Tech Worker Copium

03. Anti-work

An obsession with work is a colonial, patriarchal, and capitalist construct.

As such, the anti-work movement is an important part of decolonization, feminism, and anti-capitalism.

Work is a tool of oppression

By anti-work, I don't mean that no one ever works. That's preposterous of course. There are things that need to get done, and people need to do them.

But this obsession with hard work as a virtue, as a good and righteous thing to do, the glorification of toil and sweat and labor... that's a tool the wealthy who don't work for a living use to oppress those who do.

If you grew up in a capitalist society (ie. everyone), that mindset is deeply indoctrinated in you basically from birth.

The indoctrination of work

Asking kindergartners what they want to be when they grow up is weird, if you really think about it.

Because we don't mean...

What kind of person do you want to be?

We mean...

What kind of labor do you want to do?

At five years old. That's weird!

It's hard to unlearn this fetishization of labor. It sinks its roots deep into your brain.

Do less. Have more.

The truth is, without the "need" for never ending growth and manufactured consumption under capitalism, we could all work much, much less and have a better quality of life.

If we put the labor that we do participate in towards making sure everyone was housed and clothed and fed and healthy, we would have a happier, healthier society.

This isn't a utopian fantasy.

Pre-colonization, many indigenous societies operated like this. Egalitarian divisions of labor. Growth balanced with the needs of society and the environment. A focus on the many over the few.

Not all indigenous societies, of course. And humans being humans, pre-colonial cultures had their own problems to contend with.

But the idea that "this would never work" is patently absurd. It already has. We destroyed it!

What I want

I want to live in a world where everyone has...

Delicious food
A safe and inviting home
Comfortable clothes they feel good in
Access to healthcare whenever they need it
Ample time for leisure and pursuits of passion
The opportunity to contribute to the betterment of society
The freedom to opt-out

I don't think any of this is particularly radical, either.

That our brains often reflexively think these are radical, far-out ideas is proof that the brainwashing we're all subjected to by the rich under capitalism has been wildly successful.

02. The Optimal Solution to Bay Area Is Spiritual Independence

Source: 小红书 (dead post)

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Bay Area compensation is among the highest in the world. Packages, RSUs, options — even a failed startup here is worth more than a success elsewhere. The numbers grow fast enough to make you believe financial freedom is just within arm's reach.

And yet, the Bay Area is also the hardest place to truly FIRE. Not because of too much or too little money, but because the goalposts never stop moving. The meritocracy of the mainstream evaluation system: which neighborhood your house is in, how big your package is, what level your title is, what V-grade you climb at. What you thought was the finish line is always just the start point of someone else's.

Choosing to plant my roots in the Bay Area is itself an act of trust in the arc of history. Not optimizing for FIRE or forcing myself to redirect my trajectory and goals, but because I believe that being at the frontier of technology, in fertile soil, as long as I go with the current, respect objectivity, stay true to myself, and remain in harmony with my environment, the system will ultimately not unfairly treat me.¹

This isn't a blind faith in the system. I've faced extreme uncertainty around my immigration status, lived through a layoff and 60 days of job searching, and been exploited more than once. I know full well that the jungle — where only the strong survive — is always ready to devour you. But it's precisely because of those experiences that I've come to understand: the system may want to punish me every now and then, but it won't kill me, and in the long run, it won't unfairly treat me.²

So I've never treated FIRE as a destination — I treat it as a posture. Pretending I've already FIRE'd. You could call it bluffing. But as a modern saying goes: happiness equals reality minus expectations. Lower your material expectations, and you find that after subtracting those two monthly expenses, there's actually quite a bit left over for material happiness.

This, to me, is the optimal solution to the Bay Area.

Earn a normal Bay Area salary, but don't buy into the anxiety it sells; be inside the game while living outside it. Go ahead and do the things you always thought you'd only do after FIRE: write that article no one will read, make music that only moves yourself, build an app that will never turn a profit. Don't wait for liberation — proactively opt out of the game now.

The Bay Area is often mocked as a cultural desert — and yet, for that very reason, it's become the ideal place for the journey of "building spiritual superstructure upon material foundation". There's no heavy history or tradition here demanding your allegiance. High incomes provide the material base, and the spiritual blankness is less a void than an open invitation to fill.

So the optimal philosophy of the Bay Area isn't FIRE — it's "spiritual independence." Don't reduce your life to performance metrics. Don't let numbers define your self-worth. Put it all down, then pick back up what actually matters. The Bay Area you define from within yourself belongs only to you.

I don't personally believe that the Bay Area tech frontier of today (2026) represents the right arc of history. In many respects, Silicon Valley and its tech represents a regression of civilization — for example: big tech's long-standing violations of user privacy and freedom; Silicon Valley's partnership with the American military-industrial complex enabling senseless killing; its cooperation with the Trump administration enabling the persecution of immigrants and dissidents; the financial risks the AI bubble poses to average Americans; and so on and so forth.
I don't personally believe the system will treat you well after having wronged you. I think the right response is to fight the system — not to hope that it simply won't keep treating you unfairly.

01. Avoid Leetcode Anxiety - it's not real

Source: leetcodetherapy.com

How will I solve 1500 problems? How do these people do it?

It looks like they just know the solution. They must be smarter than me. Am I not smart enough?

And then, after enough frustration - screw this interview process. I don't want to sell out to FAANG.

And believe me, it's not your fault. Anyone who sees 1000 complex problems will be overwhelmed. On top of that, it doesn't help that Leetcode users show off complex solutions.

We don't realize something important - Leetcode is a competitive programming platform at its core, not an interview platform. Yet, we fall into the trap of thinking it's an educational website.

The truth is, most features on leetcode are not useful for interviews.

Do you really need 1500 problems to prepare for interviews? No.

Do you need discussions where users show off their "5 line" solutions? No.

Do you really need to know 5 solutions to the same problem? No.

Do you really need to run code against extensive test cases? No.

Imagine another platform where things were simple. Just 100 core problems with guided instructions to solve them. Slowly progressing from Easy to Medium. No extensive test cases to pass, no discussions with complex solutions. Just intuitive solutions that work.

Sounds a lot better, doesn't it? Now, what if I told you that's all you need for interviews?

Because it's true.¹

Here's all you need - master 100 problems first, then slowly progress to maybe 200 more problems. Do it well, and you can crack several top companies.

Sounds too good to be true? You're probably thinking I'm selling snake oil. I'm not though.

Leetcode and other websites have conditioned us to think that we need complication. That we need 1500 problems. That we're always behind.

Think about this - when do you feel more motivated? If you think you're making progress, or not making progress? Of course, more progress feels better! It's hard to feel progress when you have 1500 problems to solve, code, and pass all test cases.

Yet many engineers on Leetcode feel anxious all the time. They feel like they're not good enough. I'm here to tell you, that's not the case.

Ok, what should I do then?

Honestly, if I were you, I'd avoid leetcode altogether at the beginning. Grab a book. Take a course. Progress systematically.

Then, when you feel like you have a grasp of things, maybe try Leetcode. Notice I said "maybe".

Contrary to popular belief, Leetcode is not mandatory for job offers. It's just a tool. At best, it's a list of coding questions - which you can find in several books, courses and sites.

Don't let Leetcode Anxiety let you down! Realize that it's not real. Avoid that feeling of being behind. ta 们是怎么做到的？ ta 们好像就是知道最优解。ta 们一定是比我聪明吧。所以难道我才是笨笨的那个？唉，算了，去 ta 妈的算法面，反正我也不想为了大厂出卖自己的灵魂。 Throughout this site, we talk about factors that lead to anxiety and why you should avoid them

leetcodetherapy.com is a website by interviewcamp.io, an "Online Crash Course for Coding Interviews", so this paragraph sounds like self-promotion.