petsormeat

Yes. Last full time software development job was in 2017, under the most abusive manager I've ever had in my 20+ years in tech. Took a full year out just for psychotherapy. Unfortunately, the subsequent years had me branded with that "employment gap" stigma that recruiters and hiring managers can't see past.

I'm now doing temp office work for my local government. I actually prefer the job setting, aside from the low pay. I would encourage everyone to try getting work in their own local governments, especially around big events like elections, when there's need for a lot of people at once.

The travails described in this post could just as well be my own, except that my career disintegration began in 2017 or so, soon after I turned 50. I've pursued every job search strategy this author lists, and encountered the same lack of progress. I've just submitted an application to work at the local grocery store for $17/hour.

We can blame ageism, offshoring, AI, what have you. The basic problem is that the technology industry has never prioritized hiring or retaining experienced people as developers. Our roles are persistently misunderstood by management, and "AI could do that!" is just the latest misapprehension.

Meanwhile, be kind to your DoorDashers and store clerks.

I‘ve found that the „high expectations“ were acutely stressful because they were concealed: there was no way to match them. This story wonderfully expresses the dread of trying to guess what’s expected of you by an employer. Yes, a middling wage might be more sustainable when it’s compensating obvious work tasks that demographically average people can perform.

This was a compelling story for me to read, after leaving a tech job so abusive that I didn’t work full-time for five years. When you envy the cashier at the minimart for their ostensibly more straightforward work day, it’s time to resign. I appreciate that the author found humor in so many inexplicable details of typical corporate office life.

I have lingering bitterness for the irresponsible New Math experiment in my elementary education. I couldn't tell time on an analog clock until I was 12, thanks to the blithe dismissal of "rote" multiplication tasks.

It's disappointing that California's Bureau for Private and Post-Secondary Education (BPPE) continued to approve this boot camp. I thought the rationale for creating the bureau was to discourage scams in job training.

There's a short book that covers this period of British computing history: Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing, by Mar Hicks.

It's more history than sociology, though the title suggests otherwise. There are interesting anecdotes from women who worked from the 1940s-1970s for British intelligence, the General Post Office, and, yes, Dame Steve Shirley.

The Conspirituality podcast episode "Coaches Coaching Coaches" discusses how the wholly unregulated "life coaching" trend operates very much like network marketing, and cons buyers with similar claims to freedom from wage work.

What seems constant is how many people dislike being employees.

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/coaches-coaching-co...

There's a fascinating podcast series about this place, which goes more into depth about its problem with land sale fraud: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/890392491/california-city

Of course it's the CxOs who tout their companies' onsite "culture"--they're not the ones crammed into open-plan, surveilled work stations, discouraged from leaving for non-work appointments, and subjected to mandatory social events.

Given even the relatively modest perks of the last onsite C-suite I worked with, hell, I'd be in the office too.

My parents had a similar experience in their idyllic exurb, where affluent retirees can afford lengthy home renovation projects. A neighbor's multi-car garage had noticeable traffic to and fro, on a country road in a small town where everybody seems to know each other's vehicles. It turns out the contractor was dealing heroin from the garage. I think the scheme worked for as long as it did because, like your case, nobody suspected anything like that in such a location.

This. The large numbers of Chinese citizens graduating from US, UK, and Australian universities will be more appealing hires for work in PRC.

It's already difficult to attend California's public universities as a state resident; the more popular campuses prefer nonresidents/international students because they pay full price. No-tuition residents will be even less desired by admissions offices.

There's an intriguing line in this article that I wish were explored further: what is the role of increasing liability and insurance costs in the withdrawal from public amenities?

Glad to see this channel promoted (am not associated with it).

What had been an entertaining hate-watch of stupid McMansions for overpriced sale is now an empathetic, disturbing examination of how Americans can abruptly fall into poverty once they're old, chronically ill, or facing domestic abuse.

And I wonder if this 1975 story inspired A Zed and Two Noughts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Zed_&_Two_Noughts)

If companies were truly desperate for developers, they'd strive to retain the older, experienced ones already in the business, who usually offer the benefit of uncomplicated legal status.

It's great how the copy sustains the mood of nonsensical good cheer: "Life is rich and sweet and good and healthy like a warm, soothing, scented essential oils massage in a steamy hot~springs bath~house ~* Aspen, Alice, Alpine"

Imagine refreshing FuckedCompany.com manually (no browser capacity for async fetch yet) to see which lavish VC-funded money laundering scheme in South of Market would now have tumbleweeds blowing past the empty Aeron chairs. This was my everyday for over a year, until I got a public sector job and could stop the era's equivalent of doomscrolling.

Yes, we came back. Nobody learned from the experience.

I spent my freshman year of high school in rural Kentucky. Many of my classmates lived on tobacco farms. We had a _student_ smoking lounge at school!

I wonder how this tactic works with people in arranged marriages: for? Against?

I still love this line in that source: ` var realStartupsThatAskedToBeRemoved `.......

> why women often make the best spies for our times

When I worked as a secretary, I was amazed at how unguarded men are in front of women in the workplace, particularly those of us in lower status roles. They seemed to think we had no capacity for thought or language, and were safe background decor for any conversation. I really worry that foreign service clerical staff are treated appropriately.

Can't tell if this is snark, but gotta hand it to the Twitter Bootstrap project for making off-the-shelf CSS libraries acceptable.

After twenty years of daily wine drinking, I woke up feeling terrible and looking worse, and just--quit. I was curious how things would proceed if I just didn't drink alcohol. I put a hash mark on my office whiteboard, and wondered how many I could accumulate.

It's been five years of complete abstinence. I didn't join any programs or make any noise about quitting; I just quit. I don't miss a thing about drinking.

I think I was successful because I made it simple. I didn't try to taper or wrestle with the conflicting formulas for "moderate" drinking. It helps that there's increased awareness of "sober curiosity," and more consideration for those of us not drinking at social occasions.

You've already been able to quit, so next time, just extend the duration--maybe it'll be forever.

In some counties, this could lead to physical harm to those poll workers: https://archive.ph/fGn0r

I have many coworkers with English as their next languages. I feel terrible for them when they use phrases like these, innocently assuming they're becoming more sophisticated in their usage of English.

Private health insurance can be extremely expensive, especially if you have a chronic illness, or are over age 40. I buy my own as a freelancer; the monthly premiums for even a basic plan are extortionate. There are government subsidies for lower income people, but many tech freelancers earn too much to qualify.

Walked outdoors in the sunshine.