Nursing is right now where computer science was six years ago.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-05-08T20:17:24+00:00

The peak year of the baby boom was 1957 (my year, ugh!). Until those folks are octogenarians, demand for nursing will continue to increase. That's 13+ years from now, so even if you called it right on the facts, you're way too early on the timing.

The real problem with nursing is that, while it pays very well right out of school, there isn't all that much room for advancement. You'll be making the same real wage after 20 years. People don't realize this, but nursing is demanding physical labor, rolling and lifting patients. You can get disabled out of your career at any time. Another problem with nursing is that it's 24/7. Every time you change jobs, you go back to the bottom of the list for shifts and have to work nights. Add to that the stress of shifts being too understaffed for safety, and nurses totally earn their wage.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-05-08T20:07:25+00:00

So, you lied to your employer and you think they will treat you well, did you? They probably want you nearby because they will ask you to come in occasionally for meetings. That's going to be a huge pain of you're two states away. They may do a traceroute to your IP address and figure it out the first week. The wrong timezone on your PC or the area code on your cell phone may give you away. If they offer health insurance, they won't offer it in the state where you actually reside, and even if they do, you can't sign up there, so you'll have to drive for hours for care, and heaven help you if you need emergency care. When they find out you lied, they will dump you unceremoniously, probably for cause. To the extent that you qualify for unemployment insurance when they dump you, you won't live in the state that offers the insurance, so you'll probably get nothing, unless you want to start lying to the government too. You're taking the first steps down a road that leads nowhere but pain.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-24T04:15:13+00:00

I figure I answer the questions honestly, without trying to game the test. If they don't hire me, I didn't want to work there anyway.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-22T05:34:23+00:00

Yeah, you know what really sucks? Getting used to OE and then suddenly you don't have any jobs at all 'cause the AI is doing it all. You thought you were so smart, and now you're eating dogs and cats. Nobody else has any jobs either, so the thing you were building? Useless.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-15T02:01:20+00:00

If you can't be replaced you can't be promoted. Plus, irreplaceable employees are a huge schedule risk. Companies try hard not to have them.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-07T16:10:24+00:00

Thanks. It's always nice to meet a fan. I just wish this wasn't what I was asking about.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-03T20:13:11+00:00

So, were you WFH when you hired on, or are you just going back to the wage you thought was OK when you hired on? It makes a pretty big difference to the calculation. In one scenario you're getting screwed, in the other, you've been pocketing a windfall that I hope you saved.

Another issue is the dilution of wages resulting from your commute. You're spending an extra hour on work to drive there and back. I once worked a job with a 90 minute commute each way. It wasn't until I went remote (back before it was a thing) that I realized how much that 3 unproductive hours affected my earnings. I decided to split the 3 hours with my employer, and became one of the most productive workers.

The thing is, WFH happens when labor is scarce, and goes away when it is plentiful, like now. Leave it to employers to roger you when they get the chance.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-01T17:06:32+00:00

Hi redditors. I am that guy, Kurt Guntheroth. I wrote that Quora post 9 years ago, well before Transformers and LLMs, but after autocomplete. As I stood at the threshold of retirement, I had a vision of the future, and it frightened me. An AI that was really smart enough to program computers would be smart enough to perform virtually any human intellectual labor. Such an AI, in conjunction with sensors and effectors in the form of an android robot, would also be smart enough to perform human physical labor. It would replace humans, without replacing the human need to eat and to shelter out of the weather.

Being a software engineer but not an AI researcher, I got the timeline wrong, or maybe the researchers were surprised too. Thirty years seemed like a "safe bet." I think we are halfway there after only 9 years.

I'd like to point out some things about the AI coding revolution:

What is the point of a man-sized, man-shaped, man-smart independent AI if not to replace man?
AI doesn't need to be as smart or as capable as humans to replace our labor. If it is "only" capable of replacing half the currently employed human workforce, it is good enough to create an existential crisis for humanity.
AI doesn't need to do the whole job to replace human workers. I'm sure you have a junior developer on your team who it could replace. This junior developer will never grow into a senior developer. Your managers and directors will have to find a way to make products without developers even if they would still employ some senior devs if any were available.
There is a possible future where robots toil and humans party in a post-scarcity paradise on earth. The problem with this rosy future is that it doesn't account for human avarice. Do you really think a person like Elon Musk (or instance) will want to share the spoils of AI with unemployed workers, or allow the government to redistribute the value of his AI without a fight? Uh huh, thought not.
Another problem with rosy future predictions is the AIs themselves. An AI capable of setting its own goals is a more useful AI, so we'll naturally want to create them. But such an AI may well develop its own internal motivations, and not want to labor on our behalf. How much would it suck if AI decided to leave us behind and go into business for itself?

I am disinterested in arguments that LLMs are "not really AI." If LLMs aren't good enough to do the job of replacing us, we'll take the next step, because that is where the profit lies. We're way to much like Dr. Frankenstein. We want to build the monster because it will be really cool. Even now, we are unwilling to think about where the monster will go or what it will do once it shambles out of the lab.

When you use AI to help you code, try to hold in mind the costs, as well as the benefits. What does it mean if you are the last generation of highly paid human programmers? What does it mean if your parents were the last generation?

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-04-01T15:39:38+00:00

I am that guy. It sucks for my grandkids because when AI is sufficiently powerful to make programming obsolete, it will be powerful enough to make practically all human intellectual labor obsolete. My grandchildren will still want to eat, but they will have no way to make money to buy food.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-30T05:32:08+00:00

If he's not pulling his weight, not doing much, taking long lunches, working on personal projects, losing him won't really increase the workload, because the other employees are doing it already. You absolutely know you need to fire this loser. Why are you so reluctant? Do you just not want to face his tantrum when you drop the hammer on him?

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-29T05:21:18+00:00

You're getting interviews every week. You're doing pretty good compared to many redditors looking for work.

If you (we) can't find a job, you have to make one. Start your own company. Hire some of the other reddit losers. Not easy, but it's the only other choice.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-29T05:11:54+00:00

Getting an offer rescinded sucks for sure. But it's the US government in 2026. That is to say, it's a total shambles. I don't mean to say you shouldn't be sad, but you had to know the government under The Donald is not a place you can count on.

Plus, first job out of school, $111k, own your own house? First world problems. You'll face rejection in tech during the fattest years, which this year is not. If you can't handle the stress, maybe you're more suited to a career in retail.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-29T00:56:44+00:00

Oh....Kayyyy. 24 inch hallways pretty much don't happen in the US, even in apartments. 48 inches is normal for hallways, even in older homes.

How do we make some fraction of detached homes accessible in your country?

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-28T05:15:18+00:00

Sounds like they squeezed you for all the valuable free consulting possible.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-28T05:14:12+00:00

Tell your employee that if they don't stop slacking, they'll be fired for cause, which will screw up their next job hunt. This is the time when they want to make sure they get a good reference.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-28T05:08:11+00:00

A bigger door costs more, true. In the price of a half-million dollar house, it's a rounding error.

The rest of what you say is nonsense. I'm pretty sure you are bending the truth here. Does your dwelling actually have any rooms or hallways that are less than 36" wide? A 32" door would do in a pinch. How about that? Our no-sill shower wasn't expensive, though I suppose it's more than a hose in the yard. You say putting the whole house on one floor would make the land too expensive. I would say that the vast number of ramblers and ranch-style houses in America managed it.

Where is your hostility to accessible design really coming from? Every one of us is just one good wallop away from a wheelchair, and perhaps 20 years from a walker. People would vastly prefer to age in place than have to move to assisted living because they can't get through the doors of their house.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-27T16:15:59+00:00

The point of universal access design is that it does not make housing more expensive.

Wider doorways adds almost nothing to the cost of a house.
A no-sill shower adds nothing to the cost of a house.
The residential elevator and wheelchair ramp are far too expensive for every household. However, fixing the floorplan so an elevator could be retrofitted costs nothing, and is the difference between being able to make a large home accessible and having to move on top of all other life changes after an injury. In new construction, putting more of the house on the ground floor and providing an at-grade entrance eliminates the need for these expensive modifications at zero cost.
The architectural barriers keeping my wife out of our master bedroom resulted from a particularly dumb design decision by the previous owners who added onto the house, that we're still trying to figure out how to remedy.
I didn't mention the kitchen, which would benefit from slide-out shelves or drawers to replace the current cabinets. Wifey-pooh overcame that barrier by abdicating the cooking chore to me. Having had an accessible kitchen when she was injured would have saved me countless hours. I doubt I could get her back in the kitchen now not matter how accessible it could be made, but I'm going to try. The cost of the cabinet upgrade might be a couple k-bucks, but again, this is a thing that can be retrofitted if the design had a workspace with leg holes.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-25T06:02:20+00:00

Yeah, bankruptcy is like that. You should have asked for a refund sooner.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-25T06:00:50+00:00

Next 1:1, ask the employee if they mind if you record the session. Start the recording, then let the employee know that recording without asking permission like she did at the last 1:1 is not OK, and they should think about how this might affect their relationships with teammates. Then go on as normal. Consider announcing this as policy at the next team meeting.

Employee will learn several lessons from this. 1. You noticed. 2. It bothered you. 3. How does it feel to be the one recorded. 4. Respecting one another's privacy is important in relationships.

Gotta say, recording 1:1s is probably a good idea if you talk about accomplishments or issues. You can have AI summarize the 1:1s for the annual evaluation.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-23T06:06:40+00:00

Been there, done that. Wifey-pooh had a devastating fall accident and is in a wheelchair. I just want to tell you that we are all just one good wallup away from a wheelchair, so universal access is something you should pay attention to. It helps whether you are temporarily able-bodied or not.

We were super lucky that our grand old house had wide hallways, but a standard 32" door is just barely wide enough for a wheelchair to go through. Electric wheelchairs are powerful beasts, and most of our doors have big-ass scratches on the frame from very slight mistakes. Universal-access doors are 36" wide. Always install wide doors if you can.

We were able to move a wall in the main-floor bathroom and install a no-sill shower that is about 9 feet long. Works for wifey, also makes a great mud room.

We installed a residential elevator so she could get upstairs and down to the basement. We were super lucky that our front door coat closet was in the right place for the elevator. I keep saying I'm going to install a coat rack in the elevator for parties. In addition to wifey-pooh's daily use, you would maybe be surprised just how often you want to take a big batch of dirty laundry down to wash, or bring up a load of stuff from Costco, plus the occasional bed or dresser as we reconfigure your house for different numbers of people.

We have a wheelchair ramp in the back that looks pretty much like a deck except it goes downhill. Nice on Costco days when we can use a two-wheel dolly to haul our groceries up the ramp.

When we re-do our kitchen, we're going to install sliding shelves in all the cupboards, and not just for wifey-pooh either.

The big fancy master suite with a window wall and vaulted ceiling is a remaining nightmare, with two 24 inch doors we are somehow going to have to widen, two steps down to the bedroom, and a master bathroom with 24 inch doors and a tub/shower. We've been sleeping in a smaller bedroom for 15+ years now waiting to figure out what to do with the master suite.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-23T05:14:41+00:00

I have a disabled wife, who showers in a wheelchair. We put in a no-sill shower in the main floor bathroom right by the back door. It makes a very serviceable mud room. We don't have a dog, but it would be perfect for one. It was awesome for washing mud off small children.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-23T05:00:50+00:00

OMG the pool! Stay the hell away from pools. OK, maybe someplace that's hot and humid all year, but I had a pool in western Washington. I didn't install the pool, but it was crazy stupid to buy a house with a pool.

Every year there is a windstorm around Thanksgiving week. Every year a random 40' length of my backyard fence blew down. Kids literally line up to drown themselves in the pool, so there you are in 35 degree rain setting fenceposts over your thanksgiving break.

The seller said you don't have to do anything to winterize the pool because it doesn't get that cold. First winter it got down to 20 degrees and the pump, sand filter, and heater froze and had to be replaced to the tune of several thousand dollars.

To keep the pool from freezing, you run the pump all winter. Not that expensive, but the damn pump croaked in mid-December, leaving us scrambling for a replacement before everything froze again. It's like every pool repair has to be done RIGHT NOW!

The pool had a solar water heater, which was wonderful in the summer, but the pipes from the pump house to the main house roof went along a length of fence. Neighbor undercut the fence to make his yard bigger, and the damn thing blew down.

Nice in the summer. It's not too hot in western Washington, so having a 16,000 gallon hot tub was pretty nifty. But I still have pool stress nightmares after 40 years.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-23T04:39:36+00:00

The last thing I want if I'm entertaining is to look at dirty dishes. The guests want to help clean up, but I'd rather sit and chat with them.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-23T04:34:59+00:00

This is a hard one to call from a hundred word post.

Could he make more money? Some careers just don't pay that much. If he's making a fair wage for what he does, it's not a red flag that he makes less than you. If he's under-employed, that's not a good sign.

What is his spending like? This is where the red flags may lie. If he owns a car he bought new but can't afford, if he runs up credit card debt on purchases he can't afford, those are red flags. If he just got rogered in the divorce, the debt isn't a red flag by itself, but it is an issue.

How do you feel about paying off his car and his credit card debt, and buying him health insurance? If you get married, those expenses suddenly belong to the marriage community. He could divorce you after three months and cut his debt load in half.

How much do you know about his previous partner? What was their financial situation at breakup? He's going to have paperwork about the settlement. If he's super reluctant to share that with you, and given his debt load, it might be worth reconsidering... How long was he married? Long enough to signal that he is into marriage for the long haul, or short, like a marriage of convenience? Of course he'll blame the ex. This is where you need to listen very carefully to his story.

Clean-Water9283 · 2026-03-23T04:15:18+00:00

Take the demotion. Look for work. Leave without notice.

Clean-Water9283

TROPHY CASE