throwaway_32u10

Ah yes, was considering this. But (a) stupid laws with rental properties and (b) aren't tenants a pain in the ass, much bigger than your average tech team lead?

Behold, we are one step closer to a world where "AI will do the mundane tasks, and the we all are going to engage in creative hobbies such as music creation"... Oh... wait...

I have almost two decades of experience. I'm approaching 40 years old, I have a family. Sure, I might sound stubborn, but I don't have the time to study 3 months for the nuances of DFS algorithms, or grinding leetcode.

The interviewing process should evaluate my knowledge as required by the job description, and not to play a role in satisfying the ego of the interviewer(s).

So yes, while I did refresh my memory on Big-O notation, and ran through some common brain teasers, I'm not going to read books and invest 3 months of sleepless nights in order to get the opportunity to be a cog in FAANG.

I don't know how to express it correctly. But yes, sort of. I didn't work in high-load-kafka-like companies, so I'm kind of stuck in my mid level company types that do relatively simple things.

I know what I want, but I'm afraid that it's not possible to achieve this. I want full autonomy (as much as possible) over my time and the kind of work I do, while still making at least the same amount of money I make now.

So it would be something like a line of people who are willing to hire my services, while I decide what to work on and how to do it.

That's the mind virus that the CEOs want you to have.

What do you mean by that?

Have you gotten any feedback in your current role about why you're stuck? The reasons can vary from the difference in expected behaviors from level to level, no room at level +1, your current company/manager not really caring about your advancement, etc.

I'm in a family-like company, so there is not much feedback giving. I'm trying to change a job, but there are few struggles: (1) I can't really improve salary that much due to OP, (2) the market is currently shit, (3) even if I find a job, it sets me back to square zero.

Is this because you don't (or haven't had opportunities to) step up to lead/own chunks of work?

I did lead/own chunks of work. But it just seems not enough to justify leadership roles. I get the "it's impressive, but we need someone a BIT MORE qualified".

Do you plan to do anything about this? It's hard to advance without some amount of self-improvement?

When I was younger, I dabbled in many areas: game dev, web dev, os dev, embedded, assembly, C, Java, JS, PHP, etc. Eventually I found my career and my niche, but due to certain luck (or lack thereof), combined with my young naivety, I didn't progress fast enough to the style of companies that deal with high load, and other mambo-jumbo tech. And now, I just have a lot of years of experience in mediocre companies/products.

Are you saying that you're motivated enough to try to bootstrap multiple projects, and have started a SaaS that actually has paying customers?

I do. I have a lot of motivation when it comes to actually solve problems. I talk with customers, do development, and try to find new ways to market my SaaS. I just hate doing to for someone else when corporate politics is involved.

I'm kind of tired of the entire narrative that "US good, everyone else bad", as if only US deserves to hold powerful technology because it will be used for "the greater good", rather than employ it in military applications, as if Anthropic didn't partner with Palantir.

And it amazes me how many people can't seem to see past the "US is good, everyone else are bad" smoke mirror.

I did that, about a year ago. It was amazing, easily one of the best times of my life. But it's not a solution, rather a temporary bandaid to stop the bleeding.

I'm trying. The problem, as I mentioned, is that I'm squeezed by the end of the working day, so I barely have time to work on my side project

Thanks.

Is freelancing really that different? I keep hearing opinion for both sides ranging from "freelancing is truly different" to "freelancing is corporate/office job in disguise".

The problem is that I like writing code. I truly enjoy it. I just hate doing it for someone else, on someone else's terms, performing someone else's rituals (corporate/code/architecture).

I'm a web dev that takes REST data and puts it in the database, or the other way around. It's not rocket science, and I do consider myself a good developer.

Of course I learned long time ago that there is zero correlation between my knowledge and getting a job, and in anyway the amount of companies I want to work at, can be counted on one hand (and most of them rejected me anyways, but I guess it would turn out to be the same feeling eventually).

Hey! Thanks for the comment.

I've been in SEA and well as Central America. It does open your eyes a lot on how broken the western system is, and makes you appreciate what you have, more.

The problem is that, rather quickly, it goes away. You come back to your western part of the world, and you write posts like mine, where there are clearly people who have it worse. So thanks for reminding me about this.

Hey!

Why do you think building a business will fix the problem you feel?

It wont.

But it will solve one aspect of (lack of) independence -- the soul crashing 9-5 and working with people. I don't want to go length into my view of the tech industry and how I consider most of it an inefficient cog machine mixed with human psychology, but getting rid of it by creating a business which can be run on it's own -- will improve my quality of life significantly.

For example: there is no logical sense at all to work 9-5, 5 days a week from Mo-Fr, in an office. By having my business I can train in the morning and then work 12 to 8. I can take Monday off (without asking for permission). I can work from home or cafe, or a park. I get to build the lifestyle I want rather than conforming to some 1890s factory idea of the 9 to 5.

Another example: there is no need to have 15 people teams with idiotic daily standups. By building my own business, I get to work with only myself (yay), and some other people to whom I can outsource things I'm not good at, and not waste time on idiotic corporate rituals.

And as for McDonalnds, well, I been in the tech industry for over a decade now. That's what I know. I don't know anything about store locations, managing staff and stock. Sure I can learn, but it's smarter to leverage my existing knowledge rather than starting from 0. And also a physical business means more exposure to working with other people, and a more typical hierarchical structure.

OP Here.

This blew up fast. I'll provide more context in this comment rather than commenting individually for the sake of not repeating myself.

First of all, children and family. I am considering this, but I doubt this is the solution to all problems. I agree with people who say it can provide a sense of purpose, but I also agree with people who think it's a bit irresponsible to recommend children to a stranger who shared something like I did.

Next, ADHD and depression. Never did ADHD test, I suspect I might have slight form of it. Depression I refuse to believe it exists in the form society labels it. For me, depression is a chemical imbalance, rather than a state of laziness/sadness/lost in life. Even if I have something like this, I won't take medication. Just a personal view on modern medical system, based on my experience with multiple psychologist and psychiatrists who did more harm that good (in my opinion).

Therapy. As mentioned above, therapy did more harm than good to me. Sure it might work for some people, but my experience with over 4 therapists ended up with either "nothing is wrong with you, don't visit me any more" or attempts to put me in a one of the boxes that the therapist learned about in school, while I clearly try to avoid any boxes.

God, hobbies, etc. I'm not 16 years old. I have grown up responsibilities, and I can't indulge myself in new hobbies every day. I'm focused (as much as I can) on building a business in order to escape the soul crashing tech industry and live on my terms (as much as possible, ultimate freedom is somewhat a lie). Together with this I try to work on my health, and maintain relationship(s). These are my 3 priorities in life, in no particular order. I don't have the time or desire to explore woodworking, or cave diving.

Thanks for everyone who commented, I appreciate every one of you <3

Thank you very much. It’s very helpful.