10 Nov 2024 #misc
That’s a quote I found last week while watching a conversation between Tom Bilyeu and Rich Roll on YouTube. They were discussing Tom’s mindset changes and work history.
That quote is an invitation to reflect what we’re willing to give up in exchange for money.
It reflects what I’ve been going through since last year.
In 2023, I hit rock-bottom. But it wasn’t a money thing. In fact, I was making the most money I had made in my career as a software engineer.
Things were good until they weren’t.
I woke up and didn’t feel the drive to show up to work. I wasn’t learning and having fun. I was just for the money.
Every Sunday evening I felt anxious anticipating next Monday routine. Another daily meeting, another JIRA ticket, another Pull Request…Arrggg!
I knew I needed to do something but I was too comfortable and afraid of taking risks. I tried to control things around me. And I failed at that.
All my frustration lead to anger and resentment. It made sick literally.
That’s why when I was “let go” at the begging of 2024, I felt relieved.
I was scared of making a change by myself. And life, God, or the Universe gave me a little “push.”
I was fortunate to have enough “f*ck-you” money to finance my living expenses all these months.
Now, I’m reinventing my career.
I’m taking care of my health. I read and write. I’ve been recording some coding courses and doing some freelancing on the side.
I haven’t figured out everything yet. I need a way to make money more consistently. I need to refill my “f*ck-you” money pockets. I don’t know when I will need them again.
Definitely, Mondays are not the same when you wake up to do something you love.
09 Nov 2024 #misc
Preserve your keystrokes. They’re limited.
That’s a piece of advice I learned from one of Scott Hanslman’s talks about productivity.
This isn’t an invitation to write less or write shorter content. It’s an invitation to make private knowledge public.
Often valuable knowledge and lessons die in email threads or Slack channels. Apart from the original recipients, nobody else can read them. That’s how you “waste” your keystrokes.
Make those private email threads or Slack messages public by turning them into wiki entries, tutorials, or blog posts. That’s how you preserve your keystrokes.
I’m answering almost all my questions in public to preserve my keystrokes.
The other day, one of my email subscribers replied to one of my emails with a question about writing. I replied and then turned that reply into a post.
Another day, a reader contacted me after going through my takeaways from Ultralearning. And again, I expanded my reply into a separate post.
Don’t let knowledge die in private channels. Preserve your keystrokes and share a link to a public writing instead.
08 Nov 2024 #writing
Don’t write to attract recruiters or create a brand.
Sure. Those are benefits of writing online. When we write online, good and unexpected things happen.
By writing online, we gain followers, build a brand, attract opportunities, and skip hiring lines.
By luck or accident, I made my first internet money writing, because I showed some of my posts.
But the real reason to write online is:
Clear thinking.
Write to think clearly. Write to formulate your ideas coherently, with no fluff.
Before you write, you have to put your thoughts in order. You need a message. You need structure. You need a reader persona.
That’s more valuable than recruiters knocking at your door with “life-changing opportunities for well-known companies in the tech sector.”
Writing is the most valuable and transferable skill you can learn.
07 Nov 2024 #misc
“What companies should I buy in my brokerage account?”
That was a question that popped up in a Whatsapp group with some of my ex-coworkers and colleagues. In fact, it was not the first time that question popped up. From the same person.
Here’s what I answered:
“If you don’t want to be a full-time investor, go with a broad market index fund. If you don’t know which one, pick any that tracks the S&P500, like VOO or SPY.”
But I was wrong.
Not that my answer was wrong. I’m not a money expert. But I’ve read some money books and changed my mind about money. I realized that the question itself shows something more: not doing the homework and outsourcing thinking to somebody else.
It’s like asking: “Do you know anyone I should marry?”
You’re completely at the good intentions of the other person. He should guess the traits you’re looking for in a partner and go through all his relatives, friends, and acquaintances to see if there’s anyone with those traits. He misses lots of things to answer that question.
I’m not answering, “what companies I should buy in ?" anymore.
The right answer is:
- Don’t ask your poor friends for money advice. The most expensive advice is the one you get for free.
- If you don’t know what to invest in, start investing in yourself, so you can decide on your own where to put your money.
- Never let somebody else tell you what to do with your own money.
The only thing I can share is: “Here is what I do with my money…”
“Ask the jeweler for jewelry advice.” — The Richest Man in Babylon
That’s how I’m answering that question in the future.
06 Nov 2024 #misc
Hiring in 2024 has been slow.
I know! I was “let go” in February and tried to find a job for a couple of months until I gave up and decided to jump solo.
AI, high interest rates, or anything else have changed the job market. There aren’t as many open applications as years before. And the few ones opened get flooded with applications. Pure radio silence after you apply.
Before, you only needed the right keywords in your LinkedIn headline to get recruiters offering you “life-changing opportunities.” I cringe while typing those words and remembering all those messages.
Those days seem to be gone.
The other day the LinkedIn algorithm showed me a post of a young designer showing her profile picture around a ribbon that said “Desperate.” It was her idea to complement the “Hiring” and “Open to work” ribbons or photo frames or whatever LinkedIn called them.
(If you wrote that post, I totally understand. I did the same thing in a different way a couple of months ago.)
It’s desperate seeing a bank account going to zero and having bills to pay.
Writing “I’m desperate and need money. Please give me a job” in a LinkedIn post is the equivalent of wearing dirty clothes, growing a beer, and extend your hand in the middle of a busy street.
Nobody is going to give you a job for being desperate and looking needy. Other LinkedIn users aren’t going to take money out of their pockets to help you either.
Instead of giving companies and hiring managers homework and looking desperate and needy, turn around the equation and give away ideas.
For the young designer with the “Desperate” ribbon idea:
- Find 10 companies you’d like to work with
- Create a brand redesign for each company. Show how you’d change colors, fonts, and logo. Do it like you’re being paid for it.
- For each redesign, publish a post showing your redesign and tag the company and the head of the creative team (or a hiring manager or the head of the team that hires designers inside a company)
Even if the companies you’re redesigning don’t reply, others will see your work and skills in action. You don’t have to say “Trust me, I design.” You’re showing your work instead.
After being laid off, I sent my CV to as many places as I could find that needed a code monkey. Even I applied to a FAANG when I rejected that idea early in my career.
Eventually, I got a reply. And after the first contact and a signed agreement, the head of the company told me: “I don’t know where to put you.” I was waiting for the company to close a new client. In the meantime, I gave them homework.
I knocked at their doors and said “Please give me work. I do anything.” That was the implicit message I sent when I filled out an application from in their company page and sent my CV.
I should have knocked at their doors with 10 ideas, like I recently learned from James Altucher.
A professional never begs. And, no. LinkedIn shouldn’t have a “Desperate” ribbon.