I think it was almost 7 years ago but I was flown from VA->SF and interviewed for a company that I ultimately didn't end up getting an offer for, but it was a good experience
Curious as to why people gravitate towards unis, are they more fun to ride? Is it just more of a challenge and therefore more rewarding? Better workout I'm assuming?
> useful for doing the stuff where I'm weaker as a "full stack" developer
I'm really excited about this part; I've been using it to help with DevOps stuff and it's been giving me so much more confidence in what I'm doing as well as helping me complete the task much quicker.
It's almost always awful. Unlimited PTO to me has meant no PTO. Companies that offer this most the time will make you feel like shit if you actually ask off. There never seems to be a 'break' that PTO would fit nice into, there's always a "But this needs to be delivered on Tuesday. You can take those days off as long as you deliver." type of deal.
Of course it's not always the case; my current gig has unlimited PTO and doesn't seem like assholes if you take it. It can be nice, but it has been co-opted by shitty startups to save money and drain their employees.
It might just be that I haven't really been pirating the last 5+ years, but it seems harder to find things now. TPB isn't a great source anymore. I'd join a private one and seed my fair share (I have a seedbox), but I don't really know what the good ones with good collections are. I'd go back to piracy for certain things like Portlandia, which I pay $7 a month for with AMC+. There's no other programming I care about with AMC+, but I can't find a good source for all the seasons of Portlandia.
Unfortunately, if you don't want to try and grow them you'll have to get them from someone you know. You could also try the dark web if you really want some, I'm sure you could get some there but if you can avoid that, it would be better. Fortunately it seems like getting mushrooms mixed with fentanyl isn't a thing AFAIK.
> How do you know how much to take? / How do you take them?
Up until recently, I was just eating a small amount - kind of hoping a stem and a small cap would do the trick. Most the times, this would work, but every once in awhile you'll get a small guy that is way more powerful than you think. I've found the best way for me now is to grind them into a powder and fill large fillable capsules with them. You can get several different sizes; I would start with smaller ones at first. The trick is to grind up as much of that batch of mushrooms as possible, as well as you can (I just use a simple coffee bean grinder). This does a good job of making sure each capsule you fill with the resulting powder is as evenly spread as it can be without special equipment. The benefit of this is you will now have 10-30 mushroom capsules with the same efficacy and you can then start with a single one and see how you feel. For your first time, I would not push past a single one. It can also sometimes take up to 3 hours before it really sinks in depending on what you're eating and such, so the first time just do not take another one.
I am also a regular user of mushrooms these days. My usage of them is definitely different from when I was younger - when I got ahold of them I would always trip pretty heavily and had a blast with them. As you get older, heavy trips just don't seem to be as enjoyable. Too much shit going on in adults lives I think, too many things to think about and it's harder to let go and enjoy the trip. Nowadays, I strictly microdose with them. To make this more streamlined, I will take a whole batch of mushrooms and pulse them into a powder with a coffee grinder, then fill up large capsules with them. This has the benefit of making each pill about as uniformly dosed as possible as long as you fill the capsules with the same amount. With these, you can really dose it the way you want. 1-2 capsules is usually great for a nice microdose. It will even give me energy similar to several cups of coffee, doesn't affect my cognitive ability at work at all, and the afterglow as you said is great.
As far as my personal anecdotal experience, if you can get Steel Magnolias that's the way to go. Penis Envy's are OK too.
I've given up on being that 10x developer that has a laundry list of accomplishments in tech everyone would be proud of about 5 years ago. Unlike most people, I did know what it would take as my dad had done it (and his dad before him as a nuclear physicist). I've seen the insane amount of hours and dedication it takes to run a successful company, I've seen the tradeoffs in life you have to make, and I've seen it really run my dad down.
I became a lot happier in life when I decided I was not going to follow in their footsteps. Neither of them have been great at being happy, and that's something I'm more focused on now.
I recently went sober from alcohol and afterwards realized how much alcohol advertising there is, it's actually pretty insane. For certain programs (like football) it's almost %50 of the ads.
I've heard some people use propranolol to help with their anxiety for things like this as well. I used to drink before interviews as well, I've also tried xanax, and shit sometimes even a combination. It helped me get through them at the time but I don't know how overall helpful it was.
I recently went through the interview process as a sober guy and found that while I did get anxiety, it was a more healthy anxiety and not a crippling one. I'm on a low dose of an anti-anxiety medication (Buspirone) which I think helped; though I attribute it mostly to a better overall healthy state I've been in due to consistent exercise, healthy eating, and sleep. Not a super sexy answer outside of maybe the medication part.
> And also, for some reason, I tend to interpret a written message in a much worse way than I do a message that is communicated verbally.
This is something that I struggle with as well. My first remote job was probably 6 years ago and the first couple weeks I was getting really down on myself because my manager would always reply to my questions with "Um" first. To me this was basically "Um.... are you really asking this stupid of a fucking question? God I am re-thinking this hire big time already". Turns out she was actually saying "Um" because she was thinking about the best answer for the question or didn't know it herself yet.
I recently started a new position where my boss ends everything with a hard period and it just kind of reads a little off to me. For instance - "No. That is not correct, we do not want to do that." To me it reads a bit harsh in my head, but I'm pretty sure he just likes correct grammar.
You're probably a very good programmer - strange that you're comparing your work against seniors; are you not a senior engineer yet with 20 years experience? You probably could be.
Also, don't be so down on yourself regarding interview questions. If you spent a month or two just practicing these types of questions in your free time you'd be surprised how you'd do on some of the interviews you would normally bomb out.
I personally like having the option. I've worked for fully remote for most my career even before covid - back when it was "cool" and people would have taken pay cuts to stay remote. I learned early on that fully remote jobs aren't all rainbows and sunshine, there are definite tradeoffs you make, but overall I'd probably rather a fully remote gig than a "You must be in the office 9-5 every day" gig. My ideal situation though is a hybrid one that doesn't force anything; I've found that I miss leaving the house to go to the office for a bit. Maybe it would be a bit different if I didn't have a wife at home that can take care of the dogs while I'm out.
> I know, often times i am subconsciously aligning my actions to end up alone
Are you sure you aren't doing this because you have some sort of social anxiety that's prohibiting you from enjoying group activities? Even when I do like something, I often find that I would like to cancel and do nothing, but always feel better after when I go. I think it is pretty normal.
People who have a lot of money don't want to let other people who can rob them know they have a lot of money. They've gone past the point where virtue-signaling is important to them, and where having someone say "Nice shoes!" is no longer fun for them. They can always have the best shoes and it's no longer an acknowledgement of peers but acknowledgement of 'poor people'. 90% of rich white guys wear plain T-Shirts and jeans with all bird shoes, and try to virtue-signal with things like yachts and other ridiculous things.
I was burned out on start ups and wanted to join a larger company that had more support and a work life balance. I effectively joined a start-up within a larger company and have worked insane hours trying to help push out their V1 product with one other engineer. I pushed back on the hours and subsequently have been screamed at by HR for refusing to regularly start at 6am and work 70 hour weeks - they attempted to make me quit so they wouldn't have to pay me severance (I declined - said if they weren't satisfied with me they can fire me). Now that the V1 is out things /have/ gotten better work-wise, but almost in a completely opposite way where now we have to deal with compliance and I need approval from the technical manager just to sneeze. I know upper-management doesn't like me because I was a squeaky wheel (I even championed the other engineer on the team to threaten to quit to get a raise) and it's just a weird situation. I'm definitely not getting any kind of raise from this company and they for sure don't care about my growth (or any of their employees really). I've been trying to make it at least a year (coming close) before looking elsewhere for my resume's sake but it's been hell at times and I feel like I've been at this company for 2+ years. Even with the recent slow-down in hours, I would love to get fired, take a couple months off, and deal with some personal health issues while studying for the next gig.
The only good friends I've made and still talk to outside of college (and a few high school friends) were from a job I worked at for almost 4 years. I think that might have been the more important part of going into the office, at least for me, was you could potentially make some friends and get some social interaction. I'm thankful I had met my wife before the pandemic started otherwise this would have been even tougher. I've inherited a few of my wive's friends as well; but I think I'll have to do something like an old man's lacrosse or basketball league to make more friends, because I think it takes hanging out consistently with people to become true friends. I occasionally end up hanging out with a group of people I don't know and will get phone numbers to hang out again, but it's always awkward to actually follow up on situations like that.