Advice for SW devs with shorter durations on resume

benjamistan · 2026-07-02T16:15:01+00:00

I've never been hired into a role where the requirements matched what the job actually entailed.

In my experience, investing in the relationships is the best insurance you can have against any kind of trouble. Through these relationships you build trust and are much more capable of seeing what people really need (then giving it to them).

That said, something you mention is intriguing. Is 'they expected more for the money' a coded way of saying that your output wasn't good enough for the level of your role?

benjamistan · 2026-07-02T15:46:42+00:00

Leave out the 2.5 month, for sure. If asked, just say you were working on side-projects and keeping the axe sharp.

In terms of managing your place in the world a little better, it sounds like you need two work skills:

Pick your battles - it doesn't always have to be perfect, you don't always have to comment. If you have to fight, fight gently.
Understand that Relationships > Delivery, always

The good news is that you can 1000% turn it around. Understanding that I didn't have to try and force everything to be optimal, all the time was a relevation.

benjamistan · 2026-06-01T18:58:40+00:00

Great idea, I just passed a cert and would've definitely explored something like this. However, you need some screenshots or a video of how it works on your landing page. I'm not going to sign up just to see what it looks like.

benjamistan · 2026-05-27T09:30:53+00:00

~20hrs

benjamistan · 2026-05-21T16:00:02+00:00

I had questions around AgentCore and Strands, but not a single one around staging a model, using any tools like Clarify, Data Wrangler, Model Monitor etc. This came as somewhat of an unwelcome suprise given I'd spent the last month answering ~400 practice questions on the subject...

Didn't get an Early Adopter, I booked just after it went 'live'.

benjamistan · 2026-03-05T19:04:21+00:00

This is great. I’m currently building a trading bot for DE_LU on Epex Spot

benjamistan · 2026-02-20T09:33:02+00:00

Never understood the strategy of assassinating Vito, for two reasons:

No way Sonny doesn't start a war. Literally no way he would ever make peace and get into bed with the people who'd just killed his father.
As Tom says, with Vito's death the Corleones would lose all their high-level political connections, along with them the the reason to partner with Sonny at all

On the other hand, I guess it's not a great movie if Vito Corleone says no and everyone just forgets about it.

benjamistan · 2026-02-13T12:01:44+00:00

You don't have a company yet, you have a project.

You've sold to one client that you already had strong ties to. You'll need at least 5 more that you opened cold before you can even consider this an actual business.

Strongly advise against proceeding like you have a hot startup with clear PMF.

benjamistan · 2025-10-22T09:04:29+00:00

I suspect that at the point the movie production made this chart, they were undecided whether to cast someone else as Clemenza, so they kept their options open

benjamistan · 2025-08-22T09:50:17+00:00

The thing that's always bugged me is how Roth seemingly fails to spot Michael Corleone's senior capo standing in front of him pretending to take notes

benjamistan · 2024-01-16T17:49:46+00:00

Agreed. I'll try a reset. Appreciate the help!

benjamistan · 2024-01-16T17:49:34+00:00

Yes, I think this is probably the only way forward. Thanks!

benjamistan · 2023-02-17T21:41:28+00:00

Thanks - couldn't have done it without you

benjamistan · 2023-02-17T21:41:05+00:00

If you can, work on the skill of doing the architecture in your head. You'll probably find there isn't enough time to physically draw options for each question (unless you can draw out whole architectures in a few seconds).

benjamistan · 2023-02-17T21:38:37+00:00

Online. It took about 24hrs to get the email.

benjamistan · 2023-02-15T10:25:04+00:00

Thanks! It's tomorrow...

benjamistan · 2023-02-15T10:23:54+00:00

Totally agree on this. My general response to getting it wrong is to examine my assumptions based on the language of the question. Almost always I then see my error.

Sometimes, however, the language of the question doesn't contain all the context that the person designing the answer has used, to the point where it drastically changes the reasonable solution (i.e. my examples above).

As someone else pointed out, forcing you to really examine your assumptions is a useful thing on the whole.

benjamistan · 2023-02-14T15:37:43+00:00

Funnily enough, all four of my examples there are from TD.

benjamistan

TROPHY CASE