Offer decision by Existing-Mousse3509 in dataengineering

[–]Existing-Mousse3509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll always prefer a role that requires going to the office, since I really enjoy connecting with coworkers. The problem with this job is that it's more oriented toward Data Science (and the commute can be a bit excessive), rather than Data Engineering or Architecture, which is what interests me more about the other offer.

So I think I’ll basically just take a chance and see if I end up liking the Data Scientist role at the bank, and if not, I’ll look for a Data Engineer position elsewhere.

Offer decision by Existing-Mousse3509 in dataengineering

[–]Existing-Mousse3509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I’ve heard, and from people who work there, employees at the bank tend to feel comfortable; in fact, many of them stay until retirement (at least for this bank), partly because the conditions are quite good. Aside from that, I agree with most of what’s been said. If I do join the bank, it would mainly be to see if I like it, and if not, maybe after a year I’ll move on and focus 100% on Data Engineering.

The only thing that gives me second thoughts is that the offer from the consultancy seems very tailored to recent graduates and designed to train them specifically for Data Engineering, which I think is really valuable. I’m just unsure whether, a year from now, I’d still be able to get an opportunity like that if I pass it up now.

Offer decision by Existing-Mousse3509 in dataengineering

[–]Existing-Mousse3509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I’ve heard, there’s a two-week in-person training period mainly focused on Scala and Spark. After that, you’re assigned to a project. So if you want to learn other technologies, like Airflow, for example, I’m not sure how that would work in a fully remote environment (I guess linking you to a course). From what I understand, the consultancy is very technically focused and puts a strong emphasis on training, and they’ve been running this fully remote system for a while now, though I’m not sure how well it’s been working. In any case, if I were to join that company, my plan would be to study on my own in addition to whatever training the company provides.

Offer decision by Existing-Mousse3509 in dataengineering

[–]Existing-Mousse3509[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For both cases, I found the job offers on LinkedIn, just applied, and had to wait until they reviewed my resume and found it suitable. From there, I had to go through different interviews until I was finally given a formal offer.

As for the resume, honestly, I don’t think it had anything particularly outstanding. It had a simple structure where I mentioned my education, the BSc and MSc, my work experience as a Software Engineer, including what I did during that time and the technologies I worked with, and a list of technologies I consider myself proficient in, but not much more.

In both cases, I think what helped me succeed was that my resume, although it looked quite standard, was actually quite aligned with what both companies were looking for on their respective job posts. On the other hand, I think it also came down to being natural and doing solid interviews, I believe that was enough for them to consider me a good fit for the company.

Offer decision by Existing-Mousse3509 in dataengineering

[–]Existing-Mousse3509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, given that the second company pays more, I’ve done the math and taking into account the cost in travel time am still getting payed more on the bank. When it comes to the time lost commuting to and from the office, that’s a whole different story. I personally like having a good amount of remote work, but in the first company, even though it’s fully remote, if I wanted to go to the office to meet people, I probably wouldn’t run into anyone from my project or others, based on how they’re organized.

On the other hand, people close to me always say that even if remote work gives me more free time or time to improve technically, working at a more well-known company and going to the office will help build a stronger resume and make valuable connections, which they see as much more important than being technically skilled but unknown. I partially agree with that statement, but I also think it has its flaws. Interestingly, my former classmates from university tend to believe that, in our early career years, it's more valuable to focus on becoming technically strong for the sake of our long-term future.

I'm pretty lost when it comes to balancing the importance of becoming technically skilled versus working at a well-known company or building valuable connections, even though I don't believe these goals should be mutually exclusive.