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jc6chan
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30 Nov 2009, 5:58 pm

As you can see, my username is "jc6chan". The reason why I am questioning if the name is a bad choice is because this is actually my university user name. I am in coop and an employer can see my username in my resume. If you google my username, one of the two things that immediately comes up is the WP site of my account. So wouldn't it be a bad thing if my employer found out I had WP. I can't change my username can I?



DonkeyBuster
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30 Nov 2009, 6:18 pm

I can't judge the desirability of a [future] employer knowing you're on WP, but it does seem like you might get involved in some discussions that you wouldn't want them to know your opinion about. It allows you no privacy to rant, rave, and freely speak your mind if you think you employer might be watching.

I expect all you have to do is re-register under another user name...



ViperaAspis
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30 Nov 2009, 6:58 pm

Your username explicitly states that you are undiagnosed so there isn't much they can do if that's what you're worried about. In general, however, it is not necessarily a bad thing if your employer knows about your AS.

The worst might be something you wrote about work or a person or a controversial opinion they might stumble across. Be more worried about this. Still, it would be pretty flimsy evidence to go on based on a matching username. I simply thought you were a Jackie Chan fan. Didn't realize it came from your real name!

Oh... as I finished editing and previewing I just noticed that DB already wrote most of this. Grrrrr! I'll get you DB!! ! :twisted: :wink:

Another thing: What you should do here is talk to the Site Admin, Lau. If you just create a new username, it'll be whacked for violating the one person with two handles rule. I think, given a good reason, he would change this for you or at least tell you what to do so as not to run afoul of the rules.


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Maggiedoll
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30 Nov 2009, 7:43 pm

What Vipera said... it didn't occur to me that it came from your real name either.

You can't change your user name or make a new account, but they have mentioned having used your real name as the one valid reason they might let you change it.. so if you're really worried about it, Lau is the person to contact... but like Vipera said, people are more likely to think that you're a Jackie Chan fan than that it's your real name.



jc6chan
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30 Nov 2009, 8:34 pm

Maggiedoll wrote:
but like Vipera said, people are more likely to think that you're a Jackie Chan fan than that it's your real name.

Just to confirm here, so you mean that an employer would think that this username will be a coincidence to the one written in my resume?



Maggiedoll
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30 Nov 2009, 8:47 pm

jc6chan wrote:
Maggiedoll wrote:
but like Vipera said, people are more likely to think that you're a Jackie Chan fan than that it's your real name.

Just to confirm here, so you mean that an employer would think that this username will be a coincidence to the one written in my resume?

:? Maybe not that. :oops: Okay, now I feel stupid. It hadn't occurred to me until this thread that it had anything to do with your real name.

You should PM Lau about it if you think potential employers will be googling it and not wanting to hire you based on that.. (of course, it might not be an issue, depending on what you're studying.. wasn't there an article in Wired about companies wanting to hire aspies?) I think only Lau or Alex could change it for you, and Lau is much easier to get into contact with than Alex.



ToughDiamond
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01 Dec 2009, 12:06 pm

I wouldn't feel half so able to speak my mind here if I thought my employer could identify me and read it all - not that he'd be likely to take that much interest, but just the thought of it being possible would make me want to be very careful what I said. I normally think carefully before I divulge anything sensitive to anybody, especially if they know who I am, so anonymity is very important to me here. My employer knows I have AS, and it's in my National Health records. No doubt that's the end of my promotion prospects, and probably my prospects of finding another job will have dropped (AS discrimination is technically illegal for employers, but the NAS says it goes on according to their clients), but at least he now understands that I'm not Superman, and he can't chuck me out for it.....so I don't feel as stressed any more at work. I couldn't really see myself as much of a careerist anyway, so I don't feel I've lost anything of value. But your case might be different. I'm getting old now, and have maybe 3 to 9 years left of having to depend on the jobs market for my daily crust, so there's not such a lot at stake for me.



Janissy
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01 Dec 2009, 12:13 pm

I think an employer who googles your name is most likely to google your actual name, not a university account username, even if it is derived from your actual name.



makuranososhi
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01 Dec 2009, 12:29 pm

With only extreme exceptions, a username is not changed once selected and actively used. At this point, I don't see this situation falling under that category. If I might ask, why are you putting a collegiate account name on your resume?


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Maggiedoll
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01 Dec 2009, 1:10 pm

makuranososhi wrote:
With only extreme exceptions, a username is not changed once selected and actively used. At this point, I don't see this situation falling under that category. If I might ask, why are you putting a collegiate account name on your resume?

jc6chan wrote:
I am in coop and an employer can see my username in my resume.

I think it's arranged through the university, a joint thing between the school and the employer.. so the school account name is used to coordinate it.
A better question would be why he used it as his WP name, but I'd figure that it was the first thing that came to mind?