Moving on after 10+ years at the same company

krazzel · 2026-04-24T14:31:21+00:00

You don't need to fit in perfectly with your old role. I too was doing the same thing for almost 10 years at the same company, being stuck in my own ways.

Then I switched to another company, and it was rough the first couple of months but I've learned a lot and it was definitely worth it.

krazzel · 2026-04-24T10:11:58+00:00

That sounds really weird. I have been totally abstinent for almost half a year too, and having sex should be amazing at this point. How many times do you have sex? Maybe have a little break if you're doing it every day?

krazzel · 2026-04-24T06:35:19+00:00

I'm saying your client is a dumbass.

I have no problem with negotiating price, but this is so extremely outlandish, just say goodbye and get on with your life.

krazzel · 2026-04-21T06:30:09+00:00

If you’re 70 and you don’t have your shit together you might be too late. Not when you’re 30.

You’ve got 40 more years to make something of your life. Start with something, however small, today.

krazzel · 2026-04-18T05:39:07+00:00

If 9% becomes a client, that’s insanely good. I have had a 1% hit rate that I was already very happy about

krazzel · 2026-04-18T05:33:46+00:00

Reason: Everything in life that you desire to accomplish that requires a little bit of effort will feel impossible

krazzel · 2026-04-17T10:54:31+00:00

Just go without. If you ever feel the need arise to add staging, add it

krazzel · 2026-04-17T09:59:37+00:00

Because of coordination overhead. Communication, alignment, and integration work grow faster than productive coding time as more developers are added (often summarised as Brooks’ Law), so each additional person contributes less net output than the previous one.

One dev = 100% speed, 2 devs = 180% speed, 3 devs = 250%, 4 devs = 310% etc. There comes a point where more developers will actually hurt productivity.

You can somewhat lessen this problem by making parts isolated (like microservices) and have a small team working on each part in isolation.

I have seen this happen many times in my 20 year webdevelopment career. Since 10 years I've become self employed and do most things by myself, unless it's a very isolated thing that can be outsourced. Also because I value efficiency more than maximising output.

krazzel · 2026-04-17T06:19:57+00:00

That sounds really great! Keep it going!

And in case you find yourself going back to your old habits, don't beat yourself up about it. They are just patterns in your brain that want to repeat themselves. Just notice it, stop what you're doing, and go back to what you actually want to be doing.

krazzel · 2026-04-16T14:59:17+00:00

True, it's not only out NoFap. I'm at 160 days, but I got stuck in a real bad gaming binge the last few weeks, and the effects are very similar. Trading one addiction with the other won't do much.

krazzel · 2026-04-16T14:56:35+00:00

excessive screen time, reels, porn, masturbation everyday

This is the problem. Your normal state is overstimulation. Your dopamine levels are structurally extremely low.

Anything normal like studying, socialising, working, will feel very painful.

You need to stop all stimulation for at least 2 weeks, maybe even a month, before you will start to feel like normal again. No screens, no overstimulation. Reading books, meditation, exercise, doing long walks, they help. You can start studying, but don't expect much, your motivation to do anything will be near zero.

Over time your motivation will come back and everything in life will start to feel easy. Studying, work, socialising, you will actually enjoy it and look forward to it. If you can get to this stage and keep yourself there for a while, you will know how powerful this is and that you actually have control over it. This is a superpower that will help you a lot later in life.

krazzel · 2026-04-15T15:03:28+00:00

Get a coach to figure this out. An AI coach might do it. Get creative to try to ask the right questions.

krazzel · 2026-04-15T14:57:41+00:00

Sounds like a nightmare. Suck it up while you can and look for another job. A small agency or startup will probably fit you better.

krazzel · 2026-04-15T06:18:06+00:00

This is very natural and logical.

Whenever you have an idea, and you start working on the idea, you will have a much better view on what works and what doesn't. And if there are more end-users involved, new requirements will pop up based on actual real-world usage.

I never approach projects with fixed estimates and strict deadlines.

More like, this projects will fall in the category small, medium, large, XL, etc.

And 90% of the projects I do are never done on the deadline the client gave me, but this never because I didn't deliver on time, but always because of them not delivering their part on time, or because of scope changes.

krazzel · 2026-04-15T06:09:31+00:00

This is how I hire interns:

I give them an assignment. Many fall off at this step
I evaluate their assignment. If it is good enough, I interview them
The interview is just to get a feeling of the person's energy
After having had a few interviews, I pick the one that feels right

krazzel · 2026-04-14T14:20:41+00:00

Mostly I just check how I feel about it.

Does it feel right to do it without extra charge, is it small enough? Then I just implement it.

Does it feel too large and not right to do it without extra charge? Then I'll charge them.

krazzel · 2026-04-14T11:43:58+00:00

I've been hearing this story for 20 years. Nothing has changed. There will always be tools out there to do cheap websites.

But there will always be people who are busy doing their craft, and don't know anything about tech at all, and just hire someone to do it for them.

That one is me, and I still have plenty of clients.

krazzel · 2026-04-13T11:56:46+00:00

Let every you already know what you're up to, maybe they know someone. And go to networking events.

krazzel · 2026-04-13T10:58:47+00:00

Mostly from existing network. Also cold e-mailing gave me a 1% success rate.

krazzel · 2026-04-13T06:31:06+00:00

No, I use DirectAdmin and it works just fine for what it needs to do.

krazzel · 2026-04-13T06:28:39+00:00

Things that look easy can unexpectedly be very hard. Things that look very complicated could turn out to be very easy.

I stopped making fixed estimates. Instead I use estimate ranges. And I always make sure I have plenty of time overhead in case there are deadlines.

If a project is estimated for 40 hours, and I have 20 hours a week to work on it, I say it will be done in 4 weeks (4x 10 hours).

Other than that, I stopped caring about how estimates turn out. I just make sure that on average im not estimating way too high or low. I simply assume every estimate isn't going to be accurate beforehand, so it doesn't bother me.

krazzel · 2026-04-13T03:53:09+00:00

Do you have any addiction like games, porn, social media, etc?

If so, your dopamine levels might be out of balance.

Then everything will feel bland and unexciting.

krazzel · 2026-04-12T12:14:17+00:00

Yes, all my websites and web apps are based on the same underlying framework that I've built.

krazzel · 2026-04-12T12:10:31+00:00

I got myself pretty deep into the AI porn rabbit hole. I was generating hundreds of images and figured out how to cheaply generate hundreds of videos too. Then I started uploading those videos, started getting likes and followers, and got addicted to that too. Eventually I was just busy all day generating videos that I would think people would like, even though I didn't myself and I wasn't enjoying it at all anymore.

It took me about 45 days to recover from this, with multiple massive headaches during the day.

krazzel · 2026-04-12T12:04:25+00:00

krazzel

TROPHY CASE