Play the other side here for a second. You hired someone at $250 an hour who you met at a networking event, not a vetting process, so maybe you got what you paid for speed-wise. A guy who can talk big at a mixer might not have the hands-on skills, but that's more on you for skipping the real interview and just trusting a handshake. Cut the hourly rate and do a quick test project next time to filter the YouTubers from the actual workers.

Well actually the Apollo guidance computer didn't really have a screen or keyboard like people think... it was all switches and lights with that weird rope memory. The math part is right though, those trajectories were basically just Newton's laws with some clever shortcuts. That old guy probably knew his stuff since the guidance computer could barely do basic multiplication compared to a calculator today. Still gotta respect someone who can explain orbital mechanics on a hardware store napkin, that's a skill in itself.

Three hours for a bend" - I'd have just called a priest to exorcise the thing.

Man, did your buddy at least get a heads up or was it one of those out of nowhere things like @jenny198's story? I've seen that happen to a few people I know too, where getting let go was actually a blessing in disguise. It's wild how fast things can turn around if you've got the right connections or just get lucky with timing. My neighbor got laid off from a warehouse job a few years back and ended up making more money driving a delivery truck a week later. Sometimes the universe really does just shove you out of a rut you didn't even notice you were stuck in, like @jenny198 said about that cubicle neighbor scoring interviews the same morning.

Whoa, hold on. You're telling me welders in the 80s were pulling in what amounts to $40 an hour in today's money? That's wild. I've got buddies who weld for a living and they'd laugh in my face if I told them that. They're lucky to make $25-$30 an hour, and that's with all the modern safety gear and certifications. It's crazy how the value of skilled labor just dropped off a cliff (even though the work got harder, not easier). You'd think with all the construction booms and the constant demand for welders, the pay would have shot up way higher than just keeping pace with inflation. Man, that really puts things in perspective.