Just because it is in your contract doesn’t make it legal!

Realistically it could be worth checking your local laws regarding it and potentially speaking to a lawyer as some will do a free consult to see if you have a case

To start with I’ll answer your specific questions

• Would working in helpdesk allow a better or worse WLB? This is very company dependent. In general though developers are usually able to clock out more often at the end of the day. If you go SysAdmin/DevOps/SRE when things break in the night it is you who gets the call. Again this varies wildly between companies, I’m in a DevOps/SRE role and have had that at 3 different places, one there was zero after hours calls, one was multiple times a week, and one was once or twice every quarter. So keep that in mind.

• Would it be more likely to be unionized and thus a better place from which to participate in tech labour struggle?
  Tech really isn’t unionized much. Helpdesk while often the seemingly most likely to unionize has the issue of people move up and out quickly and tech workers in general can move to new companies if they don’t like something and that is often easier than unionizing. To also echo @Kamaradski9000@lemmygrad.ml the leftists on the more infra side are few and far between. It draws a lot of loners and reactionary people, the musk fanboy types.

• Is it easier to break into than software, like, so much easier that it would be worth changing course, or just doing IT as a stepping stone for my first co-op (internship program in Canada) or two? It is easier in the sense that helpdesk is a grind(they call it helldesk for a reason) and places are always hiring. Pay will be terrible and you’ll be grinding some boring work unless you put in extra hours to move up and show you know stuff, or at least that is the general path. Lucking out into a SysAdmin role or a role doing interesting work is about the same difficulty as breaking into a software development role. There are usually less positions on the infra side, but also less people doing it.

As for my advice, you are still in school so keep learning. Use this time to try some new things to figure out what you’d enjoy more. Both roles are in demand and can have comfortable salaries. If you are thinking about linux and sysadmin work try standing up a small web server on one of the cheap cloud providers and see what it is like, then automate it. Once you’ve done that maybe play with some docker containers. As for an internship I’d suggest sticking with software development as it is more in line with your degree for the time being, if you are doing multiple internships(like one each year) then maybe consider looking for a more infra focused one if you don’t enjoy the development side

Yes, the brand Tupperware is an mlm and sold directly by sales people. Back in the 50s and 60s Tupperware parties were a thing.

The confusion is likely the whole q-tip/Kleenex thing. We call it all Tupperware but really it is not Tupperware brand most of the time

Sounds like a great way to spend the day despite your original plans not working out.

Keeping it in mind and posting here is doing something even if not a traditional celebration!

Some professions need someone working every day and if you aren’t in one of those hopefully soon your employer will see the error of their ways

Well, keep the spirit in mind and I suppose celebrate on labor day in the US assuming you get off.

I do always find it interesting that the US is so against lining up the date with the rest of the world.

Nothing wrong with school, learning is always a good endeavor!

My suggestions would be:

• vegetarian chili

Can just use beans and no meat. Intensity of flavor is up to your taste I usually go with rather spicy but it can be mild too. Can take a bit of time but if you make one large pot it can last days and just needs to be reheated

• shakshuka

Relatively easy to make and is rather flavorful. Again here spice level is up to you

Both of these go well with bread, rice, or potatoes

These are meal replacement shakes, since you are in Germany the brand JimmyJoy would be the local(Dutch) equivalent.

They are quick and nutritious when you need something but a bit pricy per calorieanyd would likely fail your taste and consistency requirements

K-9 is a great app but doesn’t provide email service itself

Well both have free options as well, but they have a bit lower limits in that case and a few less features. So I guess maybe sign up on both for a free account and see which you like more?

What feature set are you looking for and are you wanting something free or open to paid?

I use both Mailfence and Protonmail different experiences with each but no real complaints. For Mailfence I pay them since I have a domain and I am still degoogling so forward my gmail to an alias there

For translation I would recommend Pleco as you can have the person you are communicating with draw the characters and then translate that. It isn’t perfect but I used it heavily when I lived there

People’s Daily is my go to for Chinese news but there are others as well like CGTN and Xinhua

More or less yes you did American English correctly. More often I just refer to them as semis without adding the truck part, some also call them tractor trailers. It was clear what you meant though so only need to change it slightly if you are going for full American English

• https://english.www.gov.cn/services/studyinchina
  • Government site with links to more info
• https://apply.china-admissions.com/
  • private company that helps, disclosure I did not use them but I am aware of them from when I lived in China

I did find it eventually but only after following your direct link to it and going back to the main page after language selection, I meant put it on the landing page before language selection so https://prolewiki.org/ as opposed to https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki:Main_page

The non language landing page doesn’t have that sidebar and I only ever hit that page and searched immediately so never saw the other one with a lot more on it

As someone who didnt know you had a library and just checked it out few suggestions if you are open to them:

• link to the library from the main prolewiki landing page, otherwise it isn’t clear that a library exists
• add an easy way to export the texts as pdf’s or ereader compatible formats
• where possible highlight what was edited in the MIA version of texts that you host

Happy to write out longer use cases/feature requests if you’d like