I just recently quit my long term job and accepted two unique opportunities that will allow me to live a very flexible lifestyle.
Upon telling some friends of mine I received quite interested reactions and was asked for assistance in their own job hunt.
What I think helps me most beyond the material is having had a paradigm shift that’s allowed me to no longer idolize employers/employment and instead see if for what it is: A competition where I must sell my time at both an attractive rate and with desired qualities.
This has lead me to both make myself more competitive (attractive) and seek out jobs in less competitive markets via poor location, advertising, or reputation.
Now I’m wondering if this advantage due in part to my political education both of my self and from you all is imagined or if any of you experience this as well (in the day to day or job acquisition).
I’m a cook and does it help? Absolutely. I can feed my family with the leftovers. I can feed homeless people with adequate daily nutrients with just five ingredients. I can volunteer for organizational events and prepare nourishing potluck for all. I can work with many recipes at once or just handful of wildcard options. Needlessly to say I understand my role in the long-term revolutionary goals.
it’s mostly hindered me because i don’t want to work for the big tech fascists and those jobs pay the best
Understand where you’re coming from, I’m in a similar boat- maybe 1/3rd of the jobs available to me are in the military industrial complex and they pay very very well, part of why I’ve opted to work two positions instead
I feel that. I had more than one time where I’m pretty sure I could have gotten my foot in the door on programming, but it would have been working for military contractor type of shit. Lately I’m thinking about trying again, but maybe I need to take a leaf out of Barrel’s book and look for obscure opportunities. It may help that more stuff is remote these days.
And for those of you who are “successful”, do you ever feel guilty? If yes how do you deal with these feelings? Would you agree that there’s some pressure in our communities to fight back against the social incentives to compete? To lose. (Probably not the best phrasing but it’s what immediately comes to my mind)
As a teacher the materialist part does help. The political part hinders as i’d risk my job if i spoke out against our constitution, our government, the police, …
Materialist thinking is neccesary for the learning process. In the literarure it’s just worded in complex ways… intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, learning by doing (praxis), using contradictions (mistakes, conflicts, or really just contradictions in arguments) as things to learn from…
