devnulled

I highly recommend switching to something more like Arq and then using whatever backend storage that you want. There are probably some other open source ways to do it, etc, but Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI to easily configure/keep track of what is going on.

Maybe there's something newer/better now (and I bought lifetime licenses of it long ago), but it works for me.

That said, I use Arq + Backblaze storage and I think my monthly bill is very low, like under $5. Though I haven't backed-up much media there yet, but I do have control over what is being backed-up.

My secret is out.

Mise is the best.

If you are a stickler about automation, easily repeatable system state, and being able to bootstrap new projects without having to eff around with the crap show of Ruby/Python/Node envs and how every person likes to use different tools for setting those up, or even just making it simple to have repeatable envs for go and rust, its great. Especially because you can do it without getting Docker/containerd involved.

Works great for getting a basic repeatable CI type build up and running without having to get CI or a big build system involved. Those are the right tools in the right situations, but for small teams or personal projects, I'm not going through the hassle and JVM dependencies of Bazel, Gradle, etc.

I also use it to manage my local system tools in my dotfiles (in combination with chezmoi).

If you think of it more of in the context of making it easy for people other than you and your bespoke machine to bootstrap a project, that's where it really shines. The toml config is very simple for people to understand.

I use it because I want people to be able to get projects up and running quickly without having to comb through an outdated README, trying to deal with all of the different ways people like to install and use non-compiled languages, etc. Managing anything Node/Ruby/Python is all annoying.

Taskfile is so much better. mise is what actually got me to start switching everything to Taskfile instead of Makefile as mise easily handles bootstrapping Taskfile and anything else you would need.

Had been using make for simple tasks for ~8 years and just got tired of how limiting it is.

Yes, they usually are.

The sweet spot is to find a company developing a new product or something of the sort.

Where I work now I started on a new product that was young, and since moving on from that project, we have replaced many legacy applications/products. I've done my longest employment stint (4 years) of my career because it's been my best job at this point.

I guess my startup experiences were different. In one startup I worked at, I learned A LOT about data, databases, JDBC, connection pooling, JVM tuning, etc, because the volumes of data and we were working with were just unheard of at the time and the traffic to that data was not cacheable. I had to disassemble a vendors JDBC driver and tell them why it crashed all the time for instance.

In another, it was lots of JVM knowledge (both threading and memory management/garbage collection), caching, distributing work which needed to be calculated, etc. We found several JVM thread locking bugs and worked with Sun to fix them. I worked with some really great people in their 40's at this one and learned a lot from them.

I suppose the majority of startups are different these days though? Mostly RoR and Node based social things. The biggest worry is if the Facebook Like and Share buttons work.

If you are working somewhere that is only a CRUD website at it's core and doesn't have anything else going on, I suppose there isn't much to learn on the backend side of things.

I have been a Software Engineer in the field for around 18 years and have worked at numerous companies.. I've been employee #1, and have also worked at a company with around 100K employees across the globe.

I haven't yet been a founder, but I've been at 3 startups which have been acquired. At this stage in my career, if compensation is your primary concern, my opinion and experience is that your best bet is a bigger company who offers stock as part of your compensation somehow. I've definitely made more at a bigger companies than I have as an employee of successful startups with liquidation events.

However, when I was younger, startups were a great place to get interesting experience and network with some great people. I'd recommend working at them if you are in your twenties, or founding one if you have the right personality and backup plans for that. I'm in my mid 30's and would be relatively hesitant to be an employee of startup in its early days now.

You also need to consider if it's a true startup, or just a smaller mom and pop lifestyle type company which is not growing like crazy. The latter is probably better for someone like me, but a quality startup in your 20's is something you'll look back on fondly no matter how much it may have sucked at the time. It's a roller coaster ride but you'll get great experience and have a great network of people to know when you get older.

Keep in mind I'm speaking as an employee-- a founder of a startup is a totally different thing.