I've resigned ✌️

I resigned during the first week of September, and my last day at the bank was November 8th.  Looking back, I've learned about the Google Cloud platform at the bank but nothing much else.  Technical ability at the bank is at best average and at worst, mediocre.  And why would this ever change, whether or not you're Ronaldo the professional football player or Ronaldo the high school football player, you'll get paid the same salary.  Because in Sweden whether you're a cockroach, a bird or a human, you're the same.  No one that is talented would want to stay here if they wish to better their economic condition.  My last certification that I obtained was the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification.  I'm really quite proud of obtaining it especially since I didn't really study for it and only relied on my experience and prior learning.  And I got a backpack after passing it, it's at a former work colleague's house though so I should pick it up when I get back to Sweden.

The past year I've been doing procurement mainly, in addition to implementation and integration of Google SecOps, formerly known as Chronicle.  The people working at the bank have really defined for me, the word "mediocre".  I heard from a former work colleague that there are things which have taken more than six years to procure which is mind boggling.  For me who was leading the procurement of SecOps this took six months.  According to the upper management on my floor, we're "like cowboys" and "moving too quickly".  So my friends, this is why nothing ever gets done in the bank and it's a cesspool of mediocrity and paperweights of industry collecting clowns with the sole ambition of "hopefully they don't fire me so I can stay here until retirement".

Which is why I really like going to Chicago and being in the CompTIA HQ, the guys there are seriously motivated, know their shit and are actual leaders in the IT industry driving forward what needs to be understood by IT professionals to be competitive in different areas.  I like to be surrounded by excellence, to be surrounded by fools, that's just not for me.

Moving forward, I intend to start a foundation to provide scholarships to students in polytechnic.  Perhaps sponsoring one student a year in their school fees.  I'm not sure yet.  It's forming in my head at least.  At the moment I'm just having a break off everything.  I'm still actively learning on the TryHackMe security platform and doing Cloud Skills Boost labs on Google though, to keep my mind active.  I've reached every financial goal I've set, even though it's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride with many setbacks.  Even when I was a student in Australia I already knew at some point that being financially independent is my goal.  I may have gotten there a few years later than anticipated, but I'm here now.  I had no mentor and pretty much learned and did everything on my own.  And for that, I'm supremely proud of my achievements.

The year of 🔥!

Wow! I didn't write a single post in 2023.  I've even forgotten the existence of this blog for a period of time.  And what a year that was.  I visited Chicago twice as a CompTIA Subject Matter Expert (SME) and travelled so frequently that I became a Finnair Gold member.  And the perks are quite decent I must say.  Priority queue, free lounge access, additional luggage allowance and more.  Although they've now converted to Avios points... which from what I've read, aren't that great.  But we'll see.

So I'm now (finally) financially independent 🔥.  And it's about time.

Achievement unlocked

I can say a wholehearted fuck you very much to my job anytime.  Which is very nice.  And probably something that I'll do.  As someone working in the bank I can say wholeheartedly that they do not contribute to society in any meaningful way.  The bank's profits are loans.  Period.  > 50%.  They have zero innovation and pretty much suck off the tits of society.  Heck they don't even have money.  It is all loaned into existence.  What that means is that for example if you want to borrow 300K, the bank doesn't have that money.  The magic of fractional reserve banking is that they have only 30K for example, i.e. assuming 10% reserves, but from that they are allowed to loan 300K.  So boom, you borrow 300K, the 300K magically appears in your account from the initial 30K.  You have increased the supply of (fake) money.  Ain't life grand?  What can go wrong from this honestly?  Anyway such is the madness of the bank and the legality of it all.  Such is the madness of society.  People are willing to sell their lives into debt for 30-50-100 years or whatever period to enslave themselves willingly.  In my grandfather's time if you didn't have the cash to buy a home, you SAVE and THEN you buy a home.  No cash?  Sorry, go save!  In today's "society of the insane" (tm) you borrow from the future to buy today and enslave yourself.  Homes aren't worth the amount they are today, they are worth a lot less than what they're stated because it's all funded by debt.

The finance industry is also the industry that charges fees, again sucking off the tits of their clients.  Want to get rich?  Buy this fund from us.  "Only" 1% per year in fees.  If the fund goes down, don't worry, keep holding!  Meanwhile we will still suck our 1% fee forever regardless of what happens.  Imagine if you hire a handyman to fix your car and he tells you that yeah the car is fixed but if it falls apart don't worry, wait a while and it will fix itself.  You'll tell them to take a hike and demand your money back right?  Somehow in this mad society we accept that it's ok to give dumbasses dressed in suits money to manage with zero guarantee of success.  These bloodsuckers can't deliver anything and I refuse to even give them a cent.  Realise that they charge percentages instead of fixed amounts.  Why?  Because even a paltry 1% over time turns out to be HUGE!

So why did I join the bank in the first place?  I joined because there was a special business unit that dealt with modern technology back in 2022, and also I was in a shit company in Sweden.  To be fair thanks to covid I never got to move to Canada so here I am but still absolutely nothing has stopped me from achieving my financial goals.  But now this business unit has been swallowed by the group and boy, it's such a shit position my brain cells die a little bit every time I talk to a work colleague.

If it's one thing I learnt, banks are even worse and even slower than I thought.  The CFO tried to justify his existence in the bank saying they don't make too much profit.  Ha!  Is that a joke or was he serious?!

So anyway now that I've achieved FIRE status I'm just going to chill for a while, no sudden moves.  I need to think about what I really want to do.  Which thankfully since I'm not 65 yet I have a lot of time to.

Today is the prelude to Good Friday so I bid everyone who reads this Good Friday!

Something about Jane Doe

Attention:  Some sense of humour required.

Amongst all the women I've ever dated, everyone is different.

Who remembers this movie?  Hair gel anyone? 😏

My Russian friend 🇷🇺

So I have a Russian neighbour who lives and works in Sweden and she's been here for more than 10 years.  I met up with her recently after she returned from Russia and she this is what she told me.

Once the invasion by Russia was announced she made her way back to St Petersburg where her parents lived in order to take her money out of the bank.  Flights to Russia have been cancelled so she had to take a flight to Helsinki and then a train to St Petersburg (3 hours).  But she had 5 hours to kill before the train at 6am and could not book a hotel as all of them were closed.  So she stayed in a 24 hour convenience store with another Polish lady who caught the same train as her.  She could have stayed at her brother's house but didn't want to bother him as he lives in Helsinki.  Anyway they had to keep ordering stuff in the shop every hour just so they could stay indoors.  Apparently the security guard hired in the store had to keep chasing out the drunks and other unsavoury people who showed up because it was very cold outside.

War what's it good for absolutely nothing ❌

Someone asked me to post something, so here I am posting... yes Linnéa I am talking about you.

Since the last time, April 2021, a few things have happened.  I'm currently at Schibsted in the Cloud governance team that is run by someone who we (in the team, and that's me, a lady from Latvia, and a guy from India who lives in Norway) believe has dementia and has the skills of a brick.  The good news is I am leaving Diabol, my current shit ass consulting company (the company has literally only a few people left, more than half of the company left last year), and joining SEBx in April.  Either 1st April or the 11th.  I'm hoping to start earlier.  Thanks to Anthon my former work colleague for recommending me.

Almost 2 weeks ago war broke out between Russia and Ukraine.  And ever since then it's been just death for no reason other than no reason.  

Why?

Happy Easter 2021 🥚

So I discovered it was Easter only a week before it happened.

Happy Easter yay!

The end of Sinch and the start of H&M

Wow has it been 7 months since I lasted posted?  Damn it looks that way.

So I've ended my stint at Sinch.  It was a company that could be improved on massively.  They wanted me to stay and I said "HELL NOOOS".

When you see a pile of hot poop...