1–10 of 43 posts
There has been global upheaval over the last few months. I feel the folks here would have great advice and tons of experiences that others can learn from.
For me, the situation right now is almost amusing.
Had I been writing this comment yesterday, I'd have stated that things were fine despite the upheaval in the outside world and I was doing OK remotely in a job that paid well and it was fun to work with very smart people.
Today, I am out of a job and staring at sudden uncertainty in the near future. Still, compared to a year ago, I am more like myself - calm and composed. I am around family and have things to look forward to. The trauma and near-depression from a year ago seems significantly reduced. I am almost glad to realize that the damaged me from a year ago seems to have healed quite well.
The near future is uncertain, but I am optimistic. This shock and uncertainty might just be what I needed to finally get going and find my own path. Time will tell, and perhaps I will too - in the next year's thread.
Since going full remote I've pretty much lost track of a bunch of work friends, since we don't directly work on the same thing and don't have a reason to chat on Slack. We used to hang out at work and lunches regularly.
I've been on IRC since 90's so having text-only friends I know only as a nickname is a completely normal, but it seems younger people need either voice or image to connect properly.
Some people are unable to chat socially via text only. Since going full remote I've pretty much lost track of a bunch of work friends, since we don't directly work on the same thing and don't have a reason to chat on Slack. We used to hang out at work and lunches regularly. I've been on IRC since 90's so having text-only friends I know only as a nickname is a completely normal, but it seems younger people need either…
One trick I've learned is to just show up. Instead of planning to write a whole module in a day, I now plan to just write 5 lines of code. This has helped me a lot - I've picked up two programming languages in three months just with the intent of watching one minute a day. I've had a lot of work done on my side project and have recently been getting fan mail on it. I cut down on a lot of bad things simply by planning twelve 2-minute tasks a day, and being engrossed in them.
Similarly, it's important to avoid creeping into bad behavior. Once we drop good behavior, once we're a couple minutes late for a meeting, a class, a deadline, things rapidly deteriorate from there.
Career wise, my goal is no longer to make a better salary (I have enough), but to do more meaningful work that I'm satisfied with. Meaningful work tends to be recession-proof too.
I've learned that I can be very fast in changing environments and being able to do my job from home after the very next day I've started working from home, without disruption, on a new, unconfigured machine.
I've also learned that interviewing for jobs has become something horrible, with most ghosting and coding challenges well done but poorly reviewed, maybe due to the high number of candidates/required salary expectation.
I can work remotely productively, even with kids at home and that I am more productive than being in the office. I've learned that I can be very fast in changing environments and being able to do my job from home after the very next day I've started working from home, without disruption, on a new, unconfigured machine. I've also learned that interviewing for jobs has become something horrible, with most ghosting and…
- a job is mostly a way to earn money. the joy and pride about your work are within yourself and not in your employer. you can do amazing work at any place. it's up to you to always try to be better an improve yourself, your work and your job.
- the mood/vibe and the work load otoh are very important. if an employer overloads you then it's wise to look around.
- simpler architectures are better
- if you need to operate a custom service and need high uptime, developers MUST be in the loop
- you don't need aws/gcp/azure to be in the cloud. openstack providers do exists and work very well (and you're improving the whole market)
- switching job is nice
- some coworkers will become friends, most of them will just pass by.
- hear various opinions, but then decide with your own head.
- taking care of your own body is super important. can't do that much coding if you're dead or sick in a hospital.
- sometimes you just have to do grunt work ("toil"). meh, it's life.
- starting doing something when you don't feel like starting is the best way to get past that feeling.
- time in the early morning >>> time at late night
- work from home is possible and not that bad. not that i had doubts, but we finally had a general, large scale, realistic test run. remember this to recruiters when they'll forget in a year or two.
- having money saved up in the bank is more important than owning shiny things or doing fancy vacations. i realized this during the lockdown when a lot of companies were halting production and/or laying off people, and i had saved up enough money not to have to go sleep under a bridge in case of job loss.
looking back to the whole 12 months: - a job is mostly a way to earn money. the joy and pride about your work are within yourself and not in your employer. you can do amazing work at any place. it's up to you to always try to be better an improve yourself, your work and your job. - the mood/vibe and the work load otoh are very important. if an employer overloads you then it's wise to look around. - simpler architectu…
I just wish I realized this sooner. No one else is responsible for your career progression, job satisfaction and personal fulfillment other than yourself.
A recent experience I've had was to initiate a conversation with my boss for five years that I've been unfulfilled with how I haven't been receiving actionable, meaningful feedback for a year or two, and that I'm having problems engaging myself with the current progression of our projects due to this.
Expect how I was treated?
I find it how hard to imagine how I wound up with an insubordination charge when the reason I initiated such a discussion is because I wanted to work out the relationship and wanted to stay. I'm in charge with all of the projects, and I've been deeply involved and accountable for the whole business.
The anxiety and tension the whole situation brought to me wasn't worth it. I'm just passing time until this all blows over.