mbielski

We'd just go back to business as usual: Slow change on a stupidly old tech stack that we keep getting blocked from actually moving away from due to higher-ups getting a bee in their bonnet about the latest great idea they have. As long as my check cashes I DGAF, but having the AI has made it nice.

Yep, laid off at the beginning of August after just over 2 months at the company. They staffed up to "totally redo the front end" and 2 months later cut us all loose, saying that they were not going to do the project after all. Normally I bounce back from things like this no problem, but in this super dry job market even the recruiters have stopped calling me for 3-month contracts that are 4 states away and require me to be on-site.

As an employee I found that the topics varied depending upon the current workload and stress level associated with it. If it was easy, quiet times we'd just shoot the breeze for a few and then call it good. If things were totally nuts they ended up being brainstorming sessions. The in-between times were when I made sure that my supervisor knew what my career goals were and how I was setting about reaching them when time allowed.

As a manager I schedule them once per month with my team and for 30 minutes and don't stress if they run short or long. It is their time to tell me about anything that they need to talk about. Most times we have a short, 15-minute chat and call it good. Last month I had one dev tell me that they were stressed beyond belief, not sleeping well, not eating well, and not happy. I've made sure to keep in touch with that one more often and provide help where I can (lower stress issues, mention company programs, etc.) IMO weekly gets old really fast and the manager should be able to recognize that and adjust accordingly. You do that for new people (like yourself) until they get settled in and are working as expected on code. After that you dial the meetings back gradually until they are as unobtrusive as possible but still within company requirements.

There are a few key points that you are missing that are worth pointing out:

1) Have your resume redone by a professional. You're obviously trainable and dedicated. A good resume will enhance these things. You don't need to pay huge amounts for this service. Good ones start at just about $100.

2) Don't try to apply for jobs that are drastically above your skillset, especially if you are trying to change careers. Skills in knowing what things to put in each spot on internal forms are tough if not impossible to translate to tech or any other industry. Skills in recognizing where processes can be improved or streamlined translate better. Your resume should highlight and omit the right things. Instead, target positions where you have ~80% of the required skills already and are in the process of learning the other 20%.

3) Consider starting a side business. If you look around there are countless small things that can be done on the side for decent money. Some can even be done with only a smartphone. Others just require a computer. This _could_ end up being more lucrative than a degree for the same amount of investment. The one warning here is don't fall for any "get rich quick" schemes. If it sounds too good to be true, it very likely is. Once you decide to do something, realize that it may take time to build up the income stream. 4-6 months is fast. 9-12 months is more common. If you want to make this about the skills that you are trying to learn then all the better.

Ageism is real, and it is a real pain. I have an AS and 21 years in software and my last round of job searching (this time last year) was brutal.

Interesting, fun. Would be a good idea to put a Settings option in the Start menu so that we could change things like bank interest rate (4% is nuts, nearly everything in the US is .01%) and the currency type, among other things.

I'm doing roughly the same thing, but just starting out. The focus is on real estate and business ownership. How long did it take you to get to the RE point?

I have a rental house that does not cover the mortgage on it. Real estate investing is where I am focusing, but I also have two software projects that I am working on in addition to my regular job. Not a lot gets done on either one these days.

I had to boil it down to the key indicators that mentally tell me that I am at work: shoes on and sitting at a separate computer. Therefore, each workday I get up at the regular time, shower, shave, etc. When I get dressed for work I make sure to put my shoes on and then walk down the hall to my office and sit at my work computer. At the end of the day I shut down the work computer, walk back down the hall, and take my shoes off. Everything during my workday is work-focused. Everything between workdays never touches that computer. I've been WFH full time for nearly 5 years and prior to the office jobs before that I was WFH full time for another 5 years. No, I am not due to change jobs. I will not go back to an office, ever.

A good old fashioned "corporate re-structuring" will also suffice for #4. While you are at it, cut pay by some percentage that just barely keeps the workers at their job and force budget cuts that systematically strip people of the tools that they need to do their work.

I am escaping at the end of this month when I move into the house that I grew up in, situated on 1.5 ac in Northern California. It's on a hilltop on a private road. The peace and quiet will be refreshing after years of living in the noisy suburbs. The only problem is getting a strong enough internet connection. So far, the best I can get is 6/1 DSL. After years of 100+/5+ that hurts more than you realize!