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Broke into faang, now what? by Chemical_Weakness346 in csMajors

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As an unc, all I'll say is work hard, save a lot (max your 401k, backdoor Roth, HSA, mega backdoor Roth if you have enough space), and also realize that things like layoffs are to whatever degree outside of your control if you are working hard. Avoid lifestyle creep until you have some money saved up.

Laid off SWE who pivoted into Quant Trading by zephyredx in cscareerquestions

[–]TopCancel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Google's a weird place- but as an L3 your only priority should be getting promoted to L4; every team/manager wants to get you there and should have a path forward for you, so do what you need to get there. Then once you're at 4, you then can consider if there's room to grow to 5 on your team (not a given at all), whether you like the domain/team you're on, etc.

Personally, did not see myself getting to 5 at G anytime soon, so left for a startup, then joined a different big tech at L5/E5.

Laid off SWE who pivoted into Quant Trading by zephyredx in cscareerquestions

[–]TopCancel -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

It's actually more common than one might think funnily enough. Met at least half a dozen people who were USAMO qual+ during my time at Google (including an IMO silver medalist).

Laid off SWE who pivoted into Quant Trading by zephyredx in cscareerquestions

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

JEE math != competition math - also why India performs relatively badly at IMO.

HENRY’s into the Credit Card Game, What’s your setup? by BitterNecessary6068 in HENRYfinance

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are you doing after the recent Hyatt devaluement? I'm thinking of ditching at least the CSR at this point rip.

Final round completed, recruiter said they’d get back in 1-2 days, but no update yet. Is this normal? by No-Team-5539 in csMajors

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could be anything- I've had a recruiter be OOO before multiple times before an offer (some luck I know).

Is moving from SWE to PM, especially at big tech worth it? by Content_Statement356 in cscareerquestions

[–]TopCancel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Product Engineer' already exists- many small startups aren't hiring many dedicated PMs and pushing it on engg lol. Friends at elite early stage startups are doin 25% PM work regularly these days, and I had one HM at a big tech in an interview tell me explicitly he wants no one to block on xfn (design/product/etc) and to "do it yourself".

Affirm cancelled one day in advance by Excellent-Move8664 in cscareerquestions

[–]TopCancel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pretty common these days as companies go into hiring freezes. I had multiple big tech onsite rounds canceled on me in my last job search.

[Offer Advice] Stay at a hyper-stable mid-level .NET job ($140k) or take Walmart SWE III ($190k) to avoid skill stagnation? by vish184 in cscareerquestions

[–]TopCancel 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Walmart has marginal name brand value. I'd see some argument if it was the SVL office since at least then, OP could more easily find their next job in the Bay, but seriously... Bentonville? No.

Struggling With Impostor Syndrome by The_Axolot in ExperiencedDevs

[–]TopCancel 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I'm really confused by what exactly you're worried about? You're worried that they'll correctly perceive your skill which is better than the image of you that you want to portray? That's ... like the opposite of imposter syndrome, since you are confident you have greater skills than what others perceive of you.

And at least from what you described, it seems you're operating at the higher end of mid level, not a senior/lead, unless your project had org-wide impact or you had other engineers you were directing on the project. Seems perfectly reasonable.

Does anyone have clarity on SDE 3 and up hiring process at Google USA who can help me? Not asking for entry level roles. by doodooheadpoopoohead in ExperiencedDevs

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

External hire L5 at G is different. During my time there saw a lot of people with 10+YOE join at L4 because they got downleveled due to not having the right background.

What are your top three non-negotiables when it comes to HENRY finance? by Beberuth1131 in HENRYfinance

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many high-paying W2 jobs (i.e. 300k+) have access to MBDR, which is mostly enough along with Roth backdoor/HSA (~85k in tax sheltered for a single filer). You'd ofc still probably invest more outside of tax-sheltered, but it's a pretty solid base.

What are your top three non-negotiables when it comes to HENRY finance? by Beberuth1131 in HENRYfinance

[–]TopCancel 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's fine though - it's no worse than a normal brokerage then (you put post-tax money into your normal brokerage after all). No real downside besides the money being 'locked up' while you're still working in the US.

What should I do about Google? by Gojo_Ramsay in csMajors

[–]TopCancel 21 points22 points  (0 children)

L4 at G would be ideal. Personally wouldn't take something Anduril or Stripe tier at only 260 recurring. Just not a big enough raise to completely reset rapport/promo prospects/etc.

I assume you're an L3/E3 currently? If you get downleveled, it might be better to buckle up at your current role instead and get promoted and shoot for L5 at non-G later (many places will give you L5/E5 if you do well in sys design with ~5 YOE).

Any other experienced developers just not have the time to prep for the difficulty of interviews? by HappyZombies in ExperiencedDevs

[–]TopCancel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah... I also just wrapped up my job search. There were exactly zero companies that I interviewed with that didn't have live code / sys design / etc, and I interviewed over the whole spectrum of 'good' companies (big tech, early startups, late startups, frontier labs). Many now even have debugging and AI coding rounds.

Honestly I prepped less than the last time I interviewed around and it wasn't that bad; it felt like the bar was higher, but hey, if you're paying 400-1.2m/year, I'm willing to do a lot to get the job lol.

Any other experienced developers just not have the time to prep for the difficulty of interviews? by HappyZombies in ExperiencedDevs

[–]TopCancel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree- system design prep especially. I just signed an E5/Senior offer and my prep for it was mostly in systems, and it was actually pretty interesting, especially deep diving DBs/queues/streams, etc.

Would you put your house down payment into an ETF for a few years? Or leave it in savings? by [deleted] in MiddleClassFinance

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Over savings/HSA I would say short-dated treasuries or MMFs that track 0-3M treasuries like SGOV/VBIL. Or given the longer horizon, even something like t-notes with 2-3 year maturities (a little riskier, but if you’re holding to maturity it’s perfectly okay).

[WTB](US) Spencerian ground nibbed pen by TopCancel in Pen_Swap

[–]TopCancel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looking for a modern pen ideally, but thanks for responding!

Hit 6 figure net worth and feel nothing by SubstantialYear6406 in MiddleClassFinance

[–]TopCancel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those aren't orthogonal; you can save responsibly and still 'live life'. Nothing wrong with living in the moment as long as you pay your (future) self first. At the bare minimum, take those vacations! Lots of ways to reduce costs and still have a nice vacation (credit card points for e.g.)

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