I guess I was trying to address the parts of your comment where donations cost calories and time. They certainly aren’t paying me for my blood, but personally I feel like it’s a fair exchange, and I get to feel good about doing someone I’ll probably never meet a potentially life saving favor.

Your point is valid. As a counterpoint, when I donate (6-7 times a year) I get snacks and drinks during the donation, and a $5-10 gift card for a local fast food spot to fuel up later. I’m also very lucky that I can take most of my meetings using a headset, so I don’t have to miss work, and the donation truck is at my office, so there’s no travel time to or from my appointment.

I love when CHLA emails me to say they’ll be downstairs in the coming week. I feel good about donating, and get free In-N-Out 😀

I’m under the impression that wet signature means the original signed contract, not a copy or facsimile. Basically this person is saying “Prove that you and I have a contract by producing the actual piece of paper that I signed.”

One of the reasons lots of legal documents were originally signed in blue ink was because it would be easy to tell if you were looking at a black and white copy. Obviously this is less relevant recently.

I hear you, it’s always tough out there, keep at it you got this.

The reason I take multiple interviews a week even when I’m not looking change positions is because it takes that level of legwork to maintain my career.

I don’t want to sound like I’m down playing how difficult it is to succeed in our industry. It takes a bunch of work, and networking, but getting ahead if you have talent is 100% doable.

I’m not sure what qualifying language you took offense at, and I wasn’t intending to be condescending.

I admitted that my experience was indeed anecdotal, but I stand by my statements. If you’re good at what you do in tech, you have a few years of experience, and you’re willing to take take positions that differ from your comfort zone you should never be without well paying work.

I’m always in the market as you put it, even though I’m not looking to leave my current position any time soon. I did 2 interviews in the last 7 days, and I turn down offers probably once a month.

I know this isn’t how it works for everyone in tech, but once you get your career grooved it isn’t unrealistic.

This hasn’t been my (anecdotal) experience, or that of anyone in my network.

The industry is unstable no doubt about that, but we’ve never had trouble finding better places to land.

IMO if you’ve been in tech building your skills for a few years, you really shouldn’t have trouble finding work. '01 was weird but there was still plenty of work, especially in defense. '08 was scary but turned out to be a great time to join a startup. Sometimes it’s a lateral move instead of up, sometimes it requires relocating , but if you’ve been doing good work and building your professional network you should never have to go back to driving forklifts (unless you choose to).

Thanks again for the insight, it sounds like you’ve got things on the right track.

Truthfully, I feel like I’m struggling, but relative to most I’m probably living very well. I own my home near the ocean in a major metro in California.

Any advice I’d feel comfortable giving doesn’t revolve around money investments or savings. When my relationship with my now wife first got serious, we talked transparently about what kind of life (and lifestyle) we wanted. We did a back of the napkin calculation of the minimum income required to support ourselves, and at the time we were very short. We agreed that we would become very aggressive about our careers and income generation. This is why I asked you about whether you’d been exploring the job market with your sights set on long term goals.

My wife and I decided to work together to defray the risk inherent in solving the income problem. We started by having one of us find a job with a salary slightly above our old ones. Then that person became the anchor for the household which enabled the other person to find a job that was far riskier but with much higher financial upside. Once things stabilized with that person’s career, making it less risky, that person became the anchor for the household which permitted the first person to take on risk (and debt) to go back to university for a degree specifically selected to improve their earning potential once they graduated.

Over and over, slingshotting each other forward by taking turns and being very aggressive about generating income, and then investing that income. 20 years later we feel like we can do most of the things we want. We still stress about having enough or being on track for retirement, but it’s a different kind of stress.

Hey, I appreciate the context and explanation. I’m sorry if I came across as offensive, that wasn’t my intent. It appears that I made a couple of assumptions about your situation which weren’t true, and you cleared them up for me.

I’m from the same generation as you, and come from generally the same circumstances (no inheritance, DINK, etc), but I live in the US so I’m not very familiar with Canada’s job market, or wages. I also made a bad assumption about diplomas being bachelor or master’s degrees.

700k house with $4500 monthly mortgage sounds strange as well, but maybe you have a shorter term loan than I expect. I know housing prices in Canada are crazy, but 700k in the middle of nowhere is bonkers.

$200k household income puts 4 adults at about the average salary in Canada. That’s a little distressing given your degreed qualifications, I’d think that IT work and nursing would bump those numbers quite a bit.

I know you didn’t ask for advice, so I’m not going to attempt to give it. Thanks for helping me to understand your situation, sorry again if I sounded like a jerk.

6 diplomas and no kids and you’re having trouble affording a quarter acre in the boondocks? I’m sorry, I’m going to need more information, that just doesn’t pencil unless you got a bunch of useless degrees, or are refusing to explore the job market.

What about posting on a privately owned platform is free speech?

I agree twitter is shit, and these prices are stupid, but I’m not seeing the 1st amendment argument.