2025-11-29 01:30:00
Both my wife and I are going through the annoying process of trying to search for new jobs. I’m still at my current one, but I want to see if something better is out there in the region we wanna move to.
But it is absolutely nuts. How have these services not gone out of business?
My experience, almost entirely the same across many websites like StepStone, Indeed, and more:
And for what? So that you’ll make an account and give up all that data and get harassed via e-mail for information that is freely available on the company’s own career page!
What are we doing? This is silly. Companies have already revealed that they hate and don’t consider the “Quick Apply” options these platforms offer, so what gives? And why are companies still using these slop platforms? It can’t be about getting more applicants, because these websites do anything they can to not show you the relevant job postings or information about them. If the search sucks, the preview is half-blurred and I can’t click on it without a pop-up urging me to make an account, you guessed it: I am actively discouraged from applying, prevented even, in many cases. I shouldn’t have to make an account with a third party just to even consider an employer! No, I will not create an account, and I will also not make a LinkedIn or Xing.
These services are not helping anyone, they are leeches. They have an interest in keeping you on their site searching jobs for a long time, and that goal is antithetical to connecting you with potential employers quickly. Companies are better off advertising elsewhere and keeping it on their own website so all potential candidates can access it. It’s a bad look seeing you on these enshittified platforms.
The way I have been coping with this job search is just using these websites to get a list of companies that have jobs in my niche and then researching them separately, using their own career pages and application portals. Also, relying on job listing websites ran by the government as these don’t use deceptive tactics to get you to sign up.
If you’re lucky, your professional niche has their own jobmarket websites (see, for example, rustjobs.fyi), or popular magazine publishers that are relevant in your field have a career sub-category on their website.
If you have any other tips I missed, let me know (email or your own post is fine!) and I’ll add it.
Reply via email
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2025-11-29 00:32:00
Are you also tired of the Black Friday shopping mania? Let’s make it fun in a free way instead of stressful in a “don’t really need it, but my gosh it’s cheap” way.
Simply copy the theme styles below, head over to your Bear theme settings, paste them in, and let the party begin. 🥳
If you’re using the wonderful Guestbooks by Meadow, the theme will take care of that too. Check my guestbook to see how it looks. If you’re in the mood, and who isn’t after some Pink Friday vibes, feel free to write me something.
To give you a taste of how lovely the quotes look, here are a few fitting lines from the beautiful song Society by Eddie Vedder:
Oh, it's a mystery to me
We have a greed, with which we have agreed
And you think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all you won't be free
Disclaimer: While there’s no technical limitation stopping you from using this theme to celebrate Black Friday instead of dodging it, it’s considered bad karma. This may result in your posts getting fewer upvotes. Just saying...
/*
* Pink Friday — a joyful antidote to Black Friday madness
* Version 1.0.0 | 2025-11-28
* Author: Robert Birming
* URL: https://robertbirming.com
*/
*,
*::before,
*::after {
box-sizing: border-box;
}
:root {
color-scheme: light dark;
--bg: #fff7fb;
--txt: #261321;
--muted: #8f6a7a;
--line: #f0d3e3;
--accent: #e45ba8;
--accent-h: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 80%, var(--txt) 20%);
--radius: 6px;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
color-scheme: dark;
--bg: #1b1220;
--txt: #ffe9f8;
--muted: #c89bb4;
--line: #3c253f;
--accent: #ff7ec5;
--accent-h: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 80%, #ffffff 20%);
}
footer::before {
background-image: linear-gradient(
90deg,
#ff9ad1,
#ffcaee,
#ff9ad1,
#f9a9ff
);
}
}
::selection {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 35%, var(--bg));
color: var(--txt);
}
body {
max-width: 640px;
margin: 36px auto;
padding: 0 20px;
font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;
font-size: 1.075rem;
line-height: 1.66;
letter-spacing: 0.01em;
color: var(--txt);
background: var(--bg);
overflow-wrap: break-word;
}
main > p:first-of-type {
margin-top: 0.2em;
}
p {
margin-block: 1.2em;
}
h1,
h2,
h3 {
margin-block: 1.4em 0.6em;
font-weight: 600;
line-height: 1.2;
letter-spacing: -0.01em;
color: var(--txt);
}
h1 {
margin-block: 0 0.4em;
}
h1 { font-size: 1.7rem; }
h2 { font-size: 1.45rem; }
h3 { font-size: 1.25rem; }
ul,
ol {
margin-block: 1.2em;
padding-left: 1.4em;
}
li + li {
margin-top: 0.25em;
}
a {
color: var(--accent);
text-decoration: underline;
text-decoration-thickness: 1px;
text-underline-offset: 3px;
transition:
color 0.15s ease,
text-decoration-thickness 0.15s ease;
}
a:hover {
color: var(--accent-h);
text-decoration-thickness: 2px;
}
blockquote {
margin-block: 2em;
margin-inline: 0;
padding: 0.85em 1rem;
border-left: 3px solid var(--accent);
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) 85%, var(--accent) 15%);
color: var(--muted);
font-style: italic;
border-radius: 10px;
box-shadow: 0 2px 6px color-mix(in srgb, var(--txt) 10%, transparent);
}
blockquote p {
margin: 0;
}
img {
max-width: 100%;
height: auto;
display: block;
margin-block: 1.4em;
border-radius: 8px;
}
hr {
border: none;
border-top: 1px solid var(--line);
margin-block: 2rem;
}
/* Header */
header {
margin-bottom: 2.4rem;
padding-bottom: 0;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: flex-start;
text-align: left;
gap: 1.2rem;
}
header a.title {
text-decoration: none;
color: var(--txt);
position: relative;
display: inline-block;
}
header a.title h1 {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
font-size: 1.7rem;
line-height: 1.2;
letter-spacing: -0.01em;
display: inline-block;
filter:
drop-shadow(0 0 2px color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 45%, transparent))
drop-shadow(0 0 4px color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent-h) 35%, transparent));
transition: filter 0.25s ease, transform 0.25s ease;
}
header a.title:hover h1 {
filter:
drop-shadow(0 0 4px color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 70%, transparent))
drop-shadow(0 0 8px color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent-h) 55%, transparent));
transform: scale(1.012);
}
header a.title h1::after {
content: " *:･ﾟ✧";
padding-left: 4px;
background: linear-gradient(
to right,
var(--txt),
var(--accent),
color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 65%, var(--txt) 35%)
);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
-webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
text-fill-color: transparent;
vertical-align: baseline;
opacity: 0.9;
}
/* Nav links */
header nav p {
margin: 0;
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
justify-content: center;
gap: 0.6rem;
font-size: 0.9rem;
}
header nav a {
text-decoration: none;
color: var(--accent);
padding: 0.25rem 0.8rem 0.18rem;
border-radius: 999px;
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) 94%, var(--accent) 6%);
border: 1px solid transparent;
box-shadow: 0 1px 2px color-mix(in srgb, var(--txt) 10%, transparent);
transition:
background-color 0.18s ease,
border-color 0.18s ease,
box-shadow 0.18s ease,
transform 0.18s ease;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
header nav a {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) 90%, var(--accent) 10%);
}
}
header nav a:hover {
color: var(--bg);
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 80%, var(--bg) 20%);
border-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 55%, var(--line));
box-shadow: 0 4px 10px color-mix(in srgb, var(--txt) 16%, transparent);
transform: translate(1px, 2px) rotate(2.5deg);
}
header nav a:active {
transform: translate(0, 0) rotate(0deg);
box-shadow: 0 1px 3px color-mix(in srgb, var(--txt) 20%, transparent);
}
/* Footer */
footer {
position: relative;
margin-top: 1rem;
padding: 30px 0 26px;
text-align: center;
color: var(--muted);
font-size: 0.95rem;
}
footer::before {
content: "✧";
display: block;
margin: 0 auto 1.8rem;
text-align: center;
color: var(--accent);
font-size: 1.25rem;
letter-spacing: 0.35em;
opacity: 0.95;
width: 70%;
background:
linear-gradient(to right, transparent, var(--line) 70%),
linear-gradient(to left, transparent, var(--line) 70%);
background-size: 48% 1.5px, 48% 1.5px;
background-position: left center, right center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
footer a {
color: var(--accent);
text-decoration: none;
}
footer a:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
}
/* Blog */
time {
font-style: normal;
color: var(--muted);
font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
font-size: 0.9rem;
}
p > time,
p > i > time {
display: inline-block;
margin-top: 0.2rem;
}
ul.blog-posts {
list-style: none;
padding: 0;
margin: 1.6rem 0 0;
}
ul.blog-posts li {
display: flex;
align-items: baseline;
gap: 0.9rem;
padding-block: 0.4em;
border-bottom: 1px solid color-mix(in srgb, var(--line) 60%, transparent);
}
ul.blog-posts li:first-child {
border-top: 1px solid color-mix(in srgb, var(--line) 60%, transparent);
}
ul.blog-posts li span {
flex: 0 0 140px;
color: var(--muted);
font-size: 0.9rem;
}
ul.blog-posts li a {
color: var(--accent);
text-decoration: none;
font-weight: 500;
display: inline-block;
transition:
color 0.15s ease,
text-decoration-thickness 0.15s ease;
}
ul.blog-posts li a:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
text-decoration-thickness: 2px;
color: var(--accent-h);
}
@media (max-width: 540px) {
ul.blog-posts li {
flex-direction: column;
align-items: flex-start;
padding-block: 0.7em;
gap: 0.25em;
}
ul.blog-posts li span {
order: 1;
flex: none;
font-size: 0.85rem;
}
ul.blog-posts li a {
order: 0;
}
}
/* Upvote button */
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button {
display: inline-flex !important;
flex-direction: row !important;
align-items: center !important;
gap: 0.35rem;
padding: 0.18rem 0.55rem;
border-radius: 999px;
border: 1px solid color-mix(in srgb, var(--line) 80%, transparent);
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) 96%, var(--accent) 4%);
color: var(--txt);
font: inherit;
line-height: 1;
cursor: pointer;
white-space: nowrap;
transition:
background-color 0.15s ease,
border-color 0.15s ease,
transform 0.12s ease;
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button svg {
display: none !important;
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button::before {
content: "♡";
font-size: 1.25rem;
line-height: 1;
color: var(--accent);
transform: translateY(1px);
transition:
color 0.15s ease,
transform 0.12s ease;
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button .upvote-count {
display: inline-block !important;
width: auto !important;
flex: 0 0 auto !important;
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
font-size: 0.85rem;
color: var(--muted);
opacity: 0.85;
white-space: nowrap;
transform: translateY(1px);
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button:hover {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) 90%, var(--accent) 10%);
border-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 50%, var(--line));
transform: translateY(-1px);
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button:hover::before {
transform: translateY(0);
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button:is(.upvoted, [aria-pressed="true"], [disabled])::before {
content: "♥";
color: var(--accent-h);
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button[disabled] {
cursor: default;
opacity: 0.85;
}
:is(.post, .page) .upvote-button:focus-visible {
outline: 2px solid var(--accent);
outline-offset: 2px;
}
/* Guestbook */
#guestbooks___guestbook-form-container form {
display: grid;
gap: 0.6rem;
margin: 1.6rem 0;
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-form-container :is(input, textarea, button) {
font: inherit;
padding: 0.6rem 0.7rem;
border-radius: var(--radius);
border: 1px solid var(--line);
background: var(--bg);
color: var(--txt);
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-form-container :is(input, textarea) {
width: 100%;
line-height: 1.5;
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-form-container :is(input, textarea):focus {
outline: none;
border-color: var(--accent);
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 35%, transparent);
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-form-container :is(button, input[type="submit"]) {
cursor: pointer;
font-weight: 600;
align-self: flex-start;
background: var(--accent);
color: var(--bg);
border-color: var(--accent);
transition:
background-color 0.2s ease,
transform 0.15s ease;
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#guestbooks___guestbook-form-container :is(button, input[type="submit"]):hover {
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transform: translateY(-1px);
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-messages-container > div {
margin: 1.2rem 0;
padding: 1rem 1.1rem;
font-size: 0.95rem;
border-radius: calc(var(--radius) + 2px);
border: 1px solid color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 40%, var(--bg));
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) 93%, var(--accent) 7%);
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-messages-container blockquote {
margin: 0 0 0.4rem;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
background: none;
box-shadow: none;
border-radius: 0;
font-style: normal;
color: var(--txt);
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-messages-container p {
margin: 0 0 0.4rem;
}
#guestbooks___guestbook-made-with {
margin-top: 0.8rem;
font-size: 0.85rem;
color: var(--muted);
}
2025-11-28 23:55:07
Yesterday it was Thanksgiving and I had the privilege of spending the holiday with my family. We have a tradition of doing a toast going around the table and sharing at least one thing for which we are grateful.
I want to share with you a story that started last year, in January of 2024, when a family friend named Germán reached out to me for help with a website for his business.
Germán is in his 50s, he went to school for mechanical engineering in Mexico and about twenty years ago he moved to the United States. Today he owns a restaurant in Las Vegas with his wife and also runs a logistics company for distributing produce.
We met the last week of January, he told me that he was looking to build a website for his restaurant and eventually build up his infrastructure so most of his business could be automated. His current workflow required his two sons to run the business along with him. They managed everything manually on expensive proprietary software.
There were lots of things that could be optimized, so I agreed to jump on board and we have been collaborating ever since. What I assumed would be a developer type of position instead became more of a peer-mentorship relationship.
Germán is curious, intelligent, and hard working. It didn't take long for me to notice that he didn't just want to have software or services running "in the background" while he occupied himself with other tasks. He wanted to have a thorough understanding of all the software he adopted.
"I want to learn but I simply don't have the patience," he told me during one of our first meetings. At first I admit I thought this was a bit of a red flag (sorry Germán haha) but it all began to make sense when he showed me his books.
He had paid thousands of dollars for a Wordpress website that only listed his services and contact information. The company he had hired offered an expensive SEO package for a monthly fee. My time in open source and the indieweb had blinded me to how abusive the "web development" industry had become. I'm referring to those local agencies that take advantage of unsuspecting clients and charge them for every little thing.
I began making Germán's website and we went back and forth on assets, copy, menus, we began putting together a project and everything went smoothly. He was happy that he got to see how I built things. During this time I would journal through my work on his project and e-mail my notes to him. He loved it.
Next came a new proposition. While the static site was nice to have an online presence, what he was after was getting into e-commerce. His wife, Sarah, makes artisanal beauty products and custom clothes. Her friends would message her on Facebook to ask what new stuff she was working on and she would send pictures to them from her phone. She would have benefitted from having a website, but after the bad experience they had had with the agency, they weren't too enthused about the prospect of hiring them for another project.
I met with both of them again for this new project and we talked for hours, more like coworkers this time around. We eventually came to the conclusion that it would be more rewarding for them to really learn how to put their own shop together. I acted more as a coach or mentor than a developer. We'd sit together and activate accounts, fill out pages, choose themes. I was providing a safe space for them to be curious about technology, make mistakes, learn from them, and immediately get feedback on technical details so they could stay on a safe path.
I'm so grateful for that opportunity afforded to me by Germán and his family. I've thought about how that approach would look if applied to the indieweb. It's always so exciting for me to see what the friends I've made here are working on. I know the open web becomes stronger when more independent projects are released, as we have more options to free ourselves from the corporate web that has stifled so much of the creativity and passion that I love and miss from the internet.
I want to keep doing this. If you are building something on your own, have been out of the programming world for a while but want to start again, or maybe you are almost done and need a little boost in confidence (or accountability!) to reach the finish line and ship, I'm here to help.
Check out my coaching page to find out more.
I'm excited about the prospect of a community of builders who care about self-reliance and releasing software that puts people first.
Perhaps this Black Friday you could choose to invest in yourself :-)
2025-11-28 12:59:00
No one cares about anything anymore and it's breaking me.
For the longest time I thought it was me. I thought I had outlandish expectations of the world and the people in it. I backed off, got blasé, went limp. I stopped being myself completely if you want to know the truth. I invented four different versions of myself in the 1990s and grew those versions like I was raising Sims and I would slip into and out of them as needed to follow what was supposedly the good and smart path. Yeah, sure, it made me feel small and subservient, but at least I wasn't an easy target. I was so small you couldn't even see me, a speck on a speck —— but I was safe. I devoted my life to making other people feel more comfortable and they repaid me by occasionally remembering my name.
That held for a while, but then I got older and those folks told me I was taking life too seriously, that I needed to get blasé, go limp, not care so much. They told me I was worrying about things that normal people didn't and caring about things in a way that men just don't and I felt like an alien. Yes, I worried about those things and cared about those other things, but that's not the point. The point is that I don't know how to function when people don't care, if nothing matters, if being detached and distant and checked-out is the way. That seems so fucking boring and loser-coded to me. An existence where nothing is important and no one cares and the entire internet is bots and people are replacing the most human parts of themselves with algorithms and LLMs.
I get that caring takes time and effort and is so rarely rewarded in the ways people want to be rewarded, and I get that everyone over 30 is exhausted, but, like, not caring breaks you. It doesn't happen all at once. It's just little bit every other day. Then it's every day. Then it's twice a day. It chips away at you until you are dust. Until you are a husk. Until the organs in your torso are scooped out and your insides are buffed to a shine. Congratulations, you are now a kayak.
Ever since I snapped out of a two-decade hangover five and a half years ago I have come to understand that I am only content when I am fully myself. I am only alive when I am fully myself. And being fully myself means being upfront about struggling with a lot of things in the mental health and neuroatypicality realm(s), being obsessed with tiny things that other people think are stupid, getting too upset about people breaking the rules in a dynasty basketball league (it fucks up the ecosystem and is incredibly selfish!), and leaving a work call by saying "I'm about to have a panic attack and I don't want to be on a Teams call when I do."
If you are a young person reading this, do not believe the hype. Don't retreat inward. Retreat outwards. You don't need distance or a poncho to protect you from getting watermelon all over you. You need to press your face up against it. Swipe your nose like a credit card.
Fight the good fight. Give a fuck. Do your best. Not just some of the time, either. All of the time. Every day. Day in and day out.
Yeah it's exhausting. But doing your flat-out most, really working on your craft, really caring about your hobby, really devoting yourself to your people —— this is how you survive the suck.
This is how I will get by. Breaking is how I will stay unbroken. I will Kintsugi myself as often as I have to. I will do something good with this anger, this sadness. Tomorrow I will try again. My veins are made of gold.
🫤 xxxxx
🫤 xx
🫤 xxxxx
🫤 xxxxx
🫤 xxx
Be good to yourself.
==If you enjoyed this post, click the little up arrow chevron thinger below the tags to help it rank in Bear's Discovery feed and maybe consider sharing it with a friend or on your socials.==
2025-11-28 04:44:00
quick thought for today
There's a meme that says "Never trust how you feel about your life past 9 PM" and I think that's great advice.
Though, this morning I woke up questioning what I did the previous day. This happens VERY often for at least 10 minutes after waking up. That blog post I wrote? I thought it was corny as hell, I felt like I had commited a crime. If I happen to do anything slightly differently in my day, I'll wake up the next morning feeling like I did something that "wasn't me". This of course, doesn't last and I can go on with the rest of my day as normal, but it's so god damn weird.
I don't know if anyone else feels this way, I hope this post has reached at least one person who knows what I'm talking about. So, only trust how you feel about your life in the afternoon, I think that's the best approach.
2025-11-28 04:28:00
I hate my job.
Don’t worry. My boss knows.
Today was another one of “those” days at work, and it reminded me once more why I recently decided to hand in my resignation (my last day at work will be December 30th).
I’ve been working for this company for more than five and a half years, both as a warehouse worker and a delivery driver (mostly the latter this year).
This will be the third time that I will quit this job. It’s like an abusive ex-girlfriend that I keep returning to. Every time I broke up with this job, I had to return because I literally could not find any alternative. I honestly don’t understand what it is that I’m doing wrong.
I can’t stay here though. It is literally killing me, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I am confindent that I suffer from chronic stress due to the work that I do, and it’s so obviously wearing me down that I’m afraid that I might get seriously ill (like burn out, develop a cancer, or worse).
The work is horrible. It’s completely disorganized and chaotic, causing me extreme anxiety. I’m under constant pressure to perform in spite of all the handicaps. I’m not allowed to have a balanced and healthy lifestyle (not even days off when I get sick). I’m not allowed to eat or sleep at regular hours. It also feels like I’m going to the gym every single day. My body gets no rest.
So, I’ll either die from exhaustion or homelessness. I’ll try the latter for now.