Discussion · bonfire.cafe

People who follow me may know that I've been without work for some time. I don't talk about it much. I was laid off from a public #benefit corporation undergoing some restructuring just as companies started firing engineers due to the "AI" hype.

I'm basically semi-retired at this point, mostly involuntarily, but I would love to find #work that I could feel good about to occupy some of my time.

I'm a #software engineer with two-plus decades of experience in a large number of areas. I've worked as an independent consultant in many industries, worked for a consulting company in many others, and held staff positions with tech companies of different sizes in various fields. Most recently I've tended to be designing and implementing APIs for internal and external use. I've been using Python professionally for 25 years, and personally for longer. The list of OSes, languages, and technologies I've worked with is long.

If you need some software-engineer-y things done but you're now saying "We can't possibly afford to #hire someone like that", keep reading.

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#FediHire #NoAI #AI #ethics #affordable #engineer #Python #API

@cazabon@mindly.social replied · yesterday

A lot of things matter to me in choosing what I work on, and who I work for. Money is one. It isn't the only one. It isn't even the most important one. I have an in-my-head sliding scale I use - the better your work matches my #ethical framework, the less #lucre it takes to convince me to help you.

So if you're using "AI" to build #algorithmic pricing systems to sell to companies so they can #gouge people needing services in their most #desperate hour? I *might* entertain a rate of $1000 per hour to shit on your head. There isn't enough #money in the world to get me to help you build that stuff.

On the other hand, if you're a small #company, selling actual #goods or #services to #customers who want and need them, as opposed to building something #shiny to attract the rubes so you can sell your audience to the #advertising industry? And you need a techie person?

Let's talk.

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@cazabon@mindly.social replied · yesterday

You're a non-profit, improving peoples lives and need outside #expertise?

Let's talk.

You're an underfunded government agency or #QUANGO trying to fill a contractor position but having trouble getting the attention the Facebooks and Googles of the world get?

Let's talk.

You're a one-person #business and just need to talk through a problem you're facing with an #engineer for an hour, so you can figure out if it's even a solvable #problem you could hire someone to work on?

Let's talk.

The above (well, except shitting on your head for money) are all things I've done. In general, if you're #helping #people rather than #hurting them for #profit, let's talk. Full-time? Part-time? Contract for just a few hours? You might be surprised.

Hell, I might be surprised. It's happened before.

Thanks for reading. Boosts or sharing with someone who might want my services appreciated.

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