Invariant Properties

I was talking to some people recently about rolling off my current contract without something lined up and realized that I’ve developed a lot of valuable skills that can help people remain sane while between jobs/contracts or while on furlough.

FINANCIAL AND JOB SEARCH

I won’t address this since they’re covered extensively elsewhere. The only advice I can give is the importance of keeping a cash reserve in the future. The standard advice is one month of expenses in savings for every $10k in salary but we can get by with a lot less as long as there’s still a high demand for people with solid tech skills. (If it’s 2001 and we’re in a tech meltdown then even that much saved may not be enough.) Obviously I would prefer to have money coming in but for now the situation isn’t much different from when I take a (unpaid) vacation.

That brings us to:

VACATIONS AND STAYCATIONS

A vacation can be a great idea if the finances work out and you can actually relax. A staycation, or just hanging out at home without focus, is a horrible idea. You have to keep your edge.

That brings us to:

HAVE A PURPOSE

Everything you do should have a purpose. Not a “higher purpose” (unless that’s what you want), but it should be working towards a goal instead of just screwing around. Ideally you will have a mix of short- and mid-term goals. (You should already be working towards long-term goals.)

The goals should be SMART:

• specific
• measurable
• attainable
• relevant
• time-bound

The goals should also be active, not passive.

A short-term goal is something you can do in a day.

• go through closet, toss torn clothes and give anything that doesn’t fit to charity. (you’re not going to wear them anyway.)
• go through attic, toss outdated technical books. (e.g., do I need to keep books on struts 1.1?)
• go through attic, toss old computers.
• paint the spare bedroom.
• clean up garden for fall, plant bulbs for spring.

A bad short-term goal? Watch a Breaking Bad marathon. I have nothing against the show and it’s fine to watch a few episodes at a time but it’s not time-bound and it’s not active.

The key point is that you do them and you move on.

A mid-term goal is something you can do in 6-8 weeks. You’ll hopefully be working long before then but you can usually continue working towards them at a slower pace afterwards.

• follow a 6-week fitness program.
• take a Coursera class.
• learn a new language. (Seven Languages in Seven Weeks: A Pragmatic Guide to Learning Programming Languages, Seven Databases in Seven Weeks: A Guide to Modern Databases and the NoSQL Movement)
• clean the spare bedroom/home office.

You want to avoid having only “fun” goals. Cleaning out the closet and attic are not fun. But the way I see it is that I have four choices:

• clean it out while I’m between contracts or on furlough.
• clean it out on a weekend when I would rather be doing something else.
• clean it out before moving, perhaps to a new job in a different city.
• force somebody I love to clean it out after I’m dead or disabled.

The first is the least-bad choice.

I try to keep a 2:1 mix between “necessary” goals and “fun” goals.

Finally, if you’re between contracts the job search always has top priority. This is what you do after you’ve followed up all leads for the day and are just filling time. Always keep that in mind.

SHAKE IT UP

Shake things up. Pick paper instead of plastic. Pepsi instead of coke.

Okay, more seriously, I find it helpful to do things a little differently to create a mental space between “then” and “now”. I might wear woven shirts instead of polos. Camping pants instead of jeans. However it’s important to always “get dressed” at a reasonable time. See “staycation” above – you might not be going into an office but it’s not a vacation and it’s not a weekend.

BONUS INTERVIEW ADVICE

Again, it’s easy to find countless good advice online. I’m just going to mention one thing that doesn’t get wide coverage.

Work out a few hours before your interview. It will make you look more energetic while simultaneously taking the edge off your nerves. You don’t want to go too far but a solid workout can dramatically improve your presentation.