thoughts and feelings

things that are no more

i was trying to dig up an old post about my internet setup from when we first moved into the RV. I was using a “lollipop,” as part of a project I had worked on. Apparently the website for the project is now defunct, as tends to happen with projects that don’t go anywhere. I did find my original post about the technical aspects of my setup (where I also apparently learned Hugo once already, but I clearly forgot everything since it felt like new when I did it again most recently; but that’s okay because I moved GFRV over to WordPress ages ago)… not the post I’m looking for, but that’s okay. I haven’t used the Lollipop for over a year now anyway.

I also found where I posted here about Ginger’s passing. I understated my grief back then. Her death was heartbreaking. I miss her every day. She was the best kitty BFF a person could ask for. She was perfect in every way.

an update

It’s been awhile. I’ve given up on finding a job in tech. I am old, fat, disabled, and I don’t look good on tech companies’ websites. I’m okay with it.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this blog… I don’t really have time or energy for blogging for fun, but I sometimes think about it.

Here is a bullet list:

  • Still working at same job, doing taxes. Still enjoying it. Can’t imagine that changing any time soon. I’m an IRS Annual Filing Season Program participant, and I’m working towards becoming an Enrolled Agent.
  • Still disabled and chronically ill. Worse in some ways, better in others. This and work are why I don’t really have time or energy for blogging.
  • I got an electric trike, so when I want to step away from the computer, I can tool around on that.
  • I sometimes blog at Gluten-Free RV to give updates to friends and family, although not as often as I’d like.
  • 2020 was an awful year, but I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll survive it.
  • I taught myself Hugo to make a couple tiny websites for fun, but this particular tiny website is still running WordPress

what it’s like looking for tech jobs when you’re someone like me

almost every tech job posting ever:

“we’re committed to diversity in tech….

….we’re looking for someone with 5+ years of experience….

….in very specific technologies….

….which have historically been extremely exclusive and prejudiced….

…and consequently only cis white males have experience in these technologies….

….so we’re going to hire an experienced tech bro, because business needs are business needs.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

new link blog format/location

a note for the four or five (or maybe zero or one) people who read this blog..

since i’m mostly posting links lately, and i’d really like to be able to tag and retrieve links at a later date, i decided to do a little upgrading:

i’ve installed Shaarli, a single-user bookmark organizing app, on my site here as my new Link Blog.

it has things like…

I tweaked the color scheme and added a few things to the layout (mostly to fix some editing and to add a link back to my main site), and maybe i’ll even submit a pull request when i clean up the code.

on a personal note (and I’m writing this here because the blog link is officially removed from my portfolio, even if it still exists for those who go looking for it), i’ve given up on tech work for now and maybe forever. i have a part-time job that’s going well, although it’s not very technical (though I did get to teach myself how to script in windows powershell in order to Get Some Shit Done, because i didn’t want to do it the old fashioned way). these people appreciate the work i do, they’re flexible when i need flexibility, and this seems to be turning into a long-term opportunity. it would be nice to have benefits and a steady paycheck, but in this gig economy, i’m just grateful i have a permanent, if irregular, job.

i’ll use this site/host for play for now (Shaarli was a good experiment tbh), and i’ll probably update the portfolio/resume/cv at some point in the near future… and it sure would be nice to get some fun wordpress gigs someday, but for right now?

for right now i’m going to focus less on trying to get into an industry that doesn’t want me, and focus a lot more on survival and self-care.

Purism’s bigotry problem

Purism has created its own fork of Mastodon, but has removed the ability to report posts, and has basically taken a pro-bigotry stance by not condoning some pretty basic anti-bigotry concepts.

It turns out they’re going to be blatantly allowing hate speech on their servers, as long as they don’t harass individuals, whatever that means. See this Pleroma post with screenshots.

The author of the post, Chris, says he had a phone call with one of the execs at Purism today, so maybe things will change.

But it never should’ve gotten to the point of having to blow up on social media in order to be heard.

Taking an anti-hate-speech stance and spelling that out in obvious ways (like the Contributor Covenant) should not be so difficult. Expecting an organization to say “racism/sexism/ableism/sizeism/all forms of bigotry are not tolerated here” should NEVER be controversial.

Sadly, this is not limited to Purism, but I do think it’s a smidge bit extra hypocritical for a company to be all about liberty and that brags about creating a safe workplace.

Tech has a very long way to go.

another python specialization completed… now what?

This weekend I completed the University of Michigan’s newest python specialization on Coursera. It was a great followup to Python for Everybody, which was just perfect for new programmers. This newest specialization covered advanced topics like classes and working with large sets of data. My capstone involved learning image processing, facial recognition, and OCR libraries (Pillow, Tesseract, OpenCV, Kraken), and it was definitely hardest course I’ve taken on Coursera so far.

My capstone was the 30th Coursera course I’ve completed. Thinking back on the amount of course work involved in my two bachelor’s degrees (chemistry and forensic science), I think the 30-course-mark for computer science courses via Coursera is comparable to what’s required for a university BS degree.

That said, I’ve decided to suspend my Coursera subscription for now. I will be focusing on personal projects and the job I started at the beginning of the year (not in tech, but I love the work and I especially love my coworkers).

I started on my “learn tech skills to get a tech job” journey almost two years ago, and I’ve learned a hell of a lot. I’ve especially learned about tech’s diversity problem, and experienced those obstacles firsthand.

I’m not sure what’s next for jmf dot codes, but jmf dot person’s arms are tired from constantly trying to swim against the current.

Taking a bit of a hiatus…

I’ve been lucky enough to find a great temporary position, and I’ll be focusing on that for awhile.

I’m still working with Lollipop Cloud, as well, and am excited to announce our new Open Collective for those wishing to support the project, and follow along for status updates. Lollipop is really gaining momentum!

I’m not going anywhere… just being quiet for a bit. 🙂

Links: screen reader accessibility, lab notebooks, and brutalist WordPress

How to Design Website Layouts for Screen Readers: A great tutorial on making your web design more accessible.

Lab Notebooks and Software Development: As a former laboratory chemist, there’s a special place in my heart for a good lab notebook and thorough documentation. Sure enough, whenever I’ve tripped myself up in this process of learning to code, it’s almost always because I failed to document my work, resulting in duplicate or useless efforts. Since adopting more of a laboratory notebook style of learning and project tracking, I’ve been less stressed, and creating more useful, reliable code.

BrutalPress theme for WordPress: is finally functional enough to include in my link list.

link blog: diversity in tech

Just one link today, but I have some feelings about it:

The 10 most in-demand skills of 2019, according to LinkedIn: Saving you a click, here they are: time management, adaptability, collaboration, persuasion, creativity, UX design, people management, analytical reasoning, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. “Instead of emphasizing the need for specific titles and experience, organizations are shifting towards a focus on the skills that a potential employee may bring.”

They irony (and forgive my pessimism here) is the number of resumes I’ve sent out with this in mind (and many matching skills)… without so much as an interview.

Here is my challenge to employers:

If you’re dedicated to improving diversity in tech, you need to lower the barriers for entry. We need more entry-level and early-mid-level positions, with the expectation that we are going to knock your socks off because of how quickly we’ll pick up the extra skills and experience you’re looking for, by just giving us a chance to prove it.

The tech industry is historically and overwhelmingly white, straight, (cis-)male, able-bodied, neurotypical, young, and middle-class. This means that the vast majority of people with the vast majority of experience are going to be all of these things– making them more competitive in the job market. Because the industry has historically excluded marginalized people, the majority of the minority cannot compete with those who’ve historically had most of the opportunities in tech.

And so, we’re passed over for job opportunities, because we lack the experience of our less marginalized colleagues, through no fault of our own.

This isn’t about lowering your standards or expectations for us when we apply to your companies. This is about recognizing the historical and systemic prejudice that permeates the tech industry.

If you want to improve diversity in tech, we need to have a frank conversation about how marginalized people remain on the margins because of systems that were put in place many generations ago.

I challenge you to look beyond the surface, and critically examine the systemic issues that lead to tech’s lack of diversity.

We marginalized people could make your company wildly successful… if you’d only give us a chance.

Happy New Year!

I am still looking for a job, and one thing that both amuses and saddens me is that the more time passes without finding the right job, the more experience I’m getting to qualify for the right job. Ironic.

So here’s what’s new:

  • The University of Michigan and Coursera have created another fantastic Python 3 specialization, building on the Python for Everybody specialization. I’ve finished the first three courses and am waiting for the last two to open.
  • Lollipop Cloud Project is going well. We are working through some hardware issues with our board of choice, and deploying more cool stuff like Plume, a federated blogging platform.
  • I don’t do New Years resolutions, but I’ve decided to start talking more openly about being disabled, and specifically about being a disabled job seeker.
  • I’ve also decided to start posting links (perhaps weekly) that I find interesting. I don’t care for Reddit (too much bigotry and abuse), and I’m not so active on social media, but I like to save links I find interesting.