I’d be happy to send a link to the listing once we get through all the HR steps to get it out there :)

I’m a product manager at a company that doesn’t distinguish between PM/PO roles, and I came into it from the IT side (as a business analyst rather than an engineer; but I had a lot of IT background before that, including some basic coding many years before).

I love product. It has felt like the perfect calling for me, and I feel like my career truly began when I switched to it a few years ago.

I love that I still get to think about tech, and the IT background from my work before product has been extremely helpful in this role. But I also love not being on call when things are broken, and the other stress that comes on the IT side. I love working with our users and hearing how our software makes their job easier (internal software) and new ideas for how it can be even better. It’s fun working from this angle. I also finally have an amazing UX designer and love working with her on designs as well.

The things you described that you enjoy sound like the perfect fit for a PO or PM role. I’ve stayed vague here but if you have questions, feel free to ask!

And heck, I’ll be hiring soon if you want to leave the startup world 😂

You said you’ve done comms in your 10+ years of work, so why are you only looking at writing jobs that require less than 5 years of experience?

Experience isn’t measured only by having the same job title. And hiring requirements aren’t always as stiff as they appear.

This article covers it well, but it starts from the stat found years ago that, “Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them.” Don’t get stuck in that statistic! Apply for jobs that seem out of your reach as long as you can back up why you think you can do it.

Audiobooks and jigsaw puzzles are one of my favorite combinations!! I also have a few mindless mobile games that work well while listening. I also listen while doing chores.

I definitely had to train myself on audiobooks though. The first one I “listened” to didn’t stick at all. I tried again after an eye surgery, and found that narrators make a huge difference. The first book I listened to with a narrator who did unique voices for each character was what really got me hooked.

I’d recommend trying Kyle McCarley or Luke Daniels as narrators if you think that might help you, too!

Brewster is a fake city inside a fictionalized US, so it’s hard to make these judgments.

We don’t know if NYC or LA or DC are as big in SP as they are in the real world, and we’re never given a sense of where Brewster fits in size-wise, other than it’s likely a large city. I wouldn’t be surprised if the dynamics of the SP world means cities don’t ever get as big or dense as NYC, because the super risk would be extremely high.

Assuming every state gets 2% of the hero population is flawed because population density is not consistent in every state. In the real world, NYC alone has over 6% of the US population.

So if we assume there are still large cities, and that Brewster is maybe top 10 of the largest cities in our fictional US, we could be looking at 5+ million people, which is ~1.5% of the country’s population. Add in teleporters, and putting 2% of the US’s supply of heroes in one place isn’t too far-fetched.

I don’t always assume that, but there’s one time in my life I have.

You know how you can recognize when people are taking a picture with their phone? Like when it’s held carefully on the corners, horizontal orientation, angled perpendicular to the ground/not toward their face to line their subject up in the lens, and after a tap on the screen they lift it back to a normal position to see how it came out? Right, so I was sharing a hotel room at a convention with another couple when the guy that was not my boyfriend did all of that, pointing his phone at me in pajamas. (He also got up, walked halfway across the room to do it, then immediately went and sat back down without doing anything except pointing his camera at me long enough to take a picture.)

As someone who’s been sexually harassed before, it made me uncomfortable and I mentioned what I saw privately to my boyfriend. He asked the guy simply, “Hey man, did you take a picture of my girlfriend?” and the dude flew into a rage. Like instant, unreasonable screaming at us. Told us we should kill ourselves and other awful stuff before ultimately storming out of the room.

He also did some other suspicious things during the rage like fiddling with his phone for 45 seconds (plenty long to delete a picture) before offering to let us see it to prove he didn’t have any pictures of me. But I’ve honestly always perceived his rage as a reaction of guilt, partially because if someone randomly asked me if I took a picture when I hadn’t, I’d be too confused off the bat to be angry.

This makes me question whether that part of my assessment of his reaction was fair. I still know what I saw and the other details around it are still suspicious. And either way, the guy isn’t in my life and I’m glad for that. But it is interesting to know that his rage doesn’t necessarily imply guilt to the extent I’d previously believed.

It doesn’t hurt my shoulder when I do this. 🤷🏻‍♀️

IRA contributions are limited annually ($6k currently). If you don’t contribute now, those future gains are forfeit—you can’t do extra catch with your freed up budget in a few years when you pay off your student loans. That’s why I think some would recommend contributing there before paying off student loans.

I personally think it’s up to you. If peace of mind from being loan free is important, focus on that. There might be slightly better long-term outcomes from the IRA, but markets could also crash after you’ve invested. IRA is a slight gamble that could pay out better in the long run, while paying off a loan will give you comfort sooner.

This! Although my salary just barely doesn’t qualify to answer this question (with my bonus I can, though!).

Your comment feels related to where I thought OP might go. When I saw OCD/Autism makes them uncomfortable around black people, I immediately jumped to, “Oh, because you start obsessively thinking about that the influences of race and how many barriers exist for POC that white folks never have to think about? And that overwhelms your empathy and makes it difficult to engage socially? Yeah, I can see that.” Then I kept reading and my brain melted.

I can relate to being socially uncomfortable when another person is going through a difficult time, and there is a lot about the US that’s difficult for POC, so I can derive some understanding if that’s what someone said. But nope, instead this person is straight up racist and blaming it on completely unrelated issues. “That’s not because you have autism or OCD. That’s because you’re an asshole.”

Last year I made the commitment to contribute to any fundraiser my friends shared on Facebook. It’s silly, but here’s what I love about it. 1. Facebook passes ALL the funds directly to the charity; no fees taken (this may change in the future so I keep an eye on the fine print). 2. They do not pass on my contact info, so I don’t receive mailers for the next 10 years that cost more than my original gift was for. 3. I used to lament over which organizations were worth giving to. I’d research on CharityWatch and end up with decision paralysis. With this approach, there’s no thought (thankfully my friends’ causes so far have always aligned with my own). Maybe my money isn’t stewarded as nicely as it could be, but whatever, I’m still trying to make a difference.

My policy doesn’t allow for clean budgeting because I don’t know exactly when my friends will share things, but I can still control how much I give to each cause.

I still give less than I’d like, with probably about 1% of my salary going to charities last year. I still want to do more.

It’s very company- and location-dependent. The HQ for my office is in a downtown, and they have their own parking garage that isn’t large enough for all employees. New employees get parking spots in other lots/garages, but that can add a 10 minute walk—in weather—to their commute each way. It took my teammate about 10 months to get moved to the office garage.

But in all the offices I’ve worked in, it would be a near meaningless perk since the lot/garage was so small that my walk wouldn’t be changed by more than 30 seconds regardless.

FWIW, I still had periods on Kyleena, but on Mirena I barely have spotting every 3ish months.

I also have endometriosis that became a huge, life-consuming problem while I was on Kyleena and I had to use a second for of BC (pills/ring) to manage my symptoms. Now that I’ve had surgery to remove endo, Mirena manages what symptoms are left over fairly well.

It all just varies for each person. I thought “fewer hormones = good” when I chose Kyleena. Knowing what I know now about MY body, I wish I’d started with Mirena. But it is completely an individualized thing.

Happens to me and bothers me as well. Not just you!

Most don’t manifest that young, but some do. That’s a direct quote from the book about Mary. Also, think about Nick’s concern around possibly causing his parents’ death while an infant. If it wasn’t possible to manifest that young; he wouldn’t have such a dilemma.

I also get improvement putting 91 in my Lexus CT200h (which is a Prius engine in a Lexus body). I do it about every 3-4 tanks at this point, and get about a 10% improvement in mileage on those tanks. I know everyone says it is a waste in cars that only call for 87 octane, but I have the logs from every fill up to prove it helps. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There was nothing visible on ultrasounds for me, which is extremely common with endo. I can’t imagine how a 5cm cyst wouldn’t cause pain!!

Getting my Kyleena inserted was awful, but not as bad as I know many women have had it. Thankfully they removed it and inserted the Mirena while I was under anesthesia for surgery! That was the best.

I’m glad you have some next steps. I get what you mean about having a hard time describing it and feeling acknowledged—I think most of us have experienced that. Your pain is valid though, and I hope you’re able to get appropriate care.

I can speak to the opposite experience of what you’re asking. My first IUD was a Kyleena, and while I had it was when my cramping symptoms finally got severe enough to seek medical attention and got me diagnosed with endo.

It was bad enough I started taking a second form of BC on top of the IUD (pill, then ring) in order to manage the symptoms (poorly). I had surgery at the start of 2020 and replaced my Kyleena with a Mirena (and stopped the supplemental BC). Surgery was life-changing (literally resolved pains I’ve had since before I ever had my first cramp and had any idea I might have endo, and other issues I had no idea were related), but I’m still not 100% symptom free. However, the Mirena actually has it managed much better than I think it was on the Kyleena.

So I’d say your guess about the lower hormones definitely has merit, and could absolutely be tied to the IUD change.

Oh, and pre-surgery I was averaging 3 migraines a month. Since surgery (and the BC/IUD changes), I’ve had 1 every 3 months or so. Huge difference.

They have a big factory on the outskirts of Houston, TX. I’ve driven past it many times!

You asked:

So what is this expensive energy costs that people keep talking about?

Then followed that up with saying the device cost about $1900 AUD for him to build and has an overhead annual cost of $150-200. Also, he’s on a boat the water is being extracted in the same place it’s being desalinated/used, so there are $0 for transportation costs. Since Australia’s minimum wage is $20.33, meaning a full-time worker has an annual income around $40,000, I agree your brother’s water maker is not “expensive” by Australian standards.

However, in a country like Ethiopia where there is limited access to clean drinking water, things are a bit different. There, the average (not minimum) hourly wage is equivalent to $1.55 AUD, so an annual wage is more like $3,100. That puts the $1,900 initial investment in a different light (assuming someone in Ethiopia even has access to the same equipment and resources at the same cost as in Australia). Plus most people don’t live on top of the water, so there’s a transportation cost to factor in.

Plus the $1.55 estimate is coming from a site that seems to only be taking professional incomes into account; I didn’t dig into what percent of people are employed and actually earning those averages.

So basically the “expensive energy costs” everyone is talking about are taking the subjective word “expensive” into context of the people/areas that need this technology.

Sources:

• Top countries without access to water
• Salary info for Ethiopia

Water makers also require filters that get dirty quickly and cost money to replace. It’s not a one-time cost.

In addition to an impressive app, your attention to your users, responsiveness, and consideration of ideas has earned you a big fan here. I work in software dev on the Product side (at this point), and your care for your product is inspiring.

Here’s a frame change to consider posing to your boyfriend: If you heard about another gay man looking through a female friend’s nudes while she was uncomfortable and asked him to stop, would you see that as a problem?

I’d certainly hope so, because it’s a clear cut consent violation even if a gay man isn’t sexually attracted to the woman he’s looking at.

Seeing the first picture is an accident, and a healthy person would apologize and put the phone away after that. The friend in your story is toxic.

Jumping in to just commiserate and say thank you for asking! I have this same problem, but then if I do cave in and use mascara, no matter how hard I try to remove it or what amazing makeup removers I use, I still seem to have residue the following day, so then I need to use concealer to cover it up, and am stuck in a catch-22 loop!

I appreciate the tips folks are giving you! I usually just try to wipe it off with wet fingers and that works alrightish. Or, since I seem to get concealer products on the tips of my eyelashes, I sometimes just do a tiny stroke of mascara just at the tips and that’s enough to cover it up but not cause the other mascara problems.