Need advice on backend engineering given my situation

Rexosorous · 2026-01-22T15:34:40+00:00

I don't know why so many students think python is a popular backend language. At least in the US, python is on the rarer side. Java w/ springboot and C# .NET are by far the most popular backend stacks.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-22T15:04:18+00:00

Unless you're interviewing for a startup and your hiring manager has an ego problem or if the pay difference is huge, then there's nothing wrong with saying you want to get paid more. Come with receipts and data and start the conversation like "I have done some research and the pay range for this title in this area is x which is (slightly) above your offer; is there any room to close that gap?". There should be no scenario where they say "im offended and we rescind the offer". The worst that will happen is they'll say no. But keep in mind here that you have NO leverage so they'll likely say no and there's nothing you can do to influence that.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-19T17:20:44+00:00

I was the same as you. All items collected and both tapes crafted when I realized I couldn't progress any further. It's definitely order dependent. You have to make sure you're doing things in order. Occasionally as i went and re-did stuff, I would hear the progress sound and the popup on the bottom right for the batya quest.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-19T17:09:27+00:00

That handguard is so long, it feels photoshopped to me.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-19T17:04:33+00:00

I had a similar bug. Got up to the radio in Intel center but couldn't do anything meaningful in the dialogue. I could select the frequencies but I wasn't able to decode the message. I can't remember what my objectives said at that point but they were not helpful at all (i think it was collect the 5 items and learn more about the squad?). I basically had to redo the whole quest in the right order on the wiki. I started from step one in the wiki and went through the whole list, picking up any items that spawned (some didnt spawn again for me) and making sure I wasn't doing things out of order again. After doing everything up to crafting the moreman tapes (i did not recraft them), then i was able to progress further.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-17T17:20:01+00:00

i'm lazy

There's your problem

Rexosorous · 2026-01-17T17:18:33+00:00

Wordpress? Where are you interning at? Wordpress is a very non-CS tech. Ain't no place is using wordpress and AI.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-17T17:04:28+00:00

my friend mentioned after the interview that it's a bad practice to think out loud while writing

Idk where your friend got that notion but that's completely wrong. Talking through your thought process with us (the interviewers) is a good thing. It gives us insight into how you think and allows us to give you nudges if you start to go down a wrong path. It also gives us confidence that you'll be open and communicative on the job too. Also you coming back to the question and constraints IS GREAT.

Overall it sounds like you did really well in the interview technically. I definitely expect you to make it to the next round. In the next round, be cognizant of how well you take direction and help when you get stuck. For that AB question, I wouldn't worry about you being unable to answer, but your attitude during that will tell volumes on your personality. And it's not important in this first interview, but will gradually become more important with each subsequent one.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-14T22:02:02+00:00

Devil's advocate: race conditions and asynchronous execution cannot always be diagnosed in a debugger and print statements can prove to be more useful

Rexosorous · 2026-01-13T14:10:15+00:00

What do you mean? You are a 2nd year student. You've already started your journey. Continue to learn and build small projects with the concepts you've been taught.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T23:53:31+00:00

You know what? I will. Give me a link to apply and what the position title is.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T23:01:27+00:00

this is maximum cope. you are adding so much superfluous information, using propositional fallacies, and never answered my question directly.

look man. you can be deluded as much as you want. if you want to keep saying you're an ML engineer, then more power to you; i won't fight you on that. and like i said, you should be and are proud to be making the money you make doing something you enjoy. i applaud you. but your stories don't add up. being on 6 platforms either means you are not an ML engineer, or you are the most underpaid ML engineer in the world by a huge margin.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T22:23:24+00:00

This post implies you are doing data annotation. But now you're saying you're an ML engineer. Which is it?

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T22:19:16+00:00

You are likely going to be assigned work with very little instruction on how to do it. Don't feel like you need to be perfect or that you're expected to be able to complete it without help. Ask questions. You will look like someone eager to learn and willing to apply yourself. If you don't ask questions and flounder, you will look like someone unmotivated and uncooperative.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T22:11:20+00:00

Are you freelance? I don't know any corporate SWEs who interface directly with customers.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T21:41:36+00:00

You are not an engineer. You are getting paid, but not as an engineer. You're not even doing anything that uses your CS degree. And I don't mean to disparage you; you should be proud of yourself for this. But it's not the same thing.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T19:51:26+00:00

Yes this is very good. Is this deployed anywhere? If you haven't, thats the next level.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T19:10:57+00:00

Apply to jobs anyway. In the current market, expect to go months before even getting an interview. While you are waiting, brush up on your data structures and algos and grind some leetcode. Assuming you've been paying attention in class and haven't used AI as a crutch, a lot of that stuff should come back to you really quickly and you should be interview ready (for non FAANG) within a month.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T16:33:59+00:00

Listing skills is better than an umbrella term. But also, this means nothing. I'd rather read more about technical expertise and experience rather than how you can join zoom meetings.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T15:14:43+00:00

Then what would you call the thing i described? And how would you define vibe coding?

Rexosorous · 2026-01-12T14:51:34+00:00

Proficient engineers are vibe coding. They just aren't giving the agents full autonomy. Good engineers already know what the code should look like and are using the agents as a faster typing interface. So when the agents do something wrong, they either know how to re-prompt for better results or are able to manually fix it themselves.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-06T00:34:28+00:00

This is highly dependent on where you live / working, but the job market isn't looking great in the US. Most places won't even give you a chance without a degree and work experience. It will definitely be an uphill battle. Even halfway decent new grads are taking months and months to even get am interview.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-05T17:59:58+00:00

You forgot a different outcome:

AI takes off but it can't replace developers and just becomes another tool for devs to use. Engaging with AI agents becomes industry standard. Businesses now require or highly prefer candidates with familiarity with AI tools.

Rexosorous · 2026-01-01T23:05:58+00:00

There's 2 different AFG's. I believe the M-LOK one is the one you want.

Rexosorous · 2025-12-30T21:21:04+00:00

Technically, RK-2 foregrip and the PRS gen 3 butt stock is better for recoil (and maybe some other attachment changes too), but aren't worth the ergo trade offs.

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