Damn interesting has an amazing collection of high-quality podcast episodes with amazing story telling. They haven’t released new episodes in a while, but their back catalogue is worth investigating.
Alan Bellows here, author of this article, and founder of Damn Interesting. For years I kept the site going by working a part-time coding job, along with occasional contract work. Combined with donations to the site, this brought in enough income to survive, while allowing me to dedicate 5-6 hours per weekday to writing/editing/etc.
Early in the pandemic my job wrapped up, and when I went looking for a new part-time or contract gig, there was absolutely nothing. I networked and searched for a year and a half, and never found a single part-time opening. In the meantime, donations to the site were on a steady downward trajectory. I was burning through my savings at an alarming rate.
Eventually I had to take a regular full-time job just to have income again. I hoped I could find some plausible approach, but so far it's been unworkable. I also have a six year old, so evenings and weekends tend to be spoken for. And after the little one's bedtime, there's not much left in the fuel tanks. I'm approaching 50 now.
Maybe I'll find a part-time gig, or perhaps some anonymous wealthy benefactor will fund the site for a while. Both have happened before. If not, we may need to pack it up soon. 20 years is a pretty good run.
Well, lots of kinds. I work a lot in front-end web dev, so I'm immersed in HTML, CSS/SCSS, Javascript, etc. Server-side, most of my experience is with PHP, but I've also worked with Python. I can code in Java, but I find it to be a joyless enterprise. At my current day job I mostly work with Perl, which is antique but charming.
My beard is getting gray enough that most tech places don't want me anymore, experience be damned. And my other skills (writing, editing, illustration, sound design, narration) are unlikely to earn me a living. It's an uncertain place to be.
Oh hey Beestie! I don't know if you'll actually see this reply since it's belated, but alas. Thanks for saying nice words. I hope you are well. *cough*
