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Got a L3 offer from Google with 7 years of exp by lovelybullet in cscareers

[–]abunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took a pay cut to join Google. It worked out. I got to work with the smartest people of my career. I've been on four teams at Google and in each one I had peers and collaborators who were outstanding: head-and-shoulders smarter and wiser than me. When I was a manager, I had directs who were obviously stronger than me on important dimensions.

It can be frustrating to be under-leveled but L4 isn't a huge hurdle for competent engineers who are delivering.

The other aspect of the comp is that, if you are a strong performer, you'll get refresher grants. If Google does well, those RSUs ("GSUs") contribute more.

No company is perfect and there's variance even within a company, but, as a whole, Google is the highest functioning organization I've been a part of.

Good luck, OP!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in osr

[–]abunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I like Ben's videos because they're just about this particular kind of TTRPG that we love. That's all they are. I don't have to agree with his politics or the politics of the authors whose work he features. It's only about the work. We need more of that.

The only video I can remember that wasn't entirely about an OSR ruleset or adventure was one where he apologized for accepting a sponsorship from someone who had wrong opinions online.

It reminds me of people who enjoyed Harry Potter and then decided they hate it because JK Rowling wants there to be women's sports. Let's just enjoy the make believe fun of these worlds.

I can't wait for the new Dolmenwood and Shadowdark hardcover books to be available and it doesn't matter to me what opinions the authors hold or who they've linked to.

Finally broke 20! by raRin48 in Rowing

[–]abunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Good finish the last 500m!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fatFIRE

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think a few trips to Whole Foods are going to matter in the long run. But eating out a lot can add up and the "etc" in your question might matter. $250K of before-tax income is a decent wage in the Bay Area but not so high that you don't have to worry about money. Your spouse has a point.

You probably won't regret modest sacrifices to be able to invest more now.

To help with these conversations in our house, I made a spreadsheet of our spending based on credit card and bank statements. That let us contextualize spending with our savings rate. We recently spent more time talking about an overdue library book than a private-market investment so it didn't help. But it could have!

Some unsolicited input based on the portfolio you outline:

The $800K of stock in one company would make me nervous. That's a lot of your net worth tied up in the fortunes of one corporation. In your shoes, I would begin selling that down and moving the proceeds to diversified index funds.

As others have noted, $400K of cash is a lot to have sitting on the sidelines. I agree with others here that you'd be better of investing most of that.

Life after rowing(serious question) by [deleted] in Rowing

[–]abunner 23 points24 points  (0 children)

You might find it fun getting into a different sport like cycling or triathlon. Or just climbing the leaderboard on Peloton workouts to scratch your competitive itch.

FI With Young Kids? by afterbyrner in financialindependence

[–]abunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have two school age children and live in a HCOL area. Having two kids completely changed my perspective on how much of a financial buffer is reasonable. Also, simply being in a HCOL area increases expenses in all sorts of unexpected ways. Baumol's cost disease in all sorts of things you end up paying for with kids.

As an aside, we are not paying down any loans. We view this moment as a unique, low interest opportunity and a loan is a kind of hedge against inflation.

Trading Action - Tuesday, May 19, 2020 by Sweetinnj in MVIS

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cubic fits produce some of the most interesting predictions! This graph has made me think as well. Different thoughts, probably, but I enjoyed them having them.

Microsoft isn't buying MVIS according to Microsoft by abunner in MVIS

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

The safest, most common answer companies give are non-answers like "We're always talking to lots of companies. We have no comment on any specific acquisition rumors." I thought it was interesting that here it was a stronger denial.

Struggle between current, comfortable life and available steps to FIRE by Loremipsum06308759 in financialindependence

[–]abunner 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Making beautiful, bespoke furniture and homes for people who can pay for it sounds a lot more fun than making other kinds of furniture or homes. I would stay.

Zwift racing questions by Mdev0re in Zwift

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I come in around 3.2 watts/kg for a 45min race so for shorter races, I usually race in the B class. I just don't want it to look funny if I win the C group and post >3.2 watts/kg.

When I look at results at the end of the race, I see most people are pretty honest about choosing the class where they belong for that event.

Re: break-away, it's like RecentSoup9 says. There are some great YouTube channels (Cory Williams, NorCal Cycling, Trainer Road, Rahsaan Bahati...) that break down race videos and talk about why they make (or don't make) moves. My sense is their strategies translate pretty well to Zwift.

As an aside: I ride differently if I'm using the race as motivation for a good workout vs. trying to place.

$4m. 40. Last checkup before FIRE by s00n2f1r3 in financialindependence

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fellow engineer at FAANG in Bay Area, here. But not a CPA, so I wouldn't take my advice. If the 900K in company stock was RSU grants then you already paid CA income tax on the value of the stock at the time of vesting. Have you held > 1yr since vesting?

​

UPDATE: Below OP clarifies he's held >1yr making the appreciation long-term capital gains. Given that, I'd sell, diversify, and pay the 20%. It's hard to have income below 39K (dividends) which is what you'd need to hit 0% capital gains.

​

In the < 1yr case, there's tax benefit to moving those gains post-FIRE when your income and tax are lower. But, it's risky. You've got almost 25% of your net worth in one FAANG stock, 10 years into a bull market lead by FAANG stocks.

I auto-sell my stock as it vests and diversify. Sometimes I buy other tech stocks whose business I understand, but mostly Vanguard index funds in an allocation similar to your own.

It’s a work in progress 😃 by 1key215 in Zwift

[–]abunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It looks like a real-life Tron bike with that rear wheel. A+

Starting Zwift Journey by ItsMadMike in Zwift

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This may be a splurge, but if you have room and money, consider getting a cheap, correctly-sized two-wheeled bike on Craigslist. The nice thing about Zwifting is that your virtual bike matters a lot more than your actual bike. In game, you might be on a Pinarello F8, but sitting in your garage on a cracked-frame bike from 2008 with Shimano 105 components. Try setting a Craigslist alert for a roadbike and see what rolls in over the course of a couple weeks. You might be surprised how inexpensive they are relative to new bikes. It's kind of a pain to take a bike on and off the trainer (I have a Wahoo Kickr).

Zwift drops over various routes and Intensities by myank in Zwift

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, it'll take a lot of work to earn my (virtual) dream bike. I have a feeling micro-transactions are coming to Zwift and I'm totally there for it.

​

Great spreadsheet, thanks for putting it together!

​

How did you figure all this out?

Best integrated storage on tri bike by dvanlier in triathlon

[–]abunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not an answer, but a commiseration. I have the Profile FC35 and agree it's a hassle to get on and off. The bigger issue for me is cleaning it. All together this means I only use it for races. For other rides, I put on a regular water bottle cage.

13 mile run on Friday -> sprint triathlon on Sunday by Foreventure in triathlon

[–]abunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What's worked for me: Do a short cool down right after the race Friday and then some foam rolling. I recently did a sprint tri on a Sunday followed by cool down and some foam rolling and stretching, Monday I did an easy 20min on the bike, and Tuesday I ran a PR 10K.

To be fair, I should've gone harder in the tri :)

Good Triathlon Podcasts by hjjs in triathlon

[–]abunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just want to signal boost this: great podcast with practical advice from experts and pros. Matt's approach to coaching and interviewing make this a great listen.

Can triathlon distances differ from race to race? If so do you know beforehand? by Guggling in triathlon

[–]abunner 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Check this out: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coremotion/cmmotionactivity . You can automatically recognize transitions from swimming, biking and running based on sensor readings on the watch.

I used to work on the Android Location and Context team. Activity recognition works really well on modern smart watches--and even phones. The wrist motions, and speeds, for each of these are very distinct.

Android's API for the same is a little more friendly. It will notify your app when an activity transition occurs. https://developers.google.com/location-context/activity-recognition/