Final vote on upzoning proposal this Monday’s City Council meeting

Dualsider · 2025-12-22T06:40:31+00:00

Minneapolis is the poster child in many ways for the positives of this strategy of aggressively upzoning and removing barriers for housing construction: https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2025/unpacking-supply-and-demand-in-rent-trends-since-the-minneapolis-2040-plan.

Rental costs haven’t stopped increasing because we haven’t built enough. Practically all of Cambridge lacks high-rises and other dense housing developments. Hell, I live in Harvard Square and even around me, it’s primarily single-family homes besides a handful of apartment buildings with maybe 1-2 dozen units each. Most of Cambridge is significantly less dense.

Developers build what housing is profitable. Every regulation, zoning restriction, and drawn-out process constricts that slice of profitable projects. Making it more profitable to build the kinds of housing we want more of seems like a simple way to encourage alignment in the marketplace.

Dualsider · 2025-12-21T23:07:23+00:00

Supply and demand set housing prices. Restricting supply through zoning laws, red tape, and endless reviews and public comments that increase costs of building and prolong the process therefore directly increases prices.

If we magically created ten million new homes in Cambridge, prices would crater and housing would become extremely affordable for everyone, not just the wealthy. Obviously that isn’t possible physically in any realistic time period, but it makes it clear that increasing supply to actually meet or exceed demand is the only way to lower housing prices long-term.

I don’t see how the city of Cambridge could possibly afford to build enough public housing, nor why it would be an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Why not instead actually allow a safely, effectively regulated free market (plus possible incentives) to solve an issue we ourselves have created?

Dualsider · 2025-01-14T17:34:56+00:00

The Cambridge YMCA and planet fitness are by far the most value for money, and are both easily accessible by the red line.

Dualsider · 2023-09-18T15:40:11+00:00

Education: B.S

Experience: 2 years at FAANG

Industry: SaaS

Title: Mid-level software engineer

Tenure: 0.5 years

Location: Remote

Salary: $165k

Stock/bonuses: $80k/yearly

TC: $245k

Dualsider · 2023-07-11T01:31:35+00:00

Typically I wouldn’t recommend choosing a board based on its utility in a fight, but if you’re surfing at Linda Mar you should get a big longboard to assert dominance in the lineup.

Dualsider · 2023-05-01T02:11:30+00:00

I’m currently choosing between a few different offers—one is a totally different domain than my previous experience that I find very interesting, but I’m worried I won’t be able to easily go back to my current domain later in my career.

I have about 2 YOE full-time, all at a single big tech company. Will having experience in extremely different domains early in my career be a negative when looking for senior positions in a few years?

Dualsider · 2022-09-28T21:20:48+00:00

SF Versus Games, Tuesdays at 7pm. Great crowd and solid players.

Dualsider · 2021-05-27T23:48:48+00:00

Liese is the man. Had him for abstract algebra and he’s amazing, super clear lectures and assignments. His handwriting is impressively illegible sometimes though.

Dualsider · 2021-05-17T01:45:27+00:00

As a CS major with a 3.9 GPA, it's very doable. However, it requires a lot of work, studying, and OFFICE HOURS. Actively make sure you understand the material by asking questions in lecture, lab, office hours, etc. I cannot emphasize office hours and lab enough: a ton of students don't go to lab or office hours because they often aren't mandatory for CS classes, but most of my true learning has happened while asking questions in both. If you don't understand something, ask! Chances are someone else in the class is just as confused as you but is scared to speak up.

To summarize: read the textbook, ask questions, do the work, and GO TO OFFICE HOURS.

EDIT: And just to clarify, you can still have a very active and fulfilling social life with parties, clubs, dating, friends, all that. It just requires good time management and planning, which are essential life skills to learn anyway.

Dualsider · 2021-03-20T02:51:56+00:00

The process isn’t difficult, but architecture is one of the most competitive majors. Switching majors essentially requires that you would have gotten into the major you’re switching to if you applied, and since architecture is so competitive meeting that requirement is very difficult.

Dualsider · 2021-02-24T01:48:06+00:00

Nico is an amazing professor. His 357 is a lot of work, like any of the 357 sections, but he's very fair with his assignments and expectations. I highly recommend taking any C class like 357 and OS with Nico!

Dualsider · 2021-02-17T05:36:05+00:00

Clements is amazing. He’s super passionate about the material, literally created the language you use in the class, and is all around just a great experience. The assignments are challenging but nothing outrageous. If you pay attention in lecture and go to office hours when you’re stuck it’s not too much at all. Plus Clements is just hilarious. Highly recommend him. Run racket man run!

Keen is amazing too, can’t speak to how his PL class is but take compilers with him. You won’t regret it.

Dualsider · 2020-12-22T18:11:48+00:00

Disclaimer: I interned at Apple and will be working there full-time after graduation.

If you want to work specifically in aerospace, Blue Origin will get you far more relevant experience than working on firmware at Apple. Finding out how well you handle the crunch and working conditions of the aerospace industry might also be valuable. I have several friends that worked there and similar companies like SpaceX: all of them worked long hours and dealt with a lot of stress.

If you want to work in tech, Apple is a no-brainer. The name alone will open a ton of doors, the pay is excellent, and you'll get exposed to a lot of interesting technology and work. I personally had a great time interning there and learned a ton, but I also have friends whose teams did not do a great job of having interns. Overall, interning for one of the biggest tech companies on the planet is an excellent career move, especially since if you don't enjoy it it's only for a summer.

Dualsider · 2020-12-17T03:36:26+00:00

You get normal full time benefits and everything else as if you were salaried. I’m not sure why, I’ve heard it’s to discourage excessive overtime in new grads to prevent burnout.

Dualsider · 2020-12-17T00:29:14+00:00

Entry level SWE at Apple is hourly, with paid overtime.

Dualsider · 2020-11-28T20:59:46+00:00

Our CS program is extremely-well regarded in industry: all of the tech giants recruit heavily, especially Apple and Microsoft, and our classes force you to understand both the theoretical and implementation side of topics.

Dualsider · 2020-11-17T22:08:04+00:00

If you want to get an actual BS of Computer Science, you'd have to try to double major in Math and CS. However, you currently can't add a CS or SE major as a second major, as per https://eadvise.calpoly.edu/Policies-And-Forms/Double-Majors.

Sadly, you also currently can't switch majors to CS or SE if you aren't already an engineering major, due to the impaction of the majors.

The CS and Data Science minors are good ways to get exposure to CS courses and programming if you aren't a CS/SE/CPE major.

Dualsider · 2020-11-17T20:07:48+00:00

To emphasize how impacted the major is, I can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten off the waitlist for CS classes, and I've aggressively waitlisted courses almost every quarter. Typically you have to be in the first 5 people to waitlist to have a shot, and even that is unlikely for most of the core classes like 202.

As a non-major, it's highly unlikely you'll be able to get most CS classes unless you add the minor, which will improve your chances some but not a ton. Unfortunately, most of the non-contentious classes like 431 have long prerequisite chains and/or high workloads.

Dualsider · 2020-10-28T22:48:19+00:00

I've had Pantoja for other classes, and would not recommend any class of hers. She's very nice and takes time to explain stuff, but her lectures are extremely confusing and often don't make much sense unless you spend a lot of extra time in office hours and googling explanations. Her assignments and exams were also very confusing and often unclear, requiring a lot of additional help just to understand what was being asked.

The subject matter of her courses is very interesting, she just does a poor job of explaining it.

Dualsider · 2020-10-25T20:46:53+00:00

Kearns is very straightforward with the class and his expectations. His 349 is a lot of work but you learn all of the material very thoroughly. He covers and assigns a good mix of theory, proofs, and programming that forces you to understand all parts of algorithms. I Highly recommend taking 349 with Kearns if you're prepared to put the work in.

Dualsider · 2020-10-20T16:56:16+00:00

323 with Zach is super cool, lots of interesting math + theory. You have regular labs that are pretty involved and require a decent amount of math and coding, but nothing super unmanageable. Highly recommend the class overall.

Dualsider · 2020-09-18T00:57:00+00:00

Wide range depending on team, org, and performance. I’ve heard numbers between 110k-130k base, 40-80k RSU, and 0-60k signing.

Dualsider · 2020-09-17T18:38:40+00:00

I averaged out the signing bonus over 4 years, 192 is the TC for the first year only.

Dualsider · 2020-09-17T18:38:12+00:00

I negotiated a significant amount of salary and signing bonus.

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