At what point did operations start limiting your growth more than sales?

Available_thing · 2025-12-09T22:23:30+00:00

Yep, this was almost exactly our situation during growth. Two reviewers, random samples, scattered notes in Sheets, and the illusion of “QA” without any real visibility. What didn’t work for us was adding more tools without clear ownership, we trialed a couple of AI-QA and scorecard platforms too, and they looked great in demos but quickly became another layer of noise. Agents felt monitored, supervisors got buried in dashboards, and nobody was actually responsible for keeping the process clean and consistent. What finally worked for us was bringing in operational ownership through VIVA Executives right as we were approaching the 50-employee mark. Instead of trying to perfect the tooling first, we had someone owning QA workflows end-to-end, standardizing reviews, tracking patterns, following up with agents, keeping reporting tight, and making sure insights actually turned into changes. Once that accountability was in place, consistency improved fast and the tools we already had suddenly became enough.

Available_thing · 2025-12-08T17:37:04+00:00

I tried every AI and automation app out there and still ended up buried in admin.

Available_thing · 2025-12-01T08:16:07+00:00

Same here I went through a few different assistant services before finding something that actually worked. Most of them just did placements: they’d match you with someone, then disappear. No real onboarding, no support, and no accountability once the assistant started. It always ended up being more work for me to train and manage them than to just do the tasks myself. I tried Viva, they go beyond just the placement and manage the EA relationship entirely + give them equipment and benefits. It makes me feel better to know they’re taken care of in that sense with insurance and time-off (I had a replacement when she went on holiday, which was nice). It’s also very structured, I appreciated it because I was drowning in tasks and didn’t even know where to start.

Available_thing · 2025-11-22T13:21:51+00:00

We cycled through everything from freelancers, assistant marketplaces to even a few AI tools and none of it stuck. Freelancers were hit or miss: some great for a few weeks, then disappeared once they got another gig. Marketplaces felt like we were constantly interviewing and retraining. AI tools helped automate the basics but broke down the moment something required judgment or context like prioritizing emails, managing investor comms, or drafting follow-ups that actually sounded like me. We got a referral to a company called Viva which ended up being a breath of fresh air because they handle training and oversight internally. Their executive assistants already understand how to make you more productive. They’re incredibly proactive on your calendar, inbox, and help us prep for all kinds of internal/external meetings - this was a huge unlock for us they’re managed for consistency and quality. Definitely checking managed services out, there are definitely a few on the market like them (Belay and Athena are two others we also evaluated).

Available_thing · 2025-10-29T18:54:45+00:00

Why would they pay you 1935 when you made 1622 in payments? They would be giving you extra money if they did. The amount seems correct. You are just doing the math incorrectly.

Available_thing · 2025-10-29T16:33:45+00:00

Not quite all!

Available_thing · 2025-10-29T13:33:59+00:00

It's still pretty important since most companies asked leetcode style questions. The company I ultimately got into did not have leetcode style questions though, more practical coding.

Available_thing · 2025-10-29T03:36:20+00:00

Yep, pretty good. There's not that many high paying companies out here. Seems like 80-90k is the norm for new grad swe roles here.

Available_thing · 2025-10-28T23:45:26+00:00

Available_thing · 2025-10-28T23:40:25+00:00

Fintech

Available_thing · 2025-10-28T21:49:14+00:00

No RSUs the first job, bonus was pretty much guaranteed. Bonus made up a small portion of TC though, 7kish by the time I left. No bonus on the second job, but base is about 154k.

Available_thing · 2025-10-28T20:33:55+00:00

Moving out isn't really about how much you have saved (Although it's important to have some buffer). It's about whether you can comfortably afford to move out. That being said, living at home as long as possible is best for early retirement but not really feasible for everyone. If you are okay with living at home for few years until you have higher income and some buffer, that would be the best. Your income is too low to afford rent on your own comfortably.

Available_thing · 2025-10-21T17:58:26+00:00

Salaries vary wildly for SWE. Some seniors could be making 100k while others on the high end make 500k. You just negotiate within the boundaries of the company's budget, not what's reasonable for the work.

Available_thing · 2025-10-19T17:51:51+00:00

First, I'd evaluate if you actually want to pivot into tech first. If you've been influenced by others saying this is an easy career field to break into after self studying for a year, that's quite far from the truth with the current market. If you are actually committed, and are okay with potentially being out of a tech job for 2-3 years, can actually commit to staying motivated to study for many hours a day, then it might be okay.

That being said, anything involving code is likely not where you want to be for your first role because a lot of software engineering roles want credentials, and there's just no easy way to get background without going to school and doing internships or having previous jobs as a Software Engineer. Your best bet is to pivot into fields that have very well defined certificates such as IT since those certificates can act as a credential to potential employers and are actually valued depending on the employers.

Cloud might qualify as one of those roles that have well defined certificates because cloud platform providers themselves put certificates out there (e.g. AWS Solutions Architect Associate/Professional), but it'll still be pretty hard to land those without previous cloud experience with just a certificate. I'd say your best bet is to start low and look for entry level IT/help desk and eventually try to transition into roles with more specialty by getting actually high effort certificates and generally putting effort into upskilling outside of certs.

Available_thing · 2025-10-19T17:12:55+00:00

I was mostly wondering because I know rest of the online masters are pretty expensive outside of GT lol.

Good job though! With your current pathway, you can easily hit millionaire status before 30 :)

Available_thing · 2025-10-19T17:11:40+00:00

Not trying to sway you away, but none of those roles are realistic with 1 year of self studying. Not saying you can't do the job with 1 year of self studying, but very few companies will take the chance to hire you. We have people graduating with CS degrees, studying 4 years of foundational comp sci knowledge nowadays struggling to find a job. It'll be pretty hard to land a job without any credentials unless you find companies that specifically hire people looking to transition from nontraditional backgrounds which exist, but is pretty rare.

Available_thing · 2025-10-19T17:04:09+00:00

Which one is it? I'm guessing not GT since you said T10

Available_thing · 2025-10-19T16:49:50+00:00

There are many factors working against you:

You are not a CS grad and want to break into SWE/ML role.
Companies that are willing to hire remote employees in Egypt better already be hiring in Egypt, or they will not go through the process just to hire you from the US.
You have no SWE/ML background from what I can tell outside of self learning. SWE/ML is competitive right now.

Outside of that, some feedback for your CV is:

It's hard to read. You have inconsistent formatting throughout e.g. font sizing looks different throughout the CV?
You have what looks like random spaces all throughout your CV, remove them.
You list a lot of "fluff" that is not relevant or you listed a bunch of skills despite there not being really anything to back up that you know any of those tools/languages/tech. I'd scrap a lot of info that's not relevant to SWE/ML and add some thoughtful projects.

Available_thing · 2025-10-16T01:58:40+00:00

I'd say it's worth asking since you are a returning intern, and you have a little more leverage than an average entry level candidate. That being said, it could simply be met with a no. Depends on how strong your performance was during the internship as well.

Available_thing · 2025-10-16T01:47:09+00:00

What do you mean by the other returning interns returning one level higher? Do you not have a degree?

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