.6))*30=384.- per month.

That would be within my budget.
XD I have done similar calculations to this...

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I wont sell my house, but having been short on cash during the previous months, I've been thinking about it. I'm wondering about the most rational way to analyse the decision of selling or not at a given cost.

Situation with house:
yearly costs :
-property tax : 239.35
-fortune tax (the "tax vallue" of my house is added to my net worth, which is then taxed) : I don't know the exact amount, I'll try to remember to add it here when I'll do my tax, let's say 200.-
-fire insurance: 236.45
-some part of the utilities: I'm waiting for the tenant to send me a picture of the yearly bill, but let's say 500.-
-for now, it has been about 200 per year, since after 10 years, I had my first big bill of 1800.-, but I should count more.

Total : 900.-

yearly benefit:
rent : 10800.-
storage (i'de have to sell most of my stuff without it, maybe not that bad :D)
legal address (could probably use my parent's address)
i can live there if i need too, but i could also live in my forest.

net gain :9400.-

Situation without house:
I'll assume it sells for 300k, it might be worth more
yearly cost:
fortune tax, I would be worth about 150k more, i'de end up paying 650
I wouldn't qualify for help for health insurance, so about 600.-

yearly gain

3% of 250k (i own 50k on my house, I don't pay any interest, but I would pay them back if I sold my house) 7500.-

net gain : 6300.-

From my head, it looks, like I'de break even if I can sell the house for 500k, without even counting the side benefits.

Am I missing something except precision?

bos
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by bos »

You expressed earlier that and your partner are unhappy with the current monthly income, this gain is only temporary. I would suggest continue prioritizing getting a job while continue to live frugally in a country with one of the highest income levels in the world. My neighbor fled from Kosovo as a doctor to Switzerland, started working as a cleaner, bought a house in Berlin for his family 8 years later. I'm not suggesting to become a cleaner, but to me the story show's that doing 'any' job could work.

Edit: re-reading my comment make it feel colder than I wanted too. I've been reading your journal for a while and understand the frustration with the job market

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I've been applying to all kind of jobs. I think changing my name to an albanian one could increase my chances. What about Arjan Saxhepai?

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

Last year, I noticed that an area, despite having a low contingent for deer hunting, stayed open till the end.
It might be because not many people go hunting there. There are also chamois there. (And i ear roe deer right now).
It's also much closer, kinda bikable even (2-3 hours).
So i decided to go explore the area.
I forgot my knife in my other bag (i hesitated which bag to take and switched last minute), but I won't have to empty anything, so it's ok. I had no more gaz bottle, but i had free sausage, so i took those instead.
I took the train, and after only 30 minutes of hiking, i already found a perfect camping spot, with a lot of dry wood.
I really like how small the bag gets without matress and tent.
And while i was grilling my sausage, someone offered me two weeks of work in wineyards :D
That should be 1 or 2k, they will go a very long way.
Also, i found a perfect job to apply to.
Substitute teaching for special needs kids.
They don't have enough, so very low barrier of entry, and i know someone who works there.
That also sound like a perfect job for @guitarplayer if he was fluent in french and german :D

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