Woo. I learned today that my job will likely end in September.
I've spent the last 8 years working on a small team that builds and supports free educational software. The environment that funds us has essentially collapsed, but I was unprepared for just how fast that would take us down. We're not completely dead, and we have a lot of dedicated people working very hard to throw us a lifeline. But as of now payroll ends in September for the entire development team.
The tech job market is the worst it has ever been since there was a tech job market, or at least it is in the US. Relatedly, we're going down in fascist flames with a leader who is explicitly trying to destroy the educational institutions that were funding my team.
(And to the French simmer who I unfollowed over a big rant about how Americans can't keep their problems in their own country, a great big flashing FUCK YOU.)
Oh yeah, and large language models + vibe coding is in the middle of destroying everything.
Tech has never been kind to people over 40, and it's become increasingly hostile to women over the course of my storied career. As a woman over 40 in the worst tech job market ever, my prospects aren't exactly rosy.
I'm actually okay with trying to retool and make some kind of career change. I don't love programming any less, and I genuinely do love it. It's just that it's not the only thing I could imagine doing and enjoying.
I've become a passionate amateur in film editing. In fact, the "film editing project" I comment about on Vampires SMP threads is rebuilding the 14 POVs of VSMP into a 22-episode TV series format. I did it largely to play with film editing, but most of it is actually up on an unlisted YouTube playlist. I never actually made it public because I was paranoid about the fact that I can't really fix anything and upload it without deleting and replacing the video. It's a labor of love, which means I keep wanting to tinker it, and it feels like making the playlist public sets the whole thing in stone.
Anyone want to hire a professional video game modder? Haha. I have extensive experience in Sims 3 and little bit in Minecraft and Vintage Story 🤔.
There's actually money in editing Minecraft videos. I've looked into how that marketplace works. I would friggin' LOVE to convince creators in roleplay SMPs that it would be worthwhile to go in together in a TV-style edit of some of their scenes. I suppose my unreleased VSMP stuff would serve as a proof-of-concept as well as a portfolio of sorts. But I really suck at marketing myself.
I don't know. I'm mostly just journaling this out here because it's the place I can write something to collect my thoughts.
I have an employed wife. We're looking at our finances, but I think we're going to be okay with me taking some time to figure my shit out if my job does in fact end in September.
I kind of want to just start doing that now. The bomb has dropped, but it's wrapped in just a bit of uncertainty, and so long as there's a chance to save this precious project, I should be working my butt off for the summer. It's hard to hold both of these things at the same time.