IT/Software career thread: Invert binary trees for dollars.

Funny story and perhaps shows where we're headed...

Today our company pushed out a huge Windows 11 update. System literally grinded away for over 30 minutes applying updates. Finally get to desktop....can't log into Outlook or Teams. Some obscure Microsoft authentication error. Tried a few things myself to correct it, didn't work so submitted an IT ticket.

IT got in touch with me about an hour later. Gave him control of my system. He futzed around for nearly 2 hours....didn't fix anything and gave up. Told me to take it to the local office to reload it. "Son of a bitch...I JUST got this damn thing and have installed nothing significant to cause Windows to crap out. WTH".

Then I thought, you know what, worth a shot....opened up Powershell in admin mode (as a dev they do grant us admin privs), "copilot --yolo". Prompt: "Here is the error message. Do what you need to do to fix the problem."

In less than 5 minutes, Outlook and Teams working fine.

You have admin privileges???

Noodleface said:

You have admin privileges???

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Engineering peeps do, yes. We have to install various stuff for development purposes.

pwe said:

I haven't applied for a job since my first job 30 years ago (I am a programmer). Things just happened and there was always plenty to do. Now I find myself without a job and the ones that are relevant to me have 100-200 applicants. I also read an article about how 50+ years will often exclude you by default. I am 53. Currently it looks like it's not a matter of time, I might actually not find a job, like, at all. This sucks.

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Just as I wrote this a former colleague posted a job add. I skipped the line and went straight to an interview with his boss. High pay, 7 weeks of vacation (yes, 7). But I get easily stressed and it was a demanding job (banking, moving billions of dollars every year). And 2 hours of commute daily, using public transportation (which stresses me a lot with all those people). So I turned it down. Severe burnout is not pleasant (I experienced it too many times) and in that case I would have to quit anyway. I got a headache just thinking about it. So back to no job and 100-200 applicants per job. One had 350 when I stopped watching it. I even applied for a 15 hours per week job with very low pay. But zero stress. Doesn't sound too bad right around now.

Why not take the job while you continue looking?

pwe said:

And 2 hours of commute daily, using public transportation

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I'm trying to imagine a salary large enough to make this worth it. I can't comprehend any number that large.

You made the obvious right choice

Noodleface said:

Why not take the job while you continue looking?

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I thought about it... but I am not sure I could stand even that, it might be for a very long time. And I would burn some bridges if I leave after a short time. Decisions...

pwe said:

I thought about it... but I am not sure I could stand even that, it might be for a very long time. And I would burn some bridges if I leave after a short time. Decisions...

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Got it. Was just curious and obviously it depends on your financial status and everything.

Aldarion said:

I'm trying to imagine a salary large enough to make this worth it. I can't comprehend any number that large.

You made the obvious right choice

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Yeah fuck that commute. I am not working any job that's not remote. I'm done spending hours of my week in traffic.