Which person are you?

I used to live in Australia (one of the best places to live in the world when it comes to weather!) and one day whilst visiting a friend's family I noticed a printed cartoon on the household fridge.

This was back in the late 2000s and what a time that was.  Free from social media garbage and all the other mind distractions of today.

Anyway this cartoon deeply resonated with me, it's never left my subconscious.  This cartoon talks about net worth.  Which is totally invisible.

Let me prescribe a very realistic scenario.

Today you're going to go around work, minding your own business.  And perhaps you'll see something like this along the street.  A bunch of normal looking people.

Another day in paradise..?

Why are salaries not equal?

 As an employed worker, you must be wondering at some point why are some jobs paid more than others.  The following questions may have been in your head at some point.

Why are some salaries so low?  And some so high?  Is it because a company is willing to pay them more money?  Is it due to some magic formula conjured up by wizards?  Is it that some companies are just cheap and unwilling to fork over money (How dare they eh, these damn profit seekers!)?  And why is it that salaries can vary differently from different countries even though the roles can be exactly the same?

Gold at 4.5K USD, what does this mean?

Gold

One of my favourite topics to discuss of all time is money.  Just what is money anyway?  

Growing up, I knew nothing about money.  To me as a kid it was the 50 cent coin that I put in my pocket and took with me to the tuckshop to buy my lunch in primary school.  That was all I know.  For a while.  But as I got opportunities to live and work in many nations.  I had to deal with different currencies, notes, coins, with different images of people, places and things.  All of them have different shapes, colours, fancy watermarks, to avoid being forged, but worth nothing if I take them to another country.  Just why isn't there a single thing that's accepted everywhere?  Turns out there is, and has been.

Humans are the only creature on Earth that need money to survive.  It ties to every facet of the living experience.  Therefore it is pivotal to understand it.  And yet, most people do not understand it.  It is never taught in schools.  Think about it.  Most people have a job and earn a wage, and call it a day without understanding what are they actually saving.  To someone in Australian, Australian dollars is money.  To an American, the US dollar is money.  To a Swedish person, the Swedish krona is money.  But really, what is it exactly?  Are these currencies really "money"?  If I take my Swedish kroner to Singapore, why is it not accepted then?  If something is truly reliable money, it should hold its value across borders, even if it isn’t directly accepted everywhere.  To understand the importance of money, real money, cannot be understated enough.  Let me start from the beginning.

Historically, for thousands of years, money has been different things.  But over time, societies converged on one thing as the most reliable form of money.

World Cup 2026 here I come! ⚽️

So I've managed to secure tickets to the Fifa World Cup for 2026.  I'll be visiting Toronto, Canada, for Match 21.

It's gonna be so freaking awesooome!

Canada is a pretty place.  I was there earlier this year, just a few months ago from August to September visiting Vancouver.  Probably the most beautiful city I've ever visited, minus the drug addicts and homeless people.  The food was really good as well.  It kind of reminds me of Asia actually.  I've been to Toronto before but it was only to visit Niagara falls, this time I intend to be there at least a week.

Just WTF happened to the world?

I remember a time when people treated each other decently on the Internet. If you message someone they would reply, they wouldn't ignore you or delete you, or cancel you or whatever nonsense we have today.  People just treated each other with respect and dignity and that was just normal.

But apparently today all of that no longer exists.  The idea of even "friendship" on the internet is a complete mirage. You can message someone, be talking for months, be kind to them, HELP THEM even, and they would seem like a friend, until you say something that makes their soul hurt and boom, suddenly you're just blocked or whatever.  You seem to forget the other person on the other end is a human being.

Goodbye 2024 and 2025 so far

 Wow it's 2025 already!  And what a 2024 year it has been...

It's already April 2025

What's been happening since?

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.