[justinlloyd]

Sometimes I am a contractor.

Sometimes I am a W2.

I am a contractor right now.

Because the company is new.

But I will probably be W2 one day very soon

Possibly tomorrow. Or by the next cheesey moon.

As to how?

I build "stuff." Then I show "stuff" to them.

Them being people, them who run companies small and really big.

It takes me to new jobs. Or brings in a gig.

I message everyone on LinkedIn. And at hackathons too.

And meetups, and greetups, and gatherings old and new.

Anywhere I can think of, reach out to people in the Bay,

and those NFT'd out weirdos down in L.A.

Sometimes directly in Frisco, and that one guy at Cisco.

And then them say "can you come here and work for us to build 'stuff?'"

And we talk about fun things as I walk through the code.

And sometimes I find out, in the course of the day,

they are really building "it" which I've already before built,

and I say "no, not interested" and we go on our way.

Other times it turns out they want to build "it+that"

but they don't know how to build "it"

but do know a world about that "that"

And somewhiles it is the other way round

They've got the shape of the problem

But not the geometrical bound

Sometimes the glue that bonds "it" and "that" doesn't work

and I come up with some new formula for the glue that will stick

And somewhiles it don't pay well, but it's the problem I pick,

My career might seem strange to them that build "it"

But I'm happy for me, because don't I give a shit

I've talked with entrepreneurs, they'll say

"We're planning on send a Musk to the Moon"

But he asks always impatiently 'will it be soon?'"

Turns out they're just building yet another crap app

I'm always happiest when stacking "that" on to "it"

Sometimes I'll add one, five or eleven to see what will fit

There's an upper, upper limit of the stacked up "that"

Sometimes it's nine, more likely sometimes its four,

But if we just keep stacking, eventually I'll look for the door

I once had a project where they'd divided "it" by zero

And I got to fix "it", and look like the hero

I'll go to my grave, working each day

And my last words will be "I had fucking fun, I say!"

[armagon]

Wow, I don't often get answers in rhyme!

Thank you.

[justinlloyd]

I could have bombastically told you my secrets

Of how to sell a skill set into saturated markets

Really nobody cares, what school you attended or subjects you studied

They don't care if you were turtleish slow or rapidly hare hurried

When it comes down to avoiding the build out of another crap app

Of avoiding those jobs that you would describe as bullshat

You just simply show them of what you can do

How you've managed to stick together "it", "this" and "that"

With a wonderfully super sticky new glue

And so repeat after me

It isn't the product that you sell, but the story you tell