5 ms·

I had three months off between jobs a couple of years ago. I did absolutely nothing, just sleep in, stay up late, read a few books, watch movies and play games.

by Aaargh20318 8y ago

I had three months off between jobs a couple of years ago. I did absolutely nothing, just sleep in, stay up late, read a few books, watch movies and play games. After three months I almost felt like a human being again. That feeling was gone 2 days into the new job.

tobbe2064 8y ago
Lol
taneq 8y ago
Yep, if I had two months off right now I'd spend the first month just sleeping and unwinding. Second month I'd probably get bored and take a project off my ever-growing rack of "cool things I wanna build but will never have time to do".
- thedevindevops 8y ago
  Care to show us your rack?
  - taneq 8y ago
    Well, the main thing I want to do at the moment is build an external tracking sensor for Windows Mixed Reality. That'd be a pretty huge product if done right since the one weakness of WMR is the inside-out controller tracking. To do it right, though, it would need to do on-board video processing so it doesn't add any load on the host computer, which would involve implementing SoftPOSIT in an FPGA. That's as far as I've got on that one. Then there's a ruggedized telepresence robot with enough flexibility that it can be used for inspection and troubleshooting on remote sites, so you don't need a person physically present. It would also let systems maintainers 'teleport' to a remote site for troubleshooting without having to lose a day to plane flights and paperwork. This might even be my next commercial project. No-one's done a self contained drone 'airport' yet which can hold a few small drones and launch / retrieve / recharge them. It'd be useful for a whole bunch of remote observation and monitoring applications, eg. early bushfire detection. This will be tougher to commercialize due to large incumbent drone operators trying to increase red tape to prevent new players entering the market. Another idea is a lawn weeding robot, using computer vision to detect weeds and some kind of claw to physically rip them out of the lawn. A few people have done hobby style builds but I don't think one's been commercialized yet. And then there's a few fun non-commercial project ideas like a license-plate reader based automatic opener for our front gate, facial recognition doorbell / automatic lock for the front door, and a couple of game ideas.
Rooster61 8y ago
That's...alarming. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I think you might be in the wrong line of work if that's the case. Work can suck, but it shouldn't be that soul crushing.
- scirocco 8y ago
  Yep. I actually like Mondays
- Aaargh20318 8y ago
  Oh, it's not the wrong kind of work, it's just having a job at all. I'm autistic, having to be among people is just so exhausting. It's the cost of acting like a normal person. Fortunately my current employer is very understanding, I work from home at least one day a week or more if I need it. I can tone down the act a little here, which is very helpful. Unfortunately I can't completely turn it off (I wouldn't be able to function that way). If it were up to me I wouldn't leave the house at all, unfortunately I need to eat, pay the mortgage, etc. > Work can suck, but it shouldn't be that soul crushing. Every job is soul crushing. Not because of the work, but because of the fact that you have to do it. The fact you have zero say in how you spend your time. The fact that you have to interact with human beings. etc. There's no way around it.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    >Every job is soul crushing. It really isn't for everyone. If I decided to pack it in tomorrow, I'd still do a lot of the same things I do today albeit with more pure pure leisure mixed in. I realize I'm in a privileged position in that regard but nonetheless that's how it is for me.
    - Aaargh20318 8y ago
      > If I decided to pack it in tomorrow, I'd still do a lot of the same things I do today Same here. The problem is not the core of the job, I love writing software. What kills me is meetings, having to sit in an office surrounded by humans (the sound of people talking especially easily causes sensory overload), having to work during the day (I'm a night person by nature and bright light is problematic for me), having to stay in the office for 8 hours even though I'm spent after 5, bullshit social events (I usually skip them, but you can't skip all of them), having to work with others (sometimes I spend more time convincing others of how I want things done than actually doing them). Programming is great, having a job isn't.
projectramo 8y ago
If you hate your job, you might consider having kids. You'll suddenly love the office. Seen it many times. (Before anyone thinks I am saying you won't also love your kids: that's not how it works.)
- Aaargh20318 8y ago
  I'm an antinatalist, so I won't be having kids any time soon (As well as being chronically single with no social skills whatsoever).

tobbe2064 8y ago

Lol

taneq 8y ago

Yep, if I had two months off right now I'd spend the first month just sleeping and unwinding. Second month I'd probably get bored and take a project off my ever-growing rack of "cool things I wanna build but will never have time to do".

thedevindevops 8y ago
Care to show us your rack?
- taneq 8y ago
  Well, the main thing I want to do at the moment is build an external tracking sensor for Windows Mixed Reality. That'd be a pretty huge product if done right since the one weakness of WMR is the inside-out controller tracking. To do it right, though, it would need to do on-board video processing so it doesn't add any load on the host computer, which would involve implementing SoftPOSIT in an FPGA. That's as far as I've got on that one. Then there's a ruggedized telepresence robot with enough flexibility that it can be used for inspection and troubleshooting on remote sites, so you don't need a person physically present. It would also let systems maintainers 'teleport' to a remote site for troubleshooting without having to lose a day to plane flights and paperwork. This might even be my next commercial project. No-one's done a self contained drone 'airport' yet which can hold a few small drones and launch / retrieve / recharge them. It'd be useful for a whole bunch of remote observation and monitoring applications, eg. early bushfire detection. This will be tougher to commercialize due to large incumbent drone operators trying to increase red tape to prevent new players entering the market. Another idea is a lawn weeding robot, using computer vision to detect weeds and some kind of claw to physically rip them out of the lawn. A few people have done hobby style builds but I don't think one's been commercialized yet. And then there's a few fun non-commercial project ideas like a license-plate reader based automatic opener for our front gate, facial recognition doorbell / automatic lock for the front door, and a couple of game ideas.

Rooster61 8y ago

That's...alarming. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I think you might be in the wrong line of work if that's the case. Work can suck, but it shouldn't be that soul crushing.

scirocco 8y ago
Yep. I actually like Mondays
Aaargh20318 8y ago
Oh, it's not the wrong kind of work, it's just having a job at all. I'm autistic, having to be among people is just so exhausting. It's the cost of acting like a normal person. Fortunately my current employer is very understanding, I work from home at least one day a week or more if I need it. I can tone down the act a little here, which is very helpful. Unfortunately I can't completely turn it off (I wouldn't be able to function that way). If it were up to me I wouldn't leave the house at all, unfortunately I need to eat, pay the mortgage, etc. > Work can suck, but it shouldn't be that soul crushing. Every job is soul crushing. Not because of the work, but because of the fact that you have to do it. The fact you have zero say in how you spend your time. The fact that you have to interact with human beings. etc. There's no way around it.
- ghaff 8y ago
  >Every job is soul crushing. It really isn't for everyone. If I decided to pack it in tomorrow, I'd still do a lot of the same things I do today albeit with more pure pure leisure mixed in. I realize I'm in a privileged position in that regard but nonetheless that's how it is for me.
  - Aaargh20318 8y ago
    > If I decided to pack it in tomorrow, I'd still do a lot of the same things I do today Same here. The problem is not the core of the job, I love writing software. What kills me is meetings, having to sit in an office surrounded by humans (the sound of people talking especially easily causes sensory overload), having to work during the day (I'm a night person by nature and bright light is problematic for me), having to stay in the office for 8 hours even though I'm spent after 5, bullshit social events (I usually skip them, but you can't skip all of them), having to work with others (sometimes I spend more time convincing others of how I want things done than actually doing them). Programming is great, having a job isn't.

projectramo 8y ago

If you hate your job, you might consider having kids. You'll suddenly love the office. Seen it many times. (Before anyone thinks I am saying you won't also love your kids: that's not how it works.)

Aaargh20318 8y ago
I'm an antinatalist, so I won't be having kids any time soon (As well as being chronically single with no social skills whatsoever).