(Click here for Part 1 and Part 2)
All in all, I applied to about 20 jobs. Half of them never responded. I think that's par for the course. Then half of the remaining turned out to not really be fully remote jobs, though they were advertised as such. They were either hybrid, requiring 2 or 3 days a week in the office, or would require a return to the office at some later date to be determined. Then of the 5 remaining jobs, 3 rejected me after the initial interview. I didn't have the specific experience they wanted. One wanted experience with network routing protocols and another wanted Django experience which I didn't have. The last wanted greenfield project experience, which I do have a lot of, but that didn't come across in the interview. And I know why too, because the company chose to ask only about my experience at companies where I did sustaining work, and for some reason chose not to ask about the companies where I did greenfield projects. I don't know why it happened that way, but I should have asked some follow up questions that might have clarified that. Oh well, live and learn.
The job I ultimately accepted is, once again, a full-time job. It was advertised as a contract job, but midway through the process, the recruiter claimed to have made a mistake, and it was a full-time job after all. I didn't know what to think about that, and I still don't. It may have been an honest mistake, or a crafty calculated fib, but I had already interviewed with the company, liked the people I'd be working with and had an offer in hand. Most important, it was a fully remote job. So I accepted. In the 6 months I've been working there, I've been to the office once, just to meet my co-workers in person. True to their word, it has truly been a fully remote job and I couldn't be happier about that.
I suppose I am no longer a semi-retired engineer, as my blog domain would indicate. But I'm not so sure about that. After burning out, quitting my job and not working for more than a year, I am better and my mental health is close to 100%, but my operating level at work is nowhere near 100%. I don't put out extra effort anymore. I have to restrain myself from caring too much about work matters. If I don't, I know I will burn out again, and faster this time. I can feel that. I just don't have the mental capacity to go all out at work anymore, and I doubt I ever will. Moreover, I don't want to be how I used to be. I suppose the term Quiet Quitting that's been bandied about the past year or so applies to me now. I put out the minimum effort to not get fired and not one bit more. I no longer strive for perfection. Anytime I feel the work anxiety coming back, I remind myself I'm now CoastFIRE and don't NEED this job to quell the panic. It's been working so far. I figure I'm semi-retired in place for now.
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