amorphous

This does not apply to the typical software engineer.

Rather this:

Code is secondary. People are first

This is easily overlooked. Your social skills matter most. Leading, listening, communication. Most problems are people problems.

Somewhat related but it is amazing how clear things become to me when I draw a diagram about something I have to learn or build. Make visual connections leads to an immediate deeper understanding. It has become second nature for me to start up my diagramming app the moment I don't understand something

Chasing the "dream" of having my own business without realising what that actually requires. Then when it got difficult or boring, the next freelancing job is so much easier (and way more lucrative). Back and forth with spending savings on projects that never amounted to anything.

Slowly realised that nowadays, for us techies, there's a much better way of having a good life. Just find the right job (look long and hard), get paid well, hone your skills. I wasted a lot of time.

Another "been there, done that". If I could give advice to my 30 year old self, without doubt, it'll be: #1. Focus on finding the right job that works for you and pays the bills. Once you are back to feeling good start a side project.

This reflects badly on the developer who posted this. Though it is easy to sympathise, this is not professional behaviour. Learn from mistakes and move on focussing on finding good clients.

This route exists, it's called training and you can earn even more doing that. Absolutely doable, but it's a long road to get there (salary- and lifestyle wise).

Bitwarden is free and working better

You could use this as an opportunity to show you are capable to handle anything that is thrown at you. This is a highly valuable skill, way more valuable than your current tech stack. For you personally and the company hiring you.

After you have proven your value then talk to your boss. If things don't change, move on. Surely you'll find something better.

Forget puzzles! Solve a real problem with code. Read only as little as necessary and then build something you care about. Before you know it you have become a programmer.

it's more than being "trump fanboy". It's his confabulating of abstruse theories like "master puppeteer" and all this gibberish talk.

I find it irresponsible the opposite of what he has done before. Is this really the same person who created Dilbert and the above mentioned useful book?

Quite controversial but basically the blueprint of how I want to build the company I work for: "Why employees are always a bad idea"

I enjoyed Lake Success a lot.

I thought this book was quite good.

I also used to enjoy Scott Adam's blog and ideas, that's why it was quite shocking to me when I revisited his site and found out what he has turned into. I can't take him seriously anymore.

My favourite was Better Call Saul. Love the entrepreneurial spirit that shines through the episodes

Don't fabulate stories in your head that are not useful to you. There is nothing "wrong" with you. The reasons could be manyfold. You could try to figure out why you didn't land a job, or, far more easy and effective, just keep going and focus on what you want, on your strengths, on how to sell yourself. Eventually, it'll work out.

Side note: we developers are a spoiled bunch. 4 rejections and you want to give up on the entire industry?

Let me just re-iterate practise, practise, practise. After you have done this sufficiently often, following things happen

1-You'll notice how similar interviews are and develop a routine

2-You'll become better aware of what you want and what your strengths are which will help you to sell yourself better

3-I believe each human being has a threshold of "capacity to being bothered". At some point, you will care less about how interviews go. Just imagine you had 5 interviews per week for four weeks. In no way will you be as nervous in your fourth week as you were in your first. You get used to it.

Try to not take any of this personally. It's a game anyone can learn to play.

This. I'm working in that space and I can tell you it is very much alive. It all comes down to ease-of-use and cost of sensors. 2018 has seen especially some fantastic progress. There's still a lot of low hanging fruit to capture.

But people have stopped using the word IoT or SmartAnything and that is a good thing

I recently took a new role and talked to a couple of companies that offered "unlimited holidays".

After talking to them I came to the conclusion this is something that looks nice on paper but is actually doing you a disfavour. Because if you take up on the offer and take substantially more holidays then the rest of the team you'll look bad. And if you take fewer holidays you are losing your rights.

In my opinion, if a company wants to be generous, offer generous fixed holidays so I can take them without feeling guilty.

(Funnily enough, those companies were always against remote work. For me that is contradictory, you don't want me to work from home but be off instead?)

I had a similar experience, travelled a lot, many different jobs, changing relationships - but I see myself as a success, would not want to change that experience for anything. In my 40s now with kids and loving wife - still moving jobs and countries (but with my family this time) I couldn't be happier.

Yes, I had periods of desperations and self-doubts but I would have had those also had I stayed in the same place focussing on the "career ladder". I'm happy I following my urge to see the world and embrace chaotic life.

"Wasted live" is nothing but a question of perspective.

I don't have debt though - that part is indeed worrisome.

I found that routines have limited effect on my productivity. Some hacks can be useful (pomodoro for example) but only get me so far.

What really matters is to have a clear understanding of the benefits of what I'm doing. If I know exactly why I have to do something and I am confident about the benefits of finishing it, I have zero productivity problems and don't need any kind of process or routine, it all becomes apparent.

This is usually the case when I have a clear goal and concrete plan how to get there.

If you are like me, my advice is to become as clear as possible about your goals and be as confident as possible about the path that gets you there.

In other words, the "why" is much more important to productivity than the "how"

I don't believe you can learn this from a book. It's a highly personal journey, depending on you, your family and your kids. Your kids educate you as much as you educate them, you are in this together. I understand you want to seek advice but I honestly don't think there's a blueprint.

Please get all the courage you can muster and seek professional therapie.

You need to establish yourself as an expert and build an audience if you want to make serious money selling your expertise. It doesn't matter how you transfer your knowledge, be it via courses, books, workshops or live training.

This takes time and dedication.

Try starting small. I made so far 1.5k for a course published on udemy that took me around 2 months to develop. It's not bad money (in fact so far moneywise my most successful side project) but in no way comparable to what I would earn as a developer. It was fun and educational for me but I see this as a marketing vehicle to drive consulting business to me rahter than my main source of income.

Any tips on how to find an AWS contractor who can do this?

I use a tennis ball against the wall, very effective.

Try the "foundation method". For example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI I started doing those exercises a few months ago and I feel much better. Also, my posture has improved significantly, I even got a compliment from a fitness professional who saw me sitting in front of my laptop in a cafe :)

In the order of usefulness:

- Safaribooks

- Economist

- Technology Review

- Netflix

- Amazon Prime

On and off I pay for cloud.guru, pluralsight or udemy

Welcome to the world of software engineering! See, building software is more about people than code or technology. It is always a people problem.

Use this as an opportunity to improve your social skills. If you think your colleagues are sloppy, find a way to reach them. Learn how to give in-offensive feedback. That's invaluable for your career, no matter what you do.

Also, the resentment you feel towards others is likely resentment that you feel towards yourself (as you say yourself), so that is another area you have now the chance to use and grow.

Immediately contact all the banks involved and report the fraud. They should be able to reverse the transaction.

They are both. Without political change, there's little hope but this does not mean technical change doesn't play an important role too (sufficient technological progress could push political change)