Support NeoGAF

[bodyboarder]

So I need a taaaaad bit of advice.

I want to find a job that I can work from home with (so I can still put time into working on the game) but I'm not sure where to start looking.

Anyone here had any experience with something like that?

I too would like to know.

 

[Transhuman]

I want to find a job that I can work from home with (so I can still put time into working on the game) but I'm not sure where to start looking.

Anyone here had any experience with something like that?

Proofreading safety manuals for kitchen appliances?

Clinical drug trial participant?

Pet Food Tester?

 

[legend166]

Yea mate, just a team lead now but still network security. Which is good I suppose.

Though I was much more senior in the UK and making about 50k more there.

Quality of life is much better here though. That's the trade off.

Edit: oh and if your looking for a security job in Melbourne give me a shout.. Or anywhere in the world at that

Hey, that's my role too (although guess it depends what you mean by team leader. In our team we've got the manager and then a team leader)! Although I sorta fell into it. I told my manager that my medium-long term career goal was in management. Six months later and our team leader said he didn't want to do it any more and was just happy being a tech guy. There wasn't really anyone else so my manager asked if I wanted to do it so I jumped at it. Next thing you know I'm managing the team when my manager is away.

This is all while I'm still learning the actual network security side of things. I think it's going well though. I had to go to a data centre at midnight the other day to rebuild one of our Checkpoint VSX gateways. Managed to wing my way through it.

 

[legend166]

Telephone sex operators make decent money and work from home, you can set your own hours too.

Spoiler

Don't ask me how I know this

I really need to add Battles to the work playlist after hearing Stackboy's wife go on about how amazing they were and you guys losing your brains over them.

The wife and I saw he musical Cats today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqL1dqIyYwc

That pretty much sums up how I feel about the musical Cats.

ANYWAY. I need your help AusGAF!

I want to finally get rid of Foxtel completely and need to figure out what I need to set up to fill in the gaps. We've been mostly just watching stuff on Netflix and using the Foxtel IQ stuff to record everything else.

However there's still SOME shows that the wife likes that are not on Netflix or FTA and I can't ditch Foxtel until I can set up a system that will do the job for me. Personally all I use Foxtel for is to record Simpsons

Spoiler

Please leave your 'but but but Simpsons sucks blah blah blah' comments at the door

So - this is the equipment I have here at home - what do I need to McGuyver up a solution that I can replace my Foxtel box with?

* PS3 with Netflix and various FTA apps
* Telstra T-Box that I've never used but apparently can record FTA stuff on, but my FTA aerial is so crap I can barely get a couple of channels with it
* Crappy old Laptop that the wife no longer uses - currently runs Windows 7 and has such a slow hard drive and so little RAM that getting to the desktop takes about 10 minutes. I occasionally run BT and PS3 Media Server on it but its slow and flakey as hell - is there a Linux build I can run off a USB drive that would work better?

Basically I want something I can just leave on in the corner, as easy to use as the Foxtel recording / menu system where I can set shows to record automatically from FTA, and I can run a BT client on it for the edge case shows that the wife watches.

Not even sure where to begin to start looking, it's all so foreign to me!

What shows does your wife want? Check if Hulu has them.

 

[dity]

Hulu is godly. Binned Netflix for it.

 

[Poona]

So I need a taaaaad bit of advice.

I want to find a job that I can work from home with (so I can still put time into working on the game) but I'm not sure where to start looking.

Anyone here had any experience with something like that?

Can find some here:

http://www.thesmartcrowd.com/workers/job-opportunities/country/australia/#jobs-list

Current advertised position is internet ads assessor. I just do the general internet assessor role. Probably pays the same, which is US $19.50 an hour and you'll probably get paid around a month and a half later (eg, for the work you do in Feb you'll get paid around mid April).

 

[Darren870]

Can find some here:

http://www.thesmartcrowd.com/workers/job-opportunities/country/australia/#jobs-list

Current advertised position is internet ads assessor. I just do the general internet assessor role. Probably pays the same, which is US $19.50 an hour and you'll probably get paid around a month and a half later (eg, for the work you do in Feb you'll get paid around mid April).

The missus and I have been doing this for about a year now. Problem is that it hasn't been steady as of recent, where last year we were getting about 10-20 hrs a week. Now we are lucky to get 10. However, its great to do during down time and make spare cash!

Hey, that's my role too (although guess it depends what you mean by team leader. In our team we've got the manager and then a team leader)! Although I sorta fell into it. I told my manager that my medium-long term career goal was in management. Six months later and our team leader said he didn't want to do it any more and was just happy being a tech guy. There wasn't really anyone else so my manager asked if I wanted to do it so I jumped at it. Next thing you know I'm managing the team when my manager is away.

This is all while I'm still learning the actual network security side of things. I think it's going well though. I had to go to a data centre at midnight the other day to rebuild one of our Checkpoint VSX gateways. Managed to wing my way through it.

Yea, its the same. I've been a team lead before but never really had desire to be a manager. They just kinda asked if I was keen and I said sure, why not.

Now I'm doing changes though, doing one now. Don't mind the OT. But yea, I've only ever done firewall stuff and its worked well for 7 years now. Oh and only for Financial Firms.

 

[fengshuifever]

Proofreading safety manuals for kitchen appliances?

Clinical drug trial participant?

Pet Food Tester?

I can't seem to find any proofreading/editing jobs around but this would be amazing as I'd breeze through it.

Can find some here:

http://www.thesmartcrowd.com/workers/job-opportunities/country/australia/#jobs-list

Current advertised position is internet ads assessor. I just do the general internet assessor role. Probably pays the same, which is US $19.50 an hour and you'll probably get paid around a month and a half later (eg, for the work you do in Feb you'll get paid around mid April).

This sound really good!
Although I'm not exactly...sure what to upload when it asks for Proof of English Language competency...

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

Clinical drug trial participant?

I keep getting emails for these, some offer as much as $4k or more for a 2 -3 week study.

 

[Transhuman]

I keep getting emails for these, some offer as much as $4k or more for a 2 -3 week study.

Is it location based or do you get drugs in the mail and they check to see whether it makes your heart explode? Because I'd be amazing at that.

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

Is it location based or do you get drugs in the mail and they check to see whether it makes your heart explode? Because I'd be amazing at that.

The higher paying ones seem to be in-patient where you have to spend the time in the hospital/clinic under observation.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

So I need a taaaaad bit of advice.

I want to find a job that I can work from home with (so I can still put time into working on the game) but I'm not sure where to start looking.

Anyone here had any experience with something like that?

Late to this, but I currently work from home on a freelance engineering gig.

Don't do it. It's awful.

It's all the stress and obligations of going to an office with all the distraction and temptation of being at home.

You quickly find that without all the interruptions and meetings you're forced to take at an office, it's actually really difficult to put in a fully productive day without having to periodically reset your brain. It turns out people aren't built to concentrate on one thing for long periods without any downtime. You can take breaks, of course, but these are terrible, guilty breaks that feel as though you're cheating or slacking off somehow, especially if you charge by the hour. Then, when you get to the end of the day, you're mentally exhausted because you've done more work a human can reasonably do while maintaining quality.

Don't forget that it's also quite lonely and without the social aspect of work, you may end up spending the whole day having not showered or fed yourself. I forget to eat or drink on a regular basis and wonder why I have a throbbing headache at the end of the day.

Then there's the problem of switching off, especially if there's a big deadline or a particularly thorny problem to work through, so you find yourself working even when you're not working. I spent a whole weekend beach trip dreaming up ways to get power out of an undercapacity switchboard.

 

[chicko1983]

Hulu is godly. Binned Netflix for it.

what is so good on Hulu?

I have Foxtel and Netflix so I get a lot of good HBO stuff on Fox then all the Netflix original stuff which has been pretty good so far for $10 a month.

I woke up this morning and see I have an email saying my SFV order has been shipped! I noticed yesterday that my bank account was debited on Satdy and when I bought the game online, they said they would not debit the account until the game was shipped.

I am hoping that they packed it on the weekend and it left Melbourne this morning. That should hopefully mean I get the game tomorrow, cant wait!

 

[chicko1983]

Late to this, but I currently work from home on a freelance engineering gig.

Don't do it. It's awful.

It's all the stress and obligations of going to an office with all the distraction and temptation of being at home.

You quickly find that without all the interruptions and meetings you're forced to take at an office, it's actually really difficult to put in a fully productive day without having to periodically reset your brain. It turns out people aren't built to concentrate on one thing for long periods without any downtime. You can take breaks, of course, but these are terrible, guilty breaks that feel as though you're cheating or slacking off somehow, especially if you charge by the hour. Then, when you get to the end of the day, you're mentally exhausted because you've done more work a human can reasonably do while maintaining quality.

Don't forget that it's also quite lonely and without the social aspect of work, you may end up spending the whole day having not showered or fed yourself. I forget to eat or drink on a regular basis and wonder why I have a throbbing headache at the end of the day.

Then there's the problem of switching off, especially if there's a big deadline or a particularly thorny problem to work through, so you find yourself working even when you're not working. I spent a whole weekend beach trip dreaming up ways to get power out of an undercapacity switchboard.

I am an engineer too but I work in an office. However, some of that stuff sounds like my normal day in the office.

I spend most of my time waiting for someone else to provide me with answers so I can keep working...

 

[r1chard]

Late to this, but I currently work from home on a freelance engineering gig.

Don't do it. It's awful.

Er, this ended up longer than I thought it would. TL;DR: working from home is great for me.

I've been working at home full time as a salaried employee (this might be a crucial difference to squirrel) for almost two years now, and it's almost perfect for me. I am not a highly sociable person - I really like my *me time*. Software engineer, working on a global Open Source project (OpenStack) so most of the people I work with day-to-day are actually employees of companies other than my employer (though they're almost all in different timezones, so not generally around during my work day).

We have daily video calls to catch up in the morning, and we're all permanently on IRC to keep basic communication lines open.

I do sometimes struggle to get motivated some days, but I found exactly the same issue when I was working in offices. Nothing to do with the environment. On the other hand, if I am struggling to get motivated, I can just go for a walk, or bike ride, or bake something in the kitchen, or whatever just to get my head in a different space, and then I can usually get back into work mode. I have video games at hand, but I've only ever given up completely on work enough to play them a few times, and I've found that I'll go back to work, refreshed, afterwards.

I also like that I can start work as soon as I wake up at 7am and then I can have long bouts of not working during the day (to go for a run, or go to the gym, or whatever) and finish up at 5pm and feel good about my day. Also, taking time out to get my daughter to and from school is a breeze.

At least once a week I go to one of the local cafes and hack there. Once every few months most of us travel for in-person meetups.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Er, this ended up longer than I thought it would. TL;DR: working from home is great for me.

I've been working at home full time as a salaried employee (this might be a crucial difference to squirrel) for almost two years now, and it's almost perfect for me. I am not a highly sociable person - I really like my *me time*. Software engineer, working on a global Open Source project (OpenStack) so most of the people I work with day-to-day are actually employees of companies other than my employer (though they're almost all in different timezones, so not generally around during my work day).

We have daily video calls to catch up in the morning, and we're all permanently on IRC to keep basic communication lines open.

I do sometimes struggle to get motivated some days, but I found exactly the same issue when I was working in offices. Nothing to do with the environment. On the other hand, if I am struggling to get motivated, I can just go for a walk, or bike ride, or bake something in the kitchen, or whatever just to get my head in a different space, and then I can usually get back into work mode. I have video games at hand, but I've only ever given up completely on work enough to play them a few times, and I've found that I'll go back to work, refreshed, afterwards.

I also like that I can start work as soon as I wake up at 7am and then I can have long bouts of not working during the day (to go for a run, or go to the gym, or whatever) and finish up at 5pm and feel good about my day. Also, taking time out to get my daughter to and from school is a breeze.

At least once a week I go to one of the local cafes and hack there. Once every few months most of us travel for in-person meetups.

I think that's my main problem - it's a freelance project with tight margins, which makes me super conscious of what time I spend doing what. It also means that I can't have standing arrangements with regards to childcare and the like because some weeks I'll bill 50 hours and others it'll be one.

But yeah, being able to start as soon as I wake up and get a massive amount done before lunch time is awesome. Clocking off at 3pm and not having to feel like a lazy grifter is really satisfying.

 

[Gazunta]

What shows does your wife want? Check if Hulu has them.

Not sure, I think it's either Sexy Doctors In Tense Situations or Sexy Firemen in Tense Situations or Sexy Policemen in Tense Situations, is there a Hulu client for PS3? Watching TV on a computer screen is not an option.

 

[jambo]

Not sure, I think it's either Sexy Doctors In Tense Situations or Sexy Firemen in Tense Situations or Sexy Policemen in Tense Situations, is there a Hulu client for PS3? Watching TV on a computer screen is not an option.

Pretty sure Hulu has Grey's Anatomy.

And yes Hulu is on PS3.

But you will need to use a DNS or VPN set up.

 

[Stackboy]

fucking hell.

so

mirrored by battles is one of my most listened to albums of the last decade

atlas is my most listneed to and most favourite song of the last decade by a fucking mile.

finally got to see them live today.

holy shit.

15 minute atlas was god like

The rest of Laneway was pretty disappointing but Battles made up for all the Bogans and the drunk girls crying in the gutter and the poor sound on the main stage.

Like the lead guitarist playing one riff on the keys and another on the guitar at the same time and then using that as a sample just blew my mind.

Also the drummer is a beast. By the end of the set he was drenched like he had been in torrential rain.

Late to this, but I currently work from home on a freelance engineering gig.

Don't do it. It's awful.

Er, this ended up longer than I thought it would. TL;DR: working from home is great for me.

See Richards experience sounds like working from home would work from me. I could easily do my job from home but I work in Government, so I doubt that will happen any time soon.

I feel like my personality would really compliment working from home. I like people but at the same time really enjoy my own time and being left alone. I'd just have to balance myself out more socially.

 

[Gazunta]

Working from home is great if you have the discipline to not get too distracted and - I think, most importantly - everyone you live with is on board with the idea that you're actually working.

Until just over 10 years ago I worked from home full time and it was good when the people I lived with "got it" and it fucking sucked when the people I lived with thought I was just faffing around playing videogames all day so could be interrupted.

Spoiler

OK so I WAS playing videogames all day but it really was work, honest

 

[reptilescorpio]

The rest of Laneway was pretty disappointing but Battles made up for all the Bogans and the drunk girls crying in the gutter and the poor sound on the main stage.

Like the lead guitarist playing one riff on the keys and another on the guitar at the same time and then using that as a sample just blew my mind.

Also the drummer is a beast. By the end of the set he was drenched like he had been in torrential rain..

Was that Stanier still? Dude is amazing, one of the GOATs.

 

[Stackboy]

Was that Stanier still? Dude is amazing, one of the GOATs.

Yep, he's incredible!

Working from home is great if you have the discipline to not get too distracted and - I think, most importantly - everyone you live with is on board with the idea that you're actually working.

Until just over 10 years ago I worked from home full time and it was good when the people I lived with "got it" and it fucking sucked when the people I lived with thought I was just faffing around playing videogames all day so could be interrupted.

Spoiler

OK so I WAS playing videogames all day but it really was work, honest

Well it would just be my wife, I think she understands. I struggle to be an adult, but I get my work done.

 

[Poona]

This sound really good!
Although I'm not exactly...sure what to upload when it asks for Proof of English Language competency...

That sounds strange. I didn't have to do that. Can you skip it? I think they'd be able to find out you know the english language from everything else you fill out and submit to them.

 

[Bernbaum]

Finished the Witness.

I feel like Homer after watching his Mr Plow commercial.

 

[Stackboy]

I asked my boss if I could work from home, he is investigating it. This could be amazing.

 

[T-0800]

Could someone please have a look at the Foxtel deal at JB HiFi and see what I'm missing. It appears to say all the channels for 3 months for nothing with no lock in contract. Does that mean I could get it for 3 months and then cancel or and then select a cheaper package? I feel like I'm missing something.

To see the deal go to their website and then click on the tv section. The ad will be there.

Thanks.

 

[jambo]

Seems to be legit

"You need an eligible Telstra Home Phone, Post-Paid mobile or home broadband service on a Single Bill or active Telstra Pre-Paid Mobile or Mobile Broadband service."

"Foxtel offer 3 Months Free Platinum HD Offer: only available to customers who have not had a Foxtel service within the last 3 months. Ongoing subscription charges apply after 3 months unless you cancel earier."

Getting desperate?

Also "earier" =P


EDIT: One issue might be if you have to stick with the $134 a month Platinum plan after the 3 months finish up. If not, you could realistically go to a $25 plan after that 3 month period and then add whatever channel packs you want.

 

[T-0800]

Seems to be legit

"You need an eligible Telstra Home Phone, Post-Paid mobile or home broadband service on a Single Bill or active Telstra Pre-Paid Mobile or Mobile Broadband service."

"Foxtel offer 3 Months Free Platinum HD Offer: only available to customers who have not had a Foxtel service within the last 3 months. Ongoing subscription charges apply after 3 months unless you cancel earier."

Getting desperate?

Also "earier" =P


EDIT: One issue might be if you have to stick with the $134 a month Platinum plan after the 3 months finish up. If not, you could realistically go to a $25 plan after that 3 month period and then add whatever channel packs you want.

Thanks for that. I'm only interested in the sports package so would happily downgrade to that after the 3 months.

If someone else can have a look too that would be appreciated. Maybe someone here has taken up the deal etc.

 

[T-0800]

Another thing. Anyone using Hulu on their PS4? I have US Netflix and was wondering if Hulu was worth having as well.

 

[dity]

what is so good on Hulu?

I have Foxtel and Netflix so I get a lot of good HBO stuff on Fox then all the Netflix original stuff which has been pretty good so far for $10 a month.

I like Hulu because it gets currently airing TV shows, and is easier to navigate. Grew tired of Netflix's recommendations-only-or-blind-search system.

 

[jambo]

Another thing. Anyone using Hulu on their PS4? I have US Netflix and was wondering if Hulu was worth having as well.

Hulu is pretty great. You can get an ad-free version for an extra $4 a month and it has a nice selection of TV shows and movies.

Plus you get episodes of shows as they air, as Hulu is owned by the networks.

 

[T-0800]

Hulu is pretty great. You can get an ad-free version for an extra $4 a month and it has a nice selection of TV shows and movies.

Plus you get episodes of shows as they air, as Hulu is owned by the networks.

Cool. How do you go about getting in Australia? How do you pay for it? I imagine they don't accept an Australian debit card.

 

[T-0800]

Tried signing up for free trial but stopped at entering card details. My wife has the card and is out. Will it accept our card anyway?

 

[dity]

Tried signing up for free trial but stopped at entering card details. My wife has the card and is out. Will it accept our card anyway?

I use an Aussie card just fine.

You'll wanna make sure you can get access to the app/website, and have a proxy or a service like Unblock-Us. If you already access USA Netflix you should be good.

 

[reptilescorpio]

Street Fighter 5 is out tomorrow, prices here!

 

[T-0800]

I use an Aussie card just fine.

You'll wanna make sure you can get access to the app/website, and have a proxy or a service like Unblock-Us. If you already access USA Netflix you should be good.

I can get it just as I have a unblocking thingy. Just waiting for my wife to get home to see if it will accept our card for the free trial.

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

Street Fighter 5 is out tomorrow, prices here!

Haha you made your own bargain blog? Nice work..

 

[reptilescorpio]

Haha you made your own bargain blog? Nice work..

Heh, doing bargain guides for a site for a while now, pretty cool to hear from people saving money through it!

 

[endlessflood]

Street Fighter 5 is out tomorrow, prices here!

I was so excited for IV, but V just looks like more of the same to me (having played the Beta). I think I need a much longer break between fighting games.

 

[CmdBash]

Got a copy of gravity rush remastered for the ps4 at Target for $29. Pretty good deal.

 

[reptilescorpio]

I was so excited for IV, but V just looks like more of the same to me (having played the Beta). I think I need a much longer break between fighting games.

Street Fighter IV was 8 years ago lol

 

[T-0800]

I use an Aussie card just fine.

You'll wanna make sure you can get access to the app/website, and have a proxy or a service like Unblock-Us. If you already access USA Netflix you should be good.

My card didn't work.

 

[endlessflood]

Street Fighter IV was 8 years ago lol

Yeah but it was 17 years after Street Fighter 2 lol

 

[dishwasherlove]

Come on, 3 and Alpha count.

 

[endlessflood]

Come on, 3 and Alpha count.

NOT TO ME THEY DON'T

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Working from home is great if you have the discipline to not get too distracted and - I think, most importantly - everyone you live with is on board with the idea that you're actually working.

Until just over 10 years ago I worked from home full time and it was good when the people I lived with "got it" and it fucking sucked when the people I lived with thought I was just faffing around playing videogames all day so could be interrupted.

Spoiler

OK so I WAS playing videogames all day but it really was work, honest

I get the "working from home isn't really work" thing all the time. Yes, this big, time-consuming errand is super important, and yes, I won't upset anyone if I just pop off to the shops for a few hours, but please understand that time I spend doing it is time I can't charge for and it'll just mean I'll have to spend hours locked in a room by myself during the weekend making up the time.

 

[ClivePwned]

Fuck working from home ever again unless it's on a personal project.

Seriously, fuck it.

 

[MoonGred]

All these rumours of xbox one games coming to pc are so exciting apart from the fact that the win10 store charges $90 aud per game, quantum break seems to be $100 aud to pre order on xbox, makes ebgames look cheap.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

All these rumours of xbox one games coming to pc are so exciting apart from the fact that the win10 store charges $90 aud per game, quantum break seems to be $100 aud to pre order on xbox, makes ebgames look cheap.

If they're like Rise of the Tomb Raider you'll be able to buy it from the people's republic of arstotska for 3 rubles.

 

[Shaneus]

All these rumours of xbox one games coming to pc are so exciting apart from the fact that the win10 store charges $90 aud per game, quantum break seems to be $100 aud to pre order on xbox, makes ebgames look cheap.

I only hope they find a way to make them work on notwindows10. Had that turd on my crappy old tablet, have now downgraded to Windows 8 and it's a far better experience.

No way am I letting it touch my desktop with a 10 foot clown pole.

Street Fighter IV was 8 years ago lol

I just had to Google that. Holy shit!

Also, I think I still have that for 360 in it's shrinkwrap. Turns out, I'm more excited about fighting games releasing than I am actually playing them. Same for every other game sans driving and shmups, I guess.