Honest conversations about the psychology of modern work culture
In 17 days, I’ll turn in my badge, log out of the company network, and walk away from a long career with unfinished spreadsheets and an unfinished mortgage. People keep asking if I’ve lost my mind. I smile. They mean well. The numbers don’t impress the financial professionals. I haven’t hit their magical thresholds. I …
My technical architecture diagrams mirror my childhood drawings — everything in its box, every connection mapped, no surprises allowed. In design reviews, I track micro-expressions like I once tracked my father’s moods. The senior developer’s slight hesitation becomes a red flag. The product manager’s tightened jaw signals incoming conflict. My colleagues praise my foresight. My …
The first time I said my salary out loud, I felt like I had broken an unspoken rule — one that was never meant to protect me. The morning of the tech conference, I sat in my hotel room revising my slides about industry trends. My practiced talking points about cloud architecture felt hollow against …
The moment I knew everything was theater came during a Tuesday afternoon meeting. I sat across from my manager, watching him perform the carefully choreographed routine of corporate concern — the furrowed brow, the strategic nodding, the pen poised above his notepad. I had just finished describing how our team was crumbling under impossible deadlines …
What I saw as financial security, my children view as outdated thinking. “Traditional retirement planning is dead,” Brandon says, shutting his laptop after scrolling through another article about digital nomads. Across the table, Allie sips her coffee. “The idea of working at one company for decades just to retire with a pension? That world doesn’t …
“Amazing women’s intuition at work here. I love how you just sense these things.” My jaw clenches before I can stop it. I grip my presentation clicker tighter, forcing a polite smile. “Actually, it’s called predictive modeling.” The words come out too sharp, or maybe just sharp enough. I click to the next slide, but …
