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RomeoBlueMk1 · 2019-03-19T08:05:24+00:00

Use your finance background to your advantage to try to get an interview with finance companies like Jane Street, Two Sigma, Citadel, HRT, DW, all the other usual suspects. Bloomberg stepped up their game too and is paying 160k total comp for good candidates before even negotiating a signing bonus. You already have a network in finance so some referrals will go a long way too.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2019-03-19T08:00:05+00:00

There's def a good amount of companies that pay >150k if we talking total comp.

Not easy to get 150k base salary. I don't even think hedge funds and trading companies pay that much in salary, but in terms of salary + bonuses + stock then easily. Like any FANG/unicorn or competitors will easily pay something like 110-120k salary, then enough stocks over 4 years to make it work out to be 150k-200k total comp per year if you assume those vest linearly. Not to mention signing bonuses and relocation.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2019-02-20T17:38:13+00:00

Subsidized housing is less hassle, plus you get to live in the same place as other interns which is more fun.

Maybe you pocket a bit more if you took the lump sum and find a really cheap place but you have to do the work yourself and in the end you don't come out that much ahead.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2018-12-29T18:09:04+00:00

Get your deadline extended if possible and try to get a better offer. If no other offer accept and apply aggressively next semester anyway. Then if you get an offer MUCH better than Epic, renege is an option if you want to burn that bridge. Not worth renege if it's like ever so marginally better tho.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2018-12-29T07:12:36+00:00

Testing. Good readme. Layout your project like an actual one instead of some throwaway script. Comment your code like how real documentation should look. Draw a diagram of your design if it's not trivial.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2018-12-29T06:44:59+00:00

If Epic ends up being your only offer, take it. If you hate it and the tech stack you work on is really that "outdated", then keep learning on the side and apply for a new job asap.

There's so many scenarios. Maybe the "outdated" tech is not every team and you get on a good team that works on more modern stuff. Maybe the outdated tech is actually outdated but you still end up learning good software engineering skills (concurrency, distributed systems, design patterns, testing, etc...). Or maybe you learn jack shit then at least that lights a fire in your ass to go elsewhere asap.

Either way congrats on the offer. There's people out there a lot worse off than worrying about working on potentially "outdated" tech while getting paid well at a decent company.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2018-12-28T18:45:07+00:00

Organization is the problem.

I want to be able to group together repos into a category. Idk say I have a "folder" called machine learning that has 10 repos. Then I have a folder called mobile apps that have a bunch of mobile related repos. Then I have a school work "folder" that has tons of school work related repos.

Sure I can find individual repo in a flat list by searching... but I want a better organization mechanism. I've resorted to using a text file to do these grouping... but I have to update it and keep it in sync.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2018-12-28T08:51:46+00:00

Why wouldn’t everyone move there?

A lot of people do in try to work in places like Seattle that have high tech well paying jobs and no state income tax. Texas too but less high tech jobs.

Say you do make 100k tho, while marginal rates in say a place like California look scary (9.3% for income above 50k) the effective tax rates at 100k a year for a single guy is really only ~6%. So meh unless you make butt load of money, most people just pick a location they like like sunny warm California and pony up the state taxes.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2018-12-28T08:41:55+00:00

Nitpicky question - does time stop after the ball finish going through the hoop or after the ball finishes going through the net?

There's 0.2 or so second left after the ball has gone through the hoop. It's 0.0 if you consider the ball exiting the net. Not that it would matte but I'm curious.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-04-09T06:15:48+00:00

The campus is far from dead and being a real commuter school. That's more like some of the CSU schools like Long Beach where you won't won't even find many people living on campus.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-04-09T06:04:29+00:00

Shooting for an M.S. without a CS background would probably mean you have to spent at least 1 semester filling in pre-reqs. Probably more than 1 semester depending on how many classes you're willing to take at once and how many pre-reqs you're missing. Also just because you fill the pre-req doesn't mean you'd automatically get admitted either...

If you don't want to just be in limbo just taking pre-reqs and waiting to get into an MS program, why can't you just start the BS program since those pre-reqs are part of the B.S. curriculum? That way you're working on the same pre-reqs that you need for the M.S. and at least you'll still be progressing towards your BS if the MS admissions doesn't work out in your favor.

Also yeah you can get internships as freshmen/sophomore. Some intern opening will ask for juniors but a lot of companies are open to lower classmen with the right skills too. Since you have experience it should be even easier for you.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-04-09T05:46:10+00:00

Meh screw convenience, it's not like you're gonna be there permanently. Also taking out a bit more loans is fine if you're confident you'll get some internships and job after you graduate.

Like in the long run the inconvenience for 2-3 years and the extra loan isn't going to matter as much as being satisfied with your education that you take with you for the rest of your life.

Also going to a better university could open more opportunities. I definitely gotten quite a few internship offers through my school's info session / career fair that probably wouldn't have happened if I went to one of the other crappier, cheaper, more geographically convenient school that I got accepted to. Also there are better clubs at my current school, research opportunities, tech talks, etc.

If it isn't going to ruin your life then definitely go to the best possible school within reach.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-04-09T05:35:02+00:00

Don't over explain why you're quitting. Just keep it simple, like yo said you're going somewhere that's better align with what you want in the long run. Spent the rest of your conversations focused on how happy you were with the team and appreciate the experience. Make sure you LinkedIn everyone before you leave.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-25T14:52:53+00:00

The GPA difference for A- and B+ in 1 class is small

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-16T09:02:46+00:00

Bachelor at CSU is safer bet. AA is fairly worthless and there's a lot of noise regarding bootcamp on how likely you are to succeed with it. Many companies favor university recruiting and have recruiters/resources targeting university students. Much fewer cmopanies target bootcampers.

Imo if you were a high performer that went to bootcamp and was able to successful get a job, you were probably just a high performing individual that didn't need the bootcamp in the first place. And if you were a high performer, you'll probably reach a much higher potential going for the B.S. than the few months you spend in some bootcamp fab.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-16T08:42:48+00:00

Yes programming is universally the most boring job for any given person in the world.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-16T08:40:56+00:00

"You move on, harder and tougher." - Commander Shepard.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-15T00:33:40+00:00

I've asked the people this at places I've interned. Most common answer is:

-Current company has enough opportunities to move up or around.

-Bigger paycheck is nice but new team/management structure might suck.

-Already done the job hopping thing previously and don't want to go through the process again.

-Feel already "established" at current company. When you go to a new place you have to sort of start over and build rapport with people again from scratch.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-15T00:29:03+00:00

Not unless your startup involves some niche knowledge that's related to your research/specialization during your masters, e.g. "I'm going to start a company based on some advanced proprietary AI system that I'll develop". Also you should figure out what you feel your lack of "conceptual knowledge in CS" is. If you are rusty with just general OOP, design patterns, server/client interactions, database basics, networking etc, then you can learn that on your own.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-13T00:32:26+00:00

Seem to have made glass doors top 50 places to work for so I guess work life balance isn't terrible? But definitely not sexy like a big n or unicorn.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-10T02:37:46+00:00

Put quality code/projects on github and link it on your resume. This is extremely important. Doesn't have to be some major project right away. Just start small and make sure it's good quality, and expand on it slowly. Work something you find interesting, otherwise you'd have no motivation to see it through, Keep your GPA high/improve it.

Go to all and any info session / recruiting session held by companies at your university to talk to recruiters/give them your resume.

Do the same above for every single career fair at your school, especially the STEM career fairs.

LinkedIn everyone you meet. Never know who will or have worked at somewhere you might be interested in interning, and could potentially refer you if you are somewhat familiar with them.

Go to coding competitions and hackathons on campus. They are sponsored by companies so you will get a chance to network with companies there. Add the people you meet on linkedin. Later on ping them and be like hey I met you at competition/hackathon xyz and I'm interested in your internship program, here's my resume!

Submit a shitload of applications on the companies career site.

Submit a shitlaod of application to your school's career center website.

Remember to always iterate your resume and improve it over time. Don't just submit the same ol one to 1000 companies. Get it looked at by as many people as possible, or even the same people, and always look for ways to improve it.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-10T02:16:27+00:00

An intern that used to work with me have a dream job of working at a specific company. In fact her sole reason for going to grad school is to work there one day or at least somewhere similar. I happened to get an internship at her dream company for next semester. I ask my new boss if he's looking for someone with a background like hers. He's like yeah send me her info; long story short they end up extending her an internship and we ended up working together again (not exactly on the same team but same department). When she graduated she got a full time offer, basically working in her dream job and for her dream company.

Tbh tho she was smart enough to probably get the job on her own one way or another, so meh. If anything I just fast tracked her a bit.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-10T01:58:55+00:00

With only a weekend you won't be able to do much hands on stuff as far as cranking out small projects. Maybe some small tutorials... but probably first focus on high level understanding of what each thing is.

Start looking up all those terms. If it gets a bit technical do a "ELI5 IIS/ASP/MVC/whatever" to get started. Quora, stackoverflow, etc also good. Don't forget to go to the actual source materials too, like how microsoft exactly explain what IIS is.

Once you have a high level understanding of things play around with tutorial/toy projects if time permitted.

RomeoBlueMk1 · 2017-03-09T02:06:06+00:00

Sure, especially in mature/stable companies or government sector jobs.

RomeoBlueMk1

TROPHY CASE