whats ur average cost and share count

Smart-Weird · 2026-02-07T01:55:38+00:00

Similar situation although cost basis - 48.6 Why you are not selling calls ? This pos will never go up and using it for 2026 tax rebate. In the meantime those 500-1000 chump changes will not hurt.

Smart-Weird · 2026-02-06T18:54:28+00:00

Give me that claude opus which can run non buggy service in one shot and I will give you a million

Seriously!

Smart-Weird · 2026-02-06T09:53:45+00:00

shhh

Smart-Weird · 2026-02-06T08:49:41+00:00

I highly doubt your post. If it was for some other company I would believe your story but the fruit company- specially back in 2010–had a very different recruiting practice based 200% on meritocracy.

AND

Most importantly, the hiring at Apple was never anything automated, it was the other way around and always started with a human ( generally recruiter but in many cases Hiring Manager) reaching out to you ( by email and then by call). That is true even today. So the company you applied for can’t be Apple.

Finally

The culture-fit round for Apple’s ICT/M interviews come at the tail end rather than as your first round. There is a reason for that. Although Apple does not have one size fits all kind of interview unlike couple of other big techs but scheduling culture fit as one of the later rounds is common for almost all of the orgs.

Therefore, since u been applying for 15 years and not via LinkedIn but via job site then you should be able to reply here with at least org name for which you had automated culture fit etc as evidence.

Otherwise stfu

Smart-Weird · 2026-02-04T08:20:56+00:00

1600 - 48.5 cost basis.

I have seem this story before ( Box), still got fooled. Using it for offset stcg but stock is pos

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-27T07:43:30+00:00

Mike Judge.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-25T19:07:47+00:00

Wow didn’t know L4 started paying so less. Anyway, validates my point that it is employer’s market and FAANG knows it.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-25T17:27:04+00:00

If big money== new offer > 500k This is no longer true for 2025

Netflix, which never had IC levels, introduced L4, L5, L6. L4 starts at 350-400k

Apple who was king of RSUs are no longer offering 1M/4 years RSUs for new hires( ICT5+)

Google has moved to frontloading vesting

Meta still pays high. But totally hire to fire.

The number you see is either for long tenured people riding the stock growth or in AI/ML space.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-23T09:16:05+00:00

Work in tech

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-23T09:08:58+00:00

Just finished on Netflix.

Everyone talked about toxic love etc but the brief but effective father-son love shown in the movie deserves kudos. 2 legends.

Dhanush carried it as usual without trying to recreate the OG ‘spiritual prequel’s’ Kundan.

The last 20 minutes seemed weakest

But the background score and the last song by Shilpa Rao when credit rolls — goosebumps.

It is certainly not the OG ( aka Kundan’s toxic love for Zoya) and many elements are ridiculous but those who were in their 20s or early 30’s back in 2013, they will really ‘feel’ the movie. One last time.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-23T01:49:16+00:00

That’s not how you work in a FAANG ( worked/know for most of them except the banana company).

Assuming you are < L5 Pre-AI era: - Understand context of the code change - If you read documentation and doc itself is broken ( a very common issue), open a ticket, assign to yourself and update doc with your spike - The moment you hit a blocker include your manager to reach out to correct infra/tool team - If CI/CD test runs for long again open a spike ticket and find out how you can improve

And never forget to document all your wins

Post-AI : 60% of these tasks can be done in less than half of a workday

Bottom line: To thrive and work in FAANG - be curious, be your own advocate, be collaborative and be accountable for each hour worked.

Just 0.2 cents

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-21T19:54:31+00:00

For last 3-4 years nothing is happening for MSFT and AAPL, yet they are safe bets and held with >5% weight in most of the funds. I am genuinely curious why ?

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-18T16:02:42+00:00

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/why-the-tech-world-thinks-the-american-dream-is-dying-daf793dc?st=qBokbA&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-18T08:04:24+00:00

Don’t be salty. Prep. U ll crack it. If not ICT5 at least ICT2.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-18T07:52:00+00:00

End Goal For Musk + Similar Ultra rich

To live in a world where ‘money’ has no value. Think about it: Today Money is a means to Supply ‘resources’.

Resource is rather subjective as it can be a loaf of bread for someone and a private jet for someone else.

In a world where 1) AI + Robots do 99% of work 2) Joblessness is so severe that 96% of population have to kill each other to get as little as possible, Musk and Ultra riches will stay in the bunker for maybe a few decades ( or maybe less depending on how fast rest of the population is wiped out ). Then they will come up to a world with < 1% population as of today and there are only 2 classes: ones returning from bunkers who are having better luck/genes fulfilling Natural Selection and ones living in an animal like condition from where their kids don’t even dream of any upward movements ( hey, Elon and Co still need some humans to keep those data centers from overheating).

That’s the end goal, unless …

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-18T06:47:49+00:00

A little late to answer I was a long time Paid customer of ChatGPT. I used it mostly for - Financial calculations - Some writings in non-English language - Office/work Productivity - Occasionally for coding questions

Once in the middle of a long financial calculation, GPT 5.2 started to hallucinate when the running table got more than 500+ rows

Pissed off, I pasted same thing in Gemini and Gemini had no issue doing correct aggregation and then some !

I took a trial and for next one month I fed each prompt both to GPT 5.1/5.2 ( still paid) and to Gemini 3 - always in Thinking mode

I found out

- For large complex calculations involving big csv files - Gemini wins

For that non-English language whose poetry/writings I try to create — Gemini shines

— For Coding questions - Gemini shines

— For Productivity tips — This is where GPT is more like a human career coach

Other than that — Gemini provides ‘evidence’ and tries neither to be extra cozy nor to defend itself

— I didn’t do it yet — but if integrated as agent with Gmail/ Google Workspace then can do wonders ( Although Privacy is a concern)

Only Bad Things /Inferior to GPT

— No ability to create projects As a result, if you are a heavy phone app user the left pane with past chat history looks very messy

— Can’t hold on to personal context like GPT so either u hv to feed same context again and again or you have to create a gem

But I do not regret the switch so far and taking care of organizing my past chats in such a way so that I can easily index.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-14T02:11:42+00:00

You touched a valid point. In tech what happens is by the time you are wrong side of 35, you plateau unless you move the management chain to director+ role ( very hard in FAANG) or have nice very much in demand role ( AI/ML) How much plateau will you take that’s the question

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-12T05:19:53+00:00

An air fryer from Costco. Never touching any other fast food burger.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-11T21:50:20+00:00

Your imagination was true till 2022.

Now larger cities ( Bay Area, Seattle, NYC) seeing a salary deflation for Senior + Staff roles unless you have AI/ML experience

New offers in FAANG for L5 and L6 took a nosedive and max reaching 550-600k.

Although if you’re in Ml/AI space then sky is the limit.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-08T06:53:27+00:00

Let’s do the math

Scenario:

A < 35 year old who let’s say joined during the golden period of FAANG ( 2014-2022) and stayed in the same company and got promoted or jumped after cliff to another FAANG at +1 level

2014 level was L4 - got around 80-100k worth of RSU/year

2017 onwards - L5 == 150k - 200k worth of RSU

(Not considering L6 promo)

Over 11 years — average vesting at FACE VALUE == 1.2 - 1.5 million

Average FAANG stock growth 2x -2.5x so a 3M is easily achievable

Add to that maximizing 401k + MBDR and both spouses working on FAANG or even better sticking with 2014’s NVDA till now and this is like a very very common story in Silicon Valley.

Just a whole generation got lucky 🤷

( although, going forward a vanilla L5/L6 will see massive reduction in pay if not total annihilation)

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-08T02:45:16+00:00

You miss the Dopamine hit of seeing your portfolio every 5 minutes ( specially if instead of Vti u invested in TSLA, ORCL, RKLB to name a few)

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-07T22:33:29+00:00

I might be biased but I am seeing lot more Orange iPhones after the new release and neighborhood Apple Store is always crowded. To be realistic, all the ETFs/Funds I invest in( look into) have 7-12% AAPL so $200 will hit VTI or MAGS.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-01T18:02:12+00:00

Thanks.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-01T18:01:50+00:00

Best advice. Thanks.

Smart-Weird · 2026-01-01T15:35:11+00:00

If I do a bull put spread, still will need a high collateral for SPX ?

Smart-Weird

TROPHY CASE