I feel blessed that I like my current job. Good manager, interesting work, limited amounts of bureaucracy. Most of this is a lucky coincidence but there are some things we can do. I had to explain many times to people which tasks I’m good at and which ones they should ask other people to do. I regularly defend this position. I set aside the morning for creative work only, no meetings, no admin, just thinking and solving. In the afternoon I down tools and do something physical, outside in daylight. A regular sleep cycle is absolutely critical for the maintenance of health and mood. Fresh food and companionship. Regular meditation. Do the basics well. These are the things that have made me happy.

Yahoo, the cowboys of journalism.

You are a gigachad that lives in the future.

Skill issue.

We have to call their bluff from time to time and remind the management that without us, none of their shit works. When we down tools its not like they can pick them up and get the show back on the road.

How else could it work? Otherwise it will detect the water flowing and never switch off.

Do you have excess creative energy?

Pour it into discussion that achieves nothing of value.

I get the sense that the author hasn’t tried many or any of these substances and is trotting out the standard line. I didn’t see alcohol, cigarettes and Oxycontin mentioned.

If we’re going to have an adult conversation about addictive substances we should first talk about sugar and junk food. We should also discuss the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, lack of healthcare and community, ignorance of mental health, motor vehicles, pollution, the criminal justice system, Judeo-Christian culture and being a person of colour. Those will form the major risk factors for human health.

Do they go on to mention any negative effects?

Use a VPN. ISP are being disingenuous when they claim a data connection is unlimited at the point of purchase and then slug us with restrictions when we try and use it. If they can detect a tether, the VPN should obscure it.

The vast majority of people are techno illiterate, even within firms that make technology. A handful of people (relatively speaking) are making most of the stuff. Everyone else is just feeding that process. The legal system is set up to motivate the concealment of information about products. You cannot find the documentation to repair embedded systems, even if you have the desire to fix them and the ‘right to repair’.

In our village we have a wildly popular ‘repair cafe’ where people bring their faulty electrical items to be repaired by volunteers. People don’t want to toss their duff appliances in landfill but we need the tools and education.

Products are developed and in that process technology is created. Once the technical problems have been solved, manufacturers seek to remove as much cost from the process as possible and this generally degrades the durability of the product. The biggest problem with a lot of technology is that virtually no consideration is given to the long term maintenance of the product. There’s no way to interface the system with other parts and re-use the product. We throw it away and buy the next thing because that’s good for capitalism but it’s horrible for people and the environment.

It wasn’t capitalists, it was the invisible hand of the market.

You definitely don’t want a blunt force trauma to this delicate area

There is no relationship between what you earn and your skill level. If there were, theoretical physics would be a top paying field. The reason is, this is capitalism and we are horrible negotiators. If you want to earn top money in a technical field, the best you can do is insert yourself in a revenue stream. Roles that are critical to revenue like a billing system or associated with a intrinsically valuable commodity e.g. petrochemical, are more lucrative than other similarly skilled professions.

Is the collective noun for COBOL programmers, cobblers?

I want to join the C-hive

Is it the one that’s on fire?

Our Father, who art in Microsoft HQ,

hallowed be thy naming conventions;

thy architecture;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in Linus Tech Tips.

Give us this day our daily StackOverflow.

And forgive us our 'sploits,

as we forgive those who trespass against our user stories.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from a thicket of global variables.

For thine is the irritating project manager, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Or at least 7 years until obsolescence.

Amen.

Zinger!