From: blockedofcourse@foo.invalid   
      
   On 11/26/2025 2:55 PM, ehsjr wrote:   
   >> The real problem will be analog hardware design. I am often yanked back out   
   >> of retirement   
   >   
   > Familiar with being dragged out of retirement.  At first it was sort of fun,   
   > but it got old.   
      
   Society/industry has cast its judgement that these skills are not important.   
   I.e., there are more than enough existing people with the necessary skill to   
   address the bulk of the market demand.  (if they are located in the wrong   
   places, that's a logistical problem).   
      
   I've an old (as in "no longer living here") neighbor who tried to coax   
   me into doing RT embedded *6502* design work some 10 years ago.  Findng folks   
   familiar with 6502 assembly code, hardware expertise, formal real-time theory   
   as well as a multidisciplinary background is apparently a challenge when   
   folks have moved on to HLLs and automatic code generators.   
      
   I just smiled at his offer (250K back then -- about *half* of my billable   
   rate).  He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that there are far MORE   
   interesting things to monopolize my time!   
      
   [I'll let someone pay me if I can find someone to pay to do the things   
   that *I* want done for comparable time/money.  But, that's even harder   
   than finding someone to write 6502 code!  :> ]   
      
   Each year, he visits over the holidays -- bearing an expensive bottle (which is   
   sort of insulting as he should know, by now, that we don't drink:  "See all   
   of the UNSEALED bottles you've brought in years past??").  He's long given   
   up on the idea of "recruiting" me but we enjoy each other's company for a day.   
      
   Instead, he is always eager to see a demo of what I've been working on since   
   his last visit.  Those things that I find more interesting than the tasks   
   associated with his monetary offer.   
      
   This year, I will show him the "postal mail monitoring system" (has the letter   
   carrier been by, today?  did he leave anything for us?) and the "package   
   delivery monitoring system" (has UPS/FEDEX/Amazon/"a neighbor"/etc. delivered   
   anything to the front door?) -- both refinements of similar scene analysis   
   algorithms but with differing constraints.   
      
   [I will have to demo this from historical video captured at the time of   
   past deliveries, pushing it through the system as if it was being live-sourced   
   from cameras (tweeking the current time-of-day, accordingly)]   
      
   He will then try to trick my implementation -- drive by the mailbox and   
   pretend to be delivering mail (sorry, your car doesn't resemble any of   
   the USPS vehicles I know about) or appearing to drop off a package at the   
   front door, etc.  ("Notice it didn't signal a delivery when you walked up   
   to the front door!")   
      
   And, likely try to figure out how he could use similar (underlying)   
   technology in his business.  (though, knowing he will have to find someone   
   ELSE with a suitable skillset to do so as I'll already have moved on to   
   something else of interest!)   
      
   One of the advantages of approaching the end of your career is NOT having   
   to do what someone else thinks is a good use of your time!  Your skill set   
   has likely peaked and your financial needs have long subsided!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)