> as European I would say this is fairly standard

I must live in a different Europe then. I'd say this would be EXTREMELY generous for Europe.

When I was laid off, I got only 2 weeks of pay (notice period).

well, everyone has different experiences, but just to make it clear, I was calculating ordinary salary during notice period into severance pay since in many companies it's essentially severance pay:

1. you get fired with 2 months notice period and they will tell you, you don't need to bother to come anymore = 2 months of severance, you can sit at home, look for job for 2 months with full salary

2. on top of this you will get also extra 2 months severance pay

so in total de facto 4 months of severance pay , but I understand shitty companies will expect you to work even during notice period (especially if they are firing you) and somehow expect you will be delivering same results, smarter companies know the reality when they are firing someone and just tell him not bother coming anymore, this was my case in last 1-2 jobs I've had more than 10 years ago when I was still employee (plus they wanted to give me 1 month severance pay, but I argued about years I worked there and certain operation practices which could be published, so got 2 months, unlike my less assertive colleagues), I'm nowadays contractor/freelance for companies outside Europe so no law protection for me

my wife is always employed as employee and got fired this winter under conditions I mentioned in point 1&2 and got 2+2 months after 1 year of work, two jobs ago she was fired without severance but didnt need to work during notice period

plus I've found funny mention of the 6 months COBRA as some benefit, you are covered by insurance in Europe regardless of your job status whether employed or unemployed you are always covered by universal healthcare

The European model will never be better than the U.S. one for productive workers like in tech. Tech workers in the U.S. have the same benefits as EU ones for three times the salary.

European model can be better for employees, maybe not so much for employers, in US vice versa, everyone has different preferences

sure you can earn more, but there are plenty of benefits coming from Europe, for instance how many days of vacation you have by law in US? what's the point of the more money in US if employer will work you to death with no work/life balance

I found amusing mention of COBRA for 6 months, that's in most of the EU permanent benefit of all citizens not given by employer, your stuff is just paid from the universal healthcare and doesn't matter whether you are employed or unemployed, in US you can end up in situation you don't earn enough to have good health insurance, but you earn enough to not be covered by insurance for low income people, no such thing possible in EU (thought his doesn't really affect IT field)

KeePass is a great middle-ground, which I've been using for the last decade (at least). Storing the vault is on you, it just makes it easy to keep stuff organised.

I did this for years too until mobile devices became popular. I have ~4 mobile phones for various things (yes this isn't normal) and ~4 different computers/laptops I use. Trying to keep a Keypass in sync between them is a nightmare. A proper password manager (Bitwarden or other) removes all that hassle. I have fingerprint unlock on the the mobiles that support fingerprint, face unlock on the devices that support that etc. I have browser addons to make password entry quick and easy while remaining secure.

Once I moved to a password manager I realised how clunky and poor dragging a Keypass vault around was.

Fair enough. I don't use it on mobile (I try to do the fewest things possible on mobile so I manage without a password manager).

This! I’m using Strongbox on macOS and iOS and it’s just sooo good. It integrates with Apple’s AutoFill API and feels native - just like Apple’s Passwords app. But all the entries are in a KeePass database which I can sync via SyncThing, iCloud, Dropbox, whatever. And if the application should fail, I can use any other KeePass-compatible app or KeePass itself to get to my secrets.

This warrants a "galaxy brain" meme.

Your dad was a wise man.

In my country there is a saying: "Graveyards are full of pedestrians that had the right of way".

“You have the right of way but you can be dead right.”

My fathers different but related saying:

Better to be late than dead on time.

> 40k from the 120k job

I would not get up in the morning in such case.

> longer than they should

Just great. And who is to decide how long is "too long"? You?

Please don't conduct cross-examinations or otherwise be aggressive in HN threads. It's against the intended spirit of the site.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

I am sure people said the same 100 years back when they probably thought living beyond say 60 was too much. I know that in poorer countries due to high infant mortality rate and other issues just reaching 60 was a big milestone for the average person. The bigger question is how will the existing financial system adapt for such a scenario if even 10% of the population manages to extend from 82 to 100+

50% of highly educated women in certain countries are expected to live to 100+ years old according to some demographers, although others believe there's genuine biological limits making this unlikely (they still believe a substantial amount will reach it).

People have been reaching the age of 100 since antiquity, reaching 110 probably happened hundreds of years ago as well. Which just shows the biological limit hasn't been extended just that there's more people reaching it.

> I am sure people said the same 100 years back when they probably thought living beyond say 60 was too much.

At least in Western cultures, 70 was long considered the "natural" lifespan for humans. E.g., Dante's Divine Comedy takes place when the main character is at the literal midpoint of his life, 35.

AFAIK most societies historically respected the wisdom attributed to old age, and many cultures still do.

So you end up with octogenarians in power? No thanks.

I am glad that in my country people retire and fuck off to spend their last days on holiday. Spending their accumulated wealth has become a major engine of the national economy.

If anything, we’ve seen that older generations of leadership can’t keep up with changing technology and fail to adapt to massive upheavals.

In times of rapid technological development, the old are not wise. They are reactionary and cannot adapt. Their brain stopped developing before the internet. To expect them to make adequate decisions for the current landscape is to expect them to understand a world they simply weren’t built for.

Massively ageist.

A lot of older people are more adaptable, have a better understanding of technology. The older you are the more change you will have experienced.

Yeah that’s why congress is just so on top of technology regulation.

Just because it’s ageist doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Not too much wisdom in sight.

Term limits.

I think some sort of cognitive test would be a good place to start

Please. This is the reason why I don't read r/Apple.

I like this comparison.