Comments for IT Pilgrimage

Comment on Coming Back Soon by Francois

Francois — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:55:49 +0000

Hey Pilgrim quickly dropping in to say I hope you’re doing well, hoping that the medical issues stayed that way (resolved, that is), and wondering how the pigrimage is doing.

Done with my sabatical and been doing some contract IT work again the last few months. Luckily it is good stuff (geek to geek details: distributed and concurrent dev in C++ on a Linux environment). I’m also working in Stellenbosch (just outside Cape Town) which is beautiful and chilled and living at coast so enjoying the waves.

Anyways blabber blabber missing your angry traffic reports and bad boss descriptions.

Take care Pilgrim,
Francois

Comment on The New Doggy Super Coat by sharon hoisington

sharon hoisington — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:06:41 +0000

hi have 2 boston terrier and they get cold to is there a pattern for the coat that you made for your dog need a pattern if you have one to give thanks Mrs H

Comment on Pilgrim Dissappearing Act by Francois

Francois — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:40:59 +0000

Hey Pilgrim

Hope you’re going well, I just sent up a prayer for you.

Francois

Comment on If You’re Born Here You’re Here Forever by Asrok

Asrok — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:20:24 +0000

First off it’s improper for a state to claim sovereignty over someone who is out of its territory and a noncitizen (which you would be if you moved and renounced your citizenship).

Second, Congress should not be passing legislation that says that just because someone has a certain amount of money and they are renouncing their citizenship and leaving the country that they must be doing so in order to avoid taxes. It’s like passing a law repealing gravity. It doesn’t change the immutable fact that some people move and renounce their citizenship for other reasons. Congress is supposed to make laws, not decide what constitutes proof for breaking them. That’s for juries to decide by examining the evidence and drawing their own conclusions. It’s a violation of separation of powers.

Comment on Horseback Riding Coats for Voluptuous Women: Updated by johnny

johnny — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:59:15 +0000

XmbEV2 Thanks for good post

Comment on Count Me in on The Liberta Financial Freedom Challenge by Francois

Francois — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:51:33 +0000

Hi Pilgrim I've written a welcoming post and added your blog to the support network. Please check the description of your blog and let me know if you want to change it. Take care, God bless & good luck! Francois

Comment on Count Me in on The Liberta Financial Freedom Challenge by Welcome Financial Freedom Challengers #4

Welcome Financial Freedom Challengers #4 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:47:18 +0000

[...] The first is one of my existing blog friends, IT Pilgrim. [...]

Comment on Count Me in on The Liberta Financial Freedom Challenge by Francois

Francois — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:27:08 +0000

Hey Pilgrim

Good to know you’re in. From the sounds of it you’re strong on your way there.

I’ve been out of civilization for a while, but back now. I’ll write a welcoming post on Liberta asap.

Francois

Comment on Should I Stay or Should I Go by Jemimah

Jemimah — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:02:07 +0000

For the sake of a good argument, I will assert that your goals of financial independence and self-actualization at work are conflicting. I suspect the that vast majority of jobs that are truly good for your soul are not good for your pocketbook. Thus the pursuit of happiness takes one of three forms: either we become mercenaries, selling our time (while our souls wither) for money in hopes of achieving retirement before infirmity, or we resign ourselves to indefinite wage-slavery hoping that if we serve the master diligently enough, we will be rewarded with a higher standard of living – perhaps believing that our materialism is acceptable food for the soul, or we say “carpe diem” seeking our self-actualization in the present, but we can’t afford to pay for it and so we must live off the charity of other people.

My advice is to go mercenary (assuming you find no brilliant innovative solution to this Kobayashi Maru test). The goal here is not “happiness” at work, but an optimization of the least amount of misery for the most amount of compensation. You’ll need a new list.

Is the job damaging my mental or physical health or causing burnout?

Am I doing work that makes my skillset more marketable?

Can I get a sizable raise by switching jobs?

Can I get a sizable reduction in hours by switching jobs?

What’s my exit strategy?

–

Since you’re good at shaking things up, automating yourself out of jobs (my specialty), and then getting bored, I really think you should stick with temping and/or consulting. If you do that, you don’t have to call it “serial job hopping.” There are two types of hoppers, those that hop because they suck, and those that hop because they can’t stand suckage. Even if you do find a way out of IT, and into a different corporate field, you’ll probably still dislike it, for all the same reasons. Finding a job that pays well and doesn’t suck is basically lottery; but you can’t win if you don’t play.

Comment on Please Help Me Beat Sleapiness by Jemimah

Jemimah — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:30:18 +0000

I had a couple more thoughts for you. How many hours are you putting in at work? If it’s a lot more than 40, no wonder you’re always sleepy and bored. For me, the number of hours I should work for optimum mental health is about 30. If I have to work more than that, the other hours are usually unproductive and exhausting. If I work less than that, I feel like I’m wasting my time. With travel jobs is is quite possible to find positions that don’t require excessive hours behind a desk.

Also I bet that like me, you’re finding it difficult to maintain an exercise routine on the road. My current solution is a piece of software called Yourself! Fitness. It’s like a personal trainer with exercises you can do in a hotel room. It’s different every time so you don’t get bored with it as fast.