ti zhang
zerochilltea.bsky.social
ti zhang
@zerochilltea.bsky.social
any | staff site reliability engineer with roots in SWE | Daoist,artist, writer, musician,complex systems thinker | soft,like the ocean is soft. gentle,like the sun could be gentle | www.nombiezinja.com | married, long distance, not poly | parent
WE ATE

S O U P

IT WAS

G O O D
November 11, 2025 at 5:09 AM
today i wake up and realized neither brain nor body wanted to address a single todo, obligatory administrative or creative. instead of pushing through i just rested

one key skill i gained in recovery is being aware of my exhaustion & own needs

i ignored alarms like these b4 thats why i burned out
November 10, 2025 at 5:56 AM
could be longer tbh more visual cool stuff please
November 9, 2025 at 1:20 AM
business planning in 2025:
November 9, 2025 at 1:10 AM
*system catches fire cuz everyone left burned out*

board: these ones no good, lay em off and hire new code monkeys

*system catches more fire but silently,cuz observability system burned down*

board: this is great, bonuses for all senior leadership

board: oh also lay more people off
November 9, 2025 at 1:07 AM
*revenue goes down*

board: let’s cut cost, lay more people off

*revenue goes up*

board: clearly we can do more with less, lay more people off
November 9, 2025 at 1:06 AM
founder:im making a car that flies but also can be a submarine.i’m gonna do it all myself

subject matter expert:that might not be a feasible idea for 4 months

founder:im gonna do it all myself,this car is going to FLY and SWIM

expert:i feel like u r not hearing me

founder:i said FLYING WATER CAR
November 9, 2025 at 12:57 AM
*new product roll out nobody wanted*

users: we hate this

engineers: we didn’t want to build this

middle management: great i have to now figure out who to PIP for this when they come asking

leadership in town hall:” that was a great win, let’s celebrate the win by the team and promote the VP”
November 9, 2025 at 12:54 AM
leaders:Q3 is to make 130% $ than Q2

management:u heard the boss build more features

eng:15% of system is on fire could we fix that

management:we said features come on code monkeys

Q4:we lost customers from incidents and nobody wanted to pay for new features,so we are laying off 1/3 engineers
November 9, 2025 at 12:52 AM
board: based on this new trend of data points we need to get rid of 30% of the ppl who do work and build these products nobody wants

board: our share holders will be happy

_incidents increase, employees burn out, customers complain_

board: that worked really well lets lay another 15% ppl off
November 9, 2025 at 12:39 AM
what’s the difference between 10% cream, VCs and engineers?

10% cream and VCs are rich, engineers are not
November 9, 2025 at 12:32 AM
she’s based in UK so buying stuff here is trickier if u have a hairdresser friend they could help u get products cuz a lot of it aren’t sold to consumers
November 8, 2025 at 10:42 AM
i didn’t block him because i wanted ppl to be able to see the kinda person im talking about lmaooooo
November 8, 2025 at 10:41 AM