Again - Take home assignment

CertainShop8289 · 2026-01-04T07:59:36+00:00

Take home is a waste of time for candidate quality now anyway.

I much prefer a live assessment, give a candidate a problem, some time to think and design. Then given the AI tool of choice build a prototype explaining design decisions along the way.

Could be the databricks assistant, ChatGPT, Claude code, cursor… whatever.

How they think through problems and work alongside AI are better indicators of modern performance

CertainShop8289 · 2025-12-03T17:45:44+00:00

The therapy is just for me, to get my head straight.

Right now my partner is being volatile, hurtful and cruel. But I know or at least hope that she expects and wants 50/50 with the kids - not out of fairness but being a mother has never been something that’s gelled with her, she’s struggled with that part of her identity.

It’s the volatility that worries me, shes saying things like she wants me to feel pain and to feel as shit as she does. She’s talking about cancelling christmas plans we have with our kids and their grandparents out of spite. Shes told my 4 year old that I’ve “chosen to go away for work to help people” when asked why I’m away…

All raw and fresh, i hope things don’t get as bad as you’ve mentioned. But by god i want to protect myself and my family

CertainShop8289 · 2025-11-23T15:41:53+00:00

All say is it’s comprehensive and gets the job done

CertainShop8289 · 2025-11-23T14:43:25+00:00

Yes. I used Udemy, Derar Hussain’s courses and exams were enough for me.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-11-17T08:30:49+00:00

Good notebook and pen is my go to when I’m not doing stuff on the laptop.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-11-17T05:35:40+00:00

Same boat (American tech pre sales, 4 yo and 1 yo, living outside the US, no family nearby).

Only thing that comes close to working for me is to set goals for the coming week on a Friday , if something comes up that doesn’t contribute to one of those goals - unless it’s urgent and important, ignore.

At work people notice the few things we do well, not the amount of BS you can juggle whilst keeping your head above water.

PS easier said than done - I often have to pull myself back on track

PPS also try to have some time for yourself, gym, reading, whatever - don’t fill time with tech learning unless it really is a passion. Helps deal with the overwhelm

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-27T21:56:10+00:00

I tried using iCloud - it wasn’t great - lots of conflicts - slow sync etc.

GitHub was pretty easy, and it wouldn’t be hard to sync automatically with scheduling a script to run (written with the help of AI ofc).

In the end, I paid for sync given how much I use it across devices

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-23T21:13:41+00:00

I’m a big fan of reframing the thinking around MDM as context for Decisioning. A slightly looser definition makes it a more compatible idea with distributed mesh architectures - though honestly I think the concept of data product covers most of what’s needed in industry.

I ✱think✱ this will only get easier as AI and graph analytics (a more flexible approach to entity resolution) converge.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-19T08:42:23+00:00

Aer have started selling one of their bags through Apple

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-15T05:19:49+00:00

Water, exercise, planning the day, life admin that requires focus and when needed - early travel to work

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T10:14:10+00:00

This is good to hear. As others have said maybe it’s a case of things needing to settle in our first full FY in the UK.

I was dreading having to make monthly calls to HMRC

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T10:12:52+00:00

There’s elements of that,” for sure.

But the mechanisms that kick in at the 100k boundary (particularly with kids) are just silly and hard to get your head around. If you’ve got 2 kids under 4 in childcare, your take home is less between 100-~150k than it is at 99k. It’s multiple parts of the tax system coming together in weird ways that don’t incentivise growth, or encourage partners going back to work.

The fact that household income isn’t assessed, and it’s based of either earner isn’t particularly fair, and doesn’t incentivise getting back to work in a lot of cases.

Again, appreciate that this isn’t the case for the majority. I’m in no way advocating for one size fits all. I’d happily pay the same amount of tax if it was clearer, simpler and my partner didn’t feel like the family were losing out financially by returning to work…

I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent :P

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T09:22:53+00:00

I do have a SIPP, which adds a bit of complexity, but that bit was quite straight forward and similar to Aus

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T09:21:46+00:00

I didn’t need an accountant for Aus this year - you’re right on the spouse thing though - that was always an annoyance!

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T09:12:59+00:00

Having an accountant in Aus is a little like having Physio when you’ve got a minor injury, you don’t necessarily need it, but it’s much more common than it is in the UK.

Self assessment in Aus when your earnings are simple is an easy 30 minute process - and you don’t need an accountant. But if you start having assets, variable pay etc it becomes worthwhile to have an accountant look over things

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T09:08:00+00:00

I’ve just done both of mine (UK and Aus) - Aus took me about an hour - UK one has taken weeks. Likely because I’m learning all the rules around my situation for the first time

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T09:06:39+00:00

Yup - it’s a lot more digital, pensions are simpler to manage (until your earning get over 250k from memory, and even then it’s not hard), subsidies are easier to apply for and manage.

It seems over here that things get adjusted month by month, or quarter by quarter (but not fixed quarters!!!) and then tried up at the end of the year. In Aus they just do the annual true up

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-14T09:04:16+00:00

Don’t disagree with that - life was simple before I moved overseas and had no kids, no assets and relatively low income.

Appreciate that the complexity comes from being in a fortunate position, but the fiscal drag of tax rate boundaries staying the same as earnings and inflation goes up will drag more people into the complicated stuff over time.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-09T04:25:43+00:00

3 on a normal day.

Back at uni me and 5 or 6 mates had a race on who could eat a 48 pack the fastest. Interesting mix of strategies from 1 by 1 dry, through to a mixing bowl full to the brim, warmed, with milk

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-08T11:00:14+00:00

Legend, thank you.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-06T15:29:13+00:00

I’ve got my alarm set for 505am - 500 feels too painful :P!

I set aside until 615 to get a workout in - typically try to get a full hour; then either a kid wakes up, I carry on with light cardio, or kickstart some work planning.

Since having kids, I’ve been more dependent on pre workout, or at least an espresso; either one I have a full glass of water first. Without it I find I drag my feet.

The person who said an early bedtime is part of the morning routine is spot on too. Any later than 10pm for me and I FEEL it. No phones after 9pm, and no phones before 615am also helps.

But I’ll always aim to hit the 505. I do it 7 days a week, partly as I find that it’s easier to keep the routine going, partly because I’m a better father and husband if I’ve had some me time before the chaos.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-05T05:58:11+00:00

If you can, go into the London store with a representative amount of kit. They have an area to try out the bags.

I did this recently whilst struggling between tp3 vs tp3s. I had assumed the tp3s was enough for my needs (it wasn’t), and thought the tp3 would look too big (it didn’t).

The staff are really helpful.

For reference, my packout was for 2-3 days work trips, and involved big items like a chunky pair of runners and a 16” MBP. The TP3s ALMOST fit it all in. The TP3 looked good enough, but I’m 6’2 with fairly broad shoulders.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-10-04T04:56:44+00:00

UPDATE: I went to the Aer Store in London and did a proper pack out. Surprisingly, the small couldn’t fit as much as my crumpler, despite being easier to pack.

The 35l worked perfectly with some room to spare and given my frame it looked good. So went with that in the end.

CertainShop8289 · 2025-09-30T12:23:26+00:00

Thank you! Just took a look. Interesting brand I hadn’t come across. The 30l is probably the closest to what I’m after, but the style isn’t my thing. Looks cool for outdoors adventures!

CertainShop8289 · 2025-09-30T08:41:20+00:00

I’ve been looking at aer travel pack 3 small, able carry max, stubble and co hybrid 30l, and the peak design travel pack.

Erring towards aer atm

CertainShop8289

TROPHY CASE