After 20 years in IT, I haul junk (opens in new tab)

I have 20+ years in municipal IT. Almost 10 years ago, I was standing in line in the morning at our local Jack in the Box, with a man in front of me, who obviously painted for a living (white overalls, paint all over). While waiting he glanced at my shirt with the municipal logo and Information Technology insignia. “You work in IT?” “Yep.” I replied. Then he identified himself as a former project manager, burnt out, rattled off a list of companies he did contract work for, and said he’s now happier than he’s ever been. Take that for what it’s worth. After all these years, I’ve realized the value of an occupation that makes perfect sense. Information Technology is not one of them.

I've seen it all. 20 years as software engineer. 11 of them in Silicon Valley. Now I haul junk.

I have decent experience, my own projects, GitHub with thousands of stars, I spoke at tech conference in 2025. I wrote a book about Ruby (printed).

I've sent my resume thousands of times. 200+ hours of interviews in last 8 months, with no offers.

Now I haul junk. AMA.