Loutfard's journal

[ertyu]

This really is good feedback, 1 and 2 in particular are very useful

[loutfard]

This really is good feedback, 1 and 2 in particular are very useful

Yes indeed. I was a bit worried about my technical skills and lack of recent formal relevant experience being the most likely bottleneck. Like... "Is he able to do the actual work?". I didn't have enough calibration to the real world in this area, so I didn't expect them to consider those strong points. Probably a classical INTJ thing.

In hindsight, passing the HR monkeys by practicing job interviews should have been higher priority. My first and last formal job interview was in 2001. After that, either I wasn't looking for interesting work or it found me. I obviously did prepare, but without speaking to people very much.

[guitarplayer]

If I remember it right, Kahneman around the start of his career as a psychologist worked with the HR for the Israeli army, doing psychometrics for them. Later reflecting, Kahneman concluded that there is little correlation between any recruitment results and performance down the line.

Which is another way of saying that applying for jobs is to an extent a numbers game.

Besides, this seemed to me to be a potential move from 'good' to 'better' and the situation you default on is doing what you are doing which is building a good resilient life framework already.

Good you take it well! I always struggle despite best efforts, the monkey in me.

[loutfard]

Good you take it well! I always struggle despite best efforts, the monkey in me.

There was a bit of "oh, crap" feeling. The feeling didn't last long. Some very smart friends and I had planned a long weekend hacking on a free software/open hardware project. On Saturday evening, I was absolutely in the flow. I came home after midnight, couldn't stop and cracked a sticky technical issue half an hour later.

I'll still try and pierce the HR layer. Some interviewing training, a bit of numbers game, and a healthy dose of lighthearted irony should do the trick.

[ertyu]

Seems like the things they pointed out are all the communication/interviewing/people skills part -- to me the feedback you shared sounded like they thought you were technically fine, but another candidate came across more personable. So you're right, interviewing training -- coming across as personable + having prepared answers to common questions so you can answer them fluently -- is where it's at. There's a small army of HR people on youtube doing videos on, "how to answer BLAH common interview question" -- search something like, how to answer job interview -- and watch a couple. Get a sense for the voice and the language that's expected. I agree w @gp's point that interviewing skills and the ability to do the job are different skills and one doesn't actually imply the other. Good luck

[loutfard]

I'm researching the retirement rules applicable to me. They look extremely tailored to "work until 67 and don't think of doing anything that deviates from the norm":
- The pension rules are arcane and neigh impossible to research.
- The public pension administration does not provide me with any assistance. At all. They ignore any requests for information from anyone under 57.
- My pension as a tenured public servant gets calculated on the basis of an average of the last ten years. It's not clear if that is the last ten years in service or something else.
- I need to have worked for at least 30 years within the EU before I have access to a guaranteed minimum pension. That would be (years worked/45)*(percentage of full time during my entire tenured carreer).

The only thing more or less clear? Reducing my tenured job to working just a few hours a week would be a dangerous financial pitfall. I'd better quit, give up tenure and/or move abroad.

I have plenty of time and will continue investigating. It's increasingly looking like a union membership will be the only way to get reliable basic information.

[loutfard]

- Summer house. The magnificent linden tree next to our summer house lost an enormous branch during a storm last Saturday. As it stands, it threatens the house. Chances are we will have to have it cut back by almost half, or even entirely. A shame really, and a bit stressful. A close friend and neighbour told us he lost part of a tree in his garden too, and how he was able to keep the childrens' trampoline from crashing into their car.

- Weight. Even with 24h intermittent fasting, my BMI hit a plateau at 26.8. I've recently moved from full day intermittent fasting to not eating after lunch. I might still throw in the occasional full fasting day.

- Muscles. I didn't keep up my burpee training. Restarted it today and confident I will do a better job.

- Sleep. The last three weeks were more stressful and irregular than usual. Negative impact on sleep. I feel tired. It looks as if less stressful weeks should be ahead though.

- News. I stopped reading news in October. Almost. Didn't miss it, except for some occasional Ukraine news. Bad idea. Even small quantities consume me. I'm stopping this entirely as of today. Important news gets to me anyway.

- Uneasy feeling about Putin's was on Ukraine. My Baltic connection makes it worse. One night I couldn't sleep and started looking at emigrating to Canada. I told my wife about it the next morning. Surprisingly answer: "Good idea actually."

- Screen time. This deserves a bit more info. See below. Input very welcome!

I've spent too much time in front of my the interwebs recently. Some, but not all of it was for solid work/income and non-profit work reasons. I'm quite talented at tech work, and I like it. I could use it to push the financial independence part of ERE much further much more quickly. I can also express essential parts of my creativity, ingenuity and desire to share through it.

At the same time, I have tended to lose myself in front of my internet connected screen. It's the main reason I don't want a smartphone. That carries the potential for making things worse.

A quite successful recent episode had me block wifi on the router from 5pm. I now plan to introduce intermittent internet fasting. starting with 24 hour periods like with food. That worked for food, so it might just as well for the internet.

- Freedom to. Here too, I'd love some feedback.

One of the things I've consciously postponed until after financial independence is to build austere internet devices. I love to build things that explore the border area between offline and online, making the internet more asynchronuous. Think a printable paper booklet of your android phone's contacts. Think a screenless email device while touching only wood. I've built several things in this area in the past and felt super happy doing so.

I just don't allow myself to focus on this vision yet. I feel it would distract me from financial independence side. A n€/day consulting contract is so much less risky a path. My wife clearly supports this path and not the other.

[ertyu]

Is Canada a good idea? It's something I'm considering as well as i might have a very tenuous in.

[delay]

- Weight. Even with 24h intermittent fasting, my BMI hit a plateau at 26.8. I've recently moved from full day intermittent fasting to not eating after lunch. I might still throw in the occasional full fasting day.

Thanks for your journal update! That's interesting, with intermittent fasting I haven't gained weight, even in weeks where I had ridiculous amounts of food and drink. My eating window is from 14:00 to 20:00 so it excludes breakfast. How often do you eat whole foods, like raw vegetables, raw milk, fresh meat?

- Screen time. This deserves a bit more info. See below. Input very welcome!
...
A quite successful recent episode had me block wifi on the router from 5pm. I now plan to introduce intermittent internet fasting. starting with 24 hour periods like with food. That worked for food, so it might just as well for the internet.

Putting up barriers like that helps for me too. To use mobile internet, I have to turn on my SIM, then switch it from 2G to 4G, then switch on mobile data. There is no wi-fi in my home unless I click a button on the internet router. I've blocked news sites with an ad blocker.

There is a turning point where it gets easier. For me several news sites no longer need to be blocked, as I don't have the urge to visit them anymore.

I just don't allow myself to focus on this vision yet. I feel it would distract me from financial independence side. A n€/day consulting contract is so much less risky a path. My wife clearly supports this path and not the other.

Switching from a public servant fixed contract to a daily consulting contract seems like going from one side of the "safe job" spectrum to the other. I've met several people who went this way and then lost their consulting contract after a few years. Not a good place to be.

I've seen this work for really high end jobs (like "enterprise architect") where people hit their salary ceiling and are then eased into a consulting contract. That's the opposite of "RE" though, it means total work focus, and the constant need for self promotion.

[J_]

Hi Loutfard, I get the impression that life is a bit difficult for you at the moment. You have so much on which you focus…
Is prioritise on your personal wellbeing, mental and physical not of much more importance than anything else? Only if you get those in order the other(s) can be handled well, I think.

[loutfard]

Switching from a public servant fixed contract to a daily consulting contract seems like going from one side of the "safe job" spectrum to the other.

Not an issue in my case. My tenured job leaves enough time for an almost full-time professional activity on top

[loutfard]

Hi Loutfard, I get the impression that life is a bit difficult for you at the moment. You have so much on which you focus…

Thank you for your concern.

Is prioritise on your personal wellbeing, mental and physical not of much more importance than anything else? Only if you get those in order the other(s) can be handled well, I think.

I'm doing better than ever really. It was just several peaks combined. I knew this overload was coming and built in enough recovery time. I invested a bit much time in a job application (see above). I finished a stressful side gig a bit over a week ago. My tenured work peak is over for this yearly cycle this Saturday afternoon. The summer house construction project is slowly coming to a close, or at least a point where I don't have to actively manage it anymore. I'm off work for several days next week, and I have July and August off to do whatever I fancy.

Temporary overload is not healthy and probably not worth it. The risky bit is messing up healthy habits. That happened, but only temporarily and to a minor extent. My wife is getting better at supporting me in these crucial moments. That helps a lot.

[loutfard]

Gardening is good for me. Well, for many of us I guess. It's something I should get back into next growing season. Two months at the summer house, smack in the middle of peak season does not make this easy though. My wife has also expressed an interest. She usually stays longer for work reasons, but there's still at least four weeks to cover. I could get the neighbours to water the garden and pick the bounty, but that's about it. Any suggestions?

My wife has zero gardening experience, but I do. I used to garden very actively from age 6 to ~20 to a surprisingly high standard. It started with guerilla gardening in my parents' garden as a little boy. I decided a small flower patch near the chicken coop was to grow two potato plants and gradually claimed more of a patch of garden near the terrace. I remember growing carrots, chervil ("French parsley"), cucumbers, endives, Jerusalem artichoke, kiwi, leek, lettuce, mellons, potatoes, radish, redcurrants, rhubarb, strawberries, sunflowers, tomatoes, zucchini and more.

Current reality is a garden completely neglected for the last ten years though.