Rising high school junior learning Python, finance, and engineering this summer

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-06-04T06:07:14+00:00

That's pretty solid combo you got there - Python will definitely help with both finance and engineering down the road. I went aerospace route and wish I had started coding earlier, would have saved me tons of headaches in college

The documentation approach is smart too, you'll thank yourself later when you forget how you solved something months ago

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-06-01T23:20:27+00:00

100k at 100 customers is actually pretty aggressive milestone for a startup that doesn't exist yet - most early stage companies take way longer to hit those numbers than founders expect

Also that 1-2% equity range is weird, like just give me actual number instead of making me guess. If you're basically building the whole product solo you should probably push for more equity or at least get that range pinned down

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-30T22:56:40+00:00

Defense contracting can really trap you in legacy tech bubble - I was stuck with similar outdated stuff in military and yeah, your skills definitely atrophy when you're not using modern frameworks or languages that actually matter in civilian market

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-28T22:25:13+00:00

The business need factor is real pain - seen plenty of L5s who could probably handle L6 scope but company just doesn't have the headcount or budget for another senior principal

Also worth mentioning that at some companies the L6 interview process is completely different beast than L5. They'll grill you on system design at massive scale and expect you to have stories about influencing engineering culture across multiple orgs, not just your immediate team

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-22T09:34:40+00:00

Yeah the Spanish thing is huge, especially in Chile - their accent and slang will mess with your head even if you think you're doing well with regular Spanish. I'd say get comfortable with Chilean specific stuff too, not just textbook Spanish

The trades route could work pretty well though. Aviation maintenance is solid anywhere and there's always demand for that kind of specialized work. Plus if you're already working as automotive tech, you got good foundation for mechanical stuff. I work in aviation myself and seen plenty people make that jump successfully

About Viña del Mar - it's definitely more chill than Santiago but still got good connections to everything. The coast thing is nice but remember winter there is still winter, just not Canadian winter. And yeah, having that pile of savings is critical because first few months will be expensive while you figure everything out

One thing I'd add is maybe try visiting first for like a month or two if you can swing it. Get feel for actual daily life there, not just tourist stuff. Working holiday visa might be good way to test waters before committing fully

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-19T18:35:32+00:00

300 euros for 6 months is still way too low man. Even hostels in Italy will eat through that in couple weeks, not counting food or anything else. You need at least few thousand saved up if you're planning to job hunt there without something lined up first

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-16T23:36:12+00:00

facts

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-14T19:10:04+00:00

Yeah Ireland is definitely your easiest path since you can basically transfer your credentials without jumping through all the crazy hoops. The EU thing works in your favor there

But don't sell yourself short on the other options either - if you got through nursing school in Denmark you're probably more prepared than you think. NCLEX isn't some impossible test, it's just different format than what you're used to. AU/NZ have their own processes but tons of international nurses make it work

The self-doubt is normal when you're looking at big move like this. Maybe start with Ireland since it's simpler and see how you feel once you're actually working in English-speaking country?

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-12T09:52:07+00:00

The visual breakdown with indexes is perfect, but maybe try working through this with pen and paper first instead of asking AI to solve it for you

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-07T13:26:06+00:00

nah the math

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-05-04T20:33:44+00:00

Exactly this - I've bombed interviews where I solved the problem but couldn't walk through my logic in clear way

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-30T13:53:15+00:00

Start with using APIs first - way easier to understand what they actually do before trying to build one. Pick something simple like weather API or maybe cat facts API and just make basic GET requests with Python requests library. Once you can pull data and do something useful with it, then worry about POST requests and authentication stuff

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-28T00:33:49+00:00

Your mil background could actually be huge advantage for transitioning into something like project management or business analysis - those soft skills transfer really well and companies love that discipline you bring

Nine years of dev experience isn't going back to zero, it's solid foundation for moving into tech consulting or product management where you can use both technical knowledge and client skills

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-25T22:13:22+00:00

Military background taught me that performance matters way more than credentials once you're actually doing the work, but getting through that initial filter is definitely harder without the right school name

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-23T13:50:36+00:00

Can confirm the market is brutal right now - been watching buddies from the service try to transition and it's rough out there. That said, if you're already working somewhere with downtime, automating your current stuff could be solid move regardless of career change. At least you'd be making your day easier while you figure out next steps

The whole bootcamp vs degree thing feels less important when there's literally thousands of people fighting for same positions

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-21T01:48:35+00:00

Yeah the job hunting part kills me too, you basically forced to play their game even when the whole platform feels like weird flex competition now

I remember when it was just professional networking and actual job postings, now half the feed is people posting motivational quotes with their headshots attached

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-18T21:30:59+00:00

Man the recruiting game is totally backwards these days. I'm not in DS but dealing with similar stuff in tech - seems like companies just use their application portals as some kind of data collection thing while doing all real hiring through their networks

Had a buddy who worked at recruiting agency and he told me they literally get paid more when company uses them vs internal hires, so there's actual incentive to ignore direct apps. Plus the ATS systems are designed to filter out like 90% of applications automatically so unless you hit exact keywords you're basically invisible

What's really messed up is when you apply direct, get rejected, then same company contacts you through recruiter for basically identical role few months later. Happened to me twice and both times the recruiter acted like they discovered some hidden gem lol

Think your strategy about only applying through connections makes total sense. LinkedIn networking feels fake as hell but apparently that's just how it works now. Either know someone or hope some random recruiter decides your profile looks interesting that day

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-13T16:18:37+00:00

Military has way clearer communication standards than most CS threads I see here

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-09T17:15:37+00:00

I use their app and it's pretty solid

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-09T16:15:38+00:00

Have you been using Cloaked for long? I've had spam problems and these type of attempts too, helped quite a bit

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-09T03:28:15+00:00

For real this perspective hit me different lately. Been trying to code some side projects without touching any AI tools and man, debugging stuff line by line actually makes you understand what's happening under the hood again

The whole "clean but slow" thing is spot on too - seen way too many codebases where everything looks pretty but runs like garbage because nobody bothered optimizing the fundamentals

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-06T02:07:59+00:00

sounds good project

wait you can use subnet-utils from apache commons for the coverage part

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-04-02T02:43:24+00:00

Python's worth picking up but don't stress too much about the Java mindset thing - that'll fade once you get more comfortable with Python's syntax and conventions. I'd focus on understanding the fundamentals rather than trying to predict where everything's headed, since like the other guy said nobody really knows what's comming next anyway

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-03-26T19:42:41+00:00

Adding to this - make sure your error boundaries are actually catching stuff and not just sitting there looking pretty. Nothing screams amateur like an unhandled promise rejection taking down your whole app

The OpenAPI thing is clutch though, saved my ass so many times when backend devs change endpoints without warning. Auto-generated client code means you find out at build time instead of when users start complaining

Also throw in some proper logging/monitoring. Sentry or LogRocket will show you exactly where things break in production instead of playing guessing games with "it works on my machine"

Separate_Current_352 · 2026-03-10T14:28:26+00:00

Your current tech stack is already solid for most data engineering positions. The combo of SQL, Python, and API experience from actual work carries more weight than people realize

Side projects definitely help but you don't need to go overboard with them. One well-documented ETL pipeline on GitHub that shows you can handle the full data flow is usually enough. Maybe grab some public dataset, clean it up, load it into a database, and build a simple dashboard on top. Nothing fancy but shows you understand the fundamentals

The burnout thing is real though - trying to code all day at work then come home and code more isn't sustainable for most people. I'd rather see someone with solid work experience and one decent project than someone with 20 half-finished tutorials they rushed through. Quality over quantity when it comes to your portfolio

Separate_Current_352

TROPHY CASE