I feel like sharing something. It's somewhat a tangent to this article (and isn't special enough to really share as a separate submission or anything) but still related.
For a while, I was working 40+ hours per week at my dayjob and making far less than the median programmer salary in my city. I was paid hourly (so holidays were the worst; no paid time off but not allowed to work), had no benefits, etc.
A lot of articles I read on HN at the time made me feel worse about my situation, because their words of encouragement ("value yourself! demand more! you can't help the people you love if you die!" etc) when filtered through my circumstances ("plead guily to a federal felony" -> immediate permanent disadvantage with any salary or benefits negotiation; you're lucky if anyone, anywhere will even believe they're legally allowed to hire you) made me question whether or not I even valued myself.
I decided that, if the posts on HN and Reddit decrying impostor syndrome and investing time in one's health were at all applicable to me, I clearly must not care if I live or die. So I started downing more and more energy drinks and spending more and more time on side-projects, hoping that one of them would finally become impressive enough to serve as a distraction to prospective employers.
That line of thinking only got derailed when I realized that employment is a sucker's game and consulting is the way to go. None of the messages intended to change my mind had a positive effect, they just made me sad.
All of the "take care of yourself" styled articles made me feel bad but never prompted positive change. The title "Dead Men Write No Code" made me remember the older posts I read and I sort of rolled my eyes expecting the same spiel I've heard a thousand times. I was pleasantly surprised to see a well-written, concise, and on-point warning about symptoms and their possible consequences.
If anyone reading this is in the same sort of situation I was in (working 40+ thankless hours per week and spending all your off-time trying to work on building your own company to get out of your own personal hell), I'm sorry to say I don't have any advice to offer. Every situation is different. Feel free to reach out to me, however, if you need someone to vent to. And if I do have any ideas, I'll let you know.
Thanks for sharing, I think this is totally relevant.
"working 40+ thankless hours per week and spending all your off-time trying to work on building your own company to get out of your own personal hell"
This was me circa 2006 to 2013. I now have what many would consider a dream job, and even I myself thought it to be one at first. But the truth is even the job you think you will enjoy the most might not end up that (I still am very grateful to be in my position in spite of current challenges though). The line that separates the super successful from the average person is ridiculously thin (hence all the talk of imposter syndrome, here on HN and elsewhere).
I don't have any good advice in this respect either, other than you have to find a way to be happy, whatever that entails. A common notion is that you need to get rich to live the life you want, but this is not necessarily true.
As for the felony, I suppose it depends what it is (I'm not asking you to disclose it). Some things might be harder for an employer to swallow than others. If your felony was hacking into the Pentagon, I'd put that directly on your resume.
For a while, I was working 40+ hours per week at my dayjob and making far less than the median programmer salary in my city. I was paid hourly (so holidays were the worst; no paid time off but not allowed to work), had no benefits, etc.
A lot of articles I read on HN at the time made me feel worse about my situation, because their words of encouragement ("value yourself! demand more! you can't help the people you love if you die!" etc) when filtered through my circumstances ("plead guily to a federal felony" -> immediate permanent disadvantage with any salary or benefits negotiation; you're lucky if anyone, anywhere will even believe they're legally allowed to hire you) made me question whether or not I even valued myself.
I decided that, if the posts on HN and Reddit decrying impostor syndrome and investing time in one's health were at all applicable to me, I clearly must not care if I live or die. So I started downing more and more energy drinks and spending more and more time on side-projects, hoping that one of them would finally become impressive enough to serve as a distraction to prospective employers.
That line of thinking only got derailed when I realized that employment is a sucker's game and consulting is the way to go. None of the messages intended to change my mind had a positive effect, they just made me sad.
All of the "take care of yourself" styled articles made me feel bad but never prompted positive change. The title "Dead Men Write No Code" made me remember the older posts I read and I sort of rolled my eyes expecting the same spiel I've heard a thousand times. I was pleasantly surprised to see a well-written, concise, and on-point warning about symptoms and their possible consequences.
If anyone reading this is in the same sort of situation I was in (working 40+ thankless hours per week and spending all your off-time trying to work on building your own company to get out of your own personal hell), I'm sorry to say I don't have any advice to offer. Every situation is different. Feel free to reach out to me, however, if you need someone to vent to. And if I do have any ideas, I'll let you know.