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I write software (usually) and technical manuals (sometimes) for a living. I started out doing both of those things at Apple in the late 1980s. I spent 10 year
by mikelevins 5y ago
I write software (usually) and technical manuals (sometimes) for a living. I started out doing both of those things at Apple in the late 1980s.
I spent 10 years at Apple and then six years at a startup that was acquired by Cisco.
Then I developed a chronic illness that took me out of the workforce and bankrupted me.
After getting a diagnosis (after two years of trying) and adjusting to my new reality, I got my health under control, starting working again--mostly as a consultant--and gradually reconstructed my life to fit the new circumstances.
I've been working as a consultant for about sixteen years now, and life is good. I like my work. I live alone except for my elderly mother. My children are grown and our relationship is good. In my spare time I write stories and songs and software and draw pictures. Despite my health-related bankruptcy lo, these many years ago, I am now rich, not in the sense of owning a lot of capital, but in the sense of having a good and satisfying life and expenses that are less than my income.
I've done a bunch of work that I find interesting. Over the past couple of years, it's been helping an engineering company with software development, AI, and product development. The work is interesting and my colleagues are congenial.
Am I living the dream? Yes, I think so. At least I'm living a modest, reality-adjusted old man's version of the dream, and I'm pretty happy with it. I expect to keep doing it as long as possible, until nobody wants my help anymore or I fall over.
- nunez 5y agoIt's bullshit that a medical issue can do that much damage to your financial health. Love this country but fucking hate how ruthless healthcare can be. Glad that you're well!
- gaws 5y ago> Love this country but fucking hate how ruthless healthcare can be. Vote for representatives who want free healthcare.
- mangoTangoBango 5y agoThis is TMI due to the max, but it illustrates and I’m describing, it’s cost a good amount in opportunity cost too but whatever. So I had IBS aka colon spasms to a debilitating degree and went to a couple highly-regarded doctors via my insurance including Kaiser and Blue cross in Seattle, but they said I was ok, and didn’t even do a referral to a gastroenterologist and just did blood panels. This destroyed my life and my relationship with my gf for a couple years and who I thought I was going to propose to, then it just mostly stopped. I’ll have the odd spasm now and again but nothing like it was from 2017-2021. Now I’m in the other side of the country and it doesn’t bother me like wtf it just went away. I’ve been screened for crohn's disease and ulcritive colitis and nothing came up. Sometimes our bodies are..strange.
- tldrthelaw 5y agoLet me know if you're ever looking for another congenial colleague. You seem awesome. Glad to hear you're doing well.
- mikelevins 5y agoThanks. Always looking for colleagues for this or that. If you mean for a paying gig, there might be work for a Common Lisper sometime soonish at my Day Job, but not right away (and the timing is a bit uncertain).
- tldrthelaw 5y agoNo worries, my skillset is kind of a mishmash. I'm a former software engineer cum tax attorney that straddles the line between tax/law and tech. Paying gigs not as important as interesting projects and (as you say) congenial colleagues.
- mikelevins 5y agoLike I say, always on the lookout for possible collaborators. Areas of possible connection are writing stories, recording music, creating art, building software (usually in Lisp, because that’s what I like) and creating and playing games with elements of world building or storytelling.
- tldrthelaw 5y agoI'm working on a nonfiction book on a region near me here in NJ. Would love to pick your brain regarding writing (and anything else). Got an email? Thanks!
- mikelevins 4y agoYou can mail me at mikel@evins.net