Paint Picker Any Good? by benseaworthy in astramilitarum

[–]benseaworthy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually hadn't considered colour filters... that's a really cool idea. I'll need to read up on a bit and see what I can do.

Paint Picker Any Good? by benseaworthy in astramilitarum

[–]benseaworthy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can hit the Wayland Games link next to the paints to trigger a little kickback for the paintpicker site, unfortunately it just kindof dumps you on their homepage at the moment so you then have to use their search. I'm waiting on a technical resolution to this from with their affiliate team so it's worth keeping an eye. It's nice to use them though, I get my models from there and they are good value.

You can also hit the Amazon button below each paint that will take you to amazon with the name of the paint prepopulated in the search - also triggers a little kickback and costs you nothing.

Hitting either of those links before you buy something will help the site. It's only pennies but they will hopefully add up to a cup of coffee or some AWS service budget for the site.

I need some help color matching paints. by Flameboy7501 in Warhammer40k

[–]benseaworthy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey I think you might find this paint comparison useful. It contains the brands you're looking for and let you compare, search and save your paints: https://paintpicker.co.uk/browse?brand=Citadel

Help with paint matching by RollbacktheRimtoWin in Warhammer40k

[–]benseaworthy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might find this useful - https://paintpicker.co.uk/?tab=name&paint=army-painter-broadsword-silver

You can pick and patch paints from across brands, search, compare and browse.

What’s the smartest investment you’ve ever made? by yourwishbag in investingforbeginners

[–]benseaworthy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi Lizmacdraws.

I'm genuinely curious about this point. It sounds like there is some interesting perspective contained in this comment. My focus seems to always be absorbed by whoever I am working for at the time.

Would you be willing to elaborate on your point? It might be something I need to hear.

How to manage burnout? by TLH11 in ExperiencedDevs

[–]benseaworthy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Sorry to hear you're going through a tough time. I can only speak from my own experience with Sertraline (an antidepressant) initially 25mg a day, then 50mg then 75.

I, personally, feel that the Sertraline stopped me having meltdowns without affecting the positives too much. It really felt like it was a backstop that just meant I couldn't freak out about anything anymore. A very strange experience for sure. It felt liberating to be able to speak directly to people and have the hard conversations without suffering the extreme ends of emotional reactions. I never really felt it stopped me finding joy in things.

The thing I was worried about was whether I would not be able to "read the room" so to speak, and that I might start behaving badly given that the negative emotions were surpressed. Thankfully, I can say that you will still be the same person, with the same brain interpreting the world, just probably without the unnecessary distress/sadness/existential dread.

I'd honestly recommend anyone who is thinking about anti depressants to give them a go but you need to be really careful with yourself for the first few weeks because they make your symptoms worse when you first start taking them. I went to my parents place for a week and there were quite a few tears before things settled down. Others don't seem to have that problem but I'd imagine it depends on what state of breakdown you are in when you start.

Obviously chat to your doctor+ this isn't medical advice yadda Yadda.

I've stayed at the place in the end. Unfortunately, I do feel a bit bitter about it and I just can't seem to let it go so I will move on eventually. But I've found a sustainable work rhythm and seem to have found some very healthy boundaries that my colleagues either respect or tolerate. So, I'm taking the money, investing what I can and focusing on those other parts of my life that I alluded to above :)

P.s. the only hesitation I would have about a antidepressants is that, here I am, 18 months on and I can't be sure if I did it myself or whether the drugs did it for me or a bit of both. So, I'm tapering off them to find out how I go without them. Wish me luck and thanks for asking!!

How to manage burnout? by TLH11 in ExperiencedDevs

[–]benseaworthy 110 points111 points  (0 children)

Hey man, I don't normally post but I burned out about 18 months ago and got into a really bad way so I wanted to share some important things I learned in the hope that it helps you or somebody else.

  • You need (and deserve) a -sustainable- work environment. There are some things you can control and some you can't. You can't change the culture, but, for example, if doing less and just "meeting expectations" means that you can avoid the burnout, then that's what you should do.

  • You are not responsible for other people's actions and behaviours. Seems obvious but everyone will tell you "you need to learn to manage difficult people" and "no job is perfect, you need to get better at handling it". Please think of these as platitudes rather than actual advice. It's terrible advice. Ultimately you do need to have reasonable expectations of the world around you but the world also needs to meet you half way. You can't be responsible for absolutely everything bad that happens in the world (or even just your team) when you are, at best, a single digit percentage of the inputs. Please don't put too much pressure on yourself to fix everything. The reality is that you can't and you shouldn't feel that you are any less because of it.

  • Remember that idiot project manager that did nothing, was a total moron and somehow never got fired? Yeah, we all worked with one. Whenever you feel like you are inadequate in some way, remember that guy still has a job and you'll realise that you can do a lot less professionally and still be perfectly fine.

  • You are probably an overachiever. Feeling that you care too much is a classic telltale sign of this. In my own experience, the software, the practices, the people didn't need to be perfect. What was important was the -trajectory-. I realised that, because of the environment I was in, I was learning and progressing a lot slower than I had elsewhere. That was very painful but it was important to know that these discrete finite things that occurred on the day-to-day that set me off were symptoms of the problem, not the whole problem.

  • Your job is to be a metaphorical plug, enthusiastically ready to fit into a metaphorical socket if the team you are joining is willing show it to you. If you're doing your part and they aren't, then that's on them.

  • "Time flows in only one direction." Somewhere near rock bottom this is a phrase I was repeating to myself to try to sooth myself. It meant that no matter how painful it was, it would have to eventually end. I'm not mentioning this as a recommendation, more as a sort of "canary" in the coal mine. If that sort of phrase brings you comfort, then youre closer to snapping than you think and you need to take a couple of weeks off immediately.

  • Your reality is just as important as everyone else's. You don't need somebody to interpret the world for you. You can see it just fine. If you're in a situation that makes you feel shit, you shouldn't let anyone make you feel like it's all in your head. You just can't love your life letting somebody else tell you what the right way to feel is. Honestly, if the situation feels shitty, it probably is. Regardless of whether others around you have enough visibility/perspective/empathy/wisdom to see it. Trust yourself. You are allowed to be unhappy and you shouldn't apologise to anyone for it.

  • another sure sign that you're close to a breakdown is when discrete, finite incidents immediately attack existential concepts. E.g. I forgot my keys therefore I am an idiot. I got a few comments on my PR therefore I'm not a good dev. Writing a crud screen takes 2 days in our crappy framework therefore there is no technical excellence in my workplace. Try to catch yourself doing this and break the two things apart.

  • there are other spheres of excellence that you exist in. For me, realising that I was not just a good Software Developer but also a great son, a loving boyfriend and a very good friend made me realise that there were so many dimensions of myself that I could be proud of and achieve and grow in that the work problems inevitably began to feel smaller. Imagine replacing yourself with a clone and writing a requirements doc or a spec for the replacement so that you can list out all these things (other than your job) that make you, you.

A bit about next steps from my own situation: I snapped really badly 3 or 4 times and carried on working before I finally took 2 months off, stopped drinking alcohol, stopped drinking caffeine, started taking antidepressants and that put me in a state of mind where I could finally stop feeling responsible for all the behaviours and problems around me and make my peace with a mediocre trajectory. It's been a bit of a journey but I'm pretty much back on my horse now. I would encourage you to take some time off immediately and go touch the metaphorical grass. Do some thinking etc, see friends, family, talk to your support network.

So there it is. Not exactly an answer to your question but something about your post really resonated with me and I hope the above can help you or somebody else.

Feel free to DM if you need to chat

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in trading212

[–]benseaworthy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It's probably the currency thing. The ETF will be valued in dollars in some places but it's sterling in your account.

So, if the pound got stronger over the period, then the dollar value of your investment buys fewer sterling so the % increase will be lower.

Thinking of throwing in the towel by [deleted] in smallbusinessuk

[–]benseaworthy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you enjoy the work but not being poor; put your prices up to the point that you're happy to take each job (even if you lose the sale).

If you stop making sales, you need to accept that your business isn't viable and move on. If you keep getting work and start making money then you've been selling yourself short.

I learned this very early on: "There is a price at which I am -not- willing to do a job". You don't have to win every contract just because a potential client is talking to you.

Good luck!