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   Casey Reeves (xogium@tech.lgbt)'s status on Thursday, 29-Jun-2023 18:24:31 JST Casey Reeves

   This new boss was absolutely fantastic. He was shaken by the way I was treated at my previous job, and showed a deep understanding of my very nervous behavior thanks to this trauma, always reassuring me I wasn't doing anything wrong and not stepping out of line at all.

   I'd like to think we built a deep friendship along with this job. He's simply an awesome person and I wish him well, even if I know he most likely won't ever see this post.

   For the first time ever in my life I felt actually happy to be working. Even dealing with serial ports and printers couldn't cool down my joy at finally having found something that I was meant to do all along.

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     Casey Reeves (xogium@tech.lgbt)'s status on Thursday, 29-Jun-2023 18:24:29 JST Casey Reeves

     in reply to

     In the meantime, I decided to look for other things to do. And then I brutally remembered that in this world, people like my current boss (I still think of him as my boss given I'm not truely out of a job, just out of actual work to do right now) are a miracle. You'd think they don't actually exist if you've never seen them, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that way.

     So I decided to see about working for nextcloud. It seemed like a good idea at the time, plus I know someone who's regularly in touch with the lead of the accessibility team.

     We drafted an email to her, and we made sure to mention that what I could help with was actual accessibility testing and suggesting things. Not the coding. And at first, I dared to be hopeful. I thought, this might actually go through and tie me over until I get back to my embedded Linux job!

     After only 5 messages exchanged, in which she asked at every chance if I was a coder despite being told multiple times I wasn't, I finally got my answer.

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     Casey Reeves (xogium@tech.lgbt)'s status on Thursday, 29-Jun-2023 18:24:30 JST Casey Reeves

     in reply to

     He's a truely amazing person like we rarely get the occasion to meet these days. As things progressed, I was given full permission from him to do what I felt like would be good on our code repository for the system. Only major rework would require his attention. Updating the Linux kernel? Go for it. Fix up a systemd service so it works better? Sure!

     I felt both valued and appreciated for the first time in my entire life. I looked forward to work every day. And for the first time in my life, I had good income, and I could finally start to pay for my own things. I can't describe this feeling.

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     Casey Reeves (xogium@tech.lgbt)'s status on Thursday, 29-Jun-2023 18:24:30 JST Casey Reeves

     in reply to

     Unfortunately for me, after a year of amazing work, I was put on so-called part time because what needed to be done at that moment in time, I couldn't help with, since it was actual programming. I was not and still am not qualified to do this.

     The good thing is that I have the satisfaction that what I had done so far worked so well that it didn't ever need any maintenance, aside from the occasional update of the kernel. And for that, I'm very glad.

     The bad thing is, it runs so well that I'm stuck right now. I get no income, because I've got literally nothing to do. More importantly, I am bored out of my mind and my neverending depression is catching up with me.

     I've been waiting for nearly a year, and getting desperate. I know my boss isn't doing this on purpose, as he's a truely good man, but it's killing me inside. I know our system cannot be rushed as security is crucial in our application. You don't joke with security on ATMs. But I so wish I was back in full swing!

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.