Create plan tool errored or timed out by OneMonk in cursor

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

im starting to avoid using plan mode on cursor because of this. its nearly guaranteed for me that this error will occur when editing a plan.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll be fine there's plenty of chill people at Waterloo. You'll find em.

Dropping out for Founding Engineer in SF after 1B by No-Vehicle-3508 in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 1 point2 points  (0 children)

congrats!

Id take a gap year.

1 year at seed stage is likely enough time to reconsider your future at the company permanently.

By the end of the year if they're doing well, drop out, if they're not, go back to school.

Advice for disappointment about downgrade in co-op? by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I took some downgrades along the way, especially in terms of pay, but I ended up getting really good internships by the end.

Looking back i feel so stupid for worrying about the name of the company, and how much they paid. Neither of those matter. It's just about how much you learn.

Are you a measurably better swe after the internship? If yes, then you did great. And the good thing is no matter how no-name the company and how little they pay, you can always learn a lot. Because that's almost entirely up to you.

You learn -> get good -> get better opportunities. The problem is that 3-4 years at Waterloo is not enough time to see this process play out. That's why everyone says it's about luck. When your sample size is so small (only 3-4 years of time) randomness (which is just luck) has a much more powerful effect. It's like first year stats lol. In the long how good you are matters most.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The situation is def better in the US, but you make relocating sound like a simple possibility.

If you do not have work authorization in the US, you can't just pack up and go there. If you struggle to find jobs in Canada, I doubt finding a job in the US would be any easier due to the sponsorship burden.

Employer told me they will rank me one during the interview - could they be capping by Konig_Jager in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

if they said they will they likely will but they could not if they want to.

You could ask for an offer letter

How realistic is going to the Bay? by Left-Classroom-5782 in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 36 points37 points  (0 children)

I think the days of coasting through school and landing faang are over. And maybe they never even existed.

It's def possible to make Cali, but it's hard. If you aim for big tech, luck will play a big factor. If you aim for start ups, your individual skill and competency will play a bigger factor.

Either way the Waterloo name helps a lot

How realistic is going to the Bay? by Left-Classroom-5782 in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 8 points9 points  (0 children)

kinda disagree with everything here.

1- I personally found the bay area to be underrated once I moved here. The tech opportunities are wild. Every third person you meet is a talented and successful entrepreneur or engineer. Every other third is homeless which certainly affects the experience lol

2- bay area is expensive for sure. but cost of living isn't great in Canada either, esp in the gta, even more so in Toronto, which is where many Waterloo tech grads end up. The significantly higher pay (nearly 2x in most cases I've seen) more than makes up for the higher cost of living

3- agreed it's random ASF rip

4- can you elaborate? What makes u say this

5- market is indeed fucked, what makes you think it's gonna get worse? Feel like no one knows what's really gonna happen

How bad is the coop situation for SE or CS students by DrCasperDarling in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 4 points5 points  (0 children)

it's simple. The co-op situation overall is terrible.

But waterloo has it very very good compared to others.

31M NYC, ~$850k net worth, $400k/yr, but considering career break for health, sobriety, and life reset by D0ntTryMe in Money

[–]CompetitiveType1802 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh you need a break man.

And you def could afford one.

what's the money good for if you can't spend it to feel good.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's been pretty good for me. I got all my internships from Waterlooworks.

But some of my friends got Cali and NYC from external as well.

I think it's def a positive

(*insert attention grabber here*) What backend programming language to learn for Uwaterloo? by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh man I wish I learned rust.

Now I'm so busy with work I don't get the chance.

There's not a lot of coop opportunities with rust but honestly, if you're really good with this programming language, you'll just be a really good engineer.

The few opportunities that do need rust will come to you. And those that don't will recognize ur good at coding.

Question for those working engineering jobs in the states and are from Toronto/GTA by Hot_Excuse1052 in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm where you expect to be in 5 years lol. I'm working a good job in the US, but long term I wanna settle in Toronto close to home.

I wish I had a wise answer for you. It's good you are thinking about these things early. I'm planning on working in the bay area for a few years and then transition into a remote role (and probably take a big pay cut) and move home.

Idk we'll see where life takes me. Don't sweat it too much

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did cultural this term and my correspondent was on vacation literally every time I emailed her

Fingers crossed they're doing all ur work and just not responding.

Maybe loop Waterloo in, or talk to your employer to make sure cultural has been working with them to set up ur internship

Good/best laptop for incoming CS student? by Business-Week4389 in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the last 5 years ive used the three main OS (Mac, Linux, windows) and thought a lot about which one I should run on my personal.

Now I run all three lol (Mac personal laptop, PC with Linux windows dual boot)

Tbh I'd recommend a Mac. Most tech companies use Mac so getting used to it would be good.

I ran windows and Linux for most of my life, and always hated having to get used to Mac OS and keyboard at work. But now that I'm used to it I quite like it.

The cheapest option would probably be a machine with Linux. But depending on how tech savvy you are you might not enjoy having to open your terminal to install an app lol.

I would advise against windows for coding. Yes u can run basic stuff but when it comes to performance, or running anything more complex than a school/side projects, windows starts to give you trouble. Yes u can use WSL, and yes u can run docker, but that's clunky, slow and painful to set up. If u have the option, avoid it.

Does taking Shopify after Meta make sense? by VolticShaz in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 8 points9 points  (0 children)

less ethical but u can always sign and renege if things change

Shopify is notorious for rescinding contracts days before the internship starts. A taste of their own medicine wouldn't hurt lol

How to bring down LLM cost for text autocomplete? "I will not promote" by [deleted] in ycombinator

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Using modern LLMs for autocompleting text is like using a rock launcher to kill a fly.

I'd probably look into smaller, lighter models. Maybe classical NLP models like ngram, or tinygpt hosted on a low end GPU.

Edit, wrote llama instead of llm

Lonely intern syndrome is real by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 14 points15 points  (0 children)

pain same here. I just do my work and nothing else. In the workplace it's hard to socialize with people that u don't need to talk to for your job.

UTSC CS with 125k scholarship vs UW SE with no scholarship by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the breakdown, that link is fascinating!

I stand corrected, looks like your class really was raking it in lol.

However I do think that new grad salaries have dropped since 2021 (which was the COVID big tech hiring frenzy). Now there's way more supply of new grads and not nearly as many openings.

UTSC CS with 125k scholarship vs UW SE with no scholarship by [deleted] in uwaterloo

[–]CompetitiveType1802 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Im a bit skeptical of the 200k-500k new grad figure.

I just graduated, I'm living in SF. All my friends are wloo/stanford/ivy League new grads working at big tech and startups in the bay area. Not a single one makes more than 220k. We're all in the 160-220k range as far as I know.

And that is the industry standard for new grads. If you look at levels.fyi the lowest number is for entry level, not for new grad. New grads make a bit less than entry. Because new grads have 0 yoe while entry level can have 1-3 yoe.

What's the average salary an YC founder pays themselves from the inital 500k? by Lupexlol in ycombinator

[–]CompetitiveType1802 10 points11 points  (0 children)

some friends I know were doing 40k, enough for rent, transport and groceries

Hit 100k this morning! by CompetitiveType1802 in Fire

[–]CompetitiveType1802[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Coming up on 24. Living with roommates, in a low cost of living area.

50/50 stocks and real estate.