This is a thought-provoking and eye-opening real story.

Some time ago, a fellow member on a forum shared his story. He had worked at his company for six years and had what he called the “three-piece set for a corporate workhorse”: Car loan, mortgage loan, family inheritance. He survived three rounds of layoffs, but his workload tripled, his salary was cut by 15%, and the company never hired anyone new. Feeling trapped by his “workhorse” mindset, he didn’t dare to quit hastily. Given the harsh job market, he feared that leaving might mean he wouldn’t find a new job at all. So, he persevered, doing what he could without pushing himself too hard.

Recently, I saw a post on V2EX discussing how “programmers with more experience don’t necessarily earn more, whereas doctors earn more with age.” The post highlighted that a doctor with 15 years of experience earns more than one with five years, but this isn’t the case for programmers. This phenomenon is quite common.

Recently, I added a video playback page to my blog (now allowing users to watch videos I upload directly on my blog; currently embedding from YouTube and BiliBili, with plans to self-host in the future). Shortly after launch, Google Search Console flagged two indexing issues for videos: “No thumbnail URL provided” and “Video isn’t on a watch page”.

Should One Persist When Efforts Do Not Yield the Expected Results?

Exploring future possibilities can be incredibly challenging, often leading to doubt and confusion, raising questions about whether current actions hold meaning—especially when there’s no positive feedback. I want to take a shortcut, knowing that regular employment offers a predictable future. So, I’m choosing a different path. While it may be thorny, muddy, and full of cliffs, it might be a quicker route. Like climbing a mountain: when you reach the top, no matter how much you want to stay, you must descend. Why not continue forward and explore life’s second peak?

Some recent thoughts:

How can I turn my Kubernetes (K8s) expertise into personal benefit?

I could do freelance work on platforms like Xianyu, but that’s not a long-term solution since it’s still trading my time for money. I’m looking for a low-cost, replicable way to generate passive income, but creating courses and tutorials isn’t my preferred approach.

When people talk about a “good job,” most think of “high pay, little work, and close to home.” But in the current economic climate, the standard for a good job has further declined, and now “a stable salary, two days off per week, no overtime, and no toxic management (PUA)” has become the new definition of a good job. What used to be a basic expectation—having weekends off without overtime—has now become a luxury.