Thanks, everyone. I’m not really too worried; just bad timing.
I did enjoy university work last time I tried it. It tends to be a little bureaucratic, but it’s also nice being around energetic students. I’ll have to check if there’s anything open nearby.
ReactOS is interesting; I didn’t realize it was still around. A Windows clone seems like an odd choice though, since I’ve been avoiding Windows for ~20 years.
I’ve never tried to get security clearance, but I’m somewhat familiar with the process. Some friends could point me in the right direction if I need it. However, I have lost projects before when they became classified. There was this remote-control deep-sea sub we designed so that land-locked researchers and professors could pilot the thing real-time during class, in deep parts of the ocean, discovering new species and such. We got it far enough to demo in a lake, and then DARPA bought it and it disappeared. I assume they’re now using it to play underwater spy-vs-spy.
There are all sorts of awesome things being created, but I don’t know what most of them are. I keep finding cool stuff lately though, like open-source music hardware. Some interesting ones are the Linnstrument, the Atmegatron 8-bit synth, and the Axoloti synth/effect board. And that’s just part of one specific industry; this sort of thing is happening everywhere.
There’s also a 3D printer company close to me where a couple friends work. It’d be a pretty convenient option, though I don’t know what sorts of jobs they have open.
Or a friend at Red Hat told me to come join him. I’d feel a bit weird about that though, since I accidentally created their package management software and I’m still a little embarrassed about it.
Or I’ve been tempted to start the Society Moderately Against Extremism, to encourage people to calm down and use empirical approaches to tricky topics, but I have no idea how to pay the bills that way.
Or find a consulting / support role in a tech company, since I’m a weirdo who likes both tech and people.
Or perhaps I’ll stop rambling, get some sleep, and think about it more later.