pigsinzen

Asking for a friend :)

It seems a lot of companies have been pretty stressful for the past 5+ years. Perhaps it’s anecdotal and not an industry trend. Anyways, where do you all find jobs that keep you sane, healthy, and still make sure you can pay your bills? Surely some of us would be happy to give up part of our paycheck for a better life.

I just realized that asking this question on a site tailored towards investment capitalism might not be the best audience, haha. Fingers crossed.

Hacking in the traditional sense; not just cybersecurity.

I have every reason to believe I am being pushed out of my salary role (USA). The writing is on the wall, management is putting together a case and starting to use "HR Speak" in Slack and Email. They point to performance but I've been in the industry for a long time and believe this is personal or there are other reasons at play.

I have never been fired before. I've gone through some coping stages already -- anxiety, depression and fear. Now, I believe I am starting to embrace it as I cannot control it and am obviously unwanted on this team. Sometimes I wish they would just fire me and get it over with.

I could move into another full-time role at a different company but hope to work for myself one day. I don't want to join a new company and leave soon after -- they don't deserve that treatment.

I do not have a lot of money saved (not good!). In fact, I will probably owe them a big chunk of the sign-on bonus (dumb mistake on my end). I have no idea about unemployment or under what circumstances one can collect.

If you've been fired, or saw it coming:

  - What was your experience?
  - Is there anything you wish you would have done differently? 
  - Any suggestions? 
  - Is there any remedy for the dread that keeps you up at night?
  - Did you have family to support and come out the other end okay? 
  - How do you not laugh (in agony, of course) at the sudden change when management starts talking like they work Customer Service and have to pretend to be nice?
  - Do I keep this role (less than 1 year) on my resume for future applications?

I'm trying to stay positive but this is actually very stressful to experience and has been boiling much longer than I should have let it.

(edit: list formatting)

Question:

Does anyone have recommendations on successfully earning money asynchronously? Are there alternative to being self-employed that may often be overlooked?

Background/Context: (not important for the average person)

My wife is going back to work and I want to continue home-schooling our young child. Due to our financial circumstances, I also need to earn money. I can plan short periods of time during the day to meet and collaborate with others but don't want to fall-back on using television as a babysitter more than necessary. I will not be able to baby-sit Slack or be available 30-40 hours/week for spontaneous video calls.

I have been working for various corporations for around a decade. Previously, I was a freelance developer (full-stack) for ~5 years. My current plan is to switch back to freelance development and independent consulting but the transition takes time; finding clients, building a fresh portfolio, etc. Additionally, I have small ideas in my personal backlog that I want to pursue.

We could wait until I've successfully made the transition but she got an offer that I believe will make her happy and would be difficult to beat. I believe I am personally dealing with burn-out and have been struggling for months with my full-time role. We are not in a financial situation to just take 6+ months off to recover and my mental health related to this position is not improving.

Thanks!

I spent my first 4 years in the industry doing freelance and word-of-mouth contractual work. The following decade has been all corporate, salary positions. This has all been remote/WFH.

I'm interested in consulting. I want to make sure I understand what separates a consultant from a salary employee, freelancer, or even just an entrepreneur. I am also curious how one successfully enters the consulting world.

My goals are to have more control over my schedule, avoid another decade of job hopping, and enter the next stage of my professional development. I have no interest in corporate politics nor do I care to watch Slack or have my butt in a seat during certain hours just in case someone needs me. I'm hoping that I understand what it means to be a consultant and whether its a good fit for me.

Can anyone shed some light on what life is like as a consultant along with tips or anecdotes about getting started?