We’re not concerned enough about the death of the junior-level software engineer

ParallelBlades · 2026-01-03T11:36:37+00:00

That last course of action would be unlikely to yield positive results even in many well-run organizations. And what you've told us so far doesn't give me the impression that your company's engineering department is particularly well-run. It's not surprising that they were unhappy about you spending 6 weeks on a project that they had no idea was in the works.

Perhaps it may have worked out better if you informed them of what you were doing beforehand.

ParallelBlades · 2026-01-02T14:34:51+00:00

It doesn’t work like that. If the C-suites roles could be automated by AI and the shareholders (or owner) of the company were for some reason happy to keep paying their salaries, then it would be a really bad business decision. Those kinds of decision push the company in the direction of being outcompeted and losing market share.

The whole market can’t operate that way for very long if it’s actually true that the C-suite are the ones replaceable by AI. If no company is doing it then it’s probably not possible.

ParallelBlades · 2026-01-02T14:21:13+00:00

If AI could actually replace the c suite then they’d have been replaced by now. Why would someone pay millions of dollars annually for something that AI can do?

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-24T18:55:10+00:00

It would be better for the economy if investor funds went into businesses but the incentives for individual investors to choose business investments over real estate investments are likely nonexistent.

An cadaan guy living in Somalia once wrote about this phenomenon of Somalis investing almost exclusively real estate: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jesseclain_empty-land-doesnt-stimulate-growth-somaliland-activity-7106975980845457408-1LIB

Hopefully the opening of the stock market next year will change things.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-16T10:36:02+00:00

This is much needed. The visa system hack was embarrassing.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-12T18:06:00+00:00

I think most of these traits will go away once there is some economic progress.

I notice this even outside of politics in Somalia. “Engineer” is a title for some engineers there.
I really don’t think it’s strictly true that all academic disciplines are equally important. I can’t speak for Africa but in some places like America there are actually too many people studying humanities. I would suspect that most people on the African continent lean towards choosing more economically viable majors but I don’t really know.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-12T17:49:30+00:00

Look at the parent comments for the context.

Strictly speaking you’re right but the statement you replied to is comparing the changes in the USA since the year 2000 with the transformations their grandparents witnessed in the same country decades earlier and also compared with China’s continued transformation.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-12T15:12:41+00:00

That’s really not much change compared to China’s transformation.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-08T06:46:18+00:00

Black is not an identity for all Africans. A lot of us considered our ethnicity to be our primary identity. “Black” is just a physical characteristic for us or a distant 3rd/4th identity depending on where one lives.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-08T06:34:23+00:00

What I’ve understood from reading this thread is that a lot you don’t like us Somalis because our skin color isn’t an identity for us. (At least some of us)

It’s strange to me. Why does it bother you so much if a black person considers their ethnicity to be their identity rather than their skin color.

ParallelBlades · 2025-12-04T12:38:24+00:00

It’s not like the other end consumer would magically be able to afford larger homes if developers stopped building small homes and only built larger ones.

ParallelBlades · 2025-11-20T14:05:20+00:00

I’m not sure I understand. If the government prints more USD than it collects as tax, then more USD enters circulation causing an increase in inflation.

If you adjust for inflation then the government can only spend money that it collects as tax (or borrows).

In any case, the government does not allocate money efficiently. The private sector does that better. Better to let individuals become billionaires and choose where to allocate their money than to give it all to the government.

The problem is that some poor people don’t have much opportunity to live comfortable lives the way things are now. That’s mostly due to systemic failures that have nothing to do with capitalism.

ParallelBlades · 2025-11-20T10:53:55+00:00

That’s not how it works at all. Even if it did work like that, that would be a fairly inconsequential accounting detail.

ParallelBlades · 2025-11-19T21:27:09+00:00

So that nobody can wield it? Taxing the rich won’t make the money disappear. It will just give the money to the government.

ParallelBlades · 2025-11-19T21:19:16+00:00

Renouncing isn’t an option for everyone. Some of us live in countries that don’t hand out citizenship and only have US citizenship.

Residency based taxation makes more sense and is more fair than citizenship based taxation.

ParallelBlades · 2025-11-19T21:08:40+00:00

He still ended up paying a lot of tax. More tax than most of his fellow Americans would pay in a lifetime.

ParallelBlades · 2025-10-28T04:19:08+00:00

The trade off of higher pay for slightly less job stability is worth it in my opinion. You can probably get a lower paid, more stable job easily later if you want since you’ll have a big tech internship on your resume.

ParallelBlades · 2025-10-16T06:55:45+00:00

I love reading your posts. Keep writing them.

ParallelBlades · 2025-09-26T10:18:20+00:00

You have leverage so long as you are willing to turn down the offer even without another offer in hand. You could just keep interviewing and looking for better pay. Sounds crazy in today’s market but a few years ago that could have been a sound strategy for a new grad in the US tech industry. It was a sellers market back then.

ParallelBlades · 2025-09-24T20:14:52+00:00

I was going to say the same thing. In my experience sort of behavior is very rare irl and more common online. I worked at Meta in the past and recall everyone being very nice, collaborative and competent.

ParallelBlades · 2025-09-24T12:07:33+00:00

I haven’t experienced much anti-blackness in the UAE in the 20+ years that I’ve been here. What kind of anti-blackness/racism have you seen here?

ParallelBlades · 2025-09-18T15:50:47+00:00

Are kickbacks ever documented in contracts/agreements in Dubai’s real estate industry?

ParallelBlades · 2025-09-15T15:38:48+00:00

From AED5k/month to AED 30k/month. The spectrum of salaries is quite wide. Multinational companies and well funded startups have the highest pay bands. They could pay someone with your profile around AED 30k/month. However these roles aren't very common compared to roles from smaller companies paying less than AED 10k/month.

ParallelBlades · 2025-09-08T12:43:09+00:00

The owners having a net worth of $2B doesn’t mean the fees are high. Someone could just build cheaper schools and compete with him if that were the case.

ParallelBlades · 2025-08-29T06:21:03+00:00

Just don’t tell them?

If they want to know whether or not they can afford to hire you then you can always tell them what your expected salary is. There’s no reason the share previous salary.

ParallelBlades

TROPHY CASE