2024.01.05
4 star:
* Missed the Boat (Modest Mouse)
* My Bubble Gum (Rasheeda)
* Henry Ford vs Karl Marx (Epic Rap Battles of History)
3 star:
* All Night (Parov Stelar)
* Cut My Hair (Mounika. & Cavetown)
* Lived in Bars (4 Shades)
* Robo Booty (Opiuo)
* Think I'm Gonna Like It Here (Elisa Cariera)
When going through a prolonged jobhunt, one has to find a balance of introspection (how could I have shaped my career thus far differently and perhaps ended in a more resilient place) but also acknowledge the environmental factors.
Two big whammies in that last category. One is interest rates; money got really, really cheap as we worked to head off a COVID recession. There were some initial shock layoffs, but overall it became a boom time of speculation and growth in tech. That time is done, interest rates are high, and if you're on the outside looking in it is grim.
But there's a might another sea change: Section 174. A Trump-era change (that some expected not to come to fruition) means that software engineer R+D has to be amortized (like, counted as an expense) over 5 years (or 15 years if they're from other countries) - which could be rough for a startup trying to roll the dice and hoping for a quick turn around. Or for people who hope to get hired by that kind of company.
(Or, is it just VCs unreasonably kvetching, in much the same way you companies could do a lot of price gouging and just claim "inflation"?)
Anyway, my usual plug: I'm a UI Engineer strong in React and TypeScript who is looking to help a group make cool, usable stuff.