Always up for a chat

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  • 21 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • In my experience, good candidates (including interns/juniors) are still landing the roles. Hiring in tech/design/product is tough because there’s a deluge of applicants who’ve either coasted during the boom, or been sold a lie by an educational institution.

    You can spot the ones who apply for 40 jobs a week, and those who’ve used chatGPT a mile off, and they’re usually the worst candidates, with long, bland, unfocused resumes.

    LinkedIn is full of my worst ex-colleagues bemoaning the lack of opportunities, like they’re entitled to it.

    Please tell me if I’m being unfair. Maybe I should be less cynical.


  • A shameful culprit IMO was the Kermode and Mayo film review. Two wealthy broadcasters (one extremely wealthy) who left the BBC, created an objectively worse show, half of which immediately went behind a paywall. Then they started voicing atrocious adverts and wingeing that people should pay so they could keep the lights on.

    They could easily have experimented with a Patreon, but the arrogance was clear.

    The only upside was that I felt no pain in dropping them like a stone, but I do miss the old show and never found a good replacement.






  • I’ve been though divorce recently and despite being very amicable, it’s caused me to reset - some things broke, but being more emotionally open has been one of the good things. I’m still pretty reserved but a few things are different:

    • I care a lot less about conforming to “ideals” or how anyone judges me. That means I no longer feel the fear and second guess everything I say.
    • When appropriate, I ask people - especially other men - how they’re doing and gently push for a genuine answer. No one’s reacted negatively to that, so far.
    • With my kids, I simply do the opposite to my father. I tell them I love them, I take an interest in them, and I take their feelings seriously. I don’t coddle them, but I want them to feel secure and confident in talking to me. They’re still young, so we’ll see.
    • During work 1:1s, I take a genuine interest in people, most will subtly drop hints that they had a bad weekend or are feeling tired or stressed. I used to gloss over that, now I’ll ask about it and say I’m happy to listen. A surprising number will go on to share, with the bonus that it builds trust.
    • If someone asks how I am, I won’t lay it all out for them, but I’ll be honest. Most people empathise and tell you they’ve been through similar. It’s never been awkward, and I’ve found out nearly everyone I know is pretty anxious and is going through difficult stuff.

    As an aside, I never watched much porn because I found it so cold and alienating. It’s interesting that you found the opposite. Anyway, I’ll stop there and wish you well!






  • Same here. WTF do I do with a history degree… Joined a helpdesk because I liked fixing tech, transitioned to web development because that was more fun, spent years enjoying learning and progressing, then moved into UX because that was more rewarding (and less stressful).

    I’m glad I gravitated towards IT because it gave me a lot of freedom and choice - and the money was always good.

    I’d be careful with the “follow your hobbies” advice, I’ve known a lot of frustrated people who feel they’ve wasted years studying / trying to get a job in video games, acting, that sort of thing. Seems you have to be in the top 1% and have a ton of luck or connections to stand a chance.