I have discovered Nothing Doing, a webcomic by the pseudonymous HORSE ON VHS. I like it very much. High-quality sitcom-style funny-animal office follies, and the attached strip resonated especially well with me, given my very recent experiences in running through tech-job interview gauntlets.

I tend to do great at everything except the “Why do you want to work here?” questions, and cannier employers can tell when I struggle to come up with reasons besides “I already have senior-level expertise at what you all you do here, and I need a job.” I try anyway, and it never goes well.

But, that was last year. We turn the page to 2026, and the following Mastodon post by the mononymous Corey, one of the last ones I saw in December, sets the tone for me:

So 2025 goes down as the year I finally gave up on the tech startup industry, where I have worked for nearly thirty years. Such skills and experience as I possess are no longer valued. I take possession of my new venture, a tiny cocktail bar (The Bad Angel), tomorrow and am about to embark on the riskiest experiment I’ve ever attempted. Whatever 2026 brings, it feels good to not be begging some chowderhead to give me a job.

I’m not opening a bar, but I am choosing to gracefully accept the world’s messages about professional approaches that don’t work for me, and embrace my own self-knowledge about ones that do. Here’s to a weird and successful 2026.