Hello Everyone,
As per title really. I started a new job late last year. Head hunted and went from a mega stable nothing ever really changes with a low stress environment where it would cost a lot to get rid of me with over a decade and a half of service to a extremely fast paced "lets do it&...
As per title really. I started a new job late last year. Head hunted and went from a mega stable nothing ever really changes with a low stress environment where it would cost a lot to get rid of me with over a decade and a half of service to a extremely fast paced "lets do it" environment that is rather "make it work for now" and the technical debt is large. I joined partly because I had a real rapport with the guy who would be my boss. The money helped too :D
The day I joined the company it got bought out by another one. Ok, we carry on, integration ongoing. Stuck between two competing outlooks on infrastructure and different ways of working.
Then in the last month I have a diagnosis of the big C. Tests are completed (i think) but it looks to be the one you want to get if you had to pick one. Treatment plans inbound imminently...
A few weeks ago my boss resigned. Now I have a new boss in another country. He is pretty much an unknown quantity at this point.
To be fair my immediate team mates and colleagues (in both companies) are awesome and we get through it as best we can but for right now but I don't even know what to do. I feel so much of a spare part its horrible. The job itself, I am not even sure about. If only I had a time machine. Clear guidance and direction is a thing other companies do! I feel like i have made a huge mistake and I was unhappy before all the upheaval at new job.
At home, we did the maths and luckily, even in the worst possible scenario the bills are covered for the very long term. That's something to be very thankful for. It may not be pretty but no one is coming knocking at the door.
I am thankful we live in a country with socialised health care and that the outlook is apparently good (unless the doctors are lying to me, obvs <---- Autism at play). I'll be honest and say that doing any work is hard because not knowing if you are going to be alive in a year or two is kind of a drag on productive work. I hope I will be, the prognosis is good but being told that news is the loneliest feeling in the world at the time.
I am still very much the newb and I can see if they want to rationalise headcount I am a prime target so..... I realise they cant do it whilst I am ill but you know how these things can go. So my fellow geeks... There is not a lot of good going on right now.
Can anybody help me with an objective plan of action that may make work a bit easier. I am not sure if I made a huge career misstep here or am just over reacting a bit with everything that is going on.
As I am mostly at a lose end right now because I can't commit to being present any particular day because treatment and appointments, I am thinking of upgrading some of my skills, maybe a few certifications but that will take all my will power to do. I just need to be as up to date and have a plan if I am let go AND get through the treatment AND it works. Everything crossed :/
The new owners are ALL GCP. My skillset lies in Linux, Ansible, Docker, Technical writing and high performance clustering. I am also proficient in Azure as well as having (somewhat dated) VMware experience but to a good depth.- I know everyone is running away from VMware as fast as possible so "meh!" on that one.
Top and bottom of it is at a professional level, I have no idea how to prepare for what's happening and what's coming. Any advice is welcome.
Comments
By SkyLemon 2026-03-1314:30 Two things: 1) Don't look at your choices in the past with your now knowledge of the future. That's not how it works, we are not Gods. 2) Do what you love, what brings you joy work is often a means to an end in this regard. (Work, by it's nature is often not fun, but it is often not your life.)
We all (currently) enter and exit this world in the same manor. It's the bit in between that matters. We all could be hit by a car tomorrow or live to be 120. Most of us don't get to know. You got an reality check and a potential expiration date. Congrats, you know more then most of us, and yes, can make more accurate plans. But live, because you likely will!
Now, answer me this. Why should you live your life any differently? And if there is something, should you not have been doing that anyway?
By Blackstrat 2026-03-1318:181 reply I went through 11 takeovers in my career. I survived them all, some with promotions, until the very last one. It was within a couple of weeks of my severance that I was diagnosed with the Big C. That puts everything in perspective. Nothing really matters then except treating and beating the cancer. Focus on that. If in the process, this job doesn't work out, find a new one when you are in remission or cured. And decide what you want to do after that. I was nearing retirement anyway and decided I didn't need anymore of the corporate life. Not knowing your age, that may not be an option for you. What is an option for you is keep a positive attitude, eat right, exercise, and get treated. Yes, cancer is a serious kick in the pants, but you can't let it beat you down. If you do, it's far, far worse than it has to be. Yes, it's depressing. But, don't give into it. And remember that you aren't really alone. You'll likely sit in the waiting room before treatment with people that have a far worse prognosis. Certainly, I did. Which made me all the more determined to not give in to my darker thoughts. I'm five years cured, though life is irrevocably changed. It happens. Strive to be one of us.
By mrsvanwinkle 2026-03-1322:14 Was hoping to find that good end in your story and found it, happy for you. I'm thankfully healthy but found myself in an adjacent circumstance as the child of a newly diagnosed dementia patient who forgot who I am. I was able to reintroduce myself and she has not forgotten again so far but she is at the point where she will believe anything without ground truth as basis. I find myself clamoring for time with her, pioritizing FaceTime calls with her over anything else, as each time I talk to her I can sense her drifting away. I don't mind her forgetting about me, which finally convinced the psychiatrist who said she didn't have a problem the previous year that yes she is in stage 5-6 dementia after all. She woke up once not knowing who she is, and that is something I can't have her forget. This is the closest I've experienced something like what you've survived through and what op is going through, something that puts Everything in perspective. So I'm thankful for threads like this on HN especially given this point in history where everything is happening all at once, which makes this Total Perspective Vortex (HHGG) thing all the more epiphanic (the TPV in HITCHHIKER'S was meant to destroy you by showing you the evident infinitude of your insignificance, but the reality of mortality just shows an indifferent universe being equally, coldly, largely ignored)
By takinola 2026-03-1317:40 The prospect of dying has an interesting way of focusing your mind on what's important. It is a terrible gift you have been given. It sucks to have to balance quotidian concerns at the same time as existential ones so give yourself grace for being in a position that requires you to handle all these things at once. My suggestion is to prioritize your health and getting better. Ten years from now, you may barely remember this job (or the new manager, tech, etc) but that only works if you pull through. It sounds like you are financially stable so use that fact to your advantage to make decisions that work best for you and your family.
Find a good support system. People that love you are going to be the most important thing for the next couple of months. Let them help you. Lean on them. It is fine to be weak. This is the time to let them give (time, money, encouragement, prayers, comfort, etc) to you.
Good luck! I wish you the best.
