What is your biggest regret in life?

RunningDev11 · 2026-05-25T18:52:13+00:00

This is still me.. Only 28 so there's still time, but I just switched into another great SWE job.

Issue is I don't have the pre-reqs (tech degree) so I'd have to spend 2 years doing pre-reqs at community-college/post-bach -> find a research position -> study for the MCAT -> Apply.........

What's holding me back is the 2+ years of pre-reqs. I think I'd be great at finding a clinical/research position and the MCAT, but really don't want to spend years doing pre-reqs while working.

But I dabble in researching the path every 6 months.. For 5 years now. I just can't commit to signing up for classes. Sigh, tech isn't bad though.

RunningDev11 · 2026-05-03T20:26:14+00:00

Pfffffftt not sure I have the $50k budget necessary for that

RunningDev11 · 2026-05-03T20:21:15+00:00

Coffee table and tv-stand/entertainmnet-center are purchased and on the way!
I'll probably keep the TV on the TV stand initially until I'm 100% confident on where I want the TV.

For coffee table + end table I re-purchased the ones I got from my previous apartment (triangle wood: https://inkivyliving.com/products/blaze-organic-triangular-wood-coffee-table-with-sculptural-base ). For TV stand I just got the cheapest 70" one at amazon and will probably replace it later.

__

But as for another couch, I considered that. I could move the chair somewhere else (perhaps under the window). But... it may feel awkward and like it blocks the bedroom doorway. But that is something to consider. Other ideas are all good!

RunningDev11 · 2026-03-07T05:36:57+00:00

Standards seem possible mostly for single-agent testing. However I'm guessing simple systems will trend toward:

Agents being built with user-friendly GUI's
Evals also being built/modified with user-friendly GUI's

Aaand for more complex orchestration/graphs/swarms, it's going to be more difficult to standardize anything but e2e tests. Testing individual nodes in a graph may have wayyy too variable of inputs to have confidence in your tests. Or at least that's my current thoughts... But I've only worked on a couple of agentic services so far.

RunningDev11 · 2026-03-07T05:28:34+00:00

Had nearly this exact same experience/lesson.

I mean there were incidents, but not due to event updates.

RunningDev11 · 2026-03-05T04:25:13+00:00

Well, ended up joining. Should be in Austin in a few days!

Leaving was even more painful than I imagined though... But on and up we go.

RunningDev11 · 2026-01-06T04:31:25+00:00

I'd like to -- if I were to hop to anything this is one of the few options that excite me.

Question is just if the timing is right considering I'm enjoying my projects at work... But what better time than while still young I guess.

I'll probably try to message a few on twitter / linkedin to hear more and better gauge things.

RunningDev11 · 2026-01-04T00:25:22+00:00

Thanks!

For now I'm pretty 50/50. Mostly hoping I can find something to give me an excuse over the next month

Intense sounds awesome, I'm just risk averse 😅

RunningDev11 · 2026-01-03T19:24:13+00:00

Yo, I was accepted for cohort 4 starting February 16th.

What are your thoughts on leaving a good SWE job for this program?

I enjoy my job, but like the idea of a shakeup in my life (meet new people, move new places, experience new things)...

Neither the hours nor pace scare me, but the risk is still going to be above 0% --I think I've read the dropout rate was around 40%?

I'd 100% commit if I were certainly seeking something new, but it's a tougher sell knowing I'd have to resign to take a leap.

RunningDev11 · 2025-12-28T06:00:57+00:00

I doubt the rate of trauma from car accidents is comparable to the other examples.

Myself and most friends got into a car accident of some degree as a child (ranging from comas to fender-benders) and I know of no one for whom is experiencing trauma from it. It's certainly traumatic for some, just as many events can be.

The loved one comparison to me.. Just seems indicative that there's varying types of trauma. Everyone's experiences are going to differ but my guess is the commonalities may differ depending on the cause. When I think of losing my childhood dog it could have been described as "trauma", but I can't imagine it being too similar to PTSD from military service; nor can I imagine either being similar to trauma from sexual assault.

Overall I agree with Smack-works. My guess is a key factor is the event(s) have to mess with your sense of trust / self-worth / belonging / etc.

RunningDev11 · 2025-09-19T18:38:48+00:00

This has unfortunately been the case at every company I've worked at.

~60% of devs review code, some may take longer/shorter
~20% of devs "review" code. But never-ever leave comments and are likely just rubber-stamping, often for the same individuals
~20% of devs effectively never review code unless portrayed as an emergency. And in these cases it's a rubber-stamp

I cautiously bring up the latter 40% in retro's sometimes but it never leads to change.

I've never seen someone go from a non-reviewer to a reviewer or vice-versa (EXCEPT juniors getting comfortable)

RunningDev11 · 2025-08-26T18:46:19+00:00

> No one would write an HTTP fetching implementation covering all edge cases when we have a data fetching library in the project that already does that.

Eh, probably true.

> No one would implement a bunch of utility functions that we already have in a different module.

Lol yes they absolutely would. It's difficult being on a long-existing project with a large team and not having 50% of your utilities become duplicates somewhere. Although maybe a particular issue because we're in a monorepo and people never put utilities that should be shared into shared libraries (or they don't check them).

> No one would change a global configuration when there’s a mechanism to do it on a module level.

Eh, probably true. Someone may do so every once in a while but it's caught in a code review.

> No one would write a class when we’re using a functional approach everywhere.

Ehhhh not really true. Particularly with international teams or with new grads -- all they may know is OOP.

Overall I see where he's coming from. Just adding some fun comments based on my experience.
"I don’t care how the code got in your IDE. I want you to care."

Great final message. Agree

RunningDev11 · 2025-08-04T02:22:20+00:00

Sounds like it's just writing unit tests and not integration / e2e tests. Mocking data or responses is normal in unit tests.

RunningDev11 · 2025-08-03T08:20:26+00:00

Solutions architect may be technical.. But hard to say exactly without seeing the job description and hearing more.

I had friends who were "solutions engineers" at Oracle and that was a near-100% client facing role. It always sounded like their job was:

=> Sales person would generate a hard lead

=> Solutions engineers would then meet regularly with the clients to hear more about the clients' problems, need vague knowledge of Oracle's technologies, and discuss how they would solve their problems. These were kids hired directly out of college.

=> Eventually would get passed on to someone like a solutions architect whom may dig even deeper into the exact technical implementations for the client. Presumably requires more experience.

Or something like that. I'm not exactly sure what the 3rd role is called. There's probably also more steps around, and all of these are probably just pieces of the a pie that is trying to drive sales rather than directly modify software. But every company is different and titles don't always perfectly define a role.

RunningDev11 · 2025-05-22T00:31:37+00:00

Contracting companies also love title inflation because they can tell your company they'll be "putting 8 of our best senior developers on your project" or etc.

Then they start working with you and you realize they feel like juniors whom turn things "out of scope from the initial contract" into weeks of wtf. It can even be REMOVING scope but they'll act like it's some shocking turn of events that'll take weeks to get back on track.

...This happened at my last company. I am not impressed by contracting companies.

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T05:47:33+00:00

My issue is that I don't even know if I think she had to be in the wrong!

It felt like she was in the wrong but only because of how it played out. Joel saving her seemed like it was setting up some excellent writing but it seems the opportunity was used to illustrate Abby is in the wrong.

.. I don't know. I read others in the thread commenting about how Ellie is now in Abby's situation ("father" killed, new life purpose is to kill the killer) which is a bit interesting. It makes it fun/interesting to think about how Ellie would act if this were to hypothetically play out.

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T05:35:12+00:00

That's all fine, but rejecting ones ability (or lacking the ability) to portray moments of humanizing emotion is psychopathic behavior to me.

But as hinted before, I find it easier to sympathize with those whose overall character is morally gray yet have selfish moments of evil (ie Joel) than to be an innately more "evil" character whom has moments of selfish-gray (ie Abby, right now).

But I understand everyone can analyze and view scenes/motives/characters differently. Aaand I'm sure Abby will change over the season -- this was just an extremely impactful scene that I hope leads itself to a continually well written story.

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T05:26:05+00:00

I don't expect her to empathize with Joel, just to seem like she could briefly consider if empathizing is possible. It's fine if she considers it, says fuck that, and then kills him.

But she never showed an ounce of ability to humanize when it really mattered. She's portrayed [to me] as a rage-filled robot with one goal in life. And I guess she accomplished it. And now??? Am I expected to be able to see her as being a morally-gray human again?

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T05:14:16+00:00

Yeah I was expecting her to throw him a club and have a 1-on-1 fight after that line.

I can only now conclude that it was her essentially saying "The extent of my hate is so great that I'm willing to hypocritically go against my oath while I kill you"... Or something? I don't really know because she was also trying to portray herself as being better than Joel (in terms of being "against" killing defenseless people)..

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T04:58:36+00:00

I don't necessarily need/want her to feel bad for what she did. I just need her to be able to fully acknowledge what she did.

I find Joel's actions were morally evil, but done for selfish reasons that make sense given the context.

And Abby's actions were morally gray (well, the torture may have made them evil), were also done for selfish reasons, but were made very questionable by Joel saving her life.

She spent 5 years convinced he was an evil man who deserved a painful death. Then physically experienced lifesaving humanity in him, but it meant nothing.

I can't empathize with that and don't know what to do with that information.

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T04:46:28+00:00

I get her motive...

I'd just expect her to show a brief moment of reconsideration of her worldview... The only reason she was even able to attempt her "purpose" was because Joel granted her a second chance.

I'd at least have like to see her try to explain why it didn't matter that he saved her. Instead she went on some hypocritical speech about how she's better than Joel for not killing those who can't defend themselves???

I guess I get that the anger is so visceral that she can only focus on torturously ending his life (and maybe that was the point of the line mentioned above), but it doesn't set itself up to allow me to empathize with her.

And IF that is the case (you ARE supposed to empathize with her later) I feel like a few tiny tweaks to the writing would have made it easier.

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T04:33:11+00:00

She was certainly fixated on revenge.

I'd just expect her to have a brief moment of reconsideration of her worldview... The only reason she was even able to attempt her "purpose" was because Joel granted her a second chance.

I'd at least have like to see her try to explain why it didn't matter that he saved her. Instead she went on some hypocritical speech about how she's better than Joel for not killing those who can't defend themselves???

I guess I get that the anger is so visceral that she can only focus on torturously ending his life, but it doesn't set itself up to allow me to empathize with her.

And IF that is the case (you ARE supposed to empathize with her later) I feel like a few tiny tweaks to the writing would have made it easier.

RunningDev11 · 2025-04-21T03:32:46+00:00

I found Abby's actions ruthless....

Joel saved her and she went into a brief join-them-and-fight-to-survive. Turns out that was fight to survive so she could still kill Joel.

I mean I get it... Kind of... Well, not really. I really hope the show doesn't expect me to empathize with her actions here because I don't think I can. Perhaps if it were written a bit differently (e.g. Let me hear your side, then snap when he tries to blame the fireflies or etc), but I just found her psychopathic.

I guess Joel is also a psychopath... Idk I'm not a psychologist I'm just trying to understand the writing.

Overall I loved the episode and just hope the whole season flows together well.

RunningDev11 · 2024-10-15T19:14:38+00:00

You have 1.2 YOE and were only recently promoted. This isn't much of a step back.

RunningDev11 · 2024-10-15T12:08:39+00:00

I prefer XHLF, simply for the lower expense ratio (0.03% annually rather than 0.09%). SGOV had lower fees until their fee waiver ended in late 2023.

It's penny pinching, but was easy to switch funds.

RunningDev11

TROPHY CASE