u/Live_Particular_4735

Wanting a distinctly GenX perspective on this topic. To quote PB, "hit me with your best shot"

I'm looking to navigate the choppy waters of life until the Great Pipe Dream aka "retirement" (Medicare and SS kicks in...one can hope) or until I can draw from savings without tax penalties.

Would you...

• continue looking for another FT tech job (I've always been a computer programmer in some form or another...blame it with my fascination with TI-99/4a, Apple IIe and stuff like that)?
• get out of tech and into an "easy" non-tech job? (enough to float health insurance until Medicare)
• let it ride with part time jobs and gigs (I've done contracting via firms)?

A couple things that complicate matters...

1. taking care of family member's medical needs
2. starting to lose the "edge" or interest in tech especially with heavily automated everything (even before AI) that doing the work seemed more like babysitting.

I've taken a mental break away to enjoy more non-tech hobby stuff like reading, art and wasting time.

OK if you're serious or humorous or both?

Hope and pray tomorrow's tech interview will be the one that puts me back on "the pitch". Eager to get started working again after standing on the sideline for the past 3 months. This time it will be with a local employee-owned company with strong reputation for their culture and work life balance. So far, I've met several people from this firm and all people I can see being my teammates.

I've been blessed to have work at mostly great places. Unfortunately, the tides of change shift -- corp reorgs, project shutdowns, mgmt turnover -- can disrupt plans to stay longer in any one of the firms. I've learned to embrace change as a feature in the work of tech (IT/software). AI is a bit of a steamroller in the job market. Fear and uncertainty are factors that are driving decisions on both sides (employee and employer).

Regardless of the outcome from tomorrow, continue to push forward with your passion and what gets you up in the morning. Know that you are valued more than you think.