#I applied for a job that would have upped my salary by 50% as well as being a 4 day work week but they never got back to me

[lexicals]

Things are kinda bad for me atm ngl (work continues to be an absolute trash fire) but I am persevering. One day I will have my own space and a decent stable income and enough spare time and energy to start publishing my comic(s) and it will all be okay. I wish I didn't have an unknown amount of bullshit to wade through to get there though

[redbullcateringfiction]

Chapter 2 -

Cantata

Arabella is the executive assistant for Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff. 10 years into her career, it looks like the tide is changing, and she's beginning to question her relationship with him. Is it something more, or nothing but an idea lingering in her head?

F/M, Fluff, Boss/Employee Relationship, Romance, Pining, Love, Slow Burn

Second chapter below the cut or click here for AO3

Click here for the previous chapter on Tumblr, and click here for a list of all chapters

(Total: 7270 words thus far)

“How long have you been with Mercedes?” Mr. Wolff asked me.

“2 years at this point,” I nodded.

“And prior to that?”

“I was a personal assistant for an acting agent at United Agents,” I answered. “Prior to that, I received a Level 5 executive assistant diploma and project management diploma at Souters in the Netherlands.”

“What languages are you fluent in?”

“German, Dutch, Arabic, English, and French,” I explained.

“Arabic…that’s helpful,” he nodded.

“Yes. There was a continuous call for an executive assistant in the marketing department who spoke Arabic when I first applied here. I thought I’d be a good fit.”

“You only have 5 years’ experience at this point, and only 2 in Formula 1. Would you be prepared to take on the level of responsibility that this comes with?”

“With all due respect, Mr. Wolff, I’ve made it through 5 rounds of interviews and 4 exams. I have yet to fail a single one. This might just be what I was made for.”

Mr. Wolff looked up from his note pad and smirked. He seemed to think for just a moment, and then looked me in my eyes. “I agree. Can you start next week?”

~

“There’s a 90-day trial period when you first begin. If we decide to proceed, you’ll sign a formal employment contract for this role. If we don’t, returning to your role in Marketing will still be an option. If this role re-opens, you can re-apply in a year. Do you understand?” The HR manager asked me.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Do you mind if I say something…off the record so to speak?” He asked.

“No, no problem. Go ahead,” I nodded.

“This will be very hard. And you’re quite young. What, 25? You’ve been here for 2 seasons. We’ve only really been this team, like this at least, for 3 seasons. This will only continue to get harder. With Haug gone, we’ve got this new guy. You’re not just his assistant, you’re going to act like his curator with everyone else. You’re going to be the one really driving this connection. Afterall, you’re the one who plans every step of the day. If you leave during those 90 days, you get to take home 50% of your salary to keep you from going to another team. If you leave after 6 months, you get to take home 100% of the salary for a whole year. I’m just saying, you won’t struggle if you get tired of this.”

I thought for a moment. Was he telling me to leave or was he telling me I could? Was this a warning or a recommendation?

“Thanks,” I answered. I picked up my new badge off the desk. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

~

“It’s the end of the 90 days, Ms. Lazaar,” Mr. Wolff said, sitting me down at his desk. “Let’s have a talk.”

I could feel my forehead dripping beads of sweat. I hadn’t been perfect. Not at all. But I’d been pretty darn close. I have no clue what the threshold is for failure. That’s not something I was entirely used to. Executive assistants frequently find themselves doing this for years. If this didn’t work out, I don’t know if I would want to go back to marketing. I had spent the past 3 months in different countries, watching races from the pit practically. I experienced Formula 1 at a level I never imagined. Going back to sitting at a desk answering phone calls wouldn’t cut it anymore. This felt like it. And there’s only so many teams. There are only so many jobs just like this with my skillset. If this didn’t work out…well…I’d probably be at a bank by next year.

“How do you think you’ve done?” He asked. I hated questions like these. What was the point? You already know how I’ve done.

“I think I’ve done well. I haven’t been perfect. The first two weeks were hard, but after that settling in was easy,” I explained, with a small white lie about the ease. Nothing about this was easy.

“Easy?”

“I may have been bluffing,” I quickly gave up. He chuckled in response. Suddenly the air felt much lighter. My nerves suddenly subsided. I blotted my forehead with a tissue.

“Do you feel close to burning out at all?”

Yes. “No.��

“Was that a bluff?”

Okay, maybe I had been a bit emphatic with that no. And perhaps a bit dramatic with my thinking. “A little. This isn’t easy. This is hard. This is tiring. But I like it. I think I might even love it. I enjoy it. Sacrificing a few hours of sleep makes this worth it,” I answered.

“Well, I can tell you enjoy it. I think you’ve done a great job. I’m excited to see what you do with the rest of your tenure here at Mercedes,” He smiled, passing me an official hiring contract. I signed it with no second thoughts.

~

I looked down at my Tinder profile. In several of the pictures, I had put forth an effort to show off my long and dark curly hair. My favorite picture, was of course, first. It helped to showcase the kind of lifestyle you lead to ensure you only get matches you actually like. That picture was of me, on a yacht in Monaco with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. What else screams “are you good enough for me?” quite like that? I need a new one though. This was getting a bit old.

“Ten years, yes?” Toto suddenly asked.

“Huh?” I lilted, looking up from my phone.

“Ten years at Mercedes for you. Coming up, isn’t it?”

“Is it? Has it been 10 years? Oh…well yes. I guess it has. I think in April.”

“April 18 th , to be exact,” He nodded.

“Cool,” I sighed, going back to my phone. I felt a hand come over and my phone had suddenly disappeared out of my view. I turned and Toto had it in his hand. This was the stuff of nightmares. There is no way in hell my boss can know I’m on Tinder. My heart jumped out of my chest as I suddenly went to reach over for it, I saw the screen had darkened. He at least had done me the favor of pressing the power button.

“Give it back,” I groaned.

“You’re so glued to your phone,” He mockingly groaned back.

“It’s literally my job to be.”

“Ah, then what are you so busy with at this moment that you can’t tell me what you’d like for your 10 th anniversary at the company?”

“None of your business,” I frowned.

“Then answer what it is that you’d like.”

“I don’t know, a pen or something? Can I have my phone back now?”

“A pen? A fucking pen? For a decade at a company, you want a pen? ”

“Yes. I’d love a pen. Now give me back my phone.”

He disappointingly handed over my phone. I continued swiping away until I noticed him take out his own phone. I looked up and scoffed, and he chuckled knowing exactly why. I looked back down and saw a profile that stood out. A super like.

Jeffrey, 40

I’m the nice guy your mom told you to settle down with, but with slightly less hair and more traveling.

Yeah, I’ve read worse. I swiped right and messaged him. As I patiently waited for a response, I looked back at Toto. I watched as he looked through the padfolio, seemingly memorizing every word on the page. I had, for a long time, deliberately put my head in the sand when it came to him. This morning though had seemed to shock me, and suddenly I found myself lingering on him. His hands turning the pages, his glasses slipping off his nose, and the way his dark eyes traced the pages I had written. In many ways, he is incredibly-Ah, my phone vibrated.

Jeffrey: Hey! Nice to meet you, Arabella. You’re a secretary?

I sighed and typed out my reply. Not a secretary. An executive assistant. “Fucking men,” I mumbled. Toto looked over with an eyebrow raised. I awkwardly smiled and went back to my phone.

Jeffrey: Oh, sorry! So, you know Hamilton?

If I were the type to cackle evilly, I would at this moment.

Me: I work with him.

Now, to let that fester a little bit. I looked down into my bag and pulled out my schedule and began making the necessary calls for tonight. It’s important to verify everything. First, the hotel, immediately followed by the driving company. I had nearly forgotten and phoned down UBS to ensure that the investors have their meeting scheduled for the correct time. I placed the necessary checkmarks in my schedule that represented ‘Yes, I’ve called them. Now it’s their fault if anything has gone wrong.’

And of course, to top it off, Bombardier. “Yes, we have the jet chartered for tomorrow morning at 8am,” Our private contact, Leanna, answered.

“Oh, perfect. And could you make sure that breakfast is ready for everyone?”

“Yes, absolutely. The usual for everyone?” She asked.

“Yes, and make sure Mr. Wolff’s pumpernickel snaps like a cookie. I think I recall it being a little too lightly toasted last time. Oh, and next week, we have that flight scheduled, too? Right?”

“Yes. I’ll send you an email too to verify all the rest of the flights for the year. But for you, Arabella! I don’t have your breakfast here.”

“Oh, I’m going to cook for myself in the morning. I’m a sucker for an English breakfast.”

“You sure?” She insisted.

“Really, Leanna. They are my bread and butter. Literally.”

She gave me a nice pity chuckle. “Okay, well, Francis will meet you at Heathrow.”

“Thank you, Leanna. Speak with you next week.”

“Obviously!” She laughed, hanging up the phone. I placed my checkmark next to the flight. I looked over at my phone and saw the new response.

Jeffrey: Oh, you work at Brackley?

You could say that.

Me: Yes.

Jeffrey: Well, I’d love to meet with you tonight and talk more about ourselves. What time are you free?

I gave it a little thought. It’s so easy to plan for everyone else.

Me: Does 9pm work for you?

Jeffrey: Perfect, how about Angler?

I’m impressed. And its close! Oh, God. Does he work for UBS? Am I over thinking this? I’m overthinking this. Why would 9pm be okay if he worked for UBS? He would certainly be at this event.

Me: Perfect-er.

Jeffrey: See you then.

I took my last glance at my phone before looking up at the driver’s GPS. 45 minutes left to go. I checked my email and did the slightest bit more work but otherwise enjoyed the little break I was getting. Every so often, I would peek my head up at Toto and watched him do little of much alike me. It doesn’t take long to read the documents I prepare, by design. I watched briefly for a moment as he Facetimed his children and watched his face beam with pride and joy. I tried not to watch for long, pretending instead that I wasn’t listening. Slowly, but surely, 45 minutes turned to 30, and then to 5. Then all of a sudden we were on the move. I grabbed the suitcases out of the trunk as Toto managed the other bags. We headed in through the large omniscient glass doors after crossing the courtyard, and I phoned down to the UBS executive assistant.

“Hello, this is Marie.”

“Hi, Marie. It’s Arabella and Mr. Wolff. We’re in the lobby,” I spoke quietly.

“Excellent, I’ll come down and meet you. Mr. Fischer will be about 5 minutes late for the meeting, but Mr. Wolff is welcome to start.”

“I’ll let him know. Thank you, Marie,” I said, right before hanging up.

“Okay, Toto. Bobby Fischer is going to be about 5 minutes late, but you’re welcome to start. Please actually do start. Don’t linger,” I explained.

“Will do, Arabella,” He sighed. He handed me my crossbody and I slinged it over my shoulder. “Ah there she is.”

I looked across the lobby and saw Marie walking towards us. The world of executive assistants is small, and we’ve truly all begun to know each other. Not all of the driver’s have assistants but Marie was Lewis Hamilton’s ex-assistant. Leaving your boss in this line of work is truly a bit like a break up, and this must feel like running into your ex’s parents a bit. I still get uncomfortable walking past the Marketing department. However, Marie was just like most of us current or ex F1 assistants. She was a hard ass. Much more controlling than you’d expect out of your typical assistant, and if I’m considered demanding, Marie is 10-fold. I don’t know if that management style worked for Lewis, but it's what a field like banking demands at times, so I imagine the crossover wasn’t as odd as it must seem. 

“Wonderful to see you again, Arabella. And you too, Toto. Arabella, meet us on the 38th floor at approximately 1:30. I can have coffee made for you at arrival. Black coffee right?” It sounded less like a question and more like a statement.

“Absolutely. See you then,” I nodded. She ceremoniously walked towards the elevator with Toto, almost like a passing of the torch. I headed outside and brought up the directions to the hotel. Just around the corner really, but I can be a bit silly and somehow get all turned around. Truly why F1 driving was never for me.

I wandered into the hotel and saw the clear signs for the Angler restaurant. I knew it was close to the hotel, but it hadn’t processed it was in the hotel. I walked up to the check in counter while sending off the quickest message to my Tinder date. Have you made reservations? 

“Hello, yes, I need to check in for Torger Wolff,” I explained.

“Ahh, for the Mercedes F1 team staying here tonight?” She asked. 

“Yep,” I nodded.

“Can I see some ID?” 

I handed over my ID and my phone quickly buzzed. 

Jeffrey: Yes! Wouldn’t dare not to.

Oh, perfect. Great. Couldn’t get any better. 

Me: Oh! Perfect! Great, couldn’t get any better! See you there.

I looked back up at her while she studied my ID. 

“Are you with the Mercedes F1 team?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“What is it that you do?” She asked, almost snidely. 

“I’m an assistant.”

“To whom?”

“Who do you think? Lewis Hamilton? Or the guy who’s bags I’m trying to drop off?” I smiled.

“Well, I don’t see you have a room booked here. How am I to know if you’re not just a groupie or something?”

“A groupie? In a suit?” I questioned, before shaking my head. I was trying to shake off what I really wanted to say in this instance. “Check the notes. It’s very clear that I’m authorized to enter his room and to check in.”

“I see no notes,” She smiled. 

“Then call your supervisor,” I smiled back. I saw her roll her eyes as she picked up the phone. Soon enough, a young gentleman walked behind the counter. He had to be younger than me.

“Yes?” He asked.

“She is attempting to check in for the Mercedes F1 Team Principal. I see nothing on here about her checking him in,” She explained. Her manager took a glance at the computer screen, then over at me. He looked me up and down, before going back to the computer screen.

“Is this your ID?” He asked.

“Yes,” I groaned.

“Please, don’t catch an attitude. We’re simply trying to ensure the safety of our guests,” He smiled. An attitude? “I see you have no room booked tonight under the block of rooms for Mercedes-Petronas. Am I to believe that you simply are here to enter his room and then leave?”

“Yes, you absolutely are. Especially considering I have shown you my ID,” I explained.

“Then why aren’t you staying here if you’re with the team?”

“I live in London. In Chelsea?” I nodded.

“That’s a long way from here,” He sighed.

“Is it? It’s like half an hour,” I insisted. “No, nevermind that. I am here to check in for Toto-Torger Wolff. I am his executive assistant. I have a badge for Brackley that I will happily show you. I have no intention of staying at your hotel today because I would like to sleep in my own bed before heading to a whole other country for testing. I would like to simply drop off his bags in his room and ensure everything is up to snuff because that is my job . Nothing else, nothing more.”

“How about you just give us the bags and we’ll drop them off in his room?” He tried to appeal to my growing frustration.

“How about I take the bags up so I can do the other half of my job?” 

He simply shook his head. I handed him my Brackley ID and he looked it over.

“Could these be faked?” He another hotel staff member who came over due to the commotion

“Fur sure they cud’ be,” he answered in a thick scottish accent. “My mukker’s git one for McLaren.”

“We won’t accept this,” He smiled at me again. The smiles were beginning to look faker and faker by the moment. This is the primary issue I find myself in being a Black woman working for what are essentially, sports celebrities. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned around and asked Lewis to leave. 

“Here,” I gave up. I took out a business card for Bono. “Has he checked in yet? Give him a call and let him verify me.”

They took the card and dialed the number. They hung up after a few moments.

“He didn’t pick up,” They shrugged. 

“Fine, do me the favor of at least taking the bags then? Up to the room?” I babbled. Words seemed to be lost on me at this moment.

“I think we’ll actually not. We can’t be sure what the content of those bags are,” the manager nodded.

Please. For fuck’s sake. “I’ll see you back at 2:00pm,” I tried to smile.

I took the bags back over to the UBS offices, and took the elevator up to the 38th floor and walked towards Marie’s desk. There she was sitting scrolling through her phone.

“Oh, Arabella,” she mumbled looking up. She looked at the clock, and then at her phone, and then up at my face. She stood up and looked down at my hands. “You’re early…and you still have the bags. Was the room not ready?”

“They refused to let me in,” I sighed. 

“Again?” She questioned. I raised an eyebrow up at her. She was a pale skin tone, and had medium brunette hair that brushed her shoulders. 

“I’m black, Marie. Yes, again,” I stated as I sat on the chairs by the office entrance.

She frowned. “Let me go get your coffee, love.” It was truly the lightest voice, and kindest voice, Marie had ever offered me. She usually gives me no type of affection, even though were in the same career. I think it’s a bit cutthroat and she got used to turning everyone away. I wasn’t used to this type of response from her. She soon returned and handed me the cup of coffee, sitting down next to me.

“Well, I’m sorry about that. I know, beyond all else, I can’t understand this type of situation as deeply and as well as you. Nonetheless, I know you’re good at your job, and that this simply isn’t fair for someone of your caliber.”

I stared into the cup of coffee for a moment, really letting her response process. I looked up at her and her flat expression. A signal of care for her. 

“Thanks, Marie,” I offered a slight smile as I sipped my coffee.

“No need to fake a smile. I would call, but they’d probably pretend they don’t know who I am either,” She acknowledged. 

“Don’t worry. His bags have to get in somehow.”

“So, what have you been up to you? Outside of this?”

“Nothing really. This is all I’ve been up to.”

“Listen, I don’t miss that life at all,” She mumbled. “There’s nothing quite like getting to work at 9 in the morning, and leaving at 5 in the evening. This is consistency. There’s no jetting across the world. I mean, I can actually have a relationship. I’m getting married, for Christ’s sake. That’s not possible in F1.”

“I want none of those things.”

“Is that why your phone just went off with a Tinder notification?” She chuckled. I looked down and Jeffrey had sent a message. I think I just passed you in Broadgate Circle! You must be there for the Mercedes event tonight at UBS, right?

I quickly responded. Yes, actually! Sorry, I didn’t notice you.

“That’s for hookups,” Not for boyfriends.

“Ah, nothing more, huh?” She answered.

“No.”

Jeffrey: Oh! Did you want to push our dinner to another day? Or did you want to meet at the event? I’m a lawyer for UBS so I didn’t see much of the point of going, but I’d be happy to.

Fuck. 

Me: No, no! I’m completely fine with meeting at 9. I’m leaving the event early.

Jeffrey: Okay, great! Sorry if there was any confusion. See you at Angler.

I wasn’t overthinking! Isn’t this the best? Your anxiety being right always prevents it from going too far the next time. Obviously. Totally. For sure.

“I’ll leave you to your work now,” Marie smirked, standing up. “But I highly recommend leaving F1. What’s the plan? To be 60 and still galavanting around?”

“Presuming Toto Wolff still is, yes,” I grinned falsely. She rolled her eyes and walked behind her desk. I looked over my notes for the hotel. Everyone knew I was supposed to be checking in, and yet, nothing changed. These kinds of things seem to somehow never change. But, my checkmark reassured me. You did everything right. Now it’s their fault if anything goes wrong. That’s what it means, and it's a serious thing. 

Soon enough, Toto left the meeting.

“Have a good afternoon, everyone! See you tonight,” He smiled, shutting the door. He looked over and saw me with the bags, and gently pinched the bridge of his nose. “Again, Arabella?”

“Again.”

“Once every few years, huh,” He said, grabbing the bags and immediately walking towards the elevator. I jumped up and followed him. As the years had gone on, Toto had gradually become more keenly aware of two things: He is a celebrity, and I am Black. As a result of his growing celebritas, and my very unchanging Blackness, these types of occurrences had become more frequent. 

“So what was the reason now?” He asked. 

“I look like a groupie,” I shrugged.

“A groupie? In a suit?” 

“That’s what I said.”

Toto rolled his eyes and moved his glasses to his shirt collar.

“How was the meeting?” I offered.

“The usual. Numbers this, offers that. Etcetera, etcetera,” He waved his hand almost at the suggestion we could have a normal conversation at this moment. I took that as my sign to quiet down, and just follow him. So I did. The second we arrived to the hotel I watched as the original front desk employee scurried to the back, and the supervisor made a return. He smiled far too brightly for this moment.

“Arabella, introduce yourself,” Toto gestured to the supervisor as we walked up.

“No introduction necessary. The employee who just ran to the back introduced originally,” I smiled, even more brightly than the supervisor. I watched as his look turned a bit sour.

“Ah, well go grab her too. Was anyone else involved in this?” Toto asked me.

“A Scottish man but he didn’t really have much to say,” I shrugged.

“Oh, never mind who did and didn’t say anything. The point remains. Go grab the other two individuals she’s referring to,” He ordered the supervisor. We watched as he scurried about the backroom and nearly dragged the two out by their necks. As they approached the desk, he hid behind them like a scared puppy.

“I saw that your name tag said front desk manager, you can’t hide behind these two,” Toto complained. The man stepped from around the two employees. “Go ahead, tell me what happened.”

“What happened with what? I’m sorry, can we check you in Mr. Wolff? I’m not sure what’s going on,” The young lady suddenly piped up.

“You seem awfully scared to not know. Let me have an explanation, please,” Toto nodded.

“Well-” She began to speak again but was quickly interrupted by her boss.

“We asked her to show ID, and the produced ID appeared to be fake. So we did not allow her into the room,” The manager stated, suddenly piping up.

“So, did she provide any other identification?” Toto asked. 

“No,” The manager replied.

“Arabella, don’t you usually have a lanyard with your Brackley ID on it?” Toto asked, turning to me.

“Oh, yeah, they have it. I never grabbed it back. Nor my ID for that matter, which they didn’t mention being potentially fraudulent when I came up here,” I sighed. 

Toto put his hand out, and they handed over my identification. A Danish passport and the Brackley ID.

“And Bono’s card,” I gestured. The manager reached into the trash and took out Peter Bonnington’s business card, and handed it to me.

“So, did you call Bono?” Toto asked them.

“We did yes, but he didn’t pick up,” The manager replied.

“Oh okay, let me verify right quick,” Toto nodded, taking out his own phone and dialing Bono. “Bono, hello, you’re on speaker phone. Did you get a call from the hotel earlier?”

“No…was I supposed to?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Toto said immediately before hanging up. He just simply stared at them for a moment.

“Here’s your room key, Mr. Wolff,” The front desk woman said, handing the key to Toto.

“One for me, too,” I smiled. She produced another and handed it to me, with huge screaming eyes that said ‘save me.’ No, I don’t think I will.

“And at this moment, right now, place a note on the account saying Arabella Lazaar is my assistant and any needs she may have related to my reservation should be addressed,” Toto ordered them.

“Actually, could you tell me who made the block for the rooms?” I asked.

“That would be uh…” The manager said, scrambling around the computer. “Um…you Ms. Lazaar.”

“Is this incompetency or is this bigotry? I’m not sure which, but whichever, I recommend the three of you have new jobs lined up in the morning. And when they ask ‘Oh how did you get fired?’ Don’t put anyone from my team’s name in your mouth, including my own,” Toto grumbled. They nodded, and he turned on his heel and walked towards the elevator.

“Oh, Mr. Wolff!” The front desk lady nearly screamed at the top of her lungs. “We’ve upgraded your room to the presidential suite.”

He threw his hand up dismissively as we got into the elevator, as if to say both ‘thank you’ and ‘just stop.’ As we got in he turned to me and took a deep breath. 

“They were quite the group of idiots weren’t they? I’ll call the company behind this place and get it sorted out.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Nothing to appreciate really, these things shouldn’t go this way. You provided everything they needed, and yet they decided to still treat you wrong. That’s on them, and they should’ve known there would be consequences for their actions,” He explained. “We have our own security. It helps when the front desk at hotels also pays attention to possible situations, but at the end of the day, they’re not supposed to go beyond their liability. They took it much too far, and who’s to know if you were the first, or if they’d be worse next time?”

“I understand that, but,” I hesitated. “They still need their jobs, and I don’t want my boss turning around and using his fame to protect me.”

Toto looked up at me, and smiled. “Arabella, we have responsibilities to one another. You handle nearly every moment of my life. In turn, yes, I pay you, but I also make sure that while under my employment, you’re well treated. That would be the same if this were Formula 1 or if it were just another company.”

I thought for a moment, and while I knew he was right, I don’t know how comfortable I felt having anyone take responsibility for me. But…I suppose…everyone needs things addressed that they can’t handle themselves. There isn’t really anyone else for me to rely on. That’s kind of frightening. Suddenly, Marie’s words hit me like a ton of bricks. I almost thought I would get dizzy. I’m 35 now. I love my life, but am I wasting it? Should I be settling down? 

I looked over at Toto who seemed to be patiently awaiting my response. 

“Yes. You’re right,” I stated, a little too shakily. 

“Are you nervous?” He asked as we exited the elevator. 

“No, just stressed, really.”

“You have vacation days. You should take one,” Toto shrugged, pressing the key to the door and swinging it open. 

“I only use them during the holiday break. We’re far from that.”

“If you think of the week between testing and the first race as a holiday, then it’s right around the corner,” He winked, as he opened the door for me.

“Absolutely not,” I chuckled, setting his suitcase on the bed. I took a quick look around the room and then texted security to let them know Toto was inside the hotel room. 

“Looks good, Toto. I’ll head out,” I said with a quick head nod. 

“There’s a whole separate room attached here. If you want to change here, you’re welcome to,” He spoke without looking up from his phone. 

I could feel my cheeks get hot, so without thinking I just ran out of the room, trying to pretend I didn’t hear him. I immediately pressed my hand to my forehead. That was stupid. It was a relatively normal offer. There was nothing weird about that and yet I reacted like he asked me to jump off of the London eye. Shit. I made it weird didn’t I? Or did he make it weird? Was it weird at all? No, no it wasn’t. God, Arabella. Stop overthinking for once. I headed for the elevator and went down. As I was leaving, I couldn’t resist making a little bit of eye contact with reception. 

Ha.

Tags: @daddyslittlevillain

[mollieblue]

Hey #labour, you should hire me to talk at you about how to actually fix Britain:

Terfs are the enemy, Trans folx are the people.

Small businesses need support on the ground level in order to foster amazing communities.

Invest in education to the point teachers are as paid well as their private peers or dare I say as well as an MP. I would say that if an MP describes their role as being vital, integral and essential to running the country, who receives a handsome tax paid salary with expenses paid with the public purse, why is it that other public sector roles are paid relatively below minimum wage? This applies to all public sector workers; civil servants, NHS staff, and teachers of all stripes. They are just as vital, integral, and essential to running the country, if not more so, than the openly profiteering geezers in Westminster.

Why is it that the rule makers are more important than those ensuring that the rules work? Those holding up society and holding it together are so sorely underpaid in this country that they are giving their lives to you at pittance so you can be okay. The NHS is a wonderful thing, and it breaks my heart that we don't fully fund it. The same goes for education, social services, community organisations, and libraries. These currently literally keep people existing at the bare minimum, but when fully funded and staffed, they transform lives for the better.

Equal pay for Equal work 》 Equal pay for Equal Importance. Ignore the 'we can't pay them the hundreds of thousands that MPs get' elephant in the room. I want you instead to imagine a world in which all public sector workers are paid the exact same amount regardless of hierarchy or public aspect they interact with. I'm no expert, but I reckon £86,584, the basic annual salary for a UK MP in 2023, would be an absolute god send to a junior doctor on roughly £38k. My partner practically works at minimum wage for 50 hours when you account for the marking, the planning, the organisation of your entire schedule to an impromptu meeting with angry parents and worrying about ofsted. It has worn them down, mostly because we can't have a social life, spending money on the theatre, in shops, on things that make us happy and human. We can't save, and we can't afford nice things. That fucking sucks. It wears a person out and throws them out of the system that's holding up the world.

Everyone I know is feeling like the above, regardless if they're private or public, freelance or salaried. One solution to help is basic universal income. Give everyone over 16 £500 & everyone over 18 £1000 each month for a year and see how awesome it would be in a year's time. I already know how much good that would do to me and everyone I know.

So pay everyone £12,000 a year and then pay all public sector workers the base salary of £86,000 rising in step with inflation. If the private sector can, in theory, pay whatever wages it wants, having a guarantee that your basics are paid will eliminate sooooo much stress. Rich folx can donate theirs, college kids can do interesting work at college because £500 buys a lot of art supplies and travel to museums, exhibitions, and events. Youth would have means to explore the nation before university or set up in an apprenticeship. Our elderly can use it to afford end of life care provisions or enrich their retirement or hell, just keep the lights on. Working folx would undoubtedly benefit the most and would probably like their jobs much more if they know things are covered.

To foot the bill, impose a commons tax on all privately owned land that fairly compensates the commons, ie, the UK public, back.

Make the North part of your game plan, rather than a foot note.

On a serious note; nationalise the railway system and expand the network. It is hell going east to west here, up to 3 hours to go 50 miles west and just 3 to get to London from Selby in North Yorkshire. How is this acceptable?

Invest in working class politicians to bring the reality of Britain back into government. Without our views or experiences on the table, why are we surprised when the Tories fuck us over again? If you want true, enthusiastic support from the British people, do not talk at us as if we're irresponsible children and actually engage with the very liberal and progressive discussions we have daily. Especially people under 40 - the older generation that pulled us out of the EU will be gone soon - you need to court and actually help out.

[deepcutbrotank]

I needa rant a few things out yall. This is surly mostly for me just to process in words so: TLDR Fuck Corporate America. I’m awesome, they suck.

If you’ve been following my work saga it’s been a tough year or so and last winter during the worst of it I applied and was accepted into grad school. So I’ll be starting in the fall and I’ll give my notice in the next couple months that I’m leaving.

I was overworked and underpaid and being supervised by a rancid witch and so I made moves to leave. I was managing two cafes for 6% more than I was making before while just managing one. I worked 6 or 7 days a week often 50+ hours, while salaried. When I was offered the “temporary assignment” (specifically not promotion) I was basically told I could manage both cafes in this city or my cafe would be closed and employees laid off. In negotiating my salary I was asked if I would still take the salary I’d initially refused if it would save my employees their jobs. My boss was constantly up my ass (not in a sexy way) about any minor thing, like it had to be by the book or she’d freak. I asked for time off once and she basically threatened me with not approving future requests if the cafes couldn’t run well for my time away. Very relaxing.. We had my annual review and she told me I was underperforming across the board, but also that she could tell I was doing my best and that the situation I was placed in wasn’t fair to me. Meanwhile the cafes ran, we were always open and getting positive customer feedback and like.. just doing it. It wasn’t perfect but we (I!) was managing.

Now my new boss is delightful and my workload matches my compensation but I’m still conflictingly flattered and frustrated when I hear things like “I really appreciate you and your leadership style and commitment as of late” from my new boss. Like thank you but, my dude, you’ve known me for 4 months. I’ve been fucking killing this here for years. This is my third boss in the 3.5 years I’ve managed; They keep bringing in outside hires who know less than me and whom I then have to prove myself to anew. I just did the bar certification we have all our baristas do before they’re cleared to serve espresso drinks and I got a 112% (extra points awarded for speed). My cafe is the highest grossing in the market (we’re paired with DC) and we just broke our own all time sales records the last 3 weeks. All my staff adore me, I have some employees that I hired 3 years ago still working for me.

Idk how to wrap this up but like damn they’re gunna miss me when I’m gone.

[puncromancer]

personal shit

 but i got laid off last year right before the holidays which is the shittiest time in the world to lay someone off because absolutely nobody hires you at the end of the year because that’d be wild to hire before the new budget and also everyone’s just out for the holidays. My boss was very respectful about it and gave me privacy and like blocked the window to my office with his body so nobody could look and see me crying which was very nice. But the CEO had a stick up his butt about there had always only ever been two IT people before and he felt that having three was a waste of money. Ben the other sysadmin had been with the company (not in IT though another department) for 5 years which left only me on the chopping block. Even though I consistently closed the most tickets and put the most work in. And he said it was nothing about my work and that he’d recommend me to any contact that asked for a sysadmin and he’d be happy to answer any reference calls for me. And honestly a week after new years, i got a very sexy new job making 20k more than i was and doing like 10% of the work? so it worked out very much in my favor but it was a very deeply shameful fact for me that I was unemployed for two months. it felt like i failed my wife and it was awful for my mental health i couldn’t sleep i was straight up hallucinating and had trouble telling what was cooked up by my depression soup brain and what was real. Looking back on it I think I might have schizophrenia or something that emerges due to stress because things were not good during those two months. 

And also the unemployment website said to keep track of all work search activities because they might randomly request a history of your work search activities but to not upload it unless specifically requested. So it was the week of new years and new job postings were still pretty slow so I spent deadass a whole day of 12+ hours making an excel spreadsheet and going back through dice and linkedin and all the other random job applications and documenting every single job I applied for and every interview I went on. There were fucking 500 entries. Not even 2.5 months unemployed and I had 500 work search activities. The minimum to claim unemployment is 3 a week. And I was doing 50 a week (just a cool 17 times more than required) like I was putting the work in on searching for work. It was a major point of pride that I was going so far above and beyond but it also fucked me up that I was putting myself out there so much and not getting any traction. And I remember thinking wow it’d be funny if now that I put all this time into documenting all my work search activities if i would get a job offer because then obviously i wouldn’t claim the unemployment any longer and thus wouldn’t need the list that the work search commission nebulously may or may not ever call for. 

And literally the next day I had an interview go extremely well (all my stories and answers were well honed by the hundred other interviews at this point) and they were in a rush to hire someone by next monday so literally a few hours after the interview they sent me a job offer on like a wednesday and asked if there was anyway to go ahead and do the paperwork and drug test by the end of that week. And I was like well hey i won’t have to interview any more so getting to cancel those freed up my days. So the next day I did all the paperwork online and went in peed in a cup that morning and then had a follow up interview with them that afternoon and they were so impressed that I helped them get this done in their accelerated timeframe that they game me like a $5k raise. I had already signed and submitted the job offer but they voided and sent over one with the increased salary. It’s with an MSP so it’s a company that just does IT for other companies. But it has like the most room for growth possible for someone like me. They have a team of 500k app developers so if i want to start doing that they’ll show me how. But the gig I have right now is a 5 year contract to be the helpdesk guy on site at this union. But we’re outsourcing all the mundane remote helpdesk stuff so I literally just have to do the onsite support but it’s an office of like 20 people. It’s the cushiest gig I’ve ever had. 

First IT job was doing everything for 150 users, then I asked for a raise after 5 years of the same salary and was denied so I moved to that last company and was there for 1 year. It was 250 users that I had to do everything for (that also had a history of ransomware attacks and I overhauled their whole security and then they fucking laid me off that same year wild) but for 10k more. And now it’s 20 people for 20k more. So anyway I’ve been here for a month now. The first couple weeks were really hectic settling in so that’s why I’ve been offline mostly. But incredibly grateful for this opportunity. The whole point of this was to actually say that since I’m working for a union right now the mindsets of my coworkers is such a heelturn than what I’m used to. All my users before have been very entitled old white dudes. So I’m used to having to have them spew random vitriol out of nowhere and having to pretend that their incredibly hurtful words is totally fine. But working for a union is great everyone here is very pro worker. You can leave early if you need to. We were watching a senate hearing and everyone’s rooting for the worker’s rights side and it’s just such a liberating feeling to work somewhere that shares your point of view.

[steamishot]

end of april

i’m currently at 95% program completion of my BS accounting degree. i need to complete my auditing course by end of this month, then intermediate accounting III by end of may and i am doneeee! i get so stressed and overwhelmed whenever i think about all that needs to be done (while also juggling work), but i remind myself to take it one step at a time and it’s not as bad if slowly chug along. 

my director finally followed up on the new position/promotion he brought up to me in february. it’ll be a 50% compliance manager/50% payroll auditing manager role and he’ll send me the JD in a couple weeks. my manager let me know that this role would be an in-person thing (something my director did not mention). the way my director worded it almost sounds like the ball is in my court, i.e. if i want the job, i can have it. i wonder if this is a way to get me back into the office, as i believe i am the only one in the whole department who is fully remote (let alone working out of state). i can’t wait to see the JD, and hope it is something i am interested in doing. UCLA also announced that staff will receive a 4.6% raise this summer. ideally, it would be cool if i could get promoted and then a raise on top of that. if i’m able to grow and increase my income at UCLA, then i don’t see a need to jump ship and utilize my accounting degree. however, i do want to see if the degree completion affects my salary at all.

matt and i did a lot of normal people activities this last week he was off and it was great. i think this was the only one week ever that we didn’t have any morning plans for the whole 7 days, no trips planned (!!!) or no upcoming trip planning, and overall a very chill time. we did hot yoga twice, cooked hot pot/shabu shabu many times, binged how to get rich and beef, got takeout sushi, thai food, and fried chicken, visited the botanical garden and laid on a picnic blanket, and went for boba runs. we also got a PS5 and will be playing it takes two.

my bro SIL and baby are wrapping up month 2 of 3 in cambodia. my dad is also there and will be returning to LA may 9. my brother was laid off in january and my parents are concerned by the lack of urgency they are exhibiting about finding employment. apparently my bro is only applying to about 3 jobs a week (to meet the minimum requirement for government assistance). 

i have asked my mom to jump on the wealthfront HYSA bandwagon for any money just sitting there. these days (she’s only early-mid 60s and healthy for her age, and her mom/my grandma is still alive and well), she keeps talking about “anything might happen” and wants to ensure that i’m her beneficiary on her financial accounts and that i’m granted access. it makes me a little sad. 

therapy: we haven’t had couples counseling in about a month (half due to our own schedules and half due to our therapist calling out sick). however, matt has now met with gabbie twice now, and finished up the 5 sessions of EAP with josephine. there’s a lot to uncover in regards to his childhood and all the pressure that he faced growing up with overachieving chinese parents. my reddit friend K has face similar hardships (as have millions of asian kids - funny how many of the asian american media today have very similar themes), and she has shared much of her therapy journey with me. 

[chiara-klara-claire]

So Quick rundown about my life, I applied for an internship in Denmark at a big company, I got a call today offering me the job, got the email with details & the salary is quite low like 800€ of which half would go for the rent, and the whole thing is exciting but scary af cause I am scared to starve ✨ ✨✨🇩🇰✨The last 3 days had me busy and burning my own brain cells with an endless assignment from a German company, which I wouldn’t have if I had got the call a week earlier, (🇩🇪 kind of feels more like home I have to say.. closer, €..) then I wasted the entire day being mentally busy about the fact that the salary is low, INSTEAD OF writing my fucking cursed godforsaken thesis which I have to hand in literally when I’d leave for dk…and thank god were currently not that busy at work 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲 I finish working on the 26th July, I’ll leave for 🇳🇱 to my bf on 28thfor 2-3 weeks and come back home just 2 weeks before I’d have to leave again for dk, and then I’d go back home for my degree in the end of sept, so I thought maybe I’d have at least a month of peace but Not really? for a person like me it’s quite destabilizing I must say, and I am also anxious about his family’s judgement about me going abroad to a country which is not NL…….Another odd thing is that they have offices both in aarhus and brande (village where the brand is as founded) and I’d have to get lifts at least 3 times a week wtf what if one doesn’t find one ?? 🥹🥹🥹 🚗 👋 🥹🥹🥹Wanted to wait for the German company’s reply but I have to answer within Monday, 2 DAYS, so great 🤪 but ironical how when I was supposed to apply to Erasmus which I eventually didn’t I wanted to go to Dk for some reason?? and now I feel like I like NL more than dk (besides the population density) .. this would be like the Erasmus I didn’t do somehow, even better paid, but I still have to work 37h/week for this 💸💸💸🤯🤯🤯🤯I am SUPER confused, if the salary were higher I’d be totally up for it, but I’m just like, is it worth it? I hate how everything is also SUPER SHORT TERM, like I read companies start recruiting even one year prior than the job start😨 not like I will make a lot of money with such an internship so being calm for 3 months wouldn’t be bad but oh well … that’s what I got honestly I wish I could have some income with language lessons & art commission but I’m lucky if I make 50€ a year with that… like last summer I was super busy with German lessons for high school kids and made 600€ in an entire summer, and I don’t think I’ll get more 🥹🥹 and u know what’s also ironical? That at first when dreaming about this a month ago I was thinking, yeah I could even meet this and this and suddenly I feel like I don’t care anymore about seeing anyone and that’s… why am I NEVER happy with what I get? Germany was too mainstream, I was already used to NL, dk is not that appealing anymore, and most of all I always complain about I hate my home country but today my aunt came and I thought I wouldn’t want to leave home in a way, even if I always curse on it…. I am really not made for life sweet heaven

[softprincesso]

✨HOW TO BECOME A WEALTHY MIDDLE-AGED MAN✨

PT.2: Overview to understanding different saving/retirement methods, investments, and forms of income

2.1 Savings and Retirement

Welcome lovelies to (what I hope will be) a helpful series on gaining wealth and becoming financially literate and independent!

*disclaimer: while this advice can generally apply to many it will not apply to all. Everyone is in a different situation and should do their own research before they take what ANYONE says as fact or law. This is also coming from the perspective of a young, biracial, first generation female business student following a hypergamous lifestyle and who does sw so some advice may be specific to my like-minded ladies, but for the most part I just love money and want to help others find joy in their wallets as well. I am also operating in the US so things regarding accounts, stocks, and certain laws will vary by your country. Also, this is just a fun thing I wanted to do because talking about leveling up and learning and growing and money are my favorite past times. None of these pictures are mine, however I am using some links which may compensate me in some way, but I only used links which were mutually beneficial and would help you gain something as well, they are still just actual sources I use for myself.

✨THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND✨

Financial independence is different than financial confidence.

Financial Independence: “The most common sense of the term is that someone has enough wealth to live as they wish for the rest of their life without having to work.” -Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0611/declare-your-own-financial-independence-day.aspx

Financial Confidence: “We define financial confidence as having three aspects,” says Miler. “The first is awareness of how money can be a tool for helping you reach your goals and dreams. The second is financial literacy and understanding economic factors. The third is trust and knowing where to turn for financial advice.” -Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2018/06/16/women-money-8-steps-for-growing-your-financial-confidence/?sh=2175b65e2468

While the ultimate goal is financial independence, financial confidence should be the main focus. I’ll give an example why. Imagine there are two people: Rhonda and Jill. Both of them like nice things, love to shop, and participate in the occasional splurge. Rhonda works a regular 9-5 and has a decent salary. She doesn’t have much financial knowledge (translation: financial confidence), but she has a savings account at her local bank and puts a couple hundred into retirement each year and she thinks that's enough. Suddenly, Rhonda wins the lottery. Overnight she has become a millionaire, so she quits her job, moves to LA, and goes on to live life to the fullest. She would now be considered financially independent. However, Rhonda has no idea how to manage all that money. She puts a small amount into that bank savings account and takes the rest to do what she will. One day she tries her luck at a casino, in less than five hours she has lost all of her money and has to start back at square one with no job, only a few thousand to get her through, and no-good way to explain to employers that she just wasted the last 5 years spending money on handbags she now has to sell at a depreciated value. (BTW you would not last not working with only a million dollars in LA for that long)

Now, let’s look at Jill. Jill is an independent contractor and has a relatively steady income. She knows very little about finances, but she actively learns how to manage what she has and keeps up to date on the latest money news. The day that Rhonda won the lottery was just another Thursday for Jill, the only unique point for her was that she opened a savings accounts with a high APY (we’ll say 1%) and put in $5000.00. A little later she also opened a Roth IRA and puts in the maximum yearly allowance of $6000.00. Along the way she opened a brokerage account of her own and started trading in the stock market along with investing in real estate which has given her some extra income to play with each year. Unfortunately, another housing crash occurs, and all of the money Jill invested into real estate is gone. However, since Jill learned the skills behind her choices early on, she is knowledgeable and understands the ups and downs of the market and how to invest her money in other places in the meantime. And, that High yield savings account accrued around $50 more without her doing anything and she has that to fall back on, or worst case she can take out part of her principal Roth IRA contribution. 10 years from now Jill should start to see a steady increase in her Roth IRA that by retirement will be a little over 1 million and she should be comfortable and invested enough into stocks that she gains around $200-1000 extra each month.

I think you understand why you want to be Jill.

✨HAVING ADEQUATE SAVINGS = BEING YOUR OWN LIFEGUARD✨

As discussed in Pt.1 the first goal you should achieve is securing an emergency fund that could sustain you for a couple of months if things were to ever hit the fan, and starting a retirement fund should be in your top 5 goals to complete. The saying, “the rich get richer” is popular for a reason. Wealthy people know how to make their money work for them instead of them having to work for money. An easy way anyone can do the same is by opening the right accounts for your savings and retirement.

Savings: 

All of your savings should be in a high yield saving account or split between different high yield accounts. This is an account which will reward you some interest every period for having money in your account with them. This is incredibly easy to do. You can either research/ask your bank about their high yield accounts or do some googling to find some other bank. Then transfer your money and there you go! When looking at banks understand that the highest Annual Percent Yields (APY), or the interest they will reward you, are going to be from online banks because they have less operational costs than a brick and mortar, but they will also come with their own disadvantages, like less ATMs to access or the inability to use when outside of your country so make sure to look into that. IMPORTANT: Make sure that whatever bank you choose is FDIC-insured so if the bank were to ever collapse or lose your money you have insurance up to $250,000.This won't generate a lot of extra cash, but an extra $20 every year is better than $0.

Retirement:

These accounts usually go by your current situation and what you see for your future.

401K: Probably the most known (I believe it’s only in the States but there might be something close to it in other countries) and that’s just because this is what employers usually offer if they offer anything. It is a retirement fund that your employer will set up and you can predefine how much of your paycheck you want to automatically go into it every time. Sometimes, the employers will also have a match program, and if they do you better max out the money they will contribute because that is FREE money! Most advice that I have seen has said to really only focus on this fund if your employer has that match program, otherwise I would focus on one of the accounts below. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/08/401k-info.asp

IRA: An IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. There are three kinds…

                         Traditional: This IRA lets you put in pre-tax money and lets it grow tax-free until you make a withdrawal. Once you make the withdrawal that money is taxed at the current rate of your income at the time. Your contributions are tax deductible so you can write them off of your taxable income of that year. There are limits to how much you can contribute depending on your income, status, and whether you have another retirement fund as well.

                          Roth: With this IRA your contributions are taxed, but when you withdrawal money later on it is tax free. For those of you in a lower tax bracket than you believe you will be in the future, this IRA makes the most sense as you will pay less taxes now than you will when you are 59 ½ (The official age of retirement in the States). There are limits to how much you can contribute depending on your income, status, and whether you have another retirement fund as well.

                           SEP: Simplified Employee Pension. This is also an employer-based plan and may also work better for my self-employed gals out there. I don’t really know a lot on this one so I’ll just leave a link you can look into if it interests you: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/102714/how-does-simplified-employee-pension-sep-ira-work.asp

You can have both a traditional and Roth IRA as long as you are eligible for both. Anyone with earned income (with a job or can prove a steady income) can contribute to a Traditional IRA, however with a Roth IRA, as a single you can earn up to $139,000 and contribute. Personally, if you are just getting started with all of this just set up one IRA and as you learn more you can take steps to get another or switch accounts.

https://www.investopedia.com/retirement/roth-vs-traditional-ira-which-is-right-for-you/

There are a plethora of other accounts, but they are more specialized and the top four should get you started on the right path to saving for retirement. I’m guessing that the majority of the audience reading these are women between the ages of 20-30. Trust me when I say that I love to spend money as much as the next girl, but I also would like to be completely comfortable should anything happen in my older years that screws up my marriage or job, and no one is going to secure that for you.

Also, I’m sorry this is so US-based, but once again it is all I know. I believe IRAs are more widespread than a 401K, but all that takes to find out is a Google search on your part.

Either way, make sure you have a plan going into 2021 for your savings and retirement because this economic whirlwind is far from over and there is always a chance for another recession, depression, or disaster. (Wow O, way to keep the mood light)

This was getting way too long with the investments added so look out for Pt.2.2 on the overview for investments (where the actual fun begins and I can stop being such a stick in the mud)…

VOCAB TO KNOW/RESEARCH:

Financial independence

Financial Confidence

APY

Roth IRA

brokerage account

High yield savings account

principal

401K

Traditional IRA

Once again… if in these posts I ever give bad advice, F- something up, or am just generally ignorant PLEASE call me out! Remember that just like you I am a young woman figuring everything out and while I am confident when talking about money, I am by no means a genius (only in spurts) so any chance to learn I appreciate. I hope you all learned something new today and as always…

With Love,

O

[bitchesgetriches]

I've had a dream job for about four years now in a charity. I love what I do, love my boss, colleagues, I develop my skills daily, I get more responsibility, have promotion opportunities, it's 100% from home, and the salary is something I can live on but I’ve recently realised that unless I’m in a senior role I won’t get paid what I want and I’m money motived. Took me a while to admit it but here we are. I’ve asked my boss if we could have a salary talk and she replied in a way that sounded like a raise won’t be happening for a while. I did get a raise a year ago which I appreciated but then I’ve found out I’m among the lowest earners because silly me has never negotiated the offered sum, while I’m doing super star work and I’m very smart:)

So, I've recently spotted a job I am very curious about. It's a for-profit company, but they essentially strive for the same goal which is my personal value as well. But in this new job I'd be developing new skills, meeting more people (it's 50% in the office) and establishing new connections. And it's more money, but might end up the same or less as I might have to move, but because it's for profit, there might be more growth potential in the future. I've been feeling a bit stuck at home, especially with covid, not being able to meet people, and thought it would be a good shake-up opportunity. Plus I may be able to negotiate a relocation package or something if I’m the best candidate. So I applied.

I now feel so guilty and regretting applying already. I feel like I'm cheating on my current organisation, as they've treated me to well, and it's such a good stable job with nothing really wrong with it (apart from the obvious $$). But my ambition to see what else I'm capable of, to develop new skills and increase my earning potential is driving me crazy - I feel that they’re not going to pay me what I want unless I threaten to leave. Also I’ve familiarised myself with your blog and the concept of job hopping to get to a good raise is a sweet one. It seems that I might get “a raise” but it will be a tiny one as it’s new hires that get all the money. I feel that my organisation is using my high value skills and use my age as a reason to pay me a junior level salary.

But at the same time, shouldn’t I give my boss a chance to at least hear my ask? The applications close today, I am quite a strong candidate, but the salary conversation might not happen for a month. Should I stick it out and see how I get get to their top pay level?

My main question is... should we leave comfort of a “perfect role” to pursue our dreams of a bigger and better future? I may need to work in a an office which don’t particularly want, and it may be way out of my comfort zone, but it will offer some connections to some super influential people who might potentially hire me in the future for even more money:)

Thanks so much in advance!

Pookie muffin, we're so glad you got in touch. You're clearly agonizing over this decision, and you're overwhelmed by emotions and options. We're here to help!

First things first: never hesitate to apply for a job. Especially if you already have one. Here's why:

1. Applying for jobs is a SKILL. You need to keep in practice.

2. There's no use worrying about what MIGHT happen. Until you have an actual bite in your job search, leaving your current employer is just a hypothetical. There's no reason to freak out if concrete steps haven't been taken. So until you actually KNOW that leaving your job is a real possibility, don't waste your energy worrying about it.

3. You can always leverage a job offer for a raise or promotion. That said, even if you DO use an offer as leverage... you STILL don't have to take the offer or leave your employer even if they don't give you the raise!

4. It gives you OPTIONS.

All of which is to say: applying for this new job is the right thing to do.

Next--and this is incredibly important--your employer is not your family. You don't owe them anything but that which you're contractually obligated to give. And I guarantee your contract or the terms of your employment do NOT dictate that you feel guilty about leaving or beholden to them in any way.

Job hopping is a perfectly normal part of any career! You're not committing treason by leaving a company. They'll be fine! And look at it this way: by vacating your position, you're giving another young nonprofit worker a chance to advance.

Lastly, you say you'd feel guilty about leaving because they've treated you "so well." But, uh... no they haven't. Read your own words. They take you for granted. They don't give you the time and respect you deserve. Your boss is making you wait a month to discuss your future! This is all the proof I need that you can be completely absolved of guilt.

I hope that all makes you feel better. Here's your homework: read the following articles with a nice snack and a beverage and STOP FEELING GUILTY:

Job Hopping vs. Career Loyalty by the Numbers

The Fascinating Results of Our Job Hopping vs. Career Loyalty Poll

I Hate My Job and I Don't Know How To Leave It: A Confession

[luna-the-moth]

Crimson Rivulets (SFW) Pt.1

Alright, since Lucifer won first place in the poll, I’ll start off with the Avatar of Pride himself! This was supposed to be a hc/scenario, but I suppose this jumped out at me! GN! reader, and SFW. This’ll be a series, so I’ll link each part as they come out! 

Word count: 2.1k words

This is a Vampire!Lucifer AU and (SFW) Modern! CEO Lucifer AU

REQUESTS ARE CLOSED

Reblogs, likes, and comments are greatly appreciated!

Vampire!Lucifer AU (SFW)

A pureblood vampire, scorned by his father, and cast out with his siblings. From a young age, Lucifer had learned to take care of himself, along with his brothers. As the eldest, he felt a strong urgency and need to shield and protect his siblings, at any cost. Even at the expense of his pride.

Before stepping out of his father’s light, Lucifer had been one of the most prestigious vampires; the most sought-after. Fellow purebloods, half-bloods, and turned vampires alike had flung themselves at him, left and right.

In truth, Lucifer had no interest in any of them. Why would he distract himself, when he was supposed to inherit the family business and fortune? As the eldest son of the household, he was expected to be the pinnacle of class, intelligence; the embodiment for everything a pureblood represents.

He was known by many titles and honorifics, having obtained various positions of high status throughout his eternal lifetime. Governor, count, high priest, etc. But the name you know him as now, is Lucifer, CEO of Morningstar Corp.

The same Morningstar Corp., where you were going to apply for. Specifically, the open occupation of a personal assistant. You had been searching for a job close to the city, with decent benefits and stability. Which is quite odd, as Lucifer was known for his short temper, and had a reputation of going through assistants at least once a month.

Along with the fact that he was one of the most influential businessmen, it added an extra reason to be cautious. After all, he could make or break you, and if he didn’t like you? Say goodbye to all future job potential. His influence spread across the country, connections with almost every important figure of power.

The position offered a higher-than-average salary, and benefits of high worth. It was a gamble, but if fate smiled down on you, it may as well be one of the best opportunities of your life. Well, it was, but not in the way you expected.

Adjusting your tie slightly, you entered the doors of the building, a pleasant demeanor sweeping over your features. You had to be poised and professional, after all, this was a multi-billion company, if you weren’t your best, failure was guaranteed.

You had worn a simple outfit, contrasting to the corporation’s high-class, expensive atmosphere. But you were just applying to be an personal assistant after all, behind the scenes; so you wore a professional outfit, that wouldn’t stand out.

Arriving just on time for your interview, you took the elevator to the 27th floor, as the receptionist had instructed. With smooth, light jazz playing in the small space, your mind wandered to the possibility of what would happen if the job was granted to you.

Would Lucifer be a haughty, conceited, arrogant boss to work for?

Snorting, you thought, “Of course he is, he’s Lucifer Morningstar, CEO of one of the most prestigious companies in the country, why wouldn’t he be?”

Ping!

Interrupted by the signal of arrival from the elevator, you took in a deep breath, and stepped out of the elevator, hope in your heart.

The interview had gone fairly smoothly, as you answered the questions in a concise, polite manner. It was surprisingly less nerve wracking, besides the fact that your interviewer looked like he wanted to bite you-

At least, he had seemed like it. With mesmerizing, and hungry forest green eyes, you felt yourself gravitating towards him. Although, you quickly reminded yourself that this was a professional setting, and you were applying for an interview.

Seemingly pleased with your responses, the interviewer bade you goodbye as you left the office, a mysterious smirk gracing his features. Leaving the room, the image of him stayed in your mind for days, the intensity and calculation in his gaze haunting you, luring you in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a few days, you had idly scrolled through other job listings, as you didn’t want to rely on the Morningstar Corp. application. After all, you were just one of many applicants, it’d be foolish to place all your hope into that one position.

After another day or two, you got a callback. They had accepted your application, and Mr. Satan, your interviewer, had wanted you to come back and sign the official papers, along with a tour of the building.

With hope in your heart, and a lightness in your step, you entered the skyscraper of a building once again, an air of confidence about you. Well, a sense of security and assurance would be a more accurate description.

Walking down the clean, polished hallway of the 34th floor, your thoughts wandered. However, they were abruptly stopped when you heard a stern voice ring out, prideful and condescending.

“Yes, and? It’s almost pitiful, how lousy you are with your job. I hired you as an interviewer, yet all of your choices have been fired or left on their own accord.

Honestly, since you are one of the most educated and competent halfbloods, I thought you would at least have some potential. If you can’t even find a decent personal assistant for me, I see no potential for you here at Morningstar Corp.”

In an open conference room, you saw a young man, with blond hair, and seemed to be his mid twenties. With a scowl on his face, narrowed eyes were directed towards the man in front of you.

Ah, it was your interviewer, you had realized. Who else had such enchanting, deep green eyes? Focus, you chastised yourself.

“Oh please, you drive off even the most patient of assistants! Speaking of personal assistants, you can’t just call them ‘degenerate, insolent worms not worth the dirt on your shoes, much less your investment,’ because they brewed your coffee a little too long, sir.

If you weren’t such an entitled, demanding pureblood, I’d-”

Wait- pureblood?

As he was about to fire off an insult, his gaze darted towards you, eyes seemingly gazing into your soul. Your breath hitched, words barely being able to force themselves out of your throat.

“Ah, my apologies, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I’ll be back later-”

Hastily turning on your heel, you attempted to leave, but were stopped by a commanding voice behind you. Immediately, you had recognized him. The same voice you had heard over and over, in press conferences, and various ceremonies.

“Just where do you think you’re going?”

You turned around, suddenly anxious and on edge. Something about that voice made you shiver in fear, and...delight?

Lucifer was dressed in a dark navy blue suit, with corresponding dress pants, along with a crisp, white dress shirt, hidden under a dark blue not unlike that of the suit. To add on, a black tie was adorned around his neck, with black dress shoes.

Wow Y/n, the first thing you think about when confronted by one of the most powerful businessmen in the country, is about how hot you think his voice is, and that collar- Get yourself together!

Blinking once, your gaze meets that of a blood-red one, almost hypnotic. A deep, bloody red that was similar to that of roses, or perhaps rivulets of blood. Almost like the blood red eyes of a vampire, found in fantasy novels and mythological stories.

Although, maybe he was one, since Satan had mentioned him being a ‘pureblood,’ if I recall correctly. That could mean anything, though.

Nonetheless, you quickly snapped your focus back to the present, as you had realized you had been staring into his eyes for maybe a bit too long. With burning red staining the tips of your ears, you replied with a slight waver in your voice,

“I was just about to leave and reschedule my appointment with Mr. Satan, as it seemed the two of you were busy, Mr. Morningstar.”

Staring at each other’s eyes for what seemed like forever, Lucifer smirked, breaking the hold on your gaze to glance back at Satan. With a dignified air around him, his moniker of “The Peacock” seemed quite fitting.

“Is this the new assistant you were speaking of, Satan?”

Scowling, he nodded curtly.

“Yes, this is Y/n L/n, your newest personal assistant. Out of all of your previous assistants, they’re the most qualified, and seem to align with your standards the most. I have faith in them.”

Taken aback by the blatant praise, you dipped your head in a gesture of thanks and gratitude.

Lucifer observed with a slightly curious gaze, masked behind a cover of apathetic, uninterested layers of emotions. It was rare for Satan to praise anyone, much less a new assistant.

He couldn’t deny that his curiosity was piqued; after all, he held Satan’s opinion in high regard, arguments aside. If he believed in your capabilities, you had to have at least some merit.

As much as Lucifer would like to deny it, he was a demanding boss, especially since his levels of stress were through the roof. Hell, if he was human, he’d be dead from overworking and lack of rest. Fortunately for the undead immortal, he wasn’t.

“I see, well Y/n, why don’t you finish up the required paperwork with Satan, and he’ll give you a tour afterwards. Your first day of work starts this coming Monday, be here at 7AM, sharp.”

Turning away, you stole a glimpse his face once more before Lucifer left, leaving you and Satan.

Letting out a breath you hadn’t known you were holding in, you turned to Satan, mind clouded with thoughts flurried, flying through your head.

With  charming smile and a certain glint in his eye, Satan gestured to the conference room, with papers and files ready on the table.

“Shall we?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, 6:50 AM

Arriving at the building, you were huffing, as you had rushed over. Your morning had been fairly quiet, but the real issue was with traffic.

There was a car crash on your route to work, and it nearly made you late, added with the fact that parking spots were far and few to find, it was a miracle you had made it on time.

However, the sight that greeted you when you stepped into the polished office was...something, to say the least.

The first thing you noticed was a wave of iron and rust permeating your senses, filling your nostrils and causing light-headedness.

On Lucifer’s desk, sat vials of blood, and the man in question, had his fangs inserted through a vial. seeming to drink the blood through his fangs.

With closed eyes and a contented look on his face, Lucifer seemed to drink the blood like a mere cup of tea, nonchalant.

Letting out a noise of surprise, you clapped a hand over your mouth in shock; your boss was a vampire, just like from the manga you had read....

Lashes fluttering open, Lucifer looks at you with . Removing his fangs from the vial,  he swiped his tongue along his fangs, not letting a drop of blood go to waste.

Setting it down, he placed his head on his propped hand in a bored manner, a contempt expression worn smugly across his face.

“Right on time, L/n. Since today’s your first day on the job, I’ll give you a simple task. Prepare a coffee with 18 shots of espresso, a dash of milk, and a caffeine booster.

Afterwards, you will stop by the clinic on the 13th floor, and collect a vial of Aspherion from the medicinal vault. The identification program should have your information set, and should be able to identify you by the card Satan gave you previously.”

Standing in shock, your eyes were wide with surprise, firstly, because your new boss was a vampire; also, that is an inhuman amount of caffeine, how the fuck has he not died yet- plus, having a vampiric boss wasn’t included in the contract.

No wonder the benefits were so great, he was gonna drink your blood like a fucking juice box.

“What in the world? First of all, my name’s Y/n, and I would appreciate if you would call me as such. Secondly, a vampire? Do you really think I’m just going to accept that, no question?”

Incredulous, you had gestured your hands in a dramatic fashion, genuinely offended that your new boss had thought you were going to take in this new information within seconds, and be completely fine with it.

Sighing with a look of irritation flashing across his features, he gestured for you to sit in an empty seat, proceeding to prop his chin on his hands. In his eyes, shone curiosity, and a challenge.

“Fine. What would you like to know?”

[ginjointsintheworld]

my old supervisor who switched to a different group within the company basically wink wink nudge nudge pitched me a job opening up on his team to apply for and specifically mentioned the salary range which would be 50-60٪ more than what I'm making now so now i need to discuss a potential salary increase with my current boss this Wednesday on our 1:1 and let me tell you I have never been more stressed in my life.

i wasn't even planning on bringing this up until closer to review season but i cant very well sit here for another 4 months when that other job listing is up 😭😭😭😭

[bard-llama]

Welp. Officially got laid off today, along with 56 other people. Knew it was coming, but it still fucking sucks. I’ve been there seven fucking years, and I won’t make it to eight. And none of this had to happen. If the funding emergency is even real - and we still haven’t been presented with proof that it is AND the goal post kept moving - the bargaining unit came up with HUNDREDS of ideas on how to cut costs and raise money to make up the deficit. Management rejected Every. Single. One. They were never interested in saving jobs, they’re interested in building a “new LEE” and getting rid of people that stand in the way of their vision. Because apparently cutting the executive salaries would be “against organizational values” but laying off 57 fucking people isn’t.

I’m sad, yeah, but mostly, I’m fucking furious. I feel taken advantage of for believing in the mission of an organization that is so clearly run by people who do not give a fuck about solving educational inequity. They’re just in it for the power trip and the money and they thrive off of burning the passion out of the rest of us. No wonder they were so against us unionizing. I’m just... fuck this. These fuckers just ruined 57 families’ lives and means of income for a goddamn power trip. And then they have the fucking gall to pretend to care about us as they shove us out the fucking door.

If anyone out there knows Mike Buman personally, punch him in the face for me, will you? And maybe add a knife to the mix, just ‘cause. You can tell him it’s “for the kids”. That’s what he’ll tell us is the reason 50% of the fucking bargaining unit is getting laid off while NONE of the executive staff are. Well, no, he’s a fucking coward and hasn’t said a damn word to us through this whole thing, so he’ll have someone else say it, but that will be the message. “It’s for the children. Sorry you can’t make rent, but think of the children who will be better served in this new LEE! Running like a startup tech corporation is definitely the right choice for an equity-focused nonprofit!”

I call bullshit, Mike. When was the last time you even interacted with a child that wasn’t your own????

And you know what WASN’T in the budget to be cut? The fucking software that PAYS HIM MONEY and every single staff member despises using. Conflict of interest anyone? 

I just. Fuck management. I don’t care where you work or how friendly they seem. They are NEVER your friends. EVER. People in power only ever care about keeping that power. And I have a lot of people I thought were friends to show for it.

As for what happens now... I’m not entirely sure. I’m in a pretty lucky situation, fortunately. I’m already barely paying rent (in a ‘it’s barely being enforced way’ not a ‘I can barely afford it and on the cusp of homelessness’ way) and have a potential job lined up. The severance package is actually pretty good - the union managed to win that much at least. They fought tooth and fucking nail for it, but our stewards at least managed to get us a good deal there, even if they could only save two jobs. THAT’S how unwilling management was to negotiate. 

Anyway, I’ll apply for disability and unemployment and however you spell the AZ version of medicaid, which I should qualify for now, but I’ll have (shitty) health insurance through February, at least. My last day will be Feb 1 and I can’t actually sign the severance agreement until Feb 2, so I’ve got a bit of time.

Gods, I wasn’t crying until I started looking at all the other staff members laid off and just... this didn’t have to happen. This didn’t fucking have to happen!!! I don’t give a fuck what happens to management at this point, but all of my brilliant colleagues deserve so much better and I’m going to miss them so much. And we’re all spread out across the country, so the odds of seeing each other again are pretty nil and that really sucks. ‘cause this - I want you to understand: while management was prioritizing their own agenda, the bargaining unit (115 people) really came together to support each other and brainstorm ideas and work together to problem solve and honestly, it was really inspirational and heartwarming. And we FOUND solutions! We found BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to cut and ways to fundraise! We even came up with more stable funding methods! And management rejected all of them. They were never interested in saving the people of LEE. And that, I think, is the most heartbreaking thing of all, because each and every person poured their heart and soul into this fucking organization and in return, they gave us the fucking finger.

[milescpareview]

Worth of the US CMAs at Big 4 Firms

Our CMA training experts are frequently interrogated with one question?

If I get my CMA certification, will I be recognized in Big 4s like Deloitte, Ernst, and Young (EY), KPMG, or PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)?

In reality, the Big Fours not only hire CMAs, but they also are well aware of management accounting qualification — but they consider CMAs as assets for the company’s business growth. We’ll provide some industry insight and explain how earning the CMA can benefit you as an accountant, whether or not you’re a Big 4 employee.

Given the choice that you can get an accounting certification within 6 months, so why not?

The Big 4 does know that the CMA exists (I’ve included the proof below). Its members have places for CMAs within their companies. And while the CPA is still top dog, there are compelling reasons why the CMA is beneficial even if that’s not the loudest message being sent by the leading MNCs and Big 4s.

The Big 4 specializes in public accounting, which is why it employs so many Certified Public Accountants. However, each of the Big 4 companies is also an international firm that provides a variety of services to many different clients, multinational companies among them.

Because the CMA certification is globally recognized, the Big 4 has positions available for CMAs. Big 4 firms turn to their own teams of management accountants to advise large companies on restructuring and potential tax savings opportunities.

The Big 4 offer many positions to CMAs, such as

Risk Management Advisory Manager

Accounting & Reporting Transformation Senior Consultant

Government & Public Sector Strategy Manager

Risk Assurance Advisor (Manager)

International Tax Services Senior Manager

Risk Transformation Advisory Senior Manager

Why would CMA be a big boost to your career?

The CMA isn’t designed specifically for public accounting the same way the CPA is. It’s better for industry accounting. In fact, it’s the leading credential for management accounting. While the CPA is hot within the Big 4, the CMA is in demand at Fortune 500 companies and those with manufacturing facilities requiring cost and inventory management.

Reasons the CMA Is Valuable to You

As you can see, the Big Four and Fortune 500 companies value the CMA. But should you? If you’re looking for more reasons to seek the CMA certification, here are three:

Increased Earning Potential

It’s a fact: CMAs make more than non-CMAs, so becoming a CMA gives you the opportunity to increase your earning potential. On a global scale, CMA-certified accountants have an average salary that is 62% higher than that of non-certified accountants, which equates to about $31,000 more a year. The compensation gap gets wider when you consider incentives like health insurance, retirement accounts, fringe benefits, etc., that are commensurately larger for CMAs.

When you add the CMA and CPA together and hold dual certifications, you can grow your earning potential even more. For years now, the IMA salary survey has reported that accountants with both the CMA and the CPA make a lot more money than accountants with just one.

The most recent survey says accountants with dual certification make an average of 59% more than single-certification accountants (who already out-earn accountants without certification by a fair margin). For more exciting figures, take a look at the median total compensation for dual certification holders by age range:

20–29: $78,000

30–39: $122,250

40–49: $145,000

50 and older: $140,500

These numbers more than make up for the expense and effort required to achieve dual certification. Considering the amount of extra money you could make throughout your career, earning the CMA is clearly a wise financial decision.

Better Job Satisfaction

With the CPA certification, you’re eligible for just about any accounting job in the Big 4. But with CMA, you’re in the running for some of the best jobs. On their websites, the Big 4 firms typically list thousands of more job openings for CPAs than for CMAs, and this discrepancy suggests selectivity. The Big 4 specifically requests the CMA for certain upper-level positions, so the CMA is the path to a top-notch spot in the Big 4. You can land one of these management positions by either earning the CMA as a Big 4 CPA or applying to the Big 4 with the CMA already in hand. No matter how you secure a CMA role in the Big 4, you’ll most likely love it. According to the IMA, 64% of CMAs say they’re satisfied with their jobs. Their favorite aspects include their relationships with coworkers, employee benefits, and salary. Clearly, CMAs have a great vocational setup that makes liking their jobs even easier. To experience this same kind of career contentment, earn the CMA.

More Career Options

If you ever plan to leave the Big 4, the CMA can be the ticket to your next dream job. Though the Big 4 are the largest firms in the world, stepping away from them is not uncommon. Statistically, accounting firms bringing in more than $75 million annually have a 17–20% turnover rate.

For those looking to diversify their skill set in a new place, the CMA opens the door to the business world and equips you to excel there. With the business-savvy CMA, you can influence the finance side of the company while still functioning as an important management team member. The CMA can even take you up to the roles of CEO, CFO, VP of Finance, or Controller. The sky’s the limit with the CMA. Don’t let the lack of it hold you back.

For eligibility and information about other criteria contact Miles Education for a free one-on-one consultation.

Miles Education is a premiere skilling & training institute for finance & accounting professionals to earn US CPA/CMA credentials. The focus for Miles Education has always been to up-skill students and professionals to help them be future-ready and enable their career progression through the US CPA/CMA qualification Committed to achieving this goal, today, Miles is India’s largest and #1 CPA review course!

It has been instrumental in building the CPA/CMA ecosystem in India holding offices in 9 cities and partnerships with 100+ MNCs, including all of the Big 4s. Miles Education provides student/professional-centric services while keeping concept-based learning at its core which has helped it climb to the top ranks when it comes to the US CPA/CMA certification in India.

[aliyasheikh001]

Career In Bioinformatics: Is It Worth?

What is Bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field concerned with developing and applying methods from computer science to biological problems. For example, the Human Genome Project, which was completed in 2001, wouldn't have been possible without the contribution of intricate bioinformatic algorithms, which were critical for the assembly of millions of short sequences that are molecular.

Bioinformaticians need a background that is solid computer science but also a good understanding of biology. Since bioinformaticians work closely with biologists, they need to communicate complex topics in a way that is understandable to keep up-to-date with new developments in biology.

Studying Bioinformatics

I took part in a preparatory maths course at university before studying Bioinformatics at Saarland University. It turned out to be a smart decision to take that course for university because I realized that my high-school education was not as comprehensive as necessary to prepare me. For example, only in the preparatory time learned about proofs by induction or set theory.

I understood why the university offered preparatory maths courses: the maths lectures were brutal when I started my studies. There would usually be two lectures, each spanning two hours a week. The approach was the following in terms of teaching. The lecturer would scribble definitions and proofs onto the blackboard, and the students would try to keep up with the dizzying pace. Due to the short lecture speed, I always felt that attending the courses didn't help me learn the material.

In my Bachelor's bioinformatics curriculum, roughly 70% of the program's credit points had to be earned in computer science (e.g. programming, algorithms and data structures, concurrency) and maths courses (e.g. Analysis, algebra, stochastics). In contrast, the remainder of the credits could be obtained from the full life sciences. I felt that the first three terms at university were the hardest because each semester featured a maths and a computer science course that is basic. The semesters that are later a more significant share of Bioinformatics courses as well as more hands-on seminars.

Comparing life-science and computer-science courses, I found the life-science procedures much more straightforward and less effort. While life-science lectures just required attending the classes and passing the exam, computer-science methods involved much more work. There are weekly tutorials where the solutions to the assignments are weekly discussed. Additionally, some classes featured short (15 minutes) tests. In these classes, it was usually necessary to reach 50% of the maximum score in the assignments and tests to take the exam (either only a single exam or a mid-term and end-term exam).

What differentiates the Master's through the Bachelor's system is that it is more research-oriented and allows for much greater specialization. Including, I used my Master's to consider machine methods that can be learning as supervised learning or reinforcement learning. The Master's thesis uses up a much more significant element of the total credit points than the Bachelor's thesis. Therefore abilities such as, for instance, literary works analysis, method development, and scientific writing become even more critical in terms of research.

Job Leads as being a Bioinformatics Graduate

Learning bioinformatics, I happened to be often expected where you could act as a bioinformatician. About 80% of bioinformatics place have been in research or the public sector. The issue with research jobs is that they're usually fixed-term (age. g. two years) because these positions in many cases are financed task that is using. Into the public sector, bioinformaticians are often desired in the medical industry (e.g. in hospitals) plus in health-related federal government institutions. The benefit of roles in the public sector is the fact that they've been usually permanent. Nonetheless, employment in an organization that is the general public as being a hospital often involves method administration duties such as, for instance, starting computers and databases - tasks that have little to accomplish with bioinformatics itself. Furthermore, both research and public-sector positions provide fair salaries being low to industry.

In my estimation, no more than 20% of bioinformatics jobs come in the industry. How come the percentage therefore low? The main reason is the only industry sector that employs bioinformaticians is big pharma, within my view. Right here, bioinformaticians are expected to perform tasks such instance:

•           Modeling: Estimation of protein structures and simulation of molecular interactions

•           Data processing: processing and evaluating sequencing information, for example, from next-generation sequencing or sequencing that is single-cell

•           Virtual screening: breakthrough of leads (prospective brand new medications) using computational practices

•           Data technology: Analysis and interpretation of data

Since bioinformatics is very research-oriented and industry jobs are few, many graduates (maybe 40%) join PhD programs. The people industry joining work in non-bioinformatics roles is an example, since it consultants, software designers, solutions architects, or information scientists.

Some individuals advise against studying bioinformatics because it is difficult to find an operating task afterwards. I didn't have that experience at all, and I received a job that is numerous from recruiters. I might argue that having a bioinformatics degree, job prospects are acceptable due to the fact bioinformaticians have a particular skill, helping to make them appealing for organizations:

•           Bioinformatics graduates exhibit the traits of T-shaped experts. This permits them to execute many different tasks and to behave as facilitators in interdisciplinary teams.

•           Bioinformatics graduates often have more experience that is useful software than computer-science graduates.

•           Bioinformatics graduates are keen learners. Their proficiency in numerous disciplines shows that they can effortlessly conform to situations being brand new.

Advice to Prospective Bioinformatics Pupils and Graduates

Whether I would study bioinformatics again, I might be torn backwards and forwards if you asked me. Regarding the one hand, I must say I liked the variety of the bioinformatics system, and, with a degree in bioinformatics, many jobs are possible. The economic truth is there are few bioinformatics roles, so when you take a non-bioinformatics work, all your specialized knowledge decreases the drain having said that. Hence, I could also imagine studying a less subject specialized as computer or data science.

If you are thinking about studying bioinformatics, here are a few bits of advice:

•           Do not study Bioinformatics if you hate maths. Especially the semesters that are first maths-intensive.

•           Do no study Bioinformatics that it is very similar to studying biology if you were to think. Keep in mind that bioinformatics is more associated with computer technology than biology. You will find excessively biologists, which can be a few results in the change to bioinformatics.

• if you aim to operate as a bioinformatician in industry, plan. Remember to take courses that are industry-relevant forge industry connections, for example, through internships.

•           Be flexible in your career ambitions. After graduating, you could not act as a bioinformatician. Nonetheless, you won't have problems locating a place when you have good programming and information analysis abilities.

        Bioinformatics Versus Data Science

•           possibly the most useful definition of "bioinformatics" is processing and analyzing large-scale genomics and other biological datasets to develop biological insights. As a result, other terms are often used, such as "computational genomics" and data that are "genomic."

•           Data science is a little broader, mostly a more general term whose meaning is similar to bioinformatics minus the focus of biological processing and evaluating large-scale datasets to produce insights.

•           in an article in Towards Data Science by Altuna Akalin, who cites audacity.

An information scientist's primary abilities include programming, machine learning, data, data wrangling, data visualization and communication, and data intuition, which probably means troubleshooting data concerns that are analysis-related.

•           What comes up in bioinformatics is domain-specific information processing and quality checking, fundamental information transformation and filtering, statistics and device learning, domain-specific analytical tools and information visualization and integration, capacity to write code (programming), the power to communicate insights which can be data-driven.

•           the difference that is key in Akalin's definitions is "certain domain data." The domain is genomic, proteomic, hereditary, and healthcare-related information in life sciences. It does not necessarily add sales and data, which are economical. Another method of putting it's that a bioinformatics professional is probable an information scientist; however, a data scientist is not necessarily a bioinformatician.

          Bioinformatics Facts & Figures

•           Persistence Market Research recently published a report, "Global Market Study on Bioinformatics – Asia to Witness Fastest Growth by 2020," which valued the worldwide bioinformatics market at $4.110 billion in 2014 but likely to grow at an annual mixture growth (CAGR) of 20.4 % from 2014 to 2020, hitting 12.542 billion in 2020.

•           The Future of Jobs Survey 2018 by the World Economic Forum estimates that 85 per cent of surveyed businesses tend or very likely to consider data analytics being big. It also indicated that the revolution that is "industrial create 133 million brand new job functions and that 75 million jobs are disappearing by 2020."

•           And yes, you guessed it, many of the jobs which are now in the regions of information technology and bioinformatics. In reality, the #1 top ten job champion ended up being "data analysts and scientists" followed closely by "artificial intelligence and machine learning specialists." The number 4 spot was data that are "big," followed by "digital transformation experts" (#5), "software and applications developers and analysts" (#9) and "information technology services." (#10).

•           together with job outlook for bioinformatics for 2018 to 2026? The Bioinformatics Home weblog writes, "The easy reply to this real question is that the overall outlook is excellent, the demand outweighs the supply. However, the devil is within the details as usual. Nevertheless, it's good to become a bioinformatics scientist."

         Job Titles and Search Terms

•           Although "bioinformatician" could be a certain job, and there are various keywords that are frequently related, including bioinformatics.

Bioengineering, computational science, pc software engineering, device learning, math, data, molecular biology, biochemistry, computer technology, biostatistics, biomedical engineering, engineering, biology, information systems, genomics, computational biology, information science, and epidemiology.

•           a search that is single BioSpace developed over 100 jobs mainly using "bioinformatics." The idea being: biostatisticians in the space that is biopharma to have a good comprehension of both data science and particular aspects of the life span sciences.

•           Akalin had written, you're kept with most of the information science skillset plus some more "If you eliminate the particular domain needs from the bioinformatics set of skills. Individuals who result in the switch from bioinformatics to information technology will most need that is likely to adjust to the company's information organization and circulation environment. The issues are from a different domain, so they will have to adjust to that also. But the same would be true, at the least to some degree, for the data researchers jobs that are switching various employers."

•           Akalin also points out that much of the difference is regarding mindset, particularly in academia to industry. Several information researchers who switched to bioinformatics or vice versa said that the sector is more product-oriented and customer and that the models needed on the market require more maintenance. "Besides," Akalin writes, discussing Markus Schuler, "he shares the idea itself is as important in product-oriented thinking that you don't constantly select the coolest and the most useful models; other factors like operating time, execution demands, scalability and architecture fit and also interpretability for the model. However, in terms of skills, he adds that bioinformatics and data technology is very comparable if not identical."

         Job Growth and Median Wages

•           The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't execute a task that is great of down specializations like data science and bioinformatics, tending to lump everything under Mathematicians and Statisticians. The BLS claims the task outlook from 2016 to 2026 is 33 per cent, much faster than average, and that the median pay in 2017 ended up being $84,760 with a Master's Degree for that category. Statisticians were cited among the fastest-growing occupations, at 34 per cent, and epidemiologists have an improvement rate of 9 per cent and pay that is median of Master's Degree prospect of $69,660.

•           In 2018, O*NET OnLine, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, projected task development for bioinformatics researchers within the U.S. to be 5 to 9 % and as high as 12 % in California. They launched that from 2016 to 2026, there is 3,700 new job, and that total employment in 2016 had been 39,000 staffers. Based on the study, the same median wages in 2017 were $76,690 yearly for bioinformatics boffins and $47,700 for specialists.

While the Bioinformatics Home blog correctly notes, "In any case, median salaries give just a proven fact that is vague of because the wages differ enormously between quantities of employment."

Do you want more informational blogs Click here

[ayonde]

My journey beyond MBA into Canada (Blog#10)

After graduation we went to Orlando to see Disney/Universal. That trip burned a hole in my pocket. Washington DC was the last leg and luckily the museums in DC are free to public unlike New York. We survived on McDonald's for couple of days as I simply ran out of money.

Signing bonus was a new concept. I had assumed that I would get that money the moment I accept the offer letter. Only to realize that I would actually get it 45 days after joining. I was running dangerously low on cash so I requested Cartesian to give me 50% of my signing bonus upfront which they trustingly did.

Location: Cartesian also gave me options for my location. Boston was too far up north and cold. Philadelphia was tough. New York was costly. Washington DC has nice summer and I was familiar with Northern Virginia due to its proximity to Williamsburg. So I selected DC.

My friend Vipul helped me get a lease at his apartment complex in Herndon, VA. My wife joined me in US to join me while rest of my family left for India. Doing grocery was a problem. Walking to the store and carrying big bags was too laborious. Ever since I drove Chris’s car I wanted to buy a Subaru Forester but as I had no credit history and my income hasn’t come yet no one was ready to give me auto loan. I approached Bank of America but they declined – even though I showed my offer letter with salary information they wouldn’t lend me a single cent unless I agree for 20% APR.

Once again, Vipul introduced me to Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU). DCU gave me the full $20,000 at competitive 2.29% APR. I searched online to shortlist few cars. Hilariously changed 3 buses and a Metro with my wife and traveled to Manassas, VA to buy my Forester. Now I could reach places within minutes – such a big relief!

2015: Luckily my first project was with Time Warner Cable and their office was a mile away from my apartment. I would come back home to have lunch or walk to office. 

Life was good. 

It became better as I got news from Larry that USCIS cleared my RFE and my H1-B was approved. Huge sigh of relief! The H1-B came into effect in October. I noticed that my take home pay decreased as now I had to pay into Social Security and Medicare.

I felt that this system was unfair. As foreign national working in US I was a non-resident alien but for tax purposes I was a resident alien. I could not benefit from SSN or Medicare but I had to contribute into those programs. Additionally, every time I exit US, I had to get my passport stamped and answer lot of questions at port of entry. Cartesian also had to file paperwork to USCIS whenever I changed apartments as my address of residence was listed in my petition.

2016: Having money felt great but my wife couldn’t work in US. We thought of starting a family but I wanted her to earn and be financially independent. I thought “If I can come to US and get work after US education, my wife and sister can do that as well”. We put our family plans on hold. Raising kids would mean a gap of 5+ years for my wife which could prove insurmountable in rejoining workforce.

She liked William & Mary’s Masters of Accounting. She enrolled in Northern Virginia Community College to get prerequisite credits. My wife and sister took the GMAT/TOEFL and applied to schools.

My wife got admits from George Mason, American University and W&M. My sister got admits from CUNY Baruch, Fordham, Johns Hopkins, American and Bentley for Masters in Marketing Analytics. Even though CUNY was 1/3rd the cost of Fordham and Johns Hopkins is a huge brand name, I advised my sister to enroll in Fordham as it is STEM certified. STEM allows international students to be eligible for 2 years of extended OPT in addition to the initial 1. This provides 3 years to find an employer who would file for H-1B.

For obvious reasons, my wife selected W&M. Since I could work from home, I decided to move back to Williamsburg to lower our living cost and be together. I did not have sufficient money for my wife’s education. Luckily I learned about Mpower Finance. They provided $25,000 without collateral at 11.99% APR both to my wife and my sister. This was a game changer. I took a personal loan from DCU for the remainder amount. I paid my sister’s monthly rent in NYC. By fall both enrolled in their respective schools. I asked Cartesian to apply for my Green Card (GC) but they asked to revisit in 2017

2017: I visited India in Oct and that’s when my mother fell and broke her shoulder. It became clear to me that I need to live together with my parents. I asked Cartesian again for GC but they refused to apply. To be fair I still had another year on my H-1B and could renew it for 3 more years. Usually companies exhaust 6 years of H-1B before sponsoring for GC. The problem is that USCIS puts a cap on number of GC applications per country. Which means that India with a population of 1.3 Billion gets the same number of GC slots as Lithuania – a country of 3 million. This cap puts a wait time of 10 to 15 years for Indians and Chinese to get GC in best case estimate. Worst case puts the waiting period at 45 years!

Even if I received GC, I still couldn’t stay with my parents. I started exploring other options and learned about Canadian Permanent Residency. My wife and I applied to Canada’s point based PR. During application I got to know another Indian applicant. He was 38 years old, had two kids. Worked in US on H-1B for 7 years. (2 renewals + 1 extended year) His company exploited him and gave him $138,000 while his American coworkers made $200,000+ He couldn’t leave his job as his company was filing for his GC, because of his age he scored less points in the Canadian PR process. He was in a pickle.

I decided I didn’t want to be in his shoes after 5 years. By mid-2017, my wife faced rejections at interviews due to companies unwilling to sponsor H-1B. Luckily she contacted Tim who owns La Tienda at Toano, VA and is a W&M Alumni. They hired her for a yearlong internship during the course of her OPT. My sister also found a job at NYC but the hours were killing her. Rampant racism existed in her company. English Hons fresh out of school American citizens are fast tracked into Managers while  Indian employees who had considerable experience in SPSS, SAS etc. and had a MS in Marketing / Analytics were made to work at grassroots. I decided to leave US when my wife’s internship and her OPT would conclude in July 2018. By December we had received our Canadian PR.

I owed my parents $80,000 for my MBA. I had little money saved. So I decided to buy a property in India. I would pay the mortgage on it and my parents would rent it out. The rent would provide them additional income to support cost of living.

2018: I was bleeding money from all ends – rent, auto loan, mortgage, education loan and taxes. Additionally, I couldn’t plan for retirement or invest in a property while in US.

Since both of us were earning and our cost of living was low. I decided to use snowball effect. First, paid off my wife’s education loan by making lump sum payments every month. That freed up the money going towards that loan. We used that additional money and attacked the next – auto loan was now repaid. Only mortgage remained as we moved to Canada in July 2018.

In September my H-1B expired. I resigned from Cartesian as a full-time employee and rejoined as independent contractor. This worked in my favour as I was able to get a 20% hike. I was promoted to Manager. I did not miss forgoing benefits like medical etc. as those are provided in Canada under universal healthcare.

We setup base in Toronto and my wife landed a job soon. We used the snowball effect once more to pay off my mortgage in India. After 4 years or so I recouped my Return on Investment on my MBA.

2019/2020: I was debt free and started saving money. Paying rent in the Greater Toronto Area was expensive and paying the same amount in mortgage made more sense. We bought a house and started a family. My sister also applied for her PR and joined us. I applied for my parent’s Super Visa – which allowed them to stay up to 2 years in Canada at each entry. After 6 long years we all were together again.

In conclusion, I feel lucky that I was able to successfully use my MBA to transition into consulting, change geography and attain higher purchasing power.

[lol-jackles]

I just read your post about finances and investment properties and found it very interesting! I'm wondering, if you don't mind, what advice would you have for an 18 year old college student (me!) with little to no knowledge of finances, loans, real estate, etc, and only about 4k in savings. Any smart moves I should be making with my money now that will help me later in life? Tips on setting up a passive income? Thank you so so so much!

1. Study to get a practical degree.  That means no communication or gender studies degree.   Even my hippie friends are forbidding their children from pursuing liberal arts degrees.  An art professor I have business with straight up tell his students they should not get an art degree but study business instead because if they are serious about being a professional artist then they will be entrepreneurs and need to know financial management.  So while you're in school take a course on investing or money management or accounting or economics or all of them.

2. Have an emergency fund that covers 3 to 6 months of living expenses: rent, food, and utlity.  Other people say it's 3 to 6 months of your salary.   I have 13 months emergency fund that my financial planner is trying to wean me off of because that much sitting in the bank is not growing money (Oprah used to paranoidly keep $50 million in savings that she called her bag lady fund in case her career implodes).  As a college student I'm assuming your expenses are already paid for - housing, meal plan, etc, that said, you should have at least $1,000 in your emergency fund so you're off to a very good start with your $4,000.  

3. Track your spending by using a spreadsheet or anything on paper. Have all your expenses in it: food, rent, utility, phone contracts, utility, Netflix, Prime, etc.  Also have an area for income and all it’s sources (savings, job, stipends from your parents) and a total.  This starts to give you an idea of your income vs expenditures.  Use this to aid you in living beneath your means by living off of beans and rice that you buy in bulk and prepre meals yourself.  Avoid spending money on alcohol if you can, brew your own coffee.  

4. If possible, NO student loans.  Apply for scholarships, grants, fellowships.  

5. Get a part time paying job, whether during school or a summer internship.  From having an earned income you can open a Roth IRA account because though you may not have much money at your age, but what you do have is TIME.  Invest now for your retirement and it accumulates far faster when you start early than when you start later.  Read this New York Times “Roth IRAs for teenagers” article.  

"A person who contributes the maximum to a Roth IRA beginning at age 19 will have accumulated $330,000 more than one who begins contributing at age 25, by the time each person is 67."

See that?  A 19 years old will have six more figures by the time he retires than the other guy who did the same thing 6 years later.  

You can open an IRA account with your bank, though they are more about saving your money than growing your moneny.  You can go with a brokerage  companies like Charles Schwab,  Fidelity, and Vanguard. 

If you want to just put money in it and forget about it then use a Target Date Fund, you pick when you want to retire and it will re-allocate itself to become more conservative the closer you get to retirement.  Charles Schwab is probably the easist, here is there their target date funds.  You'll most likely want to use the SWYNX fund since you're so far away from retirement.  It's a pretty good way to get started if you're still learning or don't care to learn and just want to save for retirement.

If you want to be more hands-on, they have other mutual funds and you should consider building a portfolio out of low-cost index funds and exchange-traded fund (ETFs), this approach makes it easier to ensure adequate diversification in your portfolio and lower your investing risks and helps minimize the fees you’ll pay. 

I usually don’t advice reddit for advices but here is a good beginner’s guide to IRA.

Reminder, it must be "earned income" in order to open a Roth IRA account, though that hasn't stopped a friend from opening a Roth IRA for his granddaughter who is four years old, naturally the problem is how to create her "earned income" status, and asked me if my former collegues would hire her as a model.  I can't fault him, it's best to open a Roth IRA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE because not only is it the best retirement plan now, but  it could get pulled at any time by the government.

To summerize:

Find a good job that pays well.

Cut down expenses, live within your means.

Destroy high interest debt as much as possible, ideally to have no bad debt

Invest and max out in tax efficiency retirement accounts, put rest into taxable accounts

Time, maintain #2 and #4 for decades

Retire with $1.5 to $3 million dollars to live the rest of your years in a comfortable middle class style

Noticed that I didn’t say that you retire wealthy even though you will have anywhere from $1.5 million to $3 million dollars.  That’s because those millions need to last you 20 to 30 years after you retire.  This is why I’ve said bonds, stocks, and indexes are for maintaining your wealth, it’s not a quick rich scheme.  Sure some people strike it rich with stocks but those are exceptions not the norm, like how lottery winners are rare.

Part II of Buildng your wealth: Real Estate.  For beginners like yourself I suggest this book “ How to Find, Buy, and Rent Houses for Wealth” , it’s sound and detailed without overcomplicating things.  It assumes the readers are looking at buying rental properties the "normal" way and not as a full time gig.  Next find a local mentor that already owns property in the area you would like to own. Real estate investment requires local insight and if you move into commercial investment, things are still very much word-of-mouth and referral-based.  

If you’re serious about real estate as a full time gig then find the real estate investors club (REIC) in your area, people get together and throw ideas around, just be mindful that they are also your competition when it comes to buying a piece of property.  

Until then you can listen to real estate podcast here to get a feel of the industry.