Kinda…. :/

Ridiculous isn’t it? I had my annual physical a few weeks back, which for me is filling an online form and having my blood pressure read and a few blood tests. $550, insurance pays for everything.

Well. Almost. Turns out 2 of my blood tests were not covered by some healthcare bill passed in 2007. $267. And the mole I asked to be checked, billing code wasn’t covered as standard checkup, and so that question was $240. Mole was benign, and surprisingly didn’t result in some convenience fee.

ER was in-network. The nurse and doctor was also in-network. The second nurse, who connected me to the ECG, and the person who read the ECG was not in-network. No way of knowing at the time. Balance billing was permitted in that state at that time, which out-of-network provider used to the full extent.

I’m still salty about that.

They did, and I quote:

As to comments/criticisms on the tone/style, Yeah, corporate videos are corporate videos!” the company then said, adding a shrug emoji.

Source

I hope you don’t mind my asking; what’s the nature of the peer pressure to participate you’re facing?

Not necessarily the direction you had in mind - for whatever it may be worth; I’m studying to become a HVAC technician.

I’m nearly 30 years into my tech career. After 3 months of the rigmarole of trying to get a new role post layoff, I’ve decided to throw in the hat. Love tech and comp sci, cannot face another asinine call about “non-regrettable attrition”, “more with less”, “right way to do scrum” — nor solve a pangram, design a parking garage or other leet code challenges just to get 2 hours into a 9 hour interview cycle. I’m so dammed tired. And apparently needed a little rant. Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to do next!

That’s annoying! It’s not been my experience, out of curiosity do you have any theories why your domain/aliases got blocked?

Logging off and packing up is your time not the companies! /s

(I jest but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s policy in some places)

Yeah, it’s not bad at all. For context, I’m Senior Staff with > 25yrs experience living in a M/HCOL area, so it’s on the low side. Honestly I’m fine with the base, it’s the casual indifference to the inconvenience, and there’s something about the “cheapness” of the way it’s rewarded that niggles me. Not terrible, not great!

My employer is suuuper generous. I get a “shout out” on Slack, and if it’s a big incident my slack profile photo appears on a slide at the company all-hands and the CEO graciously extends his thanks. Sometimes he might even say my name!

I’m on call every 3rd week, no cap on time, usually 3 to 5 people (cross teams). base salary $175k US, no RSUs or 401(k).

I want a new job but not getting many resume bites at the moment.

When my former employer went remote for covid, Meeting culture got worse, comms became less efficient and arguably collaboration did suffer. Defect rate in code also increased amongst the junior cohort and we determined (staff survey) it was due to senior and junior developers having fewer opportunities to connect and engage with high quality pair programming and mentoring sessions.

Half the table decided this was because remote work doesn’t work. The other half speculated that it’s because we tried to recreate the “in office” experience remotely, and that doesn’t work well. Sadly the company refused to adapt, and many were laid off. There was also a sizable tax break we got by being a large office that bought people into the city and support the local economy which likely had a material influence in their decision to layoff most remote/hybrid people.

My point with the anecdote is that I truly believe it’s rooted in a failure to adapt office culture. Willfully or unable too, it’s too nuanced to assert generally, and there’s also an entire segment of the workforce where on-site is essential and I’m not qualified to comment on.

I agree, being able to go into the office has been a nice change of scene and variety in the day (not to mention addressing the social atrophy I’ve experienced over the last few years!)

It’s the ability to make that a choice is what’s important. Corporate lifestyle is so dammed dehumanizing, with my bi-annual 5 star rating, the threat of at-will employment, lackluster vacation and total dependency on employer provided healthcare… It’s no surprise that the ability to have any autonomy over working hours and location has become such a divisive topic. :(