sinclairX86

2 năm trướcdiscuss

My embedded portfolio for the last two years:

Battery Management Systems: Turn on and off 324 single cells in a 200 kWh array, measure their voltages and temperatures and ensure they're cells are not engaged above threshold temperatures (asymmetric for charging and discharging), or below threshold voltages.

Electric Vehicle Chargers: Communicate with car, communicate with charge point operator.

LoRa transceivers: Configure transceiver, send and receive encrypted messages over LoRa.

It was all Rust, and all very interesting.

But as other commenters have pointed out, there is a pay loft compared to other industries.

sinclairX86

3 năm trướcdiscuss

> I would at least try the meds for a couple of months.

Whether or not you have ADHD, amphetamines will improve your life if you measure quality by how much you get done.

So I think the real question is: Are you prevented from functioning according to your expectations without daily amphetamine use, or not? And do you even see that as a problem?

I've used various (legal) amphetamines and modafinil variants for years, and they always made me very productive and happy, because I like getting things done. They also make me very high-energy.

Disclaimers:

  - Amphetamines are physically addictive
  - Being productive is psychologically addictive
  - Take time off, or the productivity effect will even out, just like too much coffee.

sinclairX86

3 năm trướcdiscuss

I appreciate your advice.

Saying he is the problem is just as non-constructive as saying I'm the problem.

People aren't problems, they're people.

Rather, I have a "me and my CTO" problem.

Judging by how my senior colleagues handle this by saying "it's just a job" and not get upset, I can see how their "me and my CTO" problems are much smaller and don't overheat on a daily basis. However, since my ambitions don't align with saying "it's just a job", I am still looking for other options. Quitting is on the list, so thank you for spelling it out.

sinclairX86

3 năm trướcdiscuss

This is super valuable, thank you.

I've interpreted "be stoic" as "let it slide".

But now I'm going with "don't get caught up arguing with yourself or him."

For example, I'm minimizing meetings that don't impact my execution positively.

I'm convinced the frustration ultimately stems from my attempt to level up.

sinclairX86

3 năm trướcdiscuss

> a more stoic approach

I tell myself to be more stoic every week, but I can't.

If I just wanted a well-paying job with a good work-life balance, I'd be working in fintech.

I keep this mental image: I'm on a ladder, and my CTO is standing above me and won't move. If he could either move at my pace focusing on bigger problems than me, or get out of the way, I could make this work better for both my employer and myself.

If there was just a way to nudge him into place.

There is an Andrew Tate soundbite [1]:

> "There is a secret to the universe [...]: If you actually try your best, you can't lose. Not pretend to try your best, not try your best 90% of the time, not try your best with excuses. If you genuinely try your best all of the time, all day, every day, [...] it is impossible to fail in this life. [...] You cannot fail if you try your best."

Maybe when I have kids, I will feel like I won the lottery, and I won't be so competitive.

Until then, I don't know what will be my life's work.

But I know that cultivating a relentless attitude maximizes my impact.

If I could just learn to be nice about it.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AgEuHFl4TU

> a lot of time it's political and really difficult

I can sense the political dimension in this.

Being a tiny startup made of awesome inventors, it's a lot less than most places I worked.

We need a CTO for CTO-y stuff. In many ways I'm happy this isn't my responsibility: Slides for board meetings, putting on a suit and shaking hands at conferences, hardware certification paperwork, and the really hard work: Be responsible for all software, hardware and material design.

The step I'm making (Senior to Lead) is much smaller than what my CTO is trying (middle management to CTO in a very technical industry), so he is expectably meeting more resistance than me. I can really understand and sympathise with his difficulties. But I cannot respect his coping strategies.

> advance my career [...] gain a new skill or improve existing ones

This is excellent advice, thank you.

sinclairX86

3 năm trướcdiscuss

Welcome to Capitalism.

sinclairX86

3 năm trướcdiscuss

> I had more or less unrestricted internet access since the time I was able to use a computer, but it feels like it wasn’t overly harmful

I have the opposite experience.

  - I've been addicted to pornography since I was 12.
  - Late computer use caused me to never get enough sleep.
  - Programming early started my career, but it also isolated me socially.

YouTube and Tik Tok scare me; as a grown-up, I can still waste hours just swiping and swiping. I suspect that getting this behavior early on will make you more docile. My siblings raise their kids with tablets, and it impacts their learning ability and sociability tremendously.

sinclairX86

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Ask HN: How to deal with incompetent, obstructing CTO?

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