> I even hit rock bottom: opening myself up to the thought of on-site dev work
This to me is likely the issue. I suspect if he was willing to move and work on-site, he'd have been back in the saddle quite quickly. My forced career moves also all involved a nationwide job search, and corresponding move.
Still, I believe the struggle, and worry that we'll all be there in the next few years.
I'm sure if he wasn't also a caretaker, losing control of his ability to schedule around being a caretaker wouldn't be "rock bottom".
His life would be much "easier" if he didn't have to be his mother's caretaker. But this is America, so he has to, so he's fucked.
for sure it would be much easier if it was just me to consider in the picture
I live near Boston, but far enough away that commuting daily is impractical. Instead, I go in once a week.
Perhaps you can focus on applying to jobs where you can show up in person occasionally, but not daily? It helps significantly to have a face-to-face relationship with the people I work with.
Yup. The trust issues around overemployment or straight up fraudulent candidates have made remote work rare and have lead to companies offering a premium for hybrid or fully in person roles. I don't think WFH only is line you can afford to draw anymore if you're on the ropes and leveraged.
> The trust issues around overemployment
I don’t think it’s really trust issues. Even If a candidate was fully honest that he’s planning to work two full time jobs, employers would still be against it. Even if the candidate was fully honest AND could somehow guarantee that his output would be 100% and he’d never miss a meeting, employers would STILL be against it. Full time white collar employers just feel entitled to exclusivity, that other kinds of employers just don’t seem to care about.
it's not entitlement. you only have so much energy per day. it also has been shown that the longer you work the lower your productivity gets. two full time jobs would be at least 70 hours per week, and even if you work 6 days a week, then that's almost 12 hours per day, leaving you with 12 hours for sleep and the rest of your life. that's barely manageable. i am half as productive when i am tired. you can do that if the work does not require a lot of concentration or energy and is low stakes. but not as a software developer.
ive had tons of in-office dev jobs, but have primarily been working online since like 2012. not only has it been way better for my health and sanity but my productivity is way way higher. the thought of going back to an office is PTSD inducing, a big step back
I worry about this, having moved away from a tech center for a better QoL. My current fallback plan if I can't find remote work on the next search is to look for hybrid jobs in NYC, which is a long-but-less-than-a-day's train ride from here, and to try to negotiate being in the office for either just a couple days a week or doing like a week on and a week off or whatever. It'd eat into salary to have to pay for somewhere to stay in the city for sure, but it'd be better than nothing.
I stumbled upon this line as well.
And then I realized that he started with just getting home after driving 6 hours of uber to make $200, which didn't really square with on-site work being rock bottom.
On site work is exhilarating at the right place
Exhilarating on site work often doesn't line up with needing to be a full time caretaker for family, unfortunately.
Employment, in general, doesn't line up with needing to be a full time caretaker for whoever. SWE is a curious exception, sometimes, in some companies, but the vast, vast majority of the workforce goes to a place to work, then hires a nurse/nanny/caretaker to fit their other obligations.
I said what I said. it still beats going into in an office
You think doing gig work for pennies and slowly losing your dignity is better than just going into an office?
I'm sorry but the absolute privilege of the author here, goodness...
You sure about that?
I also can't find in-office work here because there just aren't as many opportunities locally, so I work full time for minimum wage to scrape my bills. Then I code on the weekend.
No dignity lost, but certainly lost my faith in software leadership.
My impression from TFA is not about lack of opportunity, which I would understand. The author simply refuses to work in an office.