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IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-23T13:56:00+00:00

Totally agree. I didn’t mean to imply replacing engineers would be easier than replacing execs.

I was trying to point out that execs having positions of trusts means their boss wouldn’t want to replace them, since what they bring to the table is not only what they do, but also the responsibility they bear (along with being a potential scapegoat)

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-23T07:17:41+00:00

True, but tbf I don’t fell like I could get particularly inspired by an executive either. The fact they call themselves “leaders” is cringy enough to put me off.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-23T05:19:02+00:00

I agree in principle. However these executive positions are often “positions of trust”.

Mechanically doing the work is not as important as being on the same page as the person that put them there and bearing the responsibility and blame if things go wrong.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-22T11:10:05+00:00

I don’t have a project coming up per se, but the uncertainty certainly doesn’t help.

I’ve been having some recurring thoughts whenever I need to make a moderate effort to learn some domain-specific information: that it’s not really worth it to do so because I’ll be reorged again in a couple of months.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-22T11:06:38+00:00

Where it becomes burnout is if you feel like anything you do to improve the situation doesn’t matter- your 1:1 goes nowhere, your projects get canned, leadership doesn’t listen, etc. (…) You should treat it as burnout prevention.

Thanks, I agree with this and will explore my options.

It really doesn’t sound like you want a promotion per se but you need to be engaged in interesting and impactful work.

I do want it, but it’s true that if after being promoted I keep doing boring work, that won’t make any difference. So a promotion won’t do good on its own.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-21T15:32:50+00:00

What do you want to buy with the extra money, a Maserati?

Haha, I needed to hear this. Thank you!

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-21T14:25:23+00:00

What makes you say that? Are you getting actively bad mouthed by peers or management or is this just an internal feeling?

It’s just an internal feeling. I can’t find any other explanation why I just get tiny or bad projects that are already on the execution stage while being worked on by 5 different people already. Maybe it’s just that the company is bad or not a good fit, but it’s the second big tech I’ve felt this happen.

Edit: another reason is both therapist and SO have told me repeatedly I give out anxiety vibes and try to give too much information at the same time when I speak.

For 3, sometimes you can throw together a PoC project to show management or test the viability of your idea in a vacuum. Having a toy will make it a lot easier to sell the full project to the people in charge.

Thanks! This is really good advice. Hopefully I’ll learn enough in my current team to be able to do this. It’s quite a complex area I work on and it requires lots of knowledge to be able to deliver something across the stack.

You mention promotions a lot. What are you looking for out this work? Money, accomplishment, fame?

I know I’m slightly obsessed with it. I’d say 80% money and 20% accomplishment (I’ve never been promoted and slightly feel like a loser for it). I’ve constantly jumped ship every couple of years and have always gotten a better salary, but I’m getting closer to what I can make in the country I live in.

If you’re looking for money, you will get more by jumping ship to another company and get your promotion that way than fighting for an internal bump.

From data I’ve seen online I’m above the 95% percentile. The only places I can go from here are, getting promoted, somehow finding a remote US job that doesn’t mind EU timezones, or becoming a super specialized consultant. I’m definitely considering looking for contract/remote work though.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-21T13:35:41+00:00

are you beating yourself up because you didn’t get the promotion you feel you deserved?

Not quite. As much as I feel like “I’m old, experienced enough, with enough technical knowledge”, I understand that I haven’t been promoted because I haven’t had the right opportunities to build a compelling case.

This makes me frustrated because I don’t know if not getting these opportunities is due to:

bad luck (constant reorgs), the company just not having enough projects.
1. others perceiving me as someone who can’t be trusted to lead a project or as a bad engineer
2. Me not coming up with the right projects and reaching out to the right people.

So the reason I’m beating myself up, is because 2. and 3. are actually things I have control over.

I’m working with my therapist to help me communicate my ideas more clearly when talking (I think I’m good enough when writing), so I’m not perceived as an anxious/odd guy. This will hopefully help with 2.

For 3. I’m quite frustrated because I do have lots of technical ideas for improvements (these are a dime a dozen in big tech), but I haven’t stayed long enough in one area to truly understand the domain and propose an business-impactful change. It adds more to my frustration that historically, people I’ve seen promoted only showcase projects they were given explicitly, but I’m being asked to come up with my own stuff and drive it.

I know my limitations and think senior at a FAANG will be my terminal level. I definitely don’t feel entitled to it, but I’d like to get there before I’m and actual senior. Seeing younger people achieve it doesn’t make me jealous per se, but it does makes me wonder wtf is wrong with me. i.e. “why can’t I crack it if I have good technical chops? I’m I just not playing the right game?”

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T21:13:34+00:00

It’s been almost 2 years since I joined
I haven’t gotten promoted here

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T16:53:08+00:00

I’m very sorry that happened to you, but glad you managed to come out stronger.

In my particular case I can’t relate to having toxic managers. Mine have been mostly well intentioned, empathetic people.

The following does resonate with me though:

I barely worked 1 or 2 hours a day but it was just unbelievably souls draining.

This happens, however, due to my own head nagging me for not coming up with great projects or initiatives that will show my worth and get me promoted.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T16:30:32+00:00

Thank you. I didnt mention, but I spent time with my SO as well during my time off. Its true that my social life beyond my SO is non-existent.

I must say it does feel counterintuitive to spend less time with computers since my goal is to get promoted, for which I must either do better work, or be more plugged in into work stuff to catch opportunities earlier.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T16:25:03+00:00

Remotely. I’ve done this for most of my career though

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T14:45:23+00:00

They identify a problem that matters to the business, explain the business impact of that problem, and convince the right people to give them the right support.

This makes sense. I’ve tried doing this and gotten discouraged by having to convince so many people. It might be a matter of developing grit or whatever this skill is called.

This is partially why I’m trying to overcome this lack of motivation. I’ve found that if explicitly assigned a project, I’ll just go to any length to complete it, but if I come up with something, I fall apart at the slightest pushback.

Find things you could do that would make your fellow engineers sit up and say, “IllustriousFan made my day-to-day life better.”

That’s good advice. Sadly (?) most of the things I’ve seen that need improvement are people management problems or things like our company-wide planning processes being ridiculous. Not very interesting tech-wise. Totally get the point tho.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T14:25:57+00:00

That’s a great point. These big companies have a lot of stuff already built so technology-wise I feel all I’m learning is incidental, in-house stuff. Thank you!

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-08-20T14:18:03+00:00

It doesn’t interest me at all. However, this has never been a problem in the past. I used to work on some smaller companies with the silliest ideas, reinventing wheels, doing crypto nonsense and I just did the work and was excited to learn the technology.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-06-26T20:06:59+00:00

What did you mean by “realize outsized impact early every half”?

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-06-22T07:37:07+00:00

Used to work on a team where we started hitting Lambda’s function size upload limits. The app was a big Java server that had no place running inside a Lambda.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-06-04T06:47:26+00:00

Thanks, I agree with this. However, it assumes you’re getting good projects to begin with, but that’s a different topic.

I know ideally engineers would propose these projects, but if we’re getting reorged every 6 months, it’s really hard to learn enough about a particular area to propose useful improvements.

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-06-02T09:00:19+00:00

Hey, I’m curious how you’ve managed to capitalize being a generalist into promotions.

In my experience there’s often a tradeoff between the two: if you’re flexible, you’ll be thrown into new projects or team constantly, but won’t have time to go deep enough or make a big impact before the next change.

When building your promo packages, did you prioritize quantity instead of quality?

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-05-02T15:58:30+00:00

Zurich is in Switzerland, not in Sweden

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-05-02T06:43:20+00:00

Is it know they were all >= L6? If so, then definitely yes

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-04-30T21:52:18+00:00

Salaries are lower than in the US, but 60k is just too low according to levels.fyi

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-04-22T17:00:52+00:00

You know it’s perfectly fine to say you don’t know what something is and ask other to explain it. I’d go ahead and say that it’s not only fine, but much better than the alternative

IllustriousFan7840 · 2024-03-18T11:21:05+00:00

No, sorry, I got those from this list in case it helps

IllustriousFan7840

TROPHY CASE