Get the latest tech news

An old hacker's tips on staying employed (2021)

#1: Don't Be a Jerk. (That is just a bonus tip, in case you don't want to read past the subtitle)

I know my core audience is expecting crusty old tales of computing past, but this time I wanted to talk about something a little more topical — about job security, whether it indeed exists in any form, and what if anything you can do to improve your odds of staying employed. I don’t think I often feel this way in my day-to-day career as an engineer, but that insecurity rears its ugly head frequently when I start to write about things, especially in the form of published advice. When my boss had something that was giving him a headache and he asked if I could look into it, I would do it without complaint, and my personal brand in this job was to be a reliable go-to guy that could solve problems, kind of like Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction.

Get the Android app