week one
It’s officially been one week of unemployment. I’m floored by how many people subscribed, so I just wanted to start by saying thank you truly from the bottom of my heart.
A lot of the people who subscribed have been watching me grow for the better part of a decade. Thanks to unsupervised internet access, I’ve been chronically online most of my life. On Tumblr, I posted sprawling rants about my middle school teachers punctuated with dumb GIFs. By 15, I had a decent following. Some of those people still read me today.
In college, I thought I’d end up in tech. DevRel, maybe InfoSec. Instead, on a whim, I started a tech column for the school paper. That’s where KYLIEBYTES was born. From there it was Business Insider, Fortune, The Verge, and finally WIRED. And through it all, people who’ve followed me since the beginning kept cheering me on.
You’d think getting shitcanned from your dream job would quiet that chorus. Instead, I got hundreds of replies, texts, DMs. Nearly all said the same thing: I’ve been there. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I’m also in good company here in San Francisco. There’s an “unemployment renaissance” happening—people getting laid off, burning out, or just walking away. I grabbed drinks with friends in the same boat. Meanwhile, my TikTok algorithm has clocked my new reality, shifting from “how to recover from burnout when you’re highly ambitious” to “I quit my job with no plan.” I should probably just delete TikTok.
What I’m really trying to say is that I’m overwhelmed by the support, from new readers to people who’ve known me for years. Strangers writing to say they’ve been through the same thing, and that they want to keep following my work. Writing has always been my constant, like a worn-out stuffed animal that still somehow knows how to comfort me. I’m grateful I get to share it with you. I can’t promise it’ll always be good, but it will always be me.
I'd love to hear about what you want to see me write about. Like, what the actual fuck is going on with the Meta AI slop machine? If you're down to give feedback, email me at kylie@kyliebytes.com.
One last thing! I thought it would be fun to share what I'm reading and what I'm listening to. If you have recommendations in either department, you know where to reach me.
Reading: Rising Sun by Michael Crichton ☆ I've loved Michael Crichton's work since I read Prey in a Yosemite cabin at 13 years old. I was at a thrift store on Fillmore when I saw this book. Some of his work has really not aged well, but so far this is a pretty fun read. Murder mystery stuff.
Listening: Dance Yrself Clean — LCD Soundsystem ☆ After getting canned, I saw a TikTok that was like "girl let your hair air dry into a never before seen texture drop $50 on a moleskin ecosystem apply unflattering lipgloss put on some lcd soundsystem and handle it." Anyways, that's why I have this one on repeat.
P.S: Today's lead image is brought to you by the lovely Donald Boat.
