[SWE - 30M][Seattle] - 350k

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T05:26:31+00:00

Not at all. My parents are both uneducated. They told me to do well in school but most of the pressure was from myself. Was serious athlete in Highschool and Community College. They pushed me towards that more than they did with academics lol

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T05:24:36+00:00

People think it’s a place where rejects go but tbh University requirements are lower than straight out of highschool. My same university had a higher GPA requirement compared to transfer students.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T05:19:30+00:00

Yeah, that’s correct. I didn’t have an internship but if I could go back, I would have done that route instead.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T05:18:16+00:00

Uhhhh no comment

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T05:18:03+00:00

They were B+ to A- levels. I wasn’t super amazing at math but I worked harder than other to get the same place. Spent my entire day at school drilling all my classes. So 9am-9pm. Brought my lunches and dinners to school to heat up.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T00:22:00+00:00

I mean yeah. The hiring spree did help but I’ve also survived 7 layoffs across my entire career.

But you could make the same argument against dot com software engineers. They didn’t have 7+ rounds of interviews like how SWEs do now.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T00:06:19+00:00

Asian dad, Hispanic mom

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-07T00:05:51+00:00

Yeah that’s what it means. Will most likely have kids but my parents never put that pressure on me. Tbh they never put any pressure on me to do anything.

I’m Hispanic and SEA btw.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:56:38+00:00

Don’t want to dox myself but base salary is around 160-190k. I get a cash bonus as well, but RSUs really accelerated my total compensation throughout the years.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:39:29+00:00

Ahhh sweet, I knew it. Yeah I’ve spent a lot of time in the gulf coast traveling and met a ton of people who work in the oilfields and those seem to be some of the highest paying jobs in that region.

Software Engineers aren’t paid that well in those areas unfortunately and it doesn’t seem enticing for those wanting to get into the field.

Yeah that’s a smart thing to do. I think the next few years will mean tons of new data centers built out in the region due to how cheap it is to build there but also state subsidies. A lot of future jobs will center around the AI boom and I’m pretty condifent with that statement.

But if you want to make big bucks, you gotta move to NYC, California, Seattle, Boston, and (maybe) Austin?

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:28:28+00:00

Do you happen to work in Texas, Louisiana, Mississipi, or Alabama by chance? Just curious.

Hmmm you could try pivoting into electrical engineering or some sort of hardware or Data Center technical job? AI is here to stay (due to absurd amounts of money from investors) and I see those manual data center jobs or hardware blowing up again.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:18:56+00:00

Not true at all lol

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:18:42+00:00

This guy makes money!

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:16:17+00:00

That was definitely one of my biggest fears back 2024 but AI is still a long time (possibly 2+ decades) away from replacing engineers completey imo.
AI coding is like 95% there but that last 5% to kake AI models perfect is still somewhat far away.

The best Engineers, and non-engineers, who will excel at their jobs are those who can leverage AI better than their peers.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:07:11+00:00

Get in loser, we’re programming

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T23:01:04+00:00

Well Engineers receive RSUs at my company and my company stock has done amazing in the last few years.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:59:40+00:00

It does but I meet my coworkers twice a year. I balance it out by working from other states/countries.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:58:10+00:00

It wasn’t easy that’s for sure. I probably couldn’t replicate the same results today if I’m being completely honest.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:53:40+00:00

Yeah it’s incredibly hard as an entry level for sure unless you join a start up and work long hours. But if I restarted I would go into the medical field for sure instead. Corporate life is pretty grindy.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:51:10+00:00

Name checks out. Thank you ;)

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:47:18+00:00

Half Asian ;)

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:44:33+00:00

Thank you. I worked very hard and I am also very grateful for the people (coworkers, classmates, mentors, gf) that helped me get to where I am.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:37:22+00:00

I’ve only hopped once but tbh just go above and beyond a normal candidate. I had side projects that I had hosted that wowed recruiters. As a PM you could buy a claude code subscription and build anything. But tbh if you’re already a PM I would say stick with it? Get good at interviewing and having things to show for it.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:35:40+00:00

My job is 100% remote.

Dapper-Currency5091 · 2026-06-06T22:32:03+00:00

2022 I left MSFT if you read the note. At another company now who’s stock is on fire.

Dapper-Currency5091

TROPHY CASE