For about a year and a half I answered everything the second it came in, didn't matter if it was 7pm or a Sunday. Figured that's what being reliable looked like, and for a while it seemed to work, I got the good projects, got asked to sit in on calls I technically didn't need to be on.

Then I got skipped for a lead role in March. Went to someone with less tenure who, from what I could tell, mostly just left on time and didn't say much in meetings.

I didn't quit or make a scene about it, just quietly stopped doing the after-hours thing. Turned off notifications at 6, left anything that came in overnight until the next morning unless it was actually urgent, which almost nothing ever was.

Nothing happened for the first few weeks. Genuinely thought I'd made things worse, kept expecting someone to say something.

Then in this quarter's check-in my manager mentioned to HR, in front of me, that I'd "really grown" in how I manage my workload and that I seem a lot more in control this year. Same output as before, honestly probably less total hours, just less visible scrambling.

Not posting this as a brag, more just confused about how "answering everything immediately" read as chaotic instead of dedicated, and "answering during work hours only" reads as competence. Feels backwards from what I was taught early on.

TLDR: stopped answering messages outside work hours, got told I "grew" this quarter despite doing less total time, not more.

I am currently self employed and doing ok for myself, but am looking for more stability, so I started actively job seeking. I saw an opportunity pop up with a professional connection who I really click with, applied and got an interview. It's a small non-profit that's bringing on its first team members. The pay and benefits are pretty good, I like the folks on the team and it seems like it would fit my life and goals well.

The hitch is I recently got married, and my husband and I booked a long-awaited 3-week international bike tour in February for our honeymoon. I wasn't planning on bringing this up until after receiving / before accepting an offer, since that's what I thought the general rule of thumb was. I recently saw a thread on reddit that has me questioning whether this applies to a 3-week trip.

A potential complication: they did ask me during the screening interview whether anything in my schedule would effect my start date. Given that offers will be sent in October, I told them no — I'd just need to wrap up any existing projects I have for my current clients. It didn't even cross my mind to mention the vacation.

Did I mess up? When should I bring up my honeymoon?

I’ve been pretty unhappy with my current job lately.

A really great opportunity came knocking at my door. I applied. Went through a very extensive and honestly draining multi-step interview process.

I actually felt really good after each interview. I connected well with the team. I even met the CEO and had a great conversation/interview with him.

I’m in leadership and I interview often. So the flow felt great and easy. I didn’t feel anything went awry.

After the last interview I reached out. The hiring official responded with my name and an exclamation mark and said he was really glad I got to meet with the executives and get to know everyone. Originally he said he’d have an answer in 1-2 weeks but after that interview he said he’d let me know by Monday (this was Thursday)

Today I received a very cold and chatGPT like rejection email without even a subject title.

Almost like a “oh yeah I better let that guy know it’s a no”

I mean holy mixed signals.

I’m actually pretty disappointed. Everything seemed like it went really well. A friend recommended me for this position and was in one of the interviews. He told me my interview went well and everyone liked me.

I guess I got my hopes up but I’m confused.

I’m 28F and I’ve been at my current job for about two months. I’m new to office work, although I’ve worked for years in retail/hospitality (4 years total between a café and a restaurant). I also did a 3-month traineeship before this job, where everyone was happy with my work.
A few days ago, my manager sat me down and told me that I’m doing badly. Like, really badly.
They said I keep making mistakes that I shouldn’t be making at this point, that I forget things, and that I don’t give enough feedback/update people. They also said they’ve given me very little to do and that they “don’t know what to do with me.”
The last part is especially confusing to me because I genuinely feel like I never stop working. I’ve even stayed late several times, despite that time not being paid. I know that my perception of my workload might not be completely accurate, but it’s hard to reconcile hearing that I have very little to do when I constantly feel overwhelmed.
August has also made things harder because where I live, pretty much everyone takes vacation during this period. A lot of the people who normally work with me have been on PTO, so I’ve had less support and fewer people around to ask questions.
I’m not going to pretend they’re completely wrong. I know I’ve made mistakes and forgotten things. But I feel like I’m struggling to the point where I don’t know if I have it in me to fix everything they pointed out.
The worst part is the anxiety. I’ve been waking up every morning with this horrible feeling in my stomach, and I feel like a shadow of myself. I’ve never felt this bad at a job before. I’m constantly afraid I’ve forgotten something or that I’m going to make another mistake.
I feel incredibly humiliated. I’m used to being someone who works hard and does a good job, so being told, essentially, “we don’t know what to do with you” has really shaken me.
Part of me really wants to quit. I have this feeling that they want me to quit anyway, and honestly, I’m tempted to just let go. At the same time, I know I’ve only been there for two months and this is my first real office job, so maybe I’m just going through the difficult adjustment period and need to learn how to work differently.
I’m also still studying for my master’s, so I’m trying to figure out whether this is simply a bad fit or whether I’m giving up too quickly because I’m overwhelmed.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did you eventually improve, or was it a sign that the job just wasn’t a good fit for you?

I’ve been thinking about something quite funny lately.

There’s a pretty big gap between how I honestly see myself at work and how my managers and colleagues seem to see me.

They see me as a hard worker and someone very committed.

And honestly… I don’t really see myself that way

I work in IT, and I’ll be completely honest: I’m a bit of a slacker sometimes.

There are days when I’m working from home and I’ll spend way too much time talking to my girlfriend. Sometimes I’ll even play on my console or sleep during working hours. I even watch p*rn sometimes (i am not proud about that).

I also have this annoying habit of procrastinating on tasks that I know I have to do. I can leave something sitting on my to-do list for two or three weeks, barely touch it, and then suddenly, two days before the deadline, I get my shit together and work on it like crazy.

The funny thing is that the final result is usually very good. So people don't necessarily see the procrastination part. They see the finished product.

And when a project really gets serious, I’m a completely different person.

If there’s a critical deadline, a major issue, something that needs to be figured out quickly, or a project that really needs me, I can work extremely hard for days.

I’ve actually done very well on quite a few projects between 2024 and 2026, and that ended up getting me two promotions.

The sponsors of some of these projects also seem to really like working with me and apparently recommend me quite a lot internally.

So I’ve somehow built a reputation as this guy who works really hard and gets things done.

If they only knew what I was actually doing on some random Tuesday afternoon at home......

I think part of it is that I understand new topics quite quickly and tend to have a pretty holistic view of things. Once I actually get into a subject, I can connect the dots quite quickly and work very efficiently.

So maybe I’m not actually a hard worker in the traditional sense.

Maybe I’m just very good at turning it on when it matters.

I’m genuinely curious about other people’s experience with this.

Do other people work this way, and how do you reconcile your own perception of your work ethic with the false reputation you’ve built at work?

Because apparently I’m a hard worker.

In my own head, I’m just a reasonably effective procrastinator who occasionally goes absolutely nuclear when the deadline gets close.

So I think I might be getting fired, but I can’t quite figure it out. I need your honest advice, if I’m too scared to face reality or this incident actually was swept under the rug.

I genuinely loved my job, did the best that I could do, offered to help my coworkers (yes, even picked up extra tasks on their behalf if I had the free time), would offer to help my supervisor (even though she has an assistant… who doesn’t really step up to take initiative so I would just volunteer instead… yep, never got recognized for it beyond a quick “thank you”), I always completed my tasks on time and never missed a deadline, the works.

Months and months of working, doing better, genuinely becoming the best employee I could be…

Until last Friday. There was a situation that came up unexpectedly where I volunteered to try and help a client, and was trying to help them out as much as possible. Running around, asking people who could help…. Nothing satisfied this particular client. Nobody really knew what to do. Supervisors weren’t there because (of course) they get to leave earlier than everyone else. So I told the client that I will try to help them, just wait a minute while I make another call to someone who was still in the office and could potentially solve their issue.

Then the fucking CEO walks in. Asks what’s happening, and I speak up saying that I’m doing my best to figure out what’s going on and how to help them. Then she basically accuses me of sitting on my ass and doing nothing to help these people, and to “act as if you were in their situation”. She then asks me if I’m a new employee. Are you kidding me? I’ve worked at this company for nearly a year, and have made brief contact with this woman multiple times. She KNOWS I work here. And does she truly believe her company employs people who just sit around and twiddle their thumbs on one of the most busiest days of the week? (Yes, Friday is very busy for us). My coworkers nearby were shocked about how the CEO acted, and said how unfair it was, and that I was trying to help these people out while following protocol. One of my coworkers told me repeatedly that she knew I did the right thing and what happened was wrong.

Well, then this CEO emails my two supervisors basically telling their negative impression of me. One of them asks me what happened, and I told them exactly. She didn’t say anything, just nodded and went back to her office. There was written documentation of what I was doing. Phone calls are all recorded, so I assumed they listened to me make the call on trying to get the client’s situation corrected.

Nothing came out of it so far, and I briefly overheard my main supervisor talk about it in her office, and she made a comment on how the entire situation was confusing.

Nobody brought me into the office today. The CEO’s daughter, who works there, saw me today and said nothing.

But something in me snapped. All of this time going above and beyond, and this is the fucking thanks I receive. Today I just did my core work. No more going above and beyond. No more volunteering. Nothing. Everybody else gets away with it, why shouldn’t I? Which is a shame, because I actually do enjoy achieving goals and taking on tasks. But after this? FUCK NO. At least not for this company.

Should I polish up the resume or do you think this situation has blown over? I’d quit but I want to make it atleast one year at this place so other companies don’t think I try to hop around (That being said, I have had my own small business for 5+ years. I work at a company for two reasons: affordable healthcare for my family, and an office to go to physically. My business is entirely online and I got tired of remote work).

And yes, this lesson has taught me to just pour all of my energy into my own career progression instead of doing the most while receiving nothing in return.

Never be the company man.

I’m really struggling in my current job and I’m starting to feel like I’m just bad at it.

The weird thing is, I don’t think I’m an incompetent person. I have around 2.5 years of previous experience in another company and I did completely fine there. I’m also generally a pretty confident person outside of work. But in this job, I feel like I’ve lost almost all of that confidence.

When I initially joined, I didn’t have much work and was actually told that the scope of my role was limited and probably wouldn’t increase much. Since then, the scope has increased quite a bit, but at the same time I constantly feel like I’m being pressured to meet expectations that I don’t fully understand.

Almost every 1:1 seems to involve feedback that I need to do more or improve something. I genuinely feel like I’m giving 110%, but I still come away feeling like I’m not doing enough. The problem is that I don’t really know what “doing more” actually looks like anymore. I keep feeling like I’ve missed something.

Meetings have become especially difficult. Other people seem to be given space to explain their work, give suggestions and speak for themselves. With me, I often feel like my manager speaks on my behalf or the conversation moves on before I properly get a chance to contribute. I’ve started feeling quite sidelined.

I’ve made suggestions for improving some of our processes too, because a lot of the work is extremely manual and repetitive, but most of my suggestions have been dismissed. After having that happen repeatedly, I’ve basically stopped feeling confident enough to suggest things.

It has also affected the way I speak. English isn’t my first language, but my English is good and I know I can communicate well. Outside this environment, I don’t struggle like this. At work, though, I get so tense that suddenly I can’t find the right words, my mind goes blank, and I probably visibly look nervous. Then I become even more self conscious because I’m worried that this makes me look less capable.

The biggest thing hanging over me is probation. The job market is incredibly difficult and it took me nearly a year of searching to get this role. So every piece of negative feedback immediately makes me think, “What if they don’t keep me?” That fear then makes me more anxious, and the anxiety probably makes my performance worse. It feels like a horrible cycle.

On top of that, the actual work itself doesn’t feel like it is developing my skills very much. A lot of it is manual process work, and there doesn’t seem to be much interest from management in improving the processes. So I’m stressed about keeping a job that I don’t even particularly enjoy, mainly because I’m terrified of being unemployed again.

Has anyone been in a situation where a workplace completely destroyed their professional confidence?
And how do you get your confidence back in meetings when anxiety is making you look and sound much less capable than you actually are?

My boss isn’t very involved in my work. A couple times a week he might ask me to do something. He has never provided me an ounce of feedback in the last year I’ve worked there. He’s just disconnected and busy with his own stuff.

Anyways, today he emailed me & asked me to do something. His boss replied all and corrected him on what he was asking. He wasn’t originally on the cc line.

We all three work closely together anyways. I don’t understand what the purpose of the bcc instead of the cc was.

Is this normal?

The best habit I ever saw was a manager who told me directly when I did something wrong, in private, the same day, and then moved on. No buildup, no saving it for a review three months later. I always knew where I stood, and it made me trust everything else he said. The worst was a different manager who agreed with everything in one-on-ones and then said the opposite in group meetings.

What's a manager habit, good or bad, that affected how you worked or how you felt about the job?Did it change how you manage or plan to manage other people?

I posted a few weeks ago about feeling guilty about leaving my old job when they countered, and I took the new job.

Without giving too much away, the job was to be a financial advisor.

I've been there for 3 weeks. During the interview process, it was said to me I’d have no problem breaking 6 figures in my first year, I was originally proposed a base salary and that was then retracted as I was told I’d make more money on a profit sharing system. Admittedly, I wasn’t really familiar with how it worked and I just signed on the dotted line because I was told over and over in 5 interviews I would be taken care of financially while I built my book of business.

On Friday I asked how much I should expect to make this year and I was told 16-24 thousand dollars.

That won’t pay my bills right now.

Now I’m being told that if the business pays me a base, or does a line draw, they’re possibly encountering a sunk cost if I don’t work out. so my boss has to “talk to the investors” to see if they can pay me anything right now to retain me…

I also was made to feel pretty stupid by my boss in the meeting I had about compensation today, he said it’s clear I didn’t understand what kind of job this was and he now lacked confidence in me.

I was also told that the leads were warm in the interview process- they’re ice cold. The people in calling don’t even remember using the form.

The other advisor has been there a year and I’d have to outperform his first year 8x to get what I was making at my old job and 14x to make the 6 figures they said would be a cakewalk.

My boss told me it shouldn’t be a problem because now they have a system, and they didn’t have a system when the other advisor started- but the system seems to be me calling hundreds of people who are ice cold leads and driving all around town going to events when I’m not getting paid.

Do I resign right now? I feel very mislead and embarrassed, but I know it looks bad to drop a job after 3 weeks.

How to stop, so that I don't end up being workfriend-less.

It's been 10y I work. It started when I became the most senior of the team. But lately I realized something's wrong with me and I need to change.

What happens : In meetings when I don't agree with people or how they approached something : I need to express and make sure they feel/understand my frustrations. It results in me being harsh in my words, and moralizing. Also I have a big tendency of cutting people when they are providing a bull shit answer to my complaints. Example of my statements

"because of you I will have x time more stuff to solve"

"nobody alerted us"

"it could have been avoided with better project management"

"we don't know what you are doing, extem lack of communication from you guys"

"you should do x y z"

"it is not magic, if you don't tell us, we won't guess"

I know it is not an issue of being right or wrong.

Sometimes, i am not the only person speaking up complaints, but I am impressed by how calm the other people says the things and respectfully.

What strikes me : it's okay to express the issue, but the way to express the issue is an art that I don't possess

I already have 4 colleagues that don't speak to me anymore because they were on the receiving end /spectator of this.

In 4 months we have a big company event off site.We can pair with whomever for the room. I now have this fear of being the last person not chosen, horrible feeling.

Is it too late for these 4 colleagues? How to stop this ? What kind of sel work should I be targeting (meditation?)

TLDR : How to remove this frustration and this needs to be loud/mean / passive agressif in the meeting when I don't agree ? I don't want to be mean anymore. I want to provide feedback in a corporate way and most of all, keep my colleagues friendly towards me even after the feedback.

I’m a master electrician and took over a management position during my probation period. The position had apparently been difficult to fill for a long time and my predecessor quit almost immediately.

For the first few months everything seemed fine. My official probation reviews were actually good. In June I was rated above expectations for work ethic, quality and professional interest. Independence and judgment met expectations, and my behavior toward coworkers and management was rated as flawless.

My boss also told me early on not to come in too aggressively as the new manager, especially with older employees, so I deliberately tried to be cooperative and build relationships first.

Then, near the end of probation, everything suddenly flipped.

I was told I lack “role understanding,” assertiveness and leadership presence. Several ratings dropped from above/meets expectations to only “partially meets expectations.”

The weird part is that my current written review still says my work quality is fine, I’m reliable, cooperative and behave professionally.

The main criticism is basically that I don’t act enough like “the boss.”

For example, I asked another department when they could accommodate some work. My boss later told me I should have simply given them a date and said, essentially, “This is when we’re doing it. If you don’t like it, complain to my boss.”

Which is almost the opposite of how he initially told me to behave.

There were a bunch of other accusations that became weaker once I asked for specifics.

I was accused of taking advantage of flexible working hours, even though the timekeeping system should show that I usually start around 6:30–7:00 and often work 9–10 hour days.

I was criticized for not progressing enough with my onboarding, even though previous probation records literally state that parts of the onboarding were still outstanding and were supposed to be organized later. I also only received the actual onboarding plan after asking for it.

There was also a claim that I couldn’t perform a certain electrical switching task. I pointed out that I had already done it and that it was documented.

Another example: I asked what I should have done differently on one project. My boss said I should have emailed two people telling them to clear the work area. I told him I had already done exactly that. After some discussion, that criticism basically disappeared.

Still, HR and my boss told me I had about two weeks to show a better “understanding of my role.”

I asked the obvious question:

What exactly do you want me to do differently, and how will you measure whether I improved?

They genuinely couldn’t give me a measurable answer.

The response was basically that they would ask other departments whether my “presence” had improved.

Now the update:

I involved the works council.

Apparently, after the works council spoke to my boss, the situation changed again.

Originally HR talked about extending my probation by another three months.

Now my boss apparently told the works council that the decision is more like:

permanent employment or termination.

He supposedly says the decision is genuinely difficult for him and that he wants to see how I perform over the next 1–2 weeks.

He also wants to meet me privately outside of work to talk.

That part feels strange to me.

On top of that, I have roughly three weeks worth of accumulated overtime. If things go according to the current plan, my last actual working day before using those hours would already be around September 10.

So this supposed “1–2 week evaluation period” is basically only a handful of actual working days.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this anymore.

Part of me thinks I should just play the game for a few days: be more assertive, make decisions more visibly, give people firm deadlines, show more “leadership presence” and see if I get the permanent contract.

The other part of me has completely lost trust.

I don’t want to turn myself into some fake authoritarian manager just because the expectations suddenly changed at the end of probation.

And even if they offer me a permanent contract, I’m asking myself whether I even want to stay after all of this.

I’m also wondering what to make of the request to meet privately outside work. Maybe he genuinely wants to talk openly without HR around. Maybe it’s nothing. But at this point I’m suspicious of basically everything.

So my questions are:

Would you still try to secure the permanent position, even if you already planned to leave later?

Would you agree to the private/off-site conversation with your boss?

And does this whole process sound like a genuine last chance to you, or more like they’re trying to keep their options open until the very end?

At this point I’m leaning toward: stay professional, document everything, don’t volunteer for heroics, let the works council do its job and quietly prepare my exit.

But I’d really like some outside perspectives.

Hey everyone, I’m a 2025 Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EEE) graduate sitting unemployed with a year gap—mostly spent preparing for competitive exams and M.Tech entrance tests while waiting on government job notifications that never opened up—and I’ll be completely honest that I feel totally overwhelmed because I lack industry-ready technical skills right now. Sitting at home without a routine is causing serious anxiety, so I urgently need to pick one private industry track and build my portfolio from scratch. I’m torn between four core options: Embedded Systems & Firmware (appeals because it combines hardware and software, and my C programming basics are decent, though I've heard breaking in as a fresher is tougher compared to other domains), VLSI / Semiconductor Chip Design (appeals due to high long-term pay growth, but I'm worried about high fresher entry barriers and whether a non-M.Tech candidate can get hired off-campus), Core Electrical & Industrial Automation (appeals because PLC/SCADA/HMI/Panel Design is visual with less logic-heavy coding, but I'm unsure about fresher job volume and starting salary growth), or switching completely to the IT / Software Sector (appeals due to higher hiring volume and remote options via Full-Stack/Testing, but I'm worried about competing with CSE graduates and facing ATS rejections). If you were in my shoes with a year gap due to government exam delays, which domain would you choose to land an entry-level job, what specific courses and learning paths would you suggest I take for these fields, is Embedded C or Web/Python dev realistic to learn from scratch via offline training, and what is the best way to explain this gap to recruiters without sounding defensive? Any advice, reality checks, or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Long story short, I work cyber and make around 160k annually.

My job is super fast paced with "here's 5 things that should be your number 1 priority" and 20 things to get completed at any given time.

I... feel burnt out...to say the least. And I was thinking about doing a career change but I have no clue what to do?

I want a more chill/slower paced job, like don't get me wrong I have the brain capacity handle everything, but my goodness, I'm so burnt out, and I feel like some people don't understand just how much responsibility I have.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

My department is currently undergoing a restructure in titles. Our current title/role are “ business analyst” (BA), and we were told that our title is now changing to product managers (PM). This will come with slightly more responsibility so they are giving us all pay bumps to account for that. In conversations with my coworker, I found out what they offered her for this new title was thousands more than what I was offered. She has been a BA for 2 years less than I have, which means I have been making less this whole time in the same role.

How do I go about talking to HR to get at least the same amount that she is if we are expected to do the same role with the same amount of responsibilities with the same titles. When HR talked to me about my pay increase they said it was within industry standards, and competitive among competitors (I work in a very niche industry, company like, so not many competitors).

Is it even worth going back to HR knowing what I know now and risk putting my coworker in any danger for talking about their salary with me?

A long story against brain rot and Shorts

I'm a Python Developer and Web Scraping Engineer.

I've got around 5 years of experience, and I've made a few career mistakes that honestly pissed me off enough to write this.

So here's my story. Hopefully someone learns from my mistakes and doesn't repeat the same shit.

My beginning was as a freelancer in underground communities.

What does that mean?

Basically, I was doing Web Scraping, but in some pretty shady ways.

Someone had a leaked database and wanted a script to try its passwords on a website.

Someone else had found a payment gateway and had a bunch of stolen cards and wanted help with the anti-bot part.

That kind of shit.

I was happy with the money at first, and I was heavily influenced by the social media bullshit about how freelancing is better than having a job.

"Don't ever become an employee. You'll be a slave to corporations, and no matter how hard you work, you'll never make more than what your effort is worth."

My plan was simple:

Make money from freelancing → save some capital → start a startup → build an app that solves some problem → boom → become rich.

Yeah.

As you can probably guess, it didn't exactly go according to plan.

First, with AI entering the scene, the amount of work I was getting dropped like crazy, and it wasn't really worth it anymore.

And honestly, I had saved some money.

So I thought:

"Fuck it, let's at least achieve one of my life goals."

I got married.

Spent the money.

I basically told myself:

"Whatever. I probably won't make the kind of money I used to, but surely some random $100 job will show up. That's like 5,000 EGP. Food, bills, and the house are covered. We're good."

Nope.

Even the $100 jobs stopped coming.

At that point I thought:

"Okay, maybe God is pushing me away from doing shady shit. Maybe that's a sign that I should just go legit."

So I said:

"Bro, you have some serious experience. You can freelance normally on Upwork or whatever. You'll be fine. God will provide."

So I went to the freelancing platforms.

And holy shit.

The market was fucking brutal.

You'd find some guy from Pakistan or India claiming he can do some insanely advanced shit, and then he'd offer to do it for a price so low that even if you were a literal slave you'd probably say no.

A job worth $200?

"I'll do it for $20, bro."

Cool.

And then there's the classic problem:

Clients don't want someone with zero reviews.

And the freelancing platforms themselves basically tell you:

"You need to pay money so you can work and make money."

Like...

WHAT THE FUCK?

Alright.

Fuck freelancing.

I'll get a job at a company and become an "employee-slave" like all those motivational Instagram dudes warned me about.

I don't care anymore.

I just want halal money to feed my wife and the baby that's on the way.

So let's see what companies want.

"Send us your CV."

Alright.

"Claude, make me a fucking CV."

I know how to make one, two, three CVs, and the job descriptions literally match my specialization.

There you go.

Sent applications to 24 companies.

Surely one of them is going to hire me.

Right?

...

Nope.

Not even an email telling me to go fuck myself.

Claude was like:

"NOOO, my friend. You need Open Source projects. You need to publish technical articles. You need to build a LinkedIn presence. Then maybe someone will notice you."

Maybe.

Not guaranteed.

So I started talking to Claude and GPT about how the hell I'm supposed to do all that.

Then I remembered:

"Wait a fucking second. I actually have a few tools I built for myself."

Tools I had been using for years.

And as far as I knew, nobody had really solved some of those problems in the same way.

I also had a low-impact security vulnerability sitting in Samsung's bug bounty program that I had never bothered to properly write about.

So I thought:

"Fuck it. I'll put my tools on GitHub, write about the security research, publish technical articles, and now people can actually see what I can do."

Let's fucking go.

Then I told GPT and Claude:

"Do a deep search and find me jobs."

After the "deep research," they basically told me:

"Your specialization isn't really in high demand in the Middle East and Africa, but outside Egypt it's valued much more."

And then they started throwing numbers at me.

"$5,000/month."

"$7,000/month."

And I'm sitting there like:

"OH SHIT."

Apparently I'm about to buy a villa in New Cairo on installments.

Maybe I shouldn't slam the door in the faces of all those real-estate agents calling me every fucking day trying to sell me apartments.

So I went full automation mode.

"Find me jobs."

"Send me the emails."

"Customize my CV."

"Apply for me."

"Do your magic."

And then...

BAM.

I got a response from a company in the UK.

Holy shit.

Except...

I couldn't fucking speak English properly.

So I joined a Discord server specifically to practice speaking English.

And somehow, my tongue started adapting.

I could speak.

Not perfectly.

But enough.

I passed the first interview.

Then the second.

Then the technical interview.

And then...

Congratulations!

You got the offer.

£5,000/month.

Junior salary, apparently.

And I was like:

"Bro, I'm a junior as fuck. I'LL TAKE IT."

"Great. You'll start next week."

I cried.

My wife cried.

My mother literally prostrated in gratitude to God.

Finally.

I thought:

"Thank God. I was patient and it finally paid off."

Time to get the paperwork done.

"Where's your university degree?"

...

"I'm a Law graduate."

"Okay, give us the certificate."

Well...

I had two supplementary courses I hadn't finished because I never bothered to complete them, since I didn't think I'd ever need the degree certificate.

I used to think:

"I don't need a job. I'll work for myself."

So I told them I didn't have the certificate yet.

They said:

"Okay, we'll deal with that later."

Then:

"Verify your identity."

Sure.

My Egyptian national ID wasn't accepted by their verification system.

"Okay, I'll get a passport."

I went to get one.

"Where's your military service certificate?"

...

"Bro, I'm an only son. I need an exemption."

Fine.

Let's get the exemption.

So I went all the way to the military recruitment office in El-Haikstep.

Middle of fucking nowhere.

Desert.

Heat.

No fucking kiosk where I could even buy water.

I stood in a line longer than the Burj Khalifa.

Finally, my turn.

The employee looked at my documents for about 10 seconds and said:

"Nope. You're not supposed to be here. Go to the Giza recruitment office."

...

Alright, sir.

Thank you.

Another fucking 50 km trip.

I went to the Giza office.

They told me:

"You'll get the certificate in a week."

"Please, I really need it as soon as possible."

"There's nothing we can do. We have to wait for a civil registry investigation to confirm that your documents aren't fake."

"Do you know anyone there who can speed it up?"

So I called literally every human being I knew.

Friends.

Family.

Random people.

Eventually, God sent me someone who managed to speed things up.

I went back two days later.

It was a public holiday.

"Is it ready?"

"Yes."

"THANK GOD. Give it to me."

"No. Go to window 13."

I went to window 13.

And there were basically young men from all over Egypt standing in the same fucking line.

35°C+ heat.

Crowded as hell.

And a combination of smells I really don't want to describe.

"Who's last?"

"63 people before you."

Cool.

I got there at 11 AM.

I got the exemption at 4 PM.

Five fucking hours.

Then I ran to the passport office.

"I need an expedited passport."

"Your ID says you're a student. You need to change that first."

"Bro, PLEASE. I don't give a shit how I look on the passport. Just finish this."

They told me expedited passports are issued the same day.

Great.

"Actually, you applied at 4 PM, so you'll get it tomorrow afternoon."

I tried everything.

Called everyone.

Eventually someone helped me get it moving faster.

Still couldn't get it the same day.

I went home and emailed the company:

"Sorry, the paperwork is taking longer than expected."

Next day.

Went back.

"Your passport is ready."

"THANK FUCKING GOD."

Before I even left the building, I verified my identity with the passport while I was literally standing in the street.

Then, at the end of the day, I got another email.

"We just need confirmation of your references."

And apparently GPT had another surprise waiting for me.

They wanted references from previous clients.

They also wanted a university professor who knew me personally and could basically confirm that I'm a decent human being.

And they casually added:

"Sorry, we didn't mention this requirement earlier."

...

Motherfucker.

You obviously got suspicious because my background wasn't straightforward, so you decided to dig deeper.

Fair enough.

I started looking for people who could vouch for me.

I found some guys on LinkedIn who were willing to say they had worked with me.

Those guys were absolute legends.

They barely knew me and still tried to help.

My wife was a former university classmate and a top student, so she contacted one of our professors.

The professor was incredibly kind and agreed to vouch for me.

Okay.

We're finally going to work.

Right?

Nope.

The company wanted to video call the references.

So I had to tell everyone:

"Guys, sorry, the guy from the UK is going to video call you. Please don't kill me."

They agreed.

Everything was ready.

And then...

The email arrived.

We're withdrawing the offer.

...

I was fucking destroyed.

I had already built the whole future in my head.

I was literally two days away from starting the job.

And it was gone.

But I told myself:

"Whatever. If I made it that far once, I'll make it that far again."

So I kept applying.

I'd get interviews.

We'd talk.

Sometimes I'd reach technical interviews.

And then...

Silence.

GPT and Claude told me:

"Probably because you don't have previous corporate employment experience, or because companies prioritize candidates from their own country."

Okay.

Let's look at Egypt.

Apparently, here, companies see Web Scraping as more of a side skill of Backend development.

"Learn Backend. Your chances will be much better in Egypt and abroad."

Fine.

I learned Backend.

Then:

"Now market yourself on LinkedIn. Message people. Build relationships."

So I did.

Because I already had automation experience, I built a bot, connected it to a local LLM, and made it interact with LinkedIn posts in a reasonably human way.

It actually worked.

I grew my LinkedIn from basically zero to around 500 followers in less than a month / month and a half.

Then a CEO from another Arab country contacted me.

He offered me a task.

The task was supposed to be worth around $400.

He offered $200.

I said:

"Fuck it. At least someone is willing to pay me."

I accepted.

I even told him I wasn't going to negotiate the price because I was thinking long-term and wanted to build a relationship.

I finished the task.

And then...

Nothing.

The long-term relationship apparently went on vacation.

The money kept disappearing.

Things kept getting worse.

Eventually I said:

"Fuck it. Give me a call center job."

I went to an English call center interview.

And apparently my English brain was running on educational free-tier mode.

Three interviews.

Three rejections.

Alright.

Fuck it.

"Give me an Arabic call center job."

And that's where I am right now.

I'm currently training to work at WE as a call center agent.

And honestly?

I'm grateful.

It's halal money.

It feeds my family.

And that's what matters right now.

What did I learn?

If you're still watching Shorts and consuming motivational bullshit telling you that you're going to become a millionaire because you learned Python...

Maybe you need to work in a call center.

Seriously.

Here's what I actually learned:

1. Don't depend on one source of income.

2. Don't assume that being technically good automatically means you'll make money.

3. Build proof of work. GitHub, articles, projects, whatever.

4. Build relationships before you need them.

5. Take documentation and verification seriously.

6. Don't believe AI-generated salary numbers without doing your own research.

7. Don't let a single rejection convince you that your entire career is dead.

And most importantly:

Being good at your job is only one part of having a career.

You also need to know how to sell yourself, build credibility, communicate, network, and actually make yourself visible to the people who might need your skills.

Anyway...

If anyone wants to be the reason I get out of this fucking mess:

A recommendation, referral, job lead, anything.

I'm currently open to opportunities around:

- Python Engineering

- Web Scraping / Crawling

- Browser Automation

- Reverse Engineering

- Anti-Bot / Web Automation

- Backend Engineering

Remote, Egypt-based, or relocation.

Here's my portfolio. It basically contains the entire history of my technical work:

kareemheshaam.github.io

If you made it this far, thanks for reading this ridiculously long post.

And if you're a junior reading this:

Don't make my mistakes.

Hi all, I’ve been at my first job out of undergrad for the past 2.5 years — great team, stable, great company, great pay. But I’m looking to pivot my career in a different direction, and I recently got an offer that pays 25% more and is much more aligned with what I actually want to do, though it comes with more risk. I need to hand in my two weeks within the next 2 days and I’m really nervous about it. Not sure if it’s genuine hesitation about the decision, or I am just nervous cause it’s my first job. Someone please give me advice lol

I'll start by saying I'm not a good software engineer, and not a smart person at all. I have terrible memory, still need to look up syntax after 9 years in the industry, and I've been out of work for 11 months now.

With AI, a shit economy, and massive layoffs everywhere, I don't like my chances to land any kind of software engineering job. I have a couple hundred applications, and have gotten only a single interview, which I failed. So, with my chances at landing a software job looking bleak, and with my experience gap about to hit the one year kiss of death, what are some good careers I can pivot into with a Software Engineering degree?

Leaving a job under the same field, For same pay arguably the same benefits.

My new job would be less stress, and work load and a higher 401k match, also uses PTO that is very accessible and can have off whenever I want, even for a few hours if need be.

My current job has a government pension, but i genuinely cannot stand the work load. I have a sick and vacation bank there but have to plan vacations a year in advance and its like a fuckin crime to call in sick. When the days are good there, they are good, but when they are shit, they are shit. More times than not, they are shit.

Any insight on this? I know I want to leave my current job, but the thought of it makes my stomach cramp. Its like my brain wants the familiar misery.

Any advice on the same experience?

I will be interviewing for an internal transfer within the next 1-2 weeks. I am an Engineer 1 in my role for just over 2 years, and I know I will be promoted to 2 in November or May. While I do meet the requirements for Eng 2, the role I will interview for is hiring for an Engineer 1 OR 2. Typically transfers like this hire for a 2 or 3, so the promotion is guaranteed. How do I approach that in my interview? I was thinking to phrase it like this: "I'm currently expecting to be promoted to Engineer 2 in my current group in November or May, what my path to Engineer 2 in this group?" I do not plan to take the transfer if I am offered to start at Eng 1. I have not interviewed for a job since I was 20 looking for internships, I’m completely out of my element.

Okay so I just got out of the military after 11 years, my wife is stay at home mother and she homeschool our 3 kids and takes care of the farm animals I’m looking for a job that I will be able to work a lot of hours I don’t mind working long hours at all just need to try to find something that will allow me and my family to keep our lifestyle that we want with today’s economy with me working OT hours Thank you in advance

I'm in Ontario and trying to decide between two offers and would love some perspective from people who've been in a similar situation.

Option A: Permanent position with a large, established company. Compensation is in the low-$100Ks, with benefits, vacation, and ~3% RRSP matching. The downside is 3 days/week in office, with a 4–4.5 hour round-trip commute on those days.

Option B: 12-month contract with a smaller company. The annualized gross income would be roughly 50–55% higher than the permanent offer, but there are no health benefits, RRSP matching, or paid vacation/stat holidays. It's also 3 days/week in office, but only a ~12-minute commute each way.

The contract is obviously more attractive financially, but I'm trying to figure out how much value to put on the benefits, stability, and potentially lower pressure of the larger company. I'm also wondering whether working for a smaller company could mean significantly more workload.

For people who've made a similar decision:

• How would you value the benefits/RRSP/stability of the permanent role?
• How much weight would you give the huge difference in commute?
• Does the ~40–45% higher gross income make the contract an obvious choice, even after accounting for unpaid vacation, holidays, benefits, and contractor-related costs/taxes?
• Would you personally take the contract or permanent role, and why?

Would especially appreciate perspectives from people who've gone from permanent employment to contracting.

I work for Company X, which was acquired by Company Y, a Canadian company. I’m currently a contractor for Y, but X still handles my HR/admin side. I’ve been here for almost 2 years.

I’ve built a good reputation with my managers at Y by being reliable and professional, but I’m increasingly having problems with HR at X, especially when I request sick leave for rehabilitation sessions for a back problem. My managers at Y are aware of the situation.

One reason I’d really like to become a direct employee of Y is that I’d no longer be under X’s HR structure and could deal directly with Y’s HR.

I’m considering:

A: Stay quiet and wait for Y to offer a promotion.

B: Proactively discuss my career path with my Y managers and ask about becoming a direct employee.

C: Explain the problems I’m having with X’s HR to my Y managers and ask for their support.

D: Report a security/compliance issue involving X’s HR that I believe may violate Y’s security rules. It is legitimate and not something I would be reporting just because of my personal situation, but I’m concerned it could be perceived as retaliation.

What would you do? Would you focus on moving to Y as a direct employee, escalate the HR situation, report the compliance issue, or start looking elsewhere?

I’d especially appreciate advice from people who have worked for Canadian companies or transitioned from contractor to employee after an acquisition.

Hello everyone. This is my first time working in India. I have worked for 2 years in France before.

I work for a Foreign university they have an entity here in India. They’re currently paying me 85k in hand.

While joining my manager told me he is willing to offer 85-90k. Now while signing the contract he came to 85k. I told him I would work for now, but after 6 months when the recruitment season is over. I will negotiate.

So it’s been 6 months in this company, should I ask him for appraisal? Or what should I do? Because we are only 3 employees in the company. He’s the director, he does a lot of other stuff to get money out of the college budget by putting in fake bills etc. No body verifies him. There’s no HR nothing.

What is the correct way to ask. Is this the right time? Or should I wait?

Having two masters degrees, 2 years of international work experience. The only reason I agreed to work for a lower salary is because it is 100% remote.

Please advice

I’m really burnt out at my job. I’m afraid to share too many details, but I work in program management and client services. In my role I support technical issues, client training, processing services, marketing, and tracking and reporting engagement and feedback.

My office has a dozen staff members, more than half serve our clients the same service, and they are a team serving around 30,000 clients, one client type, and around 10,000 active clients. Then we have some management and administrative staff. I’m one person serving 200,000 clients, 4 different client types, and around 60,000 active users, but I am the only one who supports them. It seems so insane that I am being pushed out.

It sucks because I have a contract, pension, healthcare, and sick and vacation time. I don’t want to leave, but I feel like it’s impossible to be successful. I feel like no one cares how hard it is for me. I literally have weeks where I am not sleeping because I am trying to keep up, and my partner gets mad at me because, I prioritize work over family and I am not even being paid for overtime. I’m also paid less than almost everyone else and have almost been there the longest.

I am afraid the job market is bad and the economy is going to crash, so leaving will put my family in serious hardship. I don’t have a masters either, and I feel like everyone hired now has a masters. I am in my 40s too. 😓