After being laid off in September 2025, I recently got a job offer and started just after the beginning of July (2026). It's a software engineer job where I'll be helping to investigate issues reported by customers (and one of their customers in particular, who has sites in my area).

Starting a new job usually includes hassles of ramping up & learning while new. Usually I feel fairly comfortable doing that, though I feel like this time it's a bit different. Right away (a week after I started), they had me travel for training for 4 weeks. And this job is unique in that my manager is in a time zone 15 hours ahead of me (which is where I traveled to), so communication can be difficult sometimes. My manager has set up a daily meeting with me at 8:30AM my time; at the end of my day, I'll send him an update, and sometimes he wants to talk to me to sync up on it, which ends up being about 5:30PM my time.

I'm still learning, and I feel like some things about the tasks my manager gives me can still be a little unclear. But I can ask him questions. Also, we use Copilot AI, and I've asked Copilot if it can explain some things I'm unclear on.

With past jobs, new tasks I'm given usually felt a little more clear. I feel nervous when given tasks that are unclear, and I worry a bit.. In 2010, I had started a job where things were very unclear and I wasn't getting good help from coworkers; I struggled there for 6 months and ended up being let go. That was overall a bad situation.. This new job somewhat reminded me of that, although I think things are better with this job, as my manager has been fairly helpful (when our time overlaps when we have our meetings), and the people here seem to be generally friendly.

I've been going through periods of feeling okay with things and feeling a bit down and worried. The down & worried tends to be more than feeling okay so far.

Aside from my job, my wife and I plan to move to be a little closer to where she works as the lease on our current apartment is close to the end/renewal point. I don't like moving and having to pack & everything. It will be better for my wife's commute though.

I'm also still going through a financial issue related to my ex wife's actions which have impacted me, to the extent where I've been working with a law firm on that. They've recently made a partial summary judgment in my favor, but things are still ongoing on that.

Among my new job, moving, and issue with my ex wife, I feel like this is a bit of a stressful time.

Nightfox
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Re: New job worries
By: Nightfox to All on Tue Aug 25 2026 09:20 am

Among my new job, moving, and issue with my ex wife, I feel like this is a bit of a stressful time.

I feel ya, brother. Just one of those things can become unsurmountable. I do hope things work out for you.
Any step you take, I'm sure you know, weigh it out cafefully and then do it. As Curly said in City Slickers, "That one thing."
Now I'm starting to sound like Nuke in "Bull Durham".
Anyhow wish you the best andhope it all works out for you.

Grease

...Prepare to meet thy GOD! (Evening dress optional)
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Re: New job worries
By: Will Milberger to Nightfox on Tue Aug 25 2026 01:02 pm

Among my new job, moving, and issue with my ex wife, I feel like this is
a bit of a stressful time.

I feel ya, brother. Just one of those things can become unsurmountable. I do hope things work out for you.
Any step you take, I'm sure you know, weigh it out cafefully and then do it. As Curly said in City Slickers, "That one thing." Now I'm starting to sound like Nuke in "Bull Durham". Anyhow wish you the best andhope it all works out for you.

Thanks. :)

Nightfox
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Among my new job, moving, and issue with my ex wife, I feel like this is
a bit of a stressful time.

Ooof. Hang in there man. I hope the best for you in all those areas. I hope that the job improves after you get some time there under your belt, you enjoy the move to the new place, checking out the new places/eateries/etc, and that the financial/legal situation will soon be behind you! I went through that last one recently as well, and man does it suck, but the good thing is, it will soon be in the past and one less thing you have to worry about in life. Sometimes "when it rains it pours", and you'll be able to dry off once it's all done, and just relax on the couch with your missus in the mew place, watching a movie, and basking in some peace of mind. Ahhhh that good old peace of mind. So hard to come by these days isn't it?

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Re: Re: New job worries
By: Knight Shadow to Nightfox on Tue Aug 25 2026 12:00 pm

Among my new job, moving, and issue with my ex wife, I feel like this is
a bit of a stressful time.

Ooof. Hang in there man. I hope the best for you in all those areas. I hope that the job improves after you get some time there under your belt, you enjoy the move to the new place, checking out the new places/eateries/etc, and that the financial/legal situation will soon be behind you! I went through that last one recently as well, and man does it suck, but the good thing is, it will soon be in the past and one less thing you have to worry about in life.

Thanks :)

Sometimes "when it rains it pours",
and you'll be able to dry off once it's all done, and just relax on the couch with your missus in the mew place, watching a movie, and basking in some peace of mind. Ahhhh that good old peace of mind. So hard to come by these days isn't it?

Yeah, sometimes life hits you with lots of stuff. Sometimes it's worrying that things can happen that are out of your control.

Nightfox
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Starting a new job usually
includes hassles of ramping up &
learning while new. Usually I feel
fairly comfortable doing that,
though I feel like this time it's
a bit different.

Congrats on the new job! Ramping up can suck but it should get better. Back when I started my current job, I was in a similar situation where most of the team was on the other side of the world so having to figure out tasks with little documentation or people to ask questions to was tough. After a bit, it wasn't all that bad and since I've tried to make it so when we get new people on the team they don't have to go through what I did.

How's copilot been? We're just starting to get licenses here for us to use.


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Re: Re: New job worries
By: slacker to Nightfox on Wed Aug 26 2026 02:06 pm

Congrats on the new job! Ramping up can suck but it should get better. Back when I started my current job, I was in a similar situation where most of the team was on the other side of the world so having to figure out tasks with little documentation or people to ask questions to was tough. After a bit, it wasn't all that bad and since I've tried to make it so when we get new people on the team they don't have to go through what I did.

Thanks. I feel like it's not just the ramping up, but the communication as well. I have a daily online meeting with my manager at 8:30AM my time, which I suppose isn't so bad, but feels somewhat early for a daily meeting. In addition, my manager might sometimes want to talk in my evening about my daily updates, so it's possible I could have meetings both in the morning and evening, which can make for some slightly long days. Also, with the language thing and my manager's communication style, I worry there could be chances of misunderstanding about tasks & such.

Also, since the job involves helping with customer issues, there may be customer escalations that require meetings which may be at odd times. This has already happened once so far; I had a meeting at 10PM my time last week where people were discussing a high-priority customer issue. The reason it was at 10PM my time is that it included mainly people in other time zones.

I feel like I'm getting a little more comfortable with the job, but at the same time, I feel like my confidence and enjoyment of the job is still not great yet.

How's copilot been? We're just starting to get licenses here for us to use.

It's not bad - it has been helpful so far.

Nightfox
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