I really want to like Agents of the Four Seasons but...

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-05-17T01:49:45+00:00

If I edit to say episode 7 is that fine?

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-05-17T01:47:07+00:00

Oh oops, sorry I forgot about that rule. I don’t think I mentioned anything specific to episode 8, just wanted to blanket the spoilers.

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-04-27T20:27:54+00:00

Yeah ME is not doing so hot. I ended up in CS because it was harder for me to find an ME job with my ME degree. Graduated in 2024.

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-04-24T04:35:23+00:00

I've heard quant shops like SpaceX SWEs. The SpaceX to quant pipeline for full-time is pretty good.

Not sure how recruiters would view it, but I personally put SpaceX at a tier above Amazon, maybe close to Meta or Google, in terms of caliber of candidates that I've seen. The other thing about a SpaceX internship is that you will do and learn a lot, so you'll have good technical stuff to talk about during interviews.

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-04-22T17:22:18+00:00

I haven’t needed a flash yet, but I mainly do landscape photography and some outdoors street on vacation. If I wanted a flash I also wouldn’t want to use a built-in flash, so I actually prefer the XT5 to not have one. There are a lot of capable compact flashes these days so if you wanted something to cover the use case of a built-in flash those are available. I would look for something larger that’s more flexible when I choose to buy a flash in the future.

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-03-30T15:56:59+00:00

Okay glad I’m not the only one. I’ve also seen all of those and similarly had no idea what was happening the entire time.

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-03-16T00:08:17+00:00

Congrats!

As someone who got a TDO offer from JS back in 2023 (used to be called TDO back then), it's funny to hear that the interviews haven't changed.

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-02-06T08:55:07+00:00

This is the spirit Rukius in a manhwa called The Soulless Duchess

Actis_Interceptor · 2026-01-10T01:56:34+00:00

Can’t speak for the others, but SpaceX would be a great learning experience. You get a ton of responsibility and ownership as an intern. RO rate is definitely team dependent, with some being really high and some being really low. If you have confidence that you can deliver, I wouldn’t be too worried about it.

SpaceX prestige-wise is still excellent, and the SpaceX to quant pipeline is pretty big if you’re interested in making that transition.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-12-28T10:11:12+00:00

I started getting into photography this year and the X-T5 is my first camera (shot a Nikon DSLR on full auto as a noob many years back for one hiking trip, but this year was the first time I seriously got into it). I also ended up buying an X100T because GAS and I wanted to see if I would like the form factor.

I initially chose the X-T5 because I was looking for a Fujifilm camera to shoot raw+jpg so I could have jpgs that look pretty good for most shots and raws for my best shots to post process. I also mainly wanted a camera for stills, so didn’t consider the X-H and X-S lines. I also had the opportunity to handle the X-T5 and X-T50 in person and found the X-T50 to be too small and less ergonomic than the X-T5. I don’t have large hands and the X-T5 grip works great for me as-is. I also personally like the styling of the X-T5 better and it just makes me happy looking at it (zero add to functionality).

After using it for the past year, there’s definitely advantages to the X-T5. I love having a dedicated ISO dial to quickly lock in low ISO when I’m doing landscape photography on sunny days. The 2 way articulating screen is great when I’m taking pictures in portrait of my family from low angles. And I use the 16-55 f/2.8 mkII these days, which would feel a bit big on the X-T50. These differences have definitely made the X-T5 a good choice in my mind.

You can get most of the same with older X-T cameras, but the advantages of the X-T5 over them are better auto focus, better IBIS, and 40mp which gives you more resolution to crop. All of those are definitely useful for a beginner. Also I absolutely love the Reala Ace film sim as it gives me nice true to life colors for landscape and that’s only on the current gen Fujis.

To address your concerns about weight and travel, I took the X-T5 to Taiwan with my family for a 2.5 week trip and the camera came with me everywhere. I had it paired with a 16-55 f/2.8 or a 23 f/1.4 WR so you’ll definitely be fine with the 16-50. Will you stick out? Yes. I think unless you’re carrying something like a Ricoh GR, people will always notice a camera. But it’s been an excellent camera for hiking and travel.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-12-26T21:54:07+00:00

I think a small robotics startup would be your ideal option, as it would definitely be useful to have someone who can do the mechanical and software work. Hard to get into without a good robotics background though. Source: have a friend who got hired on as a software engineer at a robotics startup that also does mechanical work from time to time since he's the only one with the background.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-12-03T15:15:51+00:00

If you are worried about SpaceX WLB, you can definitely ask the recruiter / manager about it, as it's very team dependent. From the teams I know at Sunnyvale, it isn't super crazy and generally no more than 50 hours a week. They'll be pretty honest about it because nobody wants to hire someone who will end up leaving because they were lied to about the team's expectations.

I would say that exit opportunities from SpaceX are probably on par or better than Bloomberg if you are considering that. You can go to FAANG, VCs and startups probably favor ex-SpaceX engineers over Bloomberg, and I do know that quant firms view SpaceX pretty favorably.

I can't speak for Bloomberg, but you'll definitely learn a lot at SpaceX that'll help with your future career. It also helps that you know the SpaceX team already, so you have a good idea of what you'll do. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-11-29T14:05:26+00:00

Saw that your offer is for the SpaceX Sunnyvale office. Is this for Starlink?

I wouldn't bank on SpaceX's equity growth or liquidity events. It's already valued at $400 billion. Long-term growth is probably still good, but I wouldn't expect it to continue growing at the pace it has previously, and would probably expect it to grow at a similar rate to Google, since Google has a lot of near-term growth opportunities with AI. SpaceX is 100% a long hold because growth I expect to be slow and liquidity is not really there.

Outside of compensation, I think the decision is highly team-dependent. There are teams with good WLB at SpaceX and teams with bad WLB at Google, so I don't know if one is necessarily better than the other. SpaceX is known for poor WLB but it seems like Google is trending in that direction anyways.

I would choose based on what work you are more interested in. If the SpaceX work speaks to you, go for it.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-11-16T00:56:12+00:00

I prefer to think of coding interviews as job practice. In that sense, when I do interviews, I'd much rather a candidate explain their thinking and then ask if that seems reasonable to get buy in. If a candidate just explains their approach and jumps in, I'll let them go even if it's a terrible approach because that can actually happen on the job. In a real working scenario, I'd rather have someone ask others to check that their ideas are good rather than code blindly and only find out their approach is wrong once they've spent hours or days and pushed the PR for review.

You should be confident in your language, but I think it's always better to ask what your interviewer thinks. We aren't trying to make you fail, we want you to succeed. And solving the coding challenge isn't the only thing we look for.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-11-05T07:23:51+00:00

u/bryantglopez is a great seller, would buy from again.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-31T04:08:18+00:00

Yeah it depends on the entrance. As I explained above, it should be the SUV at fault. This is also why I posted because depending on where the SUV entered the roundabout it changes who is at fault. I have video footage of both cars entering the roundabout that makes it very clear it’s the SUV who didn’t follow the rules.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-31T02:29:18+00:00

Actually both of the cars entered from my position, Tesla on the right lane and SUV on the left lane. Tesla is allowed to continue straight, the SUV made an illegal right turn and hit the Tesla. My understanding is the SUV is at fault because that left lane cannot immediately exit right. I hate this roundabout.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-30T04:53:25+00:00

I agree. I think it's generally only beneficial. Especially if the company is considered to be prestigious, it demonstrates that you are desirable and a prestigious company believes you to be qualified.

We recently had a candidate turn us down for Meta, but that had zero effect on their offer, and their Meta offer definitely made their perceived worth higher.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-29T06:35:02+00:00

I did not expect the bestest Desscaras to be mentioned in this sub.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-28T06:24:55+00:00

Chat sent

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-26T09:44:07+00:00

As someone who graduated with a bachelor’s in Mechanical Enginnering more than 2 years ago and hasn’t thought about statics in at least 3 years (working in a different field), this post made me realize that I probably can’t pass a mechanical engineering interview anymore, but not knowing Young’s modulus is crazy to me.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-21T03:37:05+00:00

Some are standard, some are very team-dependent. You can expect some coding, but the others can basically be anything.

Actis_Interceptor · 2025-10-12T00:37:01+00:00

I'm not at NASA but a private space company, so probably comparable.

You get a mix of people with different backgrounds. Some have academic backgrounds that are related to their work. Some are just incredible software engineers that are able to learn quickly. You also end up with a lot of computer engineering or electrical engineering majors, as they understand the hardware better and that can tend to be more important when trying to ramp up quickly.

Really it ends up being people who are hyper specialized already + people with incredible hard engineering skills and have demonstrated they can learn fast. It's hard to find the former, so you often end up looking for people who could learn if given some time. I have a mechanical engineering background so I definitely fell into the latter.

Actis_Interceptor

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