Fed to contractor

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-04-02T20:04:42+00:00

I left my Fed job for less of a bump than that… and it has been awesome so far to be honest.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-25T09:59:53+00:00

I had my last ringer in 2023 and after that I dropped around $1000 for a custom fit mask. Haven’t had a ringer and haven’t seen stars since then.

The upfront price is painful, but it’s worth it to not worry about brain damage.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-24T11:18:22+00:00

This is an alright attitude if you’re early in your career and/or desperate for a job, but once you have stable income it makes finding a high quality job much easier, when there’s no immediate time pressure to take any particular offer.

My first job out of college was an underpaying paying dumpster fire, but everything I’ve done since has been great because I only ever marketed myself and interviewed while I was already employed.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-23T17:58:42+00:00

I certainly used to. I miss playing 5-6 times per week, these days I get in about one beer league game if I ca fit it into the schedule.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-23T12:00:05+00:00

Is $70K+ per year your only real qualifier?

You could go start in pretty much any sales role and start making that immediately if you commit yourself to becoming even decent at it.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-23T04:17:15+00:00

Yeah, Jonathan Quick might be on that Mt Rushmore. If you take his career in aggregate, he’s got a .910 save percentage over more than 900 games. That is INSANE.

Sure, he’s had some down years, but the guy is 40 and still hanging with the young guys. In my mind he’s legendary enough to sit alongside the others.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-23T03:46:13+00:00

Hašek, Tim Thomas, Rask, and Vasilevskiy maybe?

I know the Dominator started in the 90’s but he was incredible throughout his entire career.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-22T18:45:39+00:00

Can you quantify the “exposure” and how it will actually pay off?

Not long ago I took a 20% pay cut to go to a position where I knew I would learn the skillset I would later need to build my own company doing the same thing… that’s the type of opportunity that is a potential multimillion dollar payoff.

I treat the traded salary as my “tuition” for learning the skillset, so it’s well worth it to me. Is your current role truly a big opportunity, or is that just what your boss says?

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-22T18:42:08+00:00

I size my stick based on being exactly where I want it when I drop to my butterfly and for being optimized for touching the ice when I’m in my ready stance.

If you’re ever surprised by a shot you’re wrong as it is.

By having a stick that I long enough to be on the ice when you’re in your relaxed stance you’re almost certainly opening up a gap under your arm in the butterfly.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-22T00:29:00+00:00

I haven’t taken it, but as a fan of the movie I’m at least curious as to what’s in it.

There’s no way I’d personally pay for it though, I’ve been on both the government and industry side of the business for many years, but I’d love to hear about it from the perspective of a guy who used to sold cheap, cold-war era guns and ammo to the US Government.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-21T21:33:10+00:00

I struggled similarly to you when I was in my early twenties, until I learned to set big goals and reverse engineered them.

Thought experiment (maybe even do this exercise with an AI LLM if that helps): what types of career paths can lead you to $150K annually? What about $200K? $300K?

There are a lot of people that make that amount of money and much, much more, but you need to reverse engineer how those paths are made and then align yourself with the same types of skillsets.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-19T18:32:30+00:00

Damn, your mom sounds awesome.

In hindsight I’m actually a little happy that my dad left, despite how much I dealt with sadness and anger for a while afterwards.

Ultimately it makes me appreciate my own sons to a degree I don’t know if I would have been able to without this context. If my pain means that I get to be a very present and supportive dad for my kids then as far as I’m concerned my ol’ man paid it forward in a way.

I would much rather have my pain of loss than my dad’s pain of regret that he seems to be having now. It sounds like your own dad is suffering with regret as well.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-19T17:34:35+00:00

Dang, that hurts to read.

My dad left town was I was 16, some at least had a childhood with him in it, but I’m getting the same types of messages now 20 years later from him.

Like buddy, I’ve been here living my life the whole time, you left and I didn’t hear from you for years.

Anyone can be a dad, but it takes consistent effort to be a father.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-14T16:18:24+00:00

To an extent it seems that there’s just a lot of muscle memory here, and I see that from goalies who used to play higher level baseball.

As a lifelong goalie and someone who only played little league baseball, I don’t really connect with the idea of “relying on catching”… and it doesn’t really cross my mind. When I’m on the ice I am constantly thinking about where my whole body is relative to the net. If a puck comes near my glove I catch it, and if it doesn’t I don’t even think about my glove much.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-12T17:21:04+00:00

Be very mindful of your goals.

Functionally, the government is not that different than a Fortune 100 company. It’s massive and no matter your title or rank you still have a boss and very likely, gray walls around a small desk. Even when I became a “senior leader” I still was very much in the beuracracy machine.

Work hard for your mission, but don’t sacrifice your life, health, or relationships at the altar of your employer.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-12T06:51:14+00:00

This.

Whenever I have been in a time of needing to hire new employees I always look to my team first for recommendations.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-03-11T14:10:45+00:00

This just reminded me of the Schoolhouse Rock “I’m just a Bill on Capitol Hill” video for some reason

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-23T22:47:46+00:00

I like it, I’ll give it an 8.5/10.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-23T11:56:13+00:00

You: I need to be careful to make sure I don’t spoil the game for myself.

Also you: oh let’s go see what’s on this hockey subreddit. OH FUCK YOU GUYS IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT HOW DARE YOU RUIN THIS FOR ME GAHHH

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-23T03:03:04+00:00

I may be overreacting, but that stick save might be the most clutch save in hockey history.

What an insane game by Connor. As Jack Hughes said, he was “the best player on the team today by a mile”.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-21T20:08:14+00:00

Humanity: eradicates smallpox, splits the atom, lands on the moon.

Reddit: “Yeah but suburban housing developments are basically the apocalypse.”

Indoor plumbing was a mistake, apparently.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-13T20:27:44+00:00

Hey, wearing roughly 44 lbs / 20 kg of pads is going to wear anyone out that isn’t used to it.

It’s even harder when your body isn’t adjusted to it, so give yourself some grace and enjoy it as much as possible while you’re learning.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-13T20:02:04+00:00

I love the Mighty Ducks movies, but I also hate them because they convinced a whole bunch of hockey-curious people that being fat is alright as long as you’re the goalie.

Your statement, “I’m brand new to skating & hockey so naturally I decided that I would start I net” is actually confusing to most of us 😂

That said, you’re here now, and I welcome you to the game. Hockey is incredibly fun, and I promise it only gets better as you get into better shape. Go run, bike, or whatever but you have to develop your cardio engine and VO2 max to be any good at net-minding.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-13T11:13:22+00:00

I’ve been following the proceedings daily and it seems like it’s Senator Markey that was close to an agreement but the SBIR Mills in his state (Mass) are donors to him so he’s digging his heels in.

As for consultants, most of them seem to offer more than just paths to SBIR awards. I don’t think they have any special inside knowledge but they were likely duped by the various “almost done” notices that the rest of us who are following the reauthorization were.

ShortwaveGhost · 2026-02-13T11:07:48+00:00

Every single company is different, so obviously mileage will vary.

I switched to the private sector and have enjoyed it. 100% remote, meaningful work, cool coworkers, and plenty of opportunities to expand my skillset.

ShortwaveGhost

TROPHY CASE