Ranting

I never thought there was actually a name for this which adds to how fiasco the whole thing is. But back to one of my earliest companies, my colleague had a very interesting encounter. After months of working really hard he felt the need to ask for a much deserved raise. So went by the HR and completed everything and they told him that he’ll get a raise as per the company’s ladder effective next month. To his much surprise the next month, his net salary actually dropped (that’s your take-home amount). So he stormed to the HR and he’s arguing how could they demote him whilst they promised a pay-raise. The HR explained to him there was a glitch (Tax Bracket Creep) while his gross salary increased (5000), his net salary dropped because he’d have to pay the full 25% social insurance deductions. ...

i was talking to online friends recently about what better dictates an older brother. The reponses i was swarmed with was nothing less than helpful and wholesome. Thanks a lot fellas. Yet my very initial thoughts were unanswered, partly because it is actually me who’s supposed to answer them. The question was not really how to become a good older brother but more of why I feel i’m lacking. I will go with the standard template: guidance, support, being present and being there for them. That seems really really good, and it is also nontrivial. The more you age, the more your life, network and responsibilities branch out and only grow up. My friend would always say choose your own battles. ...

Sometimes i legit be wondering about life. What is life? What is the whole point? What is the point of living? This is not a question that i can answer, nor is it a warning sign about my mental situation. I’m good thank you. But, this mundane, routine thing is becoming extremely irritating. An important person to me used to say that they were a virtual person in the process to become an individual. I think it was a quote from a movie that i never get to watch. What does it truly mean to become an individual? Is it worth it either? I’m afraid i’m even wind up losing that virtual person in the process of becoming an individual… ...

I have a decision making problem. I’m super good at making on-spot hard decisions. But i suck at making casual decisions: i take REALLY long time deciding between two types of water bottles. A friend of mine resigned from their job and that took me by surprise. Never in my career had i resigned from my job, really. 2017-2018 first professional employment type: i worked as a part-time TA and researcher at UofK, my contract was for year. i didn’t extend it 2018-2019: worked as a software engineer at Ashrafcom. I decided not to renew my contract. I’m still good friend with the company’s directors and chair 2017-?: Established Shargii and founded several businesses within. In 2021, i no longer work as a full-time there, but i still have share there. That could be the closest i get into resigning 2021-present: tuti. i founded tuti and i don’t really plan on resigning from my job. It could be that i mostly worked on my own startups that made it difficult to resign, but it still feels rather difficult for me to resign from a job. ...

Technology scares me, and don’t even get me started on how AI and that crazy shit have serious consequences that we are not adapted, that we have not considered at all. Tech companies emphasized their own revenue over making the humanity better – errr making its users better. And those incentives don’t align with what the actual users want. For example, a keyboard software. Let’s say google’s GBoard. It is fantastic, it is smart enough to predict and corrects their typing mistakes. That is wonderful, amazing! ...

I’m in awe. I’m grateful for all of you guys, I’m grateful to my parents, siblings, close friends and amongst them my online friends. I will write back about my feelings later. But you made a soul happy.

I argue engineers and managers to actively seek to shorten work days and work hours. 9-5 / 5 days is such an arbitrarily concept and it doesn’t translate at all to productivity, in fact counter to that it is the most unproductive thing we might ever have. Apart from the common wisdom to avoid burnouts, breaks are really super important. I argue against us having 5-days work scheme. It is way too much, it is quite useless too, and we lose lots of productvity and peak-performance and creative thinking, just to ensure that employees stay longer in the offices. Now that i have several years of experience ranging between academic (2017-2018), big corp (2018-2019), and startups (2019-now), i can see i have experienced both: i perform well for even the strictiest 9-5 jobs. But it is just a above-the-bar kinda of performane. I performed magnificentely great during my own startup years where i was able to take days and almost weeks off as i please. I understand that taking hiatus is not very welcomed since we run through different tight deadlines as our business requires, but the strict 9-5 Sunday-Thursday is not better either. ...

I argue that people almost turn to the robot mode when they are subject to a very mundane routinic type of daywork. Robot or the executor mode is the safest bet: you don’t get to think a lot, you don’t get to take risks, you just rebeat and always take-on the easy routes. That is fine and can get things done. You don’t necessarily want your Tirhal driver to be creativing about driving… ...

I just noticed the single thing i have been dreaming to have is a matt. That is ridicluos i know, but I digged a little bit deeper to understand why. Settlement. The reason i have been so focusing on the matt is that i truly wanted to settle, to have a home and the feeling that comes with it. But i couldn’t get anyone. Now, i actually have the money to buy a matt, a nice lovely good one. But, i resent it. I’m not feeling well deep down and the matt (with all of the lovely feelings i imagine wih it) is totally against what my current state of mind is. I’m in a mess, a huge fucking mess… ...

Sometimes i legit be wondering about life. What is life? What is the whole point? What is the point of living? This is not a question that i can answer, nor is it a warning sign about my mental situation. I’m good thank you. But, this mundane, routine thing is becoming extremely irritating. An important person to me used to say that they were a virtual person in the process to become an individual. I think it was a quote from a movie that i never get to watch. What does it truly mean to become an individual? Is it worth it either? I’m afraid i’m even wind up losing that virtual person in the process of becoming an individual… ...