355 karma · joined June 4, 2022
What can I say. At least I moved from net-bad jobs (lotteries) to net-neutral ones (networking). That's the best I managed.
Is yours a bullshit job as per the definition in the famous article? Can't tell. Maybe it's more a case of alienation from the end product.
Camera-on is simply very close to a black-mirror cringe-zone where I don't want to be.
Best
e.g.
>> I've got 30 domains and I've only done something awesome with 3 of them. Sometimes when I log into my DNS manager I just see 27 failures
So, I'm sorry but yes you do seem phony after all.
(1) Which (outputs) are another bitter story since we are building on top of legacy code that is working with side effects from head to toes. But let's not touch this can of worms.
I've come to the conclusion that good people is the rarest asset in any office job.
Yet, it is a numbers game. Just keep at it and maybe change your focus a bit. E.g. if you target startups leave them aside and focus on banks or health sector. Pivot around.
A lesser coworker who does not rock the boat and pulls some amount of work (specially the rote kind of it) is seen as the best option.
+1
In general, I've learned to listen to people who actually do something rather than people writing books and giving shows about that something.
* Alan Watts (many talks in youtube). Dunno why but he has a soothing effect on me.
* A minor natural calming pill helps with the sleep. Sleep helps with everything.
* Some form of mild exercise.
* GETTING HELP if you're leaning in any way to self-harm.
* Someone to talk to.
* Giving myself time. As in "feck this. I'm giving myself time off".
* Get in the mentality that yourself is a buddy in need. Someone that you should help. Gives you some perspective.
* Stoicism (not my cup of tea but a friend swears by stoics).
* Mindfulness. No need to be a guru. Just realize to a minimal degree that you are not your thoughts. You are not even your feelings. I can argue you're not even the guy/gal that wakes up and does what you do. You're that weird something watching all these things from within. Again this will give you some perspective and distance.
* Realize that there is people out there dealing with much worse sh_t than whatever you're dealing. Watch out though. This line of thought is only useful to get you some perspective. Do not get too far with this as it is counterproductive.
* No matter how static your state seems right now one thing is for sure. It will change.*
The ratio of C++/rust jobs where I am (EU country) is 5564/54. And these 54 jobs are mostly in cryptocurrencies.
"This article summarizes the practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research in personnel selection. On the basis of meta-analytic findings, this article presents the validity of 19 selection procedures for predicting job performance and training performance and the validity of paired combinations of general mental ability (GMA) and the 18 other selection procedures. Overall, the 3 combinations with the highest multivariate validity and utility for job performance were GMA plus a work sample test (mean validity of .63), GMA plus an integrity test (mean validity of .65), and GMA plus a structured interview (mean validity of .63)"
1. The research is dated (1998). Long before many of the current best practices in SW Eng were established.
2. Says it is based on 85 years of research. Obviously not IT-related then.
3. Even if we get past that it gives 3 almost equally good methods of hiring where the highest one is GMA and integrity test - not work sample test.
4. Even if we get past all that work sample means work sample. It does not have to be produced under pressure in a weekend as unpaid work which as any professional knows is very hard to bring yourself to do right (being a professional means getting paid for my services as I live from selling them). It can very well be some past work on github etc.
So, unless there is a better/more focused on IT/up to date research proving that take home tests (which btw can be offshored/gamed very easily) lead to better hires I remain highly skeptical of all that and big fan of whiteboard/pair programming.
And my experience was more or less like that with all unpaid take home tests. So, bitter truth is I have more to my life than doing boring unpaid work with minimal chances of getting to an offer and TBH I doubt I'd enjoy working in a company that hires like that. So, my stance is give me as much whiteboard or pair programming or whatever _time_bounded_ test you want and let's go from there.
PS: I looked one of the tests. It said "follow SOLID". I'm not gonna say what I think of SOLID here but it's good that they say what they adhere to beforehand. I mean if you're going to have people pouring hours and days in your tests at least be transparent of what exactly you expect.
OTOH the pay is ok, the rest of the guys are ok and I left the previous dumpster fire of a company before the 1 year mark.