In happier news, my makeup course continues to go well. This weekend I worked on my classmate and my sister again.
I learned how to use an airbrush machine, and started working on bridal makeup.
My weekends are full and exhausting, but I love it. I love surprising myself every time I do a look. I love seeing my progress. I love watching my models checking themselves out in the mirror.
After 11 years, I don’t have another tech interview left in me. I plan to keep my current job for as long as possible.
I think it’s insane that I’m not senior at a company where I’ve led multiple new features/experiments.
Before you make assumptions that I can’t code, I’ve only ever had positive feedback on my technical ability. I’m just not proactive enough about making the app and team better. 🫠
This is a very weird industry, and it’s only becoming more weird.
People are actually using Claude to do their code reviews. So, they’re letting AI review code that AI wrote. What could possibly go wrong?? 🙃
At some point, we have to ask ourselves why we hate humans, because our actions are starting to echo Theil’s sentiments on the worth of humanity, and it’s highly disturbing.
So here I am. Lonely in a huge city. Working remotely in an industry that continues to devalue human connection and humans in general.
It’s no wonder I’m over it. No wonder the highlight of my week is when I’m in my makeup classes connecting with people over a shared interest and learning a skill that is by nature very intimate. And no wonder I’ve been using dating as a way to make new friends. Oops…
This has been quite the rant. Hopefully someone got something out of it.
As we hit 6 years since the start of the pandemic, I confess I’ve never quite recovered.
The biggest challenge for me has been loneliness. For someone who used to organize communities and had an active social life, it was a drastic shift.
I moved back to NYC a year and a half ago because I wanted my old life back. But all my friends have left the city, and I’ve struggled to form new friendships.
Thankful for my family, of course. But now I’m afraid to move, because they’re all I have.
Had a conversation with my therapist about the threat of both our jobs being replaced by AI.
She’s totally right, because up until I reached out to her again, I was heavily relying on ChatGPT to help me get over a breakup (I’m not proud).
I don’t think real human connection will ever be replaceable, though. And with engineering, I think the expectations for speed and output are going to keep increasing more so than replacing humans.
Someone reached out to me recently asking for my input on a coding bootcamp.
I hope these programs are making it clear how difficult it is to get into the industry right now.
I know more than a handful of people actively looking to get out, myself included. We’re here just hanging on to our jobs for as long as possible.
Here’s a before and after of makeup I did on myself to work from home.
I love this style of makeup because it enhances without covering up too much.
Since starting this course, I’ve gotten way better at doing my own makeup, particularly brows, color correction, and setting products to make them last.
The problem is I’d rather do this all day than write any code. Oops!
More of my recent work on my sister. The assignment was to recreate a super glam celebrity (Kim K) look. Very much out of my comfort zone! I prefer a more natural look.
I think big false lashes would have made a difference, but I haven’t learned those yet.
Feedback was positive, just that I didn’t go heavy enough on the blush. 😅
