Financially, no. Emotionally, fuck yeah.
Financially? No, I’m doing pretty well, having made a lot of boring but good long term decisions, gotten a few lucky breaks, and had the sort of career where I’ve always been able to find a new job when I needed to. Though with the rise of LLMs that may not be true in a few years.
Health wise though? Fuck. And the mental fallout from that sucks.
Yeah, the burnout is real. I keep trying to do everything I can to keep it from being ever present, but I feel without a career change and a massive risk to my financial stability that I am utterly stuck and will just keep getting fried out at the cost of keeping dinner on the table.
We’re by no means struggling relative to what many are going through right now, but we definitely already lost multiple safety-nets in a very brief amount of time under Trump’s 2nd term.
I’ve been unemployed since 04-2025, and while I still have a long way to go, my savings are starting to dwindle. The job market is tough for coders that find generative AI, wasteful, unethical, and a copyright hazard, in addition to not being much impressed with the output, even from tests earlier this year. I wonder if the new convenience store needs people.
I am well off, but not well off enough to lift other people out of their misery. I contribute what I easily can, but every day I wish for the world to change, even if that means having less income as a result.
We’re living in the worst K shaped economy in recent history. yeah. We are.
Feels like it. I’m getting the most pay in my life and 5 years ago it would have been comfortable. Now with the cost of everything I’m just eeking by. Hell I drive a 30 year old car still as I can’t afford a new one or even a newer used one
you can’t afford a 25K civic or similar?
issue i see with people is they seem to want 50K cars. at least going by the average price of new car purchases, but most car buyers buy like 2x the car they actually need.
At least in the US the average new car price is now close to $50k. That’s the reason car loans now are going upwards of 7 years. A lot of the car price is more and more expensive safety features being added on cars. Add in, you are quite a lot safer in a modern new car compared to even a 20 year old car.
yes, but all those feature are in 25K cars.
It’s just that people don’t buy those cars, they would rather financially ruin themselves buy 2x the car for the ‘image’ of it. Just like how many people by unreliable, bad MPG, shitty cars, but whine about the cost… because well they ‘have to have a Jeep’. So now they have a 50K car that is going to need $1000s in repairs just to keep it running after a year or two.
And 99% of people who own Jeeps never offorad them, they’d be better off with a Civic or Corolla, but they can’t get over themselves, they’d rather whine about being poor and broke while paying 4x the cost for a car that they need to.
If you look, there are very few $25k cars these days, hence the comment, the average is $50k for a new car in the US.
there are tons of compact suvs and sedans at that price point. almost every major brand makes them.
the issue is people don’t want them because they are ‘too small’ or ‘don’t feel safe’. they would rather pay 50K for a big ass car and whine about it then buy one that’s half the cost and 2/3 of the size. And almost all of them are just commuting to work in it, they will never ever use the extra space or capacity of the larger vehicle. and if you argue with them and point this out, they will tell you what a stupid ignorant asshole you are and how they ‘need’ a 50K car, and they couldn’t possibly ever buy a shitty small car like a Civic. And most of them will go further be like ‘well i can only afford the 50K car, but I REALLY WANT the 80K car.’ Tons of people buy these 80K 3-row SUVs and whine about how expensive they are, when they absolutely positively have no actual need for a vehicle that large. but psychologically they need it because it’s a status symbol and reflection of their ‘pride and value’ of themselves.
you can get a brand new HRV or Civic for 24-26K, but people refuse to buy those cars, they want the Passport which is 45K to start.
fwiw i drive a 10 year old hatchback and people endless tell me shit like ‘you have no self-respect if you drive such a shitty small car’. and i ask them what car I should get then, and they always say ‘audi/bmw 5/7 series SUV’. Because it’s not about the utility or use, it’s all about the fragile image they are protecting by owning a large expensive vehicle.
Meh, knowing people that have been t-boned and are permanently disabled because they drove too small of cars, the unfortunate reality is newer cars are safer, larger, and you are more likely to survive. They are also more expensive. But hey, when your teenage daughter ends up a paraplegic in your 10 year old hatch back, maybe you will feel something about not buying a safer vehicle. At least you saved a few bucks.
a larger car was not going to save you from being hurt while you were t boned.
that’s the myth they use to sell larger cars.
often smaller cars have better crash ratings, but whatever man, keep whining about car prices while you pay for 2-3x the car you need.
Everytime i manage to save a few thousand and think im adding to my savings, suddenly we need a root canal, i blow a tire, doctor wants an MRI because he felt something odd… and poof, all my savings are gone.
I literally refuse to look at our bank balance. The moment I look and think “oh, that’s better than I expected” then the AC dies, or our roof starts leaking and needs replacement, or some other bullshit happens to consume every last penny we have.
I always thought i was 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Now im also worried about the C level morons saying AI can do my job and let me go. They already require everyone use AI to gen code. Eventually, they will expect AI to architect the product too.
