jim_and_derrick's comments

sounds about right to me. i've had product managers argue that we fix bugs fast enough that we should not actually try to implement real solution (python2 to python3 upgrade). This lady is like 'every py2->py3 bug takes less than 2 hours to fix. Why would we do the solution that takes multiple sprints?'

jaw dropped. since then i'm committed to being the biggest office space corporate schmo possible. let me cog it up, keep payin me 6 figs, lettin me work at home full time.

cant explain why this is happening but can confirm meat industry workers are getting boned hard. Family in indiana working at tyson plant, my family and co-workers are getting sick but still have to work.

Basically it's a choice they have to make. Go to work, risk getting sick, but make $$$ and feed family. Or you can be safe, not go out to work , but family will have no food. It's an easy choice to make because your family needs to eat.

So I am a gamer for sure, spent tons of time playing all the dark souls, bloodborne, sekiro over the past 4 or 5 years. After souls i was left wanting, a void in my game life so to speak. Monster Hunter World captured my attention for a good while. Then i found roguelikes and specifically Darkest Dungeon.

I had seen people playing on twitch, it looked cool. Turn based, RPG, permadeath, difficult. All up my alley. Jumped into it and got my butt whooped for a while but then it clicked. And BOOM i was off, many months later and hundreds of hours later i was done with Darkest Dungeon.

Since then, Slay the Spire baby. Wow that game owns hard. about 300 hours here. It's a deck-building (card game) turn based rogue-like. Recommend it to all!

Totally agree. Usually if you use JIRA or some kind of ticketing system and plan two weeks of work at a time, congrats you are doing agile like a pro.

I've had some good 'agile' experiences and some bad. We havent always done agile "to a T", we usually shape and mold it to work for us. However some companies it is very apparent how shit this thing is. We do our company wide sprint review thing with each squad (yeah we copied spotify squad thing). When a PM gets up and says "our squad complete 12/12 points" everyone goes fricking nuts like it's the best thing ever. What did the squad accomplish? They added some images on a page in our app...

I guess overall what i've learned, and this probably applies to a lot of things in life not just software. "Important" (C level, managers etc) act just like my 8 month old daughter. They see things that are new and shiny and they want it, badly. Tech companies see that other tech companies do AGILE, JIRA, all this shit. Those manager types then decide we need to do this ourselves. So you are forced to implement some managerial system that nobody understands. It's all crap i tell ya.

ricky J my man. I just started on this life style after a solid 10 years of office action. Some cubical and some open. I'm not sure it can work for everyone but for myself (software / data analyst) it rules. I can focus intensely, peace and quiet. No co-workers talking you to when you have your giant headphones on.

However some folks thrive in more social situations. Not sure it works for them. For myself it has been great. That is just the work side of it. On top of that I am home with wife and kid an infinite amount more than when both parents worked and kid was in daycare.

Might not be the typical american, consider myself pretty aware of both me, my fam, and surroundings. Maybe it's all the drugs i did in college but 'chasing the dream is not for me anymore'. My mind was opened to things other than buying cars/clothes/homes, watching the latest shows etc. Hell I still get hours of enjoyment playing old SNES games on my laptop haha.

My family has carved out a little slice of life for ourselves and we are happy. Sure it's hard when you go on social medias (like the wife) and see 'friends' flying around the world, doing 'cool' things. meanwhile we are in midwest working every day trying to raise a little baby. Sometimes it's hard for folks to not get jealous. Let those millenials travel the world on their parents dime. I know people taking 30 day honeymoons going on global excursions. My wife and I paid for our entire honeymoon and spent a week in southern cal...

If you are able to ignore the outside signals, focus on what makes YOU happy. I have done that and apparently have found success in life. I've even gotten lucky with some jobs. Jobs i decided to stick with instead of jumping ship.