Today at the Bar Exam

[net_webber]

Hey everyone. (I had to register again because I no longer have the email address I used to register and the whole security thing.)

Anyway, today was the first day of the bar exam for many aspiring lawyers in the United States. I took it in New York City. Laptops are allowed on the first day of the exam for essays and external keyboards are permitted. I spotted someone who had a Das Keyboard with blank white keycaps. I went over to him during the break and asked him if the switches were Cherry Browns. He said they were. I asked him if he was on Geekhack but he said he wasn't! I explained, of course, that it's a website for keyboard enthusiasts. He said he had picked up the keyboard on a recommendation from a friend, and he loved it.

I was thinking about bringing in my IBM M15, but it's just too loud for an exam like that.

[AKIMbO]

Good luck with the bar.  The wait for your scores after you finish is excruciating.

[Input Nirvana]

I didn't concern myself with the scores too much. I blew through the bar, I was curious of course, but I knew the actual score was effectively meaningless since I had already been recruited. Then again the over-preparation I had was ridiculous...

Congrats on hitting the end point of the qualifying academia! Now for the years of research....

[AKIMbO]

^If you have a job lined up. 

I hope the market is better in NY than it is in FL.  Took the bar in 2010 and virtually no one in FL had a job offer (the economic meltdown really screwed over my graduating class and several others both before and after mine).

[ethos]

Hey everyone. (I had to register again because I no longer have the email address I used to register and the whole security thing.)

Anyway, today was the first day of the bar exam for many aspiring lawyers in the United States. I took it in New York City. Laptops are allowed on the first day of the exam for essays and external keyboards are permitted. I spotted someone who had a Das Keyboard with blank white keycaps. I went over to him during the break and asked him if the switches were Cherry Browns. He said they were. I asked him if he was on Geekhack but he said he wasn't! I explained, of course, that it's a website for keyboard enthusiasts. He said he had picked up the keyboard on a recommendation from a friend, and he loved it.

I was thinking about bringing in my IBM M15, but it's just too loud for an exam like that.

Hey congratulations on taking the NY Bar exam!  I'm sure you passed, and I'm also sure that you're completely drunk at 2:00 AM, on the night of the end of the exam.  Well, anyway tomorrow when you recover, maybe you'll read this, and you will find out that I am a trial lawyer in NYC, and I love keyboards, and I can tell you that there are many avenues open to you as a lawyer, and that you shouldn't be discouraged if you can't find a job in this sh!tty economy.  Please don't be discouraged if you don't get your "dream job".  You have a long career ahead of you, and there are many ways to use your legal education.  You will be fine.  You may not become a rich partner at a crooked Wall Street law firm, but you will be a good and decent human being. 

[AKIMbO]

Hey everyone. (I had to register again because I no longer have the email address I used to register and the whole security thing.)

Anyway, today was the first day of the bar exam for many aspiring lawyers in the United States. I took it in New York City. Laptops are allowed on the first day of the exam for essays and external keyboards are permitted. I spotted someone who had a Das Keyboard with blank white keycaps. I went over to him during the break and asked him if the switches were Cherry Browns. He said they were. I asked him if he was on Geekhack but he said he wasn't! I explained, of course, that it's a website for keyboard enthusiasts. He said he had picked up the keyboard on a recommendation from a friend, and he loved it.

I was thinking about bringing in my IBM M15, but it's just too loud for an exam like that.

Hey congratulations on taking the NY Bar exam!  I'm sure you passed, and I'm also sure that you're completely drunk at 2:00 AM, on the night of the end of the exam.  Well, anyway tomorrow when you recover, maybe you'll read this, and you will find out that I am a trial lawyer in NYC, and I love keyboards, and I can tell you that there are many avenues open to you as a lawyer, and that you shouldn't be discouraged if you can't find a job in this sh!tty economy.  Please don't be discouraged if you don't get your "dream job".  You have a long career ahead of you, and there are many ways to use your legal education.  You will be fine.  You may not become a rich partner at a crooked Wall Street law firm, but you will be a good and decent human being.

Enlighten us as to these avenues ..I'm still stuck without a law job one year after being admitted to the bar.

[net_webber]

^If you have a job lined up. 

I hope the market is better in NY than it is in FL.  Took the bar in 2010 and virtually no one in FL had a job offer (the economic meltdown really screwed over my graduating class and several others both before and after mine).

I do indeed have a job lined up. I start in September. I happened to have gone to a top-ranked law school, which makes all the difference. It's unfortunate but many firms recruit only at the top schools.

And I went out after the bar with some buddies and got drunk off 2 beers. Much different than law school. I guess that's what happens when you go six weeks without a drink. I was asleep by 11.

I wonder how the dude with the otaku Das Keyboard did.

[AKIMbO]

^Lol...I know what you mean.  Same deal, drunk off 2 beers due to sleep deprivation.  Congrats on finishing the bar!

[wcass]

Akimb0, i have a buddy that graduated Nova Law about 4 years ago. he did Guardian ad Litem (getting paid squat) for about a year before he started getting serious offers from the legal teams he met. he is quite comfortable now. you might look into that.

[Bar81]

I would have assaulted people if they were using mechanical keyboards during the bar exam.  Did they at least separate out the people who handwrote from the typists or did everyone have to suffer the noise?

[Zykos]

Good luck on the exam!

[dorkvader]

If someone were pounding away loudly at an IBM selectric typewriter, I probably wouldn't notice it at all. When I take a test, I don't hear anything, and I don't "see" anything outside the test booklet, and accessories (calculator, pencil, etc.) I con turn the entirety of my mind to focus on important things, but really only if they are mentally challenging enough.

A construction crew was tearing up the floor in my highschool for half a year, and it was quite easy for me to not notice the sound of the jackhammer outside the doorway.

I don't know how the Bar exam goes, but others typing and being loud wouldn't bother me at all.

[net_webber]

I would have assaulted people if they were using mechanical keyboards during the bar exam.  Did they at least separate out the people who handwrote from the typists or did everyone have to suffer the noise?

Yes, people with computers were in a separate room. There happened to be about 2,500 people in the room with me (at the Javitz center in Manhattan). The vast majority of people use computers now. I think they used to allow typewriters, bu I can't imagine anyone uses one now.

This guy was using Cherry Browns so I guess they weren't that loud.

As for me, if you're curious: I switched out the NMB keyboard in my Thinkpad T420s for an Alps for the exam.

[davkol]

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[Input Nirvana]

Funny, I reread this thread. I have no idea how to find a job in the profession. I have no idea what I would say to get the job. I was recruited, so it never dawned on me that I might need to be interviewed and evaluated. I've come so far at this point in my life I find it hard to think I would need to do that for anything now.

[microsoft windows]

Good luck, and I hope you get a good score on your bar exam!