leeroihe

Have you built pc's before or mostly relied on rented VPS'? Sometimes enterprise grade hardware like this can be quite a bit more involved / frustrating than just putting together a normal gaming machine.

Why does anyone over 22 "compete" in hackathons?.... you're literally just giving shareholders and clout seekers work for free...

Over 50% of h1b visas issued in tech went to indian h1b's - no it's not an issue that's equivalent in the entertainment industry.

You have to pay U.S. customs with a U.S. bank account - specifically to hold funds in escrow.

Developing ways for businesses to conduct transactions in the U.S. and more easily extract remittances without a tax id or bank account that's a part of the U.S. banking system is beyond stupid and borderline criminal.

Why on earth would you spend this kind of money on an apt you don't even own?

How is this not hilariously illegal? This is also a great way to walk into dozens of egregious customs violations if you use slash and happen to import physical goods in the united states for sale or distribution.

Nobody wants any of this...

This is almost as bad as all of the AI powered resume skimming tools / applicant submission tools. It just makes it impossible for anyone to apply for a job.

AI is for people and it's only being used to kick people onto the street and profit.

Getting a job lol

They want an omnipresent, lobotomized and defeated underclass who only exists to "respond" to the ai to continue to improve it. This is basically what alexander wang from Scale AI explained at a recent talk which was frankly terrifying.

Your UBI will be controlled by the government, you will have even less agency than you currently have and a hyper elite will control the thinking machines. But don't worry, the elite and the government are looking out for your best interest!

The best heuristic is what people are realizing happened with uncheck "skilled" immigration in places like canada (and soon the U.S.). Everyone was sold that we "need these workers" because nobody was willing to work and that they added to GDP. When in reality, there's now significant evidence that all these new arrivals did was put a net drain on welfare, devalue the labor of endemic citizens (regardless of race - in many cases affecting endemic minorities MORE) and in the end, just reduced cost while degrading companies who did this.

We will wake up in 5 yrs to find we replaced people for a dependence on a handful of companies that serve llms and make inference chips. Its beyond dystopian.

I used to be a big proponent of AI tools and llms, even built products around them. But to be honest, with all of the big AI ceos promising that they're going to "replace all white collar jobs" I can't see that they want what's best for the country or the american people. It's legitimately despicable and ghoulish that they just expect everyone to "adapt" to the downstream affects of their knowledge-machine lock-in.

It's hard to explain how diametrically different the playing field is now. In most cases it's not "AI" it's just systemic replacement of Americans because they're "too expensive". Which basically just means more yacht money for executives at the altar of infinite GDP growth.

Both sides are complicit as well. It's not just the left but in current times even more so the right. The right won't shut up about deporting "illegals" but has created even more opportunities for H1B's to flood in and no disincentive for corporates to outsource. Canada already has laws that act as "tariffs" for offshoring labor - we desperately need awareness first and unified action.

What is happening now to knowledge work in the U.S. is what happened to factory jobs in the 90s.

$90k (per annum) minimum.

I previously lived in new york for four years - but you're not wrong.

I'm hoping for a remote or hybrid gig. If I could find something in Portland Maine that would be amazing - but I doubt there's much opportunity there for SWE's.

These seem to have the most opportunity and most optionality. I've considered austin, but it seems pretty dead. Vastly prefer east coast.

This is generally my take as well. I have a few friends who switched into the trades and realized that in modern times, cheap foreign labor and PE has done a number on the trades. Many of them also lamented that although their bosses were good - many ppl in the trades still treat coworkers like garbage and engage in blue collar hazing. It's not everyone but I just have no patience for that stuff.

I've lived in non target locales before and I like them - but I think I want to meet my wife before fully bugging out. SF dating is atrocious so I'm amicable to the idea of being in NYC for a bit.

I really appreciate your thoughts here - I'll send my cv your way.

I'd say my strong-suit is in vaguely defined zero to one work and scale out for more sharply scoped functionality. That said, if you ask me to write a react app from scratch, I'm likely just going to lean on cursor / claude to do the boilerplate and hop in when I need to make sure things are surgically correct.

Curious what kind of companies I'd reach out to for these roles?

I'm looking into some sales and "analyst" roles. The biggest hurdle appears to be them being confused why I'm leaving tech if it's "such a great field" and lacking directly applicable experience. I've had a few breakthroughs though.

Frankly, I'm okay with anything around $75k for now. I only made $30k last year and the exit package (as a founder) is held up in some litigation currently. All I want is to pay off some credit card debt and be able to sleep well for a few weeks.

That's the plan for now - if I found a job with decent enough salary I'd more than consider returning to New York where the culture is more sane and people do... anything other than just tech.

It's sad because SF is such a beautiful and culturally rich city. A deeply spiritual place in terms of it's geography. Unfortunately, the vibe always felt off to me - almost like someone had ripped out some part of the soul of the city. It feels like an economic zone many only travel to in order to extract money.

I'll be sad to leave SF, but frankly I couldn't see myself being happy here long-term.

Idk how long it would take me to be interview ready - I know it's not a great look and above all it's really embarrassing... but leetcode seems like a waste of time and side projects seem like the only way to prep for non-leetcode pairing sessions where they always expect you to know all the bindings / syntax like the back of your hand.

Unfortunately, I don't really want to consider contract work. I largely want a consistent paycheck I can count on.

I'm working on this - but frankly most of these companies appear to have off-shored their roles or stop responding when they realize I'm not on H1B. Sometimes I think because I'm a black man they think I'm an immigrant that they can hire more cheaply. It's happened on numerous occasions before.

I've actually thought quite a bit about being an arborist. I've always kept trees at a few friends places and really enjoy the ecology aspect. That said, I don't want to live at or around the poverty line like I did while I was a founder at a prev startup only making $40k post tax. I'm just not about that life anymore.

Somehow they feel more degrading than usual - I'm fully open about the fact that my ability to "write from memory" has atrophied and many engineers are just better than me. It's just wild that to get a half decent job I have to do things like implement json parsers from scratch in 20 min...

Haha, cool to see someone else who's done lots of work with Elixir! Most of my early career was building elixir for fintech companies.

Not sure that I'm ready to leave the U.S. yet - currently that would probably push my stress over the edge. Fortunately, I've never really gotten that much out of material things or clout chasing. That said, money is money and money gives you options.

That said, I solidly do not have any interest engaging in SF culture any longer. Frankly I find it kind of pathetic and entertaining.

I want to prioritize my life and find another GF (had a breakup about a year ago). Relationships (friends or otherwise) have always given me more than stupid startup clout, which has always proven to be single dimensional or fake.

Really appreciate the kind words. If I could make money doing it, I'd love to be an arborist in the east coast.

My resume seems too fragmented for eng management roles, same odd hurdle for product. The few bites I've gotten have all been technical product roles - which actually makes a lot of sense.

Part of what also drove me to hate SF is how so much of "business" there is entirely fake. It's vapid and disgusting.

Might take some time to see friends as well - I've just had a few very exciting years making ok money with very little consistency and all I want now is a normal job that maybe pays $140k or so. I don't feel like that's insane either - the notion that being able to pay for an apt food and a car is "entitlement" in 2025 is ridiculous.

but thanks for your kind words.