u/Cinder_4X

I often get asked when I’m going to "settle down" and have kids, but honestly, looking at my life right now, I couldn't be happier. My cats provide all the companionship, entertainment, and "parental" fulfillment I could ever want without any of the life-altering stress of raising a human.

Here is why being a cat dad beats the alternative every single time:

• Peace and Quiet**: After a long day of engineering work and Revit troubleshooting, I can come home to a quiet house where the loudest thing is a purr, not a tantrum.
• Hobbies Stay Intact**: I can spend my weekends playing Dota 2 or Destiny 2 with my friends without having to pause for a diaper change or a crying fit.
• Financial Freedom**: Instead of saving for a massive college fund, I can put that money into my car projects or travel plans with my wife.
• The Bond is Genuine**: There is something so rewarding about a cat choosing to curl up next to you while you work or relax. It’s a low-maintenance, high-reward relationship that fits my lifestyle perfectly.

People say I’m missing out, but when I see the chaos my sister deals with, I’m reminded exactly why I chose this path. My cats don't need a college fund, they don't talk back, and they are perfectly happy with some good food and a warm spot on the sofa.

I'll take the "Cat Dad" title over "Human Parent" any day of the week.

I have been tracking a specific Senior Analyst role at a mid sized fintech firm for nearly seven months now and it is driving me absolutely insane. I applied back in November when I was first laid off and I got hit with the standard automated rejection about three weeks later. Fine whatever. But then two weeks after that the exact same job was reposted as a fresh listing. I thought maybe they didnt find the right candidate so I tweaked my resume and applied again from a different email address just to see what would happen. Silence for a month and then another automated rejection. Since then I have seen this same job pop up every single month like clockwork and it always has over two hundred applicants within the first few hours.

I actually reached out to a friend who knows someone in their HR department and they basically admitted that the role isnt even open right now. They are just keeping the listing active to collect a resume pipeline for some hypothetical future expansion and to make it look like the company is still growing to their investors. It is honestly predatory behavior because they are wasting thousands of hours of collective human effort from desperate people who are spending time tailoring cover letters and researching the company for a position that literally does not exist. I am seeing this everywhere now with the same five or six companies in my city reposting the same roles for over a year. It feels like the entire job market is just a hall of mirrors at this point where half the "openings" are just data harvesting operations or corporate theater to keep the stock price up while actual human beings are draining their savings just to stay afloat. How is this even legal to post fake vacancies when it directly messes with unemployment data and peoples mental health like this.