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I spent many years loving around and travelling in my 20s and am currently early 30s and happy being a boring salary man. I wonder, people who get burned out or feel the need to take an extended break from work: did you start working full time immediately after college? I wonder if that's a factor.
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Jul 6, 2023 23:55
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Also regarding 4 day work weeks, I personally think working 4/5 of the time would make me roughly 4/5 as productive. Although maybe those days where I don't want to get out of bed and work for only 3 hours would happen less frequently. Maybe I'd be 4.5/5 as productive? It's hard to imagine 8 hours less work each week would be made up by being "fresher" though.... Are there any software companies doing 4 day work weeks?
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Jul 7, 2023 00:02
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awesomeolion posted:I wonder, people who get burned out or feel the need to take an extended break from work: did you start working full time immediately after college? I wonder if that's a factor. Yep. Graduated on a Friday, showed up for work on a Monday, got handed a company cellphone that I was expected to answer 24/7 even on vacation.
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Jul 7, 2023 00:05
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awesomeolion posted:Also regarding 4 day work weeks, I personally think working 4/5 of the time would make me roughly 4/5 as productive. Although maybe those days where I don't want to get out of bed and work for only 3 hours would happen less frequently. Maybe I'd be 4.5/5 as productive? the point of a 4-day work week isn't to make you more productive, it's to work one less day a week
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Jul 7, 2023 00:45
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Doktor Avalanche posted:the point of a 4-day work week isn't to make you more productive, it's to work one less day a week ya that part sounds great!
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Jul 7, 2023 02:04
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ultrafilter posted:You need to have a social life while you're not working. If you have good circles outside of work, that's not an issue, but otherwise you really need to work on that for the time off to work. It doesn't have to be much, but I don't know anyone who really deals well with prolonged isolation.  I took off ~6 months in my 20s and explicitly spent time meeting random people. I guess looking back, it was important time for personal growth.
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Jul 7, 2023 03:53
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awesomeolion posted:I wonder, people who get burned out or feel the need to take an extended break from work: did you start working full time immediately after college? I wonder if that's a factor. My wife graduated from college at 22 with a job starting on Monday like the other guy, worked there at the same company for 15 years straight, never had a vacation longer than 2 weeks in a row. The six month sabbatical was very much welcomed by her I think in academia they recommend 6 months every 7 years which is probably about right (on top of regular vacation) Prior to covid we were taking two international trips a year which felt like a good balance, one big trip in the summer, and a smaller shorter trip to some random city in Latin America (inland, far away from a beach) in either October or January that seemed to provide a good mental reset from the home environment
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Jul 7, 2023 05:12
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Falcon2001 posted:FWIW: I also generally recommend folks just in general talk to a therapist semi-regularly. They're not going to be able to prescribe drugs/etc, but talk therapy has absolutely been a huge thing for me on a bunch of levels. You gotta find someone you click with, but I've been in therapy for the last 8 years or so and the folks in this thread should be able to afford it for the most part. It's not just for like 'I have severe trauma to deal with' but a lot of just daily burnout stuff is useful to talk through. I talk to my dog, she gets me.
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Jul 7, 2023 08:01
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Falcon2001 posted:FWIW: I also generally recommend folks just in general talk to a therapist semi-regularly. They're not going to be able to prescribe drugs/etc, but talk therapy has absolutely been a huge thing for me on a bunch of levels. You gotta find someone you click with, but I've been in therapy for the last 8 years or so and the folks in this thread should be able to afford it for the most part. It's not just for like 'I have severe trauma to deal with' but a lot of just daily burnout stuff is useful to talk through. This is good advice. I just talk to mine a few times a year now but during covid when my anxiety was really bad talk therapy helped me a lot. I still deal with anxiety but I have better tools for dealing with it now. awesomeolion posted:Also regarding 4 day work weeks, I personally think working 4/5 of the time would make me roughly 4/5 as productive. Although maybe those days where I don't want to get out of bed and work for only 3 hours would happen less frequently. Maybe I'd be 4.5/5 as productive? I had a 4 day work week in summer of 2020 as basically an apology for the fact that we were very frequently not getting paid on time and I don't think I saw any real drop off in productivity. The real killer to my productivity isn't days when I'm not working at all, it's days when I'm "working" but actually just f5ing SA, Twitter, and now Threads and putting off starting on my tasks. I did way less of that when I had a 4 day work week. If I can get myself to actually just turn on my content blockers and notification blockers and put on the right drum n bass playlist and actually get to work I can get A LOT done. But first I have some other threads (and Threads) to catch up on.
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Jul 7, 2023 14:24
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prom candy posted:The real killer to my productivity isn't days when I'm not working at all, it's days when I'm "working" but actually just f5ing SA, Twitter, and now Threads and putting off starting on my tasks. I did way less of that when I had a 4 day work week. This. My first job where I worked in an office that didn’t have to bullshit 40 hours a week as a group was very freeing lol. Realizing I could show up at 7:30, get my poo poo done, have a 90 minute lunch and leave at 3:30 to avoid traffic was incredible 40 hour weeks don’t mean I get more done usually, I’m just doing way more loving around on my phone to fill time
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Jul 7, 2023 14:56
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I happily take a 32-hour week instead of a 4 day week. Remote basically enables this. I might check Slack periodically up until 5pm, but I mostly make my own hours.
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Jul 7, 2023 17:22
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I have a technical screening coming up for a Software engineering manager position on the cloud hardware side. Can anyone recommend resources on what to expect? It looks like the screening is with someone on the cloud hardware team, so hopefully it's relevant stuff, but if I need to brush up on sorting algorithm complexity for a job where I manage the BIOS team, I'd at least like to know.
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Jul 7, 2023 18:15
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prom candy posted:This is good advice. I just talk to mine a few times a year now but during covid when my anxiety was really bad talk therapy helped me a lot. I still deal with anxiety but I have better tools for dealing with it now. Yeah, I can't recommend it enough, because just having a time every week or so to have to focus on your life and talk through things is really valuable in my experience. Sometimes it's helped me work through work problems too; I was having a hard time with my skip level and talking through it helped sort through 'stuff that was unique to my personal trauma that I was being unreasonable about' and 'stuff that was legitimate business concerns'.
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Jul 7, 2023 20:02
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Man, I'm having an actual mid-life crisis. So, background here is: - Had a stressful FAANG job, quit it back in 2019, decided to take a break by doing indie gamedev for 6 months to a year or so - COVID hit, decided I didn't want to job hunt during a pandemic, kept working on the game because it was fun - Launched the game in February of this year, and on a related note I was completely exhausted - Took a couple of months off to recover, started a job hunt, it went nowhere fast - Fiddled around with a ludicrously ambitious procedural generation project in my copious spare time - Turned 40 years old - Reviewed my finances and realized that actually if I moved somewhere cheaper (like, "CA to not CA" cheaper, not "CA to undeveloped country" cheaper) I could retire So like, boo hoo, what a terrible problem to have. But also: my motivation is shot to poo poo. Since I realized that I could retire, I've been just sitting around playing videogames, watching YouTube, and browsing real estate listings. I did 1 carpentry project (making a custom game controller for playing Street Fighter 6) and I'm still doing basic maintenance stuff, but by and large, I'm idle. I think a big part of it is simply that I've spent the last 20+ years of my life trying to reach this stage, and all of my long-term planning was in some way dedicated to that. Yes, even the indie gamedev; I was well aware that it was a poor-odds gamble, but there remained the possibility that the game could take off and push my financial situation further along. So...any advice on figuring out how to structure your life once your life project is accomplished?
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Jul 7, 2023 20:21
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First off, congratulations, both on a cool game, and on reaching a goal many of us can only hope to reach any time soon. I think talking to your close friends and/or a therapist along with time for structured self-reflection is generally seen as the best ways to figure out what you want from life. What do you value? How can you add value to the lives of people you do and don't know, both present and future? That's really what it boils down to. Anything from volunteering to art to gardening to actually working a job that you think it's worth doing can be valid answers, but we can't provide those for you. E: for what it's worth I have been continually working since my studies and never took more than a couple of weeks off, with two 6-week exceptions that I still feel did more to help me grow than almost anything else I've done in that time. So there's always both the fear of not knowing what I would even do with myself if I ever didn't have a job, and the wistful wondering what I could and would do. Osmosisch fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Jul 7, 2023 |
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Jul 7, 2023 20:31
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Man, I'm having an actual mid-life crisis. So, background here is: Boo hoo, trade lives with me. Serious response: if you're into self help books, I found Designing Your Life to be really helpful in planning out my last big life/career change.
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Jul 7, 2023 20:50
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sounds like waves of steel needs some dlcs
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Jul 7, 2023 20:55
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:So...any advice on figuring out how to structure your life once your life project is accomplished? Make more life projects
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Jul 7, 2023 21:52
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:So...any advice on figuring out how to structure your life once your life project is accomplished? Walking and observing (without media in your ears) is a great way to reflect on things around you and how you feel about them. This could be as simple as walking around your neighborhood, going on a hike, distance running, or walking around a new city all day. Without other inputs your brain will do its thing and fill with thoughts and feelings. Reading thought provoking material is a way to see reflection. Whatever your speed and attention is I'm sure there is something out there - pop psych books, classical philosophy, current events magazines. Reading at your own pace gives your brain room in a way that watching the news or a documentary does not. If you are social go to a place where you can meet and chat with strangers and expose yourself to new points of view. A local coffee shop or pub that isn't too loud and gets a diverse age range is a good place to chat up people. If you are not social then even SA can count as long as you are open to new ideas and not just seeking validation or hanging out in chat threads. Hopefully taking this kind of space will let you feel a pull in a new direction.
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Jul 7, 2023 22:03
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Man, I'm having an actual mid-life crisis. So, background here is: https://youtu.be/U88jj6PSD7w https://youtube.com/shorts/Q71X_y4k4HA Get a new project. It doesn't have to be the end all be all, but a life without work is no life at all.
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Jul 7, 2023 22:09
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I attended a lecture one time from a Professor who did research on retirement, and what he found was pretty interesting: There's a solid split of folks who are happy to just chillax in retirement and take it nice and easy, sit on their porch, and enjoy their lives vs folks who need to have a project or a 'job', and it's not necessarily tied to your personality in your career either. Some classic TypeA folks just hit retirement and BAM, vacations and taking it easy, other folks that never were driven suddenly find themselves having to have something to fill their time. A lot of folks he interviewed called themselves retired, despite working 40 hours a week at some job or another. One guy in particular was a construction supervisor. The professor asked him 'If you work 50 hours a week, why do you think of yourself as retired?" and his answer was "Because if I wanted to, I could just stop showing up tomorrow!" Definitely agreeing with folks who say to talk to a therapist because this is some CLASSIC therapy discussion and I guarantee there's therapists in your general area that have either dealt with this sort of thing or specialize in it and it can do you a lot of good to reflect in a structured way. But also on a higher level note: The goal of retirement should be to do what you want to do, not to just stop working. If you want to keep working, then you can do it on your terms. I'll probably work until I can't anymore, but you bet your rear end when I retire it won't be for a FAANG. Edit: Honestly the meme that your retirement should always be a wholly self-centered endeavor about just vacationing or sitting at home and not being part of society is kind of deeply hosed up and says a lot about how hosed up our relationship with labor is in the modern era. Not to say that isn't a wholly viable option, but I don't see anything wrong with continuing to be part of improving the world after retirement, as long as you can do it on your terms and you don't have to be forced into wage slavery until you die. Falcon2001 fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jul 7, 2023 |
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Jul 7, 2023 23:53
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Thanks for the thoughts and advice, y'all. And thanks for not being dicks about it. I am 100% aware that I'm in an unusual and extremely fortunate position. When I was working on Waves of Steel, I could easily envision myself doing game dev for the rest of my life. ...the process of launching the game, though, was extremely draining, and I worry that I suffered some degree of permanent (or very-long-term) damage from it. Some variant of depression has been a thorn in my side all my life, anyway, and right now is definitely a low point. Like Falcon said, classic material for therapy.
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Jul 8, 2023 00:28
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FIRE doesn't always mean complete retirement. I know a guy who's financially independent and works 3 days a week at a charity. He doesn't need to, but says he gets incredibly bored if he doesn'tand it makes him feel good doing it. If I ever get to a similar spot I'd do the same. I get bored after even a week off work.
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Jul 8, 2023 11:31
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Look into charity or volunteer work. That lets you do something that feels important and makes it a lot easier to contribute on your terms than work does.
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Jul 8, 2023 15:51
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Financial independence sounds like a worthy goal, early retirement not so much. It helps to have life give you not just a goal to follow, but a poke in the rear end to get you going. If I ever started making enough money that I didn’t have to work, I’d just do lower key, more flexible, and more engaging work. If that happened to be charity and volunteering, all the better.
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Jul 8, 2023 17:20
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ryanrs posted:I'm 43 and pretty sick of software, so I'm trying to slide over into electronic design, which I've been doing for a long time as a hobby. Lately I've been saying I want to be a "full stack developer", i.e. circuit design through firmware, heh. Oh god, it's happening! I have an interview tomorrow with the hiring manager re. a system architect role. The req stresses EE and physics, and I know they are specifically focused on audio latency. I do have background in this area, from working on videoconferencing software (specifically echo cancellation and network jitter buffer). "System architect" sounds very senior, but maybe it's not? Like, it's obviously not the head architect of the entire product. I think it's more like "understand our audio latency performance at a system level, from physical microphone to speaker". Where are all the buffers? I can talk about that stuff on the fly, so that's good. I'm pretty sure this is R&D exploration, not direct work on a shipping product. I really hope it's more prototyping and experimenting, that is really fun. still, "System Architect" sounds awfully important, ha ha
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Jul 11, 2023 02:12
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That sounds neat! Good luck!
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Jul 11, 2023 02:28
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plus the req says they will pay me in money, which is better than the deal I got at this last startup
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Jul 11, 2023 02:53
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Awesome, good luck to you! Being paid in money is definitely one of my favorite parts of any job
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Jul 11, 2023 03:31
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My interview with the hiring manager was excellent, a lot of fun! The type of work his group does aligns quite closely with my own hobby projects (prototypes, hardware demos). We pretty much spent the entire time jabbering about electronics and microcontrollers. Since a lot of my projects are personal (i.e. not under corporate NDA), I could talk in detail and show examples of my work. Leaving this interview, I'm a lot more confident of grabbing this job. Also discovered the hiring manager lives 5 minutes from my electronics lab / workshop. Gonna see if I can get him to stop by for a visit sometime.
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Jul 12, 2023 01:48
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Has anyone else seen this trend lately? Recruiters asking for resume before scheduling a call now? Haven't seen this behavior before Usually they'll agree to a call, and then ask for resume after. Now they're asking for resume up front
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Jul 13, 2023 20:59
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poo poo's terrible right now. Got laid off 6 weeks ago and I've only managed 3 phone screens after 150 applications. Two years ago, I was turning down interviews because I had too many! Recruiters are tightening up who they spend time talking to.
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Jul 13, 2023 21:01
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That's not great news since the manager whose hobby it was to make his team look good at the expense of mine just got promoted to director at my job and I'm starting to feel for a way out.
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Jul 13, 2023 21:12
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This market situation is the exact reason I stockpiled my earnings.
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Jul 13, 2023 21:53
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cum jabbar posted:poo poo's terrible right now. Got laid off 6 weeks ago and I've only managed 3 phone screens after 150 applications. Two years ago, I was turning down interviews because I had too many! *counts how many applications I've done in the last 6 weeks* 
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Jul 13, 2023 22:34
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I don’t think I’ve done 150 applications in my entire life. Doubt I’m even at 50, and that’s including pre-programming jobs.
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Jul 13, 2023 23:00
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My biggest worry is the resume gap I'm going to develop at this rate. I am working in a lot of self learning between the job applications but you can't plug a resume gap with that.
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Jul 13, 2023 23:42
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but you can plug it with $30 spent on a DBA application sent to your local business office or w/e. surely you know some people who need an app, or website, or something.
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Jul 13, 2023 23:48
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wash bucket posted:*counts how many applications I've done in the last 6 weeks* Any calls?
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Jul 13, 2023 23:52
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cum jabbar posted:Any calls? No. Though based on what you said I should be applying to even more jobs per week than I already am. Which feels astonishing because I'm already to the point where I'm just checking jobs sites every day and applying to whatever popped up in the last 24 hours. To ramp up from here I'd either need to start applying for jobs I'm flat out unqualified for or start applying to obvious crypto scammer outfits and the like. Achmed Jones posted:but you can plug it with $30 spent on a DBA application sent to your local business office or w/e. surely you know some people who need an app, or website, or something. I get what you're suggesting but no I actually don't know anyone like that. So I'd need to figure out how to do freelance work and then how to go out and find said work. Over a decade of salaried jobs hasn't really given me much small business acumen.
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Jul 14, 2023 00:19
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