PSA: Temporary radio silence

On By Ola GIn announcement, meta, miscellaneous, Ola

Hello everyone!

This is a short announcement that I’ll be sadly much less present on WP for the next ten weeks or so – approximately till mid-December. It’s not blogging fatigue, on the contrary, blogging gives me as much fun as ever. It’s a crazy year for me, though. After much soul-searching I decided early this spring to make a career change. I love social anthropology and sociology, but unfortunately my love is not widely shared by the job market 😉 

I have made the decision to switch paths completely, and a few months back I enrolled in a programming bootcamp. It is very much a proper bootcamp, cramming years of study into a bit less than five months of very intensive training. For the last six weeks I’ve been studying for ~50-60 hours a week, and now as I’m entering the final phase of the course, I’m looking at ~60-70 hours a week. I tried very hard to find time for blogging and reading, but there really isn’t much time for anything, except learning javascript and a bunch of other programming languages ;). 

So, wish me luck and forgive me if I don’t comment or write much over the next two months. After that, hopefully…

Also, feel free to pester Piotrek for some more posts! Re-enchantment is still very much alive and kicking 😀

54 thoughts on “PSA: Temporary radio silence”

  1. Wow, that is some serious commitment. Best of luck in changing careers. I can only imagine how tough that must be.

    Also, thanks for letting us know you’ll be absent AND that you’re not burnt out 😀

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    1. Thanks, Booky!
      Fortunately I discovered I really enjoy programming, and that I find quite a lot of fun in it – but it is exhausting, there’s no denying it. Still, in for a penny, if for a pound 😀

      Yep, no burnout! 😀 I even finished recently In the Forests of Serre, and enjoyed it more than Forgotten Beasts 😉

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      1. Doing what you enjoy makes a world of difference 😀 That’s why I still work outdoors year round despite each winter getting harder, hahahahaa!

        Glad that Serre worked for you. Forgotten Beasts was probably one of her darkest and I’m really surprised they tried to jump-start her name recognition with it. Probably because it won that award, but still, it’s not her most representative work.

        I shall now refer to you no long as Olag the grumpy guy, but as Code Monkey, the poo flinger 😉

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        1. LOL, beware, Code Monkey can do many nasty things to your blog 😛

          I didn’t mind the darkness of Forgotten Beasts, I did mind the lack of internal logic in the treatment of said beasts and in the attitude toward power. I felt the ending was juvenile and not really thought-through – plus, the entire book was extremely descriptive and I still didn’t feel a connection ;). Serre was more ironic, which I feel suits McKillip’s style better. I don’t have to be convinced to care, if you follow my drift ;).

          Will you like doing what you’re doing outdoors when you move to Georgia?

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  2. That’s a good question. For now, the move has been put on hold as we can’t afford anything in the area.
    It wouldn’t surprise me if the heat n humidity do me in, so changing jobs is at the back of my mind I’d probably tough it out for 2 years to make sure I really couldn’t handle it and not just me stressing out over a new environment.

    What about you? Will you be a total work from homer now?

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    1. I like working from home. I like teaching, too, an embarrassing fact 😉 With things being what they are now, though, I’d much prefer to work from home. Meeting people is important, too, so I’d like to have an opportunity to at least meet people I’ll be working with face to face ;).

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    1. Thanks, Bart! 😀

      Long story 😉 A friend recommended that I try programming, when I told them I was looking for something new. I gave it a try and I was quite surprised to discover that I really enjoy it! I like puzzles, I like solving problems, I’m good at researching stuff and I tend to think in abstract terms more often than not, and it all turned out to be a pretty good fit for coding. Also, I love the fact that you get instant feedback. It either works, or it doesn’t, and if it doesn’t, you just figure out why. 🙂

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  4. Haha you’re going down the same trajectory as me. From academia to becoming a programmer. After my biology PhD I enrolled in a Java traineeship. So if you ever have any questions about Java, shoot. It’s not easy to become a programmer because there is so much to learn, and it takes hands on practice too, to really get familiar with it. I did a 2 month study which was not as intensive as yours and then started out as a junior in a company and just kept learning on the job, and that learning never stopped. If it fits your personality, it can be rewarding. But tiring too.

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    1. Oh yeah, totally agree on all points! Rewarding, but exhausting too.

      Thanks for the offer, I’m sure I’ll take you up on that one day! I dabbled in Java to see if I like programming. Javascript is much less logical and more all over the place, but also a bit easier, I think, in the sense that you can get away with more. Maybe one day we’ll write a bookish app together, Jeroen! 😀

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        1. Yep, job search will be on. The company that organizes the bootcamp includes a careers week at the end and tries to help you find a good fit, but there are no guarantees. NZ is a difficult market generally, so we’ll see how it goes 🙂
          Yeah, JS is messy as! 🤣 Legacy is a big problem that’s littering the language – but it’s still very popular and in demand.

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          1. Oh yes the number of javascript environments and frameworks is endless. I doubt you’ll have much trouble finding a job, although I don’t know the NZ market. Are you also learning html/css?

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      1. Will do. Milou is also following a coding course, ive heard it can be quite frustrating coming from the curses in the other room. Seems the school she does it through sent books with new programs while supplying old programs to work with. Upon asking help they reffered her to search it on google to help her…

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        1. Oh yeah, curses and frustration are daily occurrence in my household too 😂 but there’s also the odd victory dance and triumphant fist pumps, so it all evens out in the long run 😉
          I use Google every day!!! It’s the main source of information for me, I don’t use any books 😉

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  7. No matter how time- and energy-consuming this project might be, your enthusiasm for it comes across quite clearly from your words, so we’ll be cheering you on as you forge ahead in your new career path. And we’ll keep the proverbial porch light on waiting for your return 🙂
    My very best!!!!!

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    1. Thank you Wakizashi!!! ☺️
      I found that there isn’t that much of math in programming, there’s much more of linguistics and logic 🤣
      I hope so too! I will definitely make an update on it at some point for all those curious and considering giving programming a spin 😁

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    1. Thank you, Mogsy! It’s a challenge, definitely, we’ll see how that’s going to turn out, hopefully good! 😅

      Totally unrelated, but did you manage to get that shiny Gyarados you wished for during the mega raid event??

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  13. Good luck with the bootcamp and with your future career! I used to do a lot of programming, when I was younger, but by now I am quite rusty. I did enjoy it, but wouldn’t want to make a living of it. I took a class in AI and learned a bit of Python – it was very interesting (AI, not Python), but realistically a change in career for me is just not going to happen.

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  14. Good luck with the bootcamping Ola!! Unfortunately I’m going to have to request that you don’t completely disappear til December. I mean, that would leave us only with Piotrek for company and… well, no one wants that 😉

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      1. Good to have you back! Yes, an unexpected baby delivery at home wasn’t part of the plan, but we made it out okay 😉 Looking forward to more reading during Christmas… Any recs for an easy read fantasy for a video-gaming music teacher?

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          1. Excellent! Thank you, Ola. I’ll do some more research on these and purchase one before our Christmas break begins. Our toddler falls asleep at 6:30pm, and our newborn falls asleep whenever she wants to. I try to fit in reading at this time 😉

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  18. Pingback: Re-Enchanted 2022 – Re-enchantment Of The World

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