Sometimes getting random DMs in your online community doesn’t always work out like you want it to.
Picture this, you're Aubrey, a cybersecurity pro thriving in a fast-paced tech scene. Everything’s going smoothly until you try to do a nice thing - offering some extra tickets to a local disco costume party. Sounds harmless, right…right!?
Enter Ted: a seemingly well-meaning but totally clueless guy who doesn’t quite get the boundaries. What starts as a small gesture develops into a series of awkward DMs, boundary-pushing, and what we’d call very awkward exchanges, oof!
Got a tech tale of your own or some workplace drama? Hit us up at jellyfish.co/offthevpn. And don’t worry—we’ll keep it Off the VPN.
Highlights:
- Ted Doesn’t Get the Memo: You gotta read the room yo!
- Aubrey Goes CSI: It all starts with the phone number
- Community Vigilance: Moderators, we love you, thanks for keeping communities safe!
Jump into the conversation:
(
00:00) Intro
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03:47) Aubrey’s generous ticket giveaway
(
07:02) Ted’s unsolicited messages start flooding in
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09:10) Boundaries set, but Ted doesn’t get the hint
(
12:55) Crossing over the cybersecurity line
(
17:02) When online turns real
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20:52) Aubrey plays CSI on Ted
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25:40) Community moderators step in
(
28:09) The moral of the story: Privacy, people
What is Off the VPN?
Is bringing up your software engineering salary a dating red flag? How do you strike a balance between career ambition and incendiary burnout? Is it ever okay to hold your code hostage in escrow? Navigating a career in tech raises a lot of tricky questions that aren’t exactly appropriate for the daily stand-up. So let’s take this off the VPN.
In this new podcast from Jellyfish, work besties Jasmine and Allison scour the internet to find the real questions engineers and developers are whispering over drinks and posting about anonymously. Together, they’ll tackle the most troubling of inquiries with authenticity, humor, and absolutely no holding back.