Laid off from a tech job after 20+ years. Retrained as a teacher, which was something I was also interested in. Lower salary and more hours but both OK. Went back into tech (not FAANG like) after 5 years, partly because I missed out on always working on something new (only so many ways to teach Pythagoras to Year 9 pupils).
Solar panels. Took about 6 months since starting the process and still need certificates before I can sell on a smart tariff but it's been fun seeing electricity generated even in December!
If someone is quoting you 16 years for ROI on your panels, get another quote. Even a decade ago I was able to get an ROI of 7 years. And panels are cheaper now. (Labor is not.)
Actually got 3 quotes all in the same range. The economics did not make any sense. Makes me believe somethings off with this vendor ($1500 per 350 Watt panel + $2500 install).
Factoring in the NEMS3 change [1], and that we just bought our house draining our reserves, it's close to getting dropped.
I'm in the UK and spent a little over £10k for 6.5kW and batteries. Expected payback is < 7y, depends on (UK) electricity prices and possible smart reselling power.
Yes!
I do financial risk modelling for a UK household name. I was hired 12y ago, after applying to an advert, to work with a (niche) language I'd not seen before.
I enjoy solving the problems, learning new things, doing things the 'right' way, helping colleagues. Pay is good but not spectacular and not my main motivator.
In October 1992 I was mostly programming in Fortran on a Dec VAX, writing scientific simulation and design software for electronic and optical components. About this time we bought some large CRT monitors, partly so that we could remotely read system documentation off CD's rather than a 1/4 mile round trip to look something up in the paper manuals in the IT office. We also spent > £20k on a PC with 20M memory for doing stand-alone modelling (not allowed to be connected to anything else).
In 1992 VAX/VMS from Digital Equipment Corporation was beginning to feel the hurt from various Unix systems that were becoming popular. In 1993, I worked at a US Army contract that still had MS-DOS and we had to do some creative accounting things to get them some systems that could run Windows 3.11.
There were still a bunch of proprietary systems like Apollo that had were used in a lot of engineering places. Unix came in two flavors, BSD System V and Berkeley. Linux hadn't happened yet but open source had made its presence known by all the utilities that ran under Unix with familiar names prefixed by a g- like gawk, gcc, gtar, etc. Before the GNU project, each vendor had their own C compiler that came with their version of Unix. The GNU utilities slowly made those obsolete as gcc became the standard C compiler.
I'm no longer looking for different work but when I was, I definitely had categories of employers I wouldn't work for. Never shy about letting a recruiter know, don't think it had any adverse effects.
I'm now old enough to retire if I wanted but intend to go on for another ~5y. Worked at the first place for 26y (3/4 different employers, mostly takeovers). When I got made redundant, I retrained as a teacher, which I stayed at for 5y. Managed to find another dev. job which I've been at for 10y. Could go higher and still be entirely technical but would be expected to mainly manage a few levels up. Still have to learn new things and am happy to.
> I was hired as a physicist with requirement for some programming. Almost immediately I was a programmer with a bit of physics.
> I first worked on surface acoustic waves for signal processing - most computational intensive part of the business. Other teams were laying out chips with Rubylith.
> Learnt by doing, occasional mentoring from more experienced team member, reading the manual.
> A lot of issue fixing was done by poring over printouts. A lot of trial and error.
> I didn't do talent hunting in those days.
> News was in journal articles, 'trade' magazines, user groups (proceedings distributed on magnetic tapes).
We had terminals connected to our main computer, a connection to a remote university computer (slow) and networks to other sites within the business. New software would be delivered on magnetic tape, also used for backup. Some measurement data was transferred via paper tape.
Data was mostly measured, processed and printed out. Archive versions of code were stored on printout.
My employer has been encouraging WFH for a while but mandated it for half our office before government requirement (didn't want everyone in key teams sick at the same time). We have been allowed to buy a monitor and have been supplied with a new laptop; we can also borrow any of the kit we need for the duration (I have borrowed an additional monitor).
I moved house last year and chose one within walking distance to work and with an office (personal computer is also there).
Tax authority allows tax-free compensation if employer requires WFH but that might complicated tax when house selling.
The most objectionable part for me is noise level, followed by the fact that my seat faces the big windows, which are frequently too bright. They are also often too warm for my comfort, though too cold for others. I don't want to listen to music or have hot ears from headphones. I started working life in open plan but quieter than nowadays but best was working in a 4 person office. I'm currently happier working in my study at home.
