My father has been a salesman his whole career. A few years ago he was fired from a job where he grew the market for a particular product from $8 million to $25 million. They decided they didn't need him anymore. I figured that given what he did at the company, the numbers would speak for themselves and he'd have no trouble getting a new job. Instead what happened was that he was unemployed for a couple years, then underemployed.

After almost two years jobless, he interviewed for a job that seemed pretty good, and took it really hard when he didn't get it. Watching one's father go through this is traumatic. (Not to mention what it was like for him.) I mean, this is a smart, hardworking guy whose work made money. And none of that made a god damn difference. Why should I expect my future to look different, at all?

I think a lot of us still haven't woken up to the way things are now - it seems like you just never know what is going to happen, tomorrow your goose may be cooked. And the reason why doesn't have to make sense, at all. It's hard to have hope for the future this way. One day, I'll be considered to be too old to write code. And that will be that.