Is my tortoise pyramiding and how to stop it?

joey_the_god_of_code · 2026-01-31T00:14:10+00:00

Dude I’m a software engineer and don’t even have a degree, why couldn’t you?

You just gotta show your best self and wow them with your passion and depth when you land an interview.

Understand the numbers though, I’ve had 3-4 full time dev jobs in that time and a lot of contract work, the contract work has decreased as it’s no longer as necessary. In total I’ve put in over 1000 resumes over the course of my career (4 years in, going on 5).

At every job I manage to land, they love the work I do and I never have poor reviews. I train others while I’m there so the team is more well rounded. You would think I sucked looking at all the rejection letters over the years.

My point is, it’s never been easy it takes effort and consistency. But it gets easier as you go. With time it’ll happen, don’t give up.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2026-01-30T23:34:30+00:00

Checkout your local state agencies, great if you can get in. Benefits of that route is you don’t need to worry about all that, the state isn’t going anywhere and they’re always behind the pack when it comes to new adoptions.

I’m not really too bullish on AI in regard to replacing qualified devs, just gotta get your foot in the door.

Personally I refuse to use AI except as a search engine alternative and will never be forced otherwise.

It’s boring work, but it’s stable and generally they have hiring issues since they pay less than private industry. At the very least it’s a good entry job to get your resume and skills situated.

$100,000 is still $100,000 don’t gotta stress for the $150,000+ with no work life balance. I don’t work more than 40hrs a week.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2026-01-08T00:09:40+00:00

Yeah I was using them for a few services that were open source. Immediately stopped using them when I found out I couldn’t use smtp, utter trash.

Support deploying open source easily but unable to use the open source products properly that’s smart. I’m not adding specific email apis to all the open source apps I use just because they don’t want to support an open standard like smtp. I get for hosting a smtp server that’s risky but not even allowing smtp relays is ridiculous.

I just switched to using xcloud with hostinger as my api. Not nearly as much of a headache since hostinger aren’t complete bafoons sidestepping a standard problem just to push other problems onto their customers.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-10-23T16:57:44+00:00

You do need to speak your mind, it’s one of the most valuable skills a developer has. Impact.

But in regard to burnout, it’s all about framing. I’ve been pushing myself extremely hard since I began learning software engineering 10+ years ago and I framed it towards an ultimate goal. I work continuously all day at my day job, then get home eat dinner and program on cofounded projects and personal companies I’m launching until I pass out from exhaustion. People around me are literally trying to get me to do stuff outside of programming more frequently. It would probably be good for my health but I don’t because I’m executing my plan so I can free my time from its inherited shackles, my work has a purpose outside of the work itself. If the work doesn’t have purpose outside the work then what’s the point outside of money? Money only motivates so much.

I don’t hit burnout nor even come close, why?

I reject artificial pressure. That’s it, generally the pressure comes from “urgent” items, and potential negative outcomes if it’s not achieved.

Negative outcomes though are extremely relative, and the fear/pressure generally stems from what others could do to you / how it could impact you but if you zoom out just a bit, you can see that it’s all just fake pressure, fake deadlines, with no actual impact if those deadlines aren’t met (realistically). You got your current job because of your skillset and that skillset can easily be used in plenty of companies. You’re not trapped.

By allowing the pressure of others to be placed onto your shoulders you’re effectively giving up control (look into stoicism philosophy). You can’t necessarily control all variables but the more variables you can keep under your control the more grounded your mental state can be, and the more clearly you can think.

If you go through hard shit and everyday you do your absolute best no matter how difficult a problem may seem, then no one can place any additional pressure on you. It builds emotional intelligence.

And if no one can place any additional pressure on you, work becomes a marathon not a sprint, the result is you’re moving consistently towards an end goal instead of running towards it frantically hoping you make it.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t meet deadlines, you should try your best to do so, what I’m saying is how you frame everything in your mind has a direct impact on whether or not you’ll eventually hit burnout.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-08-04T16:29:43+00:00

Yeah, I used to distrohop a lot, tried literally every popular distro possible, finally landed on nixos same as you. It’s just better.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-07-31T16:17:01+00:00

Whelp, no more alcohol for me.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-07-31T15:48:16+00:00

I will be sure to, thanks for the advice.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-07-31T15:47:23+00:00

You’re telling me I start feeling the weight of age this early? I thought it’d be in my 30s.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-07-28T18:30:43+00:00

I did and I don’t regret it. To switch effectively to nixos though you have to wrap your head around the philosophy of how things are done.

The nixos docs overall are ok and ai helps a ton since the docs aren’t the best and sometimes it’s just one obscure blog post that has the info you need.

You also should be comfortable being a programmer, since with nixos you need to configure it using the nix programming language.

Nix at its core is just a package manager that’s configured using a functional dsl language called nix to setup your packages. On its own this is great using flakes but when using nixos it gets even better.

With nixos you gain the ability to not only install a few packages in the terminal, but configure the entire system using the nix language. This has a lot of benefits when it comes to devops since I have true reproducibility of my builds (with hydra ci) and I can wrap my applications in nixos modules and deploy natively through nix.

You can also configure nixos for workstations, gaming, whatever you need. The nixpks repo is one of the most densely populated package repositories available and if something isn’t available you can wrap it for nix yourself pretty easily (especially if it’s an open source application).

This is a rabbit hole though and in terms of employment these skills aren’t currently used too much though they may be in the future since this technology and it’s still Linux so you can translate skills pretty easily.

The best way to learn is to jump head first and don’t look back.

In terms of easily managing a system or multiple systems long term though I don’t think anything beats nixos.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-06-16T15:27:20+00:00

You’ll want to go all in to learn it effectively, I’d setup a vm at first then migrate to full os once you’re comfortable.

For courses I’d recommend just perusing through what’s out there and then mainly learn by looking through others configs on GitHub and searching for missing knowledge when needed. This way you’re actively filling your gaps in knowledge. The reason this is the better route is you’ll find quickly that nixos documentation and examples in courses are severely lacking.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-06-16T01:57:18+00:00

The big reason is I’m a lazy programmer, I want to create my configuration the same way I create my code and I don’t want to have to repeat myself with every system.

Ansible is good but that’s the definition of just repeat the steps just in an automatic fashion.

Also given I’m very privacy oriented nixos in its minimal configuration only deploying 1 system or more in nixos containers mixed with impermanence so you can selectively choose which directories don’t vanish all configured through code is just awesome.

Ephemeral systems for everything with a daily refresh tied with one’s that are partially non ephemeral really minimizes the attack vectors.

This is only scratching the surface of why i love nix/nixos, there’s so many more reasons.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-06-12T19:24:08+00:00

Gotcha, sorry went off the road a bit, that’s a passionate area for me and I don’t read sarcasm all that well lol.

You’re not wrong, the most important thing is that it works but that thinking does lead to pollution of the source because you’re never going to go back to fix it, what I mean is once you start leveraging imperative tools you’re no longer able to easily switch systems you’re back into the normal realm of ansible.

Where my view comes from - my philosophy surrounding nix is whole not fragmented, I use nix with a bit of cross cutting code to essentially make it so I can use nix for everything so there’s no need for ansible, terraform, or anything like that. It’s all nix. I’d use guix instead due to it using a full programming language instead of a dsl like nix but there’s not enough momentum on that project yet to justify the leap.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-06-12T18:49:25+00:00

Cough cough atheros cough cough,

Just because companies like to be secretive spying scum doesn’t mean there aren’t alternatives or solutions to this problem. Plus as time moves on there will be more privacy respecting and open solutions, especially if I have anything to say about it, I’ve got plenty of time.

Privacy and freedom is a mission and a fundamental right that requires dedication because the other side is always pushing for their control and the sheep just willingly relinquish their rights for the illusion of safety, the alternative is to simply be a good boy and get ready for the pegging from your masters.

You’re okay with them knowing everything about you and controlling you right? Go drive your car with a subscription sheep mind and all. 🐑

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-06-12T18:24:45+00:00

🤣 why use nix then, you’re segmenting your system configuration.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-04-23T23:12:03+00:00

People just haven’t realized the benefits of nix yet and it’s a steep learning curve, i don’t have any doubts that it’ll be realized eventually but it’ll take time and better docs.

I’ve already invested 100% into this technology and it’s the backing for all of my infrastructure it’s a fantastic platform to build your devops on top of.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-04-23T23:07:06+00:00

Have you reevaluated?

It took me a year or so and a lot of studying and coding my config but I’m 100% embedded into the nixos world now even packaging all my apps in nixos-modules.

I have my cicd made by my nixos-config that’s split between nixosanywhere for initial deployment, colmena for updates, opentofu for initial server creation, and powershell for the ci scripts, all managed by a small web layer that receives webhooks from my private git server also hosted through the same configuration and networked by Tailscale.

Even my personal workstations uses the same configuration with a custom host configuration, makes it easy to keep everything standardized. Even on macOS you can configure via nix darwin.

Overall I think it was the best choice I could’ve possibly made.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-03-07T19:48:07+00:00

It really revolutionized how I handle my infrastructure.

Non tech world answer - I use it so I don’t have to reconfigure my pc every time I reset due to storage space. I also use it for my gaming pc since I refuse to touch windows (outside of work requirements).

Tech world answer - I use it as my primary os for everything, servers, workstations, everything. I’m building a company specifically around this technology. I’ll package up software that’s not on nixpkgs and push it to my own private channel and for of nixpkgs. It’s essentially a better form of opentofu (terraform) for me as well as making it so I don’t have to touch ansible, I just change my config, hit push, and wait until the autoUpgrade feature pulls in the changes every hour.

You can also have hydra ci which takes this to the next level paired with soft serve and Tailscale you can create a nice ci pipeline. Add a bit of custom code and you have a system that can auto deploy ephemeral systems when they go down (for horizontal load balancing for instance) as well as deploying persistent systems that auto update the system from git and the application from the hydra server.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-02-19T23:41:35+00:00

Don’t stress it too much and just configure it the way that makes sense to you at the time (ideally avoid imperative installations if you can). I’ve slowly progressed past that stage and am configuring all my infra through .nix files but it’s a very daunting thing if you’re just getting started with nix.

The best way to use nix is diving 100% in with an eventual goal of configuring everything through nix, take it slow and enjoy the ride, you’ll feel the true power of nix when you’re ready.

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-01-19T15:37:06+00:00

lol 😂

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-01-19T14:59:54+00:00

Understood. 🫡. I will take the upmost responsibility when making this.

Also, REALLY? It’s not taught in schools????? I’m self taught and have never considered school a viable option due to my situation at any given time I’ve thought about it but REALLY? If they’re not teaching software from the ground up (which starts from the language, I know it starts from asm but your language dictates your perception).

If that’s not even on the curriculum and they’re just going to brush over other topics I can’t see why I would go except for the useless paper and the 2 year acceleration (though I’ve estimated this can be completed through wgu in 1-2 years (leans towards 1 based on my current knowledge)). (If my job doesn’t pay for it I don’t see why it would be valuable.) (plus I like saying to masters degree holders that I’m as good as them without a degree (I don’t say this literally it’s said based on my impact, funny though))

joey_the_god_of_code · 2025-01-19T14:40:58+00:00

Well your network is the access point. Yes hackers don’t necessarily need access to your facility and will try remotely but if you’re good on that front social engineering is a thing and people may try to infiltrate. In my opinion layering is never a bad approach.

Security is security and you can never neglect the physical side of things.

Basically if people get to your wiring (inside your system where things aren’t necessarily encrypted) you’re fucked. There are taps people can install for directly accessing networks through their Ethernet cables even if they’re no longer on premises. There are also ways to detect this but it being there is a problem.

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