• 3 Posts
  • 104 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 13th, 2023

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  • That’s a pretty high bar. How many senate seats are up for reelection in 2026? How many Republicans would need to flip to Democratic seats to hit a supermajority? Are there enough swing states to make that happen?

    People are increasingly entrenched in their parties, and willing to vote for a suboptimal candidate if it means that the other party loses. The good news is that Trump is good at getting out the Democratic vote in the midterms.



  • I would like to know more about their demands and leadership. A strike requires strong leadership to negotiate, and to keep the strikers from getting cold feet. A website with a form isn’t leadership.

    I say this as someone who is building a cushion so my family and I can ride out a general strike. I want change, and I’m willing to strike for it.





  • I have a couple decades experience as a software engineer and manager. I don’t know if you’re ready to hear my answer, but here it is:

    You might be in a bad situation, it’s hard to say with a single data point. There are bad bosses out there and it can be a nightmare, even at a good company. The “easy” fix is to try working on a different team or a different company and see if that solves the issue. Easy is in quotes because, as an immigrant, it may be tough to move to another employer.

    The harder answer is to look inside yourself.

    Your title asks about non-capitalistic companies. There are non-profits, but I don’t think capitalism is your problem here. You’re still going to run into problems at non-profits or even volunteering in open source if you aren’t able to integrate well with teams.

    There are always going to be cultural expectations no matter where you go. The situation you described about having a 1:1 over asking questions suggests you either have an overly sensitive manager or your manager is right and you are not effective with your feedback. Asking questions can open up conversations or be used to bully people you disagree with.

    The way you disagree matters. It’s not enough to be right, you need to persuade other people to be right too. As a manager, I’m focused on the team’s output and if one person is causing problems with the group dynamic, I’m going to address it.

    I’m hiring right now and have passed on candidates who fall into the “brilliant jerk” stereotype. There’s research that shows that those types drag the rest of the team down. Remember, I’m focused on the entire team, so any one person needs to fit into that context.

    If you find that your interpersonal skills need a boost, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” has good advice but it’s hard for some people to accept advice like “let other people be wrong when it doesn’t matter” and “compliment people.”

    The other thing I’m reading in your post is that you may be burned out. The classic solutions for that are therapy, rest, exercise, and investing in life outside work. It’s hard to spot burnout sometimes, but check in with your support group.

    So that’s 3 options forward: change your situation, improve your skills, or rest up and recover from burnout. Good luck.





  • Links are what make the web amazing. I guess I’m turning into a curmudgeon because I liked the internet better when it was more than 5 sites. I like blogs and weird art sites and homepages. I hate “install this app” and “sign up to view this”.

    I like that my browser can have plugins to block ads or translate stuff in other languages or replace “billionaire” with “oligarch”.

    A link without context sucks though. Don’t just say “rule”.







  • Start saving for retirement now. You can make literally millions by putting away 10% of your income early on. Do it automatically so you never even notice the money gone.

    If you are worried about making the wrong choice and your company doesn’t have a 401k, open an IRA somewhere (Fidelity if you need someone to make the decision for you) and pick a date targeted fund. Set up auto deposit. Never look at the balance.

    You can always make it better later but for now the best thing to do is start. Don’t let analysis paralysis get in the way.