What are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[Adagio]

Stage 6 I hear.

Isn't it wonderful?

[TheRealInja]

Feeling like crap today, too sore and coughing up a lung to be out in public this morning. So staying in and working on more stories to try crack that 100k views before end of the year.

[Adagio]

Sounds like a fun goal!!

I'm tired as fuck. I got 14 units repaired and 8 screens. Was an insane push and I still have 13 left to repair. But hey

[Adagio]

Trying to figure out how our client wants us to attatch a certain connector to the enclosure of his product.

He gave us a sample with a completely different connector.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Glue!

[Adagio]

Glue!

XD Yes. A unit that gets installed as a safety device in a mine will be heald together by ducktape and superglue.

Nah. I decided on CNCing 8 holes, and screwing it in from behind.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Hey, in South Africa, I wouldn't be that surprised.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

I'm going to go be sociable and meet new people after lunch. :O

[Nash]

I'm hammering out the last section of my thesis! I also just wanted to pop in and say that I hope everyone is well! Sending all the good vibes

[Galahad]

I'm hammering out the last section of my thesis! I also just wanted to pop in and say that I hope everyone is well! Sending all the good vibes

No.

[Adagio]

Don't be salty because your thesis isn't finished yet Galahad!

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Waiting for some gaming. Should be fun.

[TheRealInja]

I'd initially set myself the goal of breaking 100k submission views before the end of 2022, but due to a miscalculation on my part, I actually hit that goal sometime in October. Now instead of writing a new story every couple of days, I'm playing more MWO and making Christmas memes to entertain the ladies at work. I've taken to hiding a little Maria Carrey in every countdown pic, slowly increasing her size the closer we get to the day they begin playing her dreaded songs again ;P

[Nash]

Doing absolutely NOTHING for the first time this year! Yahoo!!!

[TheRealInja]

Honestly never thought I'd get to this point, but about to start writing my first of two paid commission stories for two different people/clients.

[Adagio]

Honestly never thought I'd get to this point, but about to start writing my first of two paid commission stories for two different people/clients.

Oh wow! That's pretty impressive!

[Galahad]

On leave from what has been really busy work. Taking today to rest up and sleep, then going to get back into some long-neglected hobbies tomorrow

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Merry Christmas!

[Rakuen Growlithe]

I got my hair cut. I really need to get better about doing it regularly, not only when my hair is completely out of control.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Happy I Love Free Software Day to me. :/

[TheRealInja]

Congratulations, you're having a toaster! Just kidding, that sucks. Hope you're able to isolate easily enough and don't get hit too bad. Second person in as many weeks I know that caught it. Wasn't me though, I promise >.> Look after yourself and monitor that O2 stat!

[Nash]

Relaxing after a crazy week and sipping on some chamomile tea. This morning I noticed that they're shooting the 3rd (or possibly 4th) Keeping Up With The Kandasamys movie next door to me. So cool!

[Rakuen Growlithe]

I've been around here for 15 years!

[Adagio]

I just finished the first book I've read in ages!

Also NoVa_WolfzZ and I are moving to a new place.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Reading South African news just angers me so much. Completely incompetent government.

[Galahad]

Things have been going well. Been looking for property potentially to buy (weighing the long term financial risks of renting versus owning), and then - after I got approval from my current work to do freelance engineering consulting on the side - registered my own domain and am preparing a portfolio to present to two interested clients next week. Then, also finishing up my master's thesis.

Things are rough in SA, but I think some are too pessimistic. Now's a good chance to practice some self reliance and proactivity. There are challenges here you won't find anywhere else, but there are opportunities you won't find anywhere else either.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

I go back and forth there. It's true, there's some opportunities and you can get nicer property in SA for cheaper than elsewhere. But then I worry about the government and their ideas of just taking people's property and wonder how safe it would be in the long term. If they get desperate and turn to populism to keep power? And starting a business seems even more risky. Not only do you have all the regular challenges, power issues and so on but there's not insignificant risk of losing it all in looting. The risks just seem so high to actually invest anything inside the country.

[Galahad]

I agree with some of what you've said. With there being talk of amending the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation, that is concerning (although whether the advocates would get their two thirds necessary in parliament to do it is uncertain at this point). And of course, the infamous never-ending load shedding that is likely to worsen.

That being said, here is where I think South Africa is better than anywhere else (and bear in mind this is influenced by my own experience and biases, so mileage will vary):

- Unique growth potential and exposure: I maintain that South Africa is ideal for young graduates to grow in. In the tech industry, South Africa is known for "small teams, big projects", where you wear many hats. We have less manpower and smaller budgets, so we make do. Overseas, there is more red tape and barriers to entry, especially in Europe. So SA is a good "starting point" for you to get an impressive lead in experience over your overseas peers. Slap on certification when or if you want to move overseas, and you've got an advantage. Again, I've seen this happen personally about half a dozen times. On my first job, I was thrust into a design role usually reserved for someone more experienced, because they had no-one else. On my second job, same thing, except as a simulation and analysis engineer. One year later, I'm using that experience to train someone else below me.

- Entrepreneurs: Unless you're planning something truly capital intensive (like a factory etc.), I'd argue the opposite to what you did - especially for something like a software startup, SA is ideal spawning grounds for small businesses. And we are in the unique position in that we are cheap internationally but speak English well and are skilled, and therefore attract international contracts (my company deals almost entirely with India and South Asia, the UAE, and some parts of East Europe). Foreign investment may be an issue, but I'd say there are alternatives - from bootstrapping and growing organically (yes, it is possible; I did a contract at one company that started that way, and am trying to do it myself on the side) to private crowdfunding. Take out the middle man (like banks) and approach private investors and potential shareholders yourself.

- Necessity is the mother of invention: We have our problems. But we are seeing unique, grassroots-up solutions beginning to emerge in the face of deeply centralised corruption and incompetence. Neighborhood watches, supplemented by private security, are keeping law and order during times the poorly led police cannot (July 2021 is a case in point). We are seeing feasibility studies being done on concepts to fix our power problems: regardless of what you think of them, Afriforum is in talks with a South African born entrepreneur in the US to see if in the future we can procure pebble bed nuclear reactors. We are also seeing the solar industry boom, and the biodiesel industry may follow suite.

So, yes...
In summary? SA's government is shit and we are facing a lot of problems. But we are now a testing and proving grounds to the rest of the world for solutions to it.

[Nash]

Barely crawling through my work-back year at university. I'm also eating my 3rd pizza this week (new personal record, but not a proud one). At least I know that teaching/lecturing is definitely not a career choice I'd like to pursue one day! Mega shout out to any teachers on here, don't know how you do it!

[Adagio]

Barely crawling through my work-back year at university. I'm also eating my 3rd pizza this week (new personal record, but not a proud one). At least I know that teaching/lecturing is definitely not a career choice I'd like to pursue one day! Mega shout out to any teachers on here, don't know how you do it!

I gave a few classes in Uni, and I loved every second of it!

I think if the pay wasn't as bad I'd love to do it one day