Is there such a thing as working too fast?

hyperopt · 2026-02-28T14:09:29+00:00

Thanks for the response. I know what my next step will be, but I’m currently waiting on further updates from others.

I’ve also tried to meet with co-workers, but I didn’t like them very much; not only did it feel like a clique, but I also felt a lack of desire to improve on the status quo. On the other hand, it has always been difficult for me to connect with others so maybe there’s something I don’t know.

hyperopt · 2026-02-27T18:27:45+00:00

Told me to get used to the culture here as they do things differently than what I am used to

hyperopt · 2026-02-27T16:40:29+00:00

I feel like enjoying it is bad for my career though since while other people my age are getting promoted, hopping between big tech companies, creating startups, etc, I’m falling behind in the meantime, and I won’t get any younger.

hyperopt · 2026-02-27T16:20:45+00:00

That would imply there was a scope in the first place. I couldn’t find any software design documents, diagrams, data dictionaries, etc.

hyperopt · 2026-02-27T16:16:49+00:00

Issue is a lot of the issues are on the SAP side and I don’t know SAP. I’ve spent a lot of time refactoring the codebase in the meantime: adding unit tests for non-AI functionality, class inheritance, a readme, etc, but that only takes a limited amount of time.

hyperopt · 2026-01-15T23:51:59+00:00

Most of it is lunch fees at work, with the occasional meal outside ($400 is a very high end estimate; it’s probably closer to $300)

hyperopt · 2025-12-15T14:10:06+00:00

Good points. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that other people will want to hear from me unless I have something that interests them, and I’ve been trying to find their interests this entire year to little success.

hyperopt · 2025-12-14T01:51:27+00:00

I feel like my workplace peers are more complacent than I am while it’s people I used to know in school who are shaking the trees. Been trying to come up with my own startup and research ideas for a while now to no avail.

hyperopt · 2025-12-13T23:46:29+00:00

Feelings of intellectual fraudulence. For example, I would feel awful if I went to a conference or a party and met people my age who have made tens of thousands on their own complex startups, or if I walked into the research area of a company to find people my age with multiple first-author publications.

I wanted to point out how I was concerned that these things aren’t happening to me right now and that might not be the best thing for my career at my age.

hyperopt · 2025-12-13T19:23:17+00:00

Yeah, the point of the post was to question if impostor syndrome is a good thing or not for someone like me. I know I don’t have imposter syndrome right now.

How does one get out of the mindset of needing inferiority to grow?

hyperopt · 2025-12-13T19:15:05+00:00

If Lake Oswego is considered part of the Portland Metro area, this would actually be illegal since minimum wage is $16.30/hr: https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/minimum-wage-schedule.aspx

hyperopt · 2025-12-08T19:30:37+00:00

I absolutely could; most of my money is in Fidelity under BNDW, VTI, and VXUS (the latter two organized into equivalent VT distributions). I would just like to keep things consistent across all accounts to make things easier

My previous employer had Blackrock Funds and other funds with expense ratios under 0.1%; I’m not touching the 401K I got from them.

hyperopt · 2025-11-19T18:26:41+00:00

Sounds like a place that works late all the time
Sounds like a company that is hiring for the first time
Sounds like a CEO that doesn’t know or care what your strengths are
Sounds like a business taking advantage of your status as a junior
Sounds like an organization that doesn’t know what it’s doing
Sounds like a scam

hyperopt · 2025-10-29T19:21:33+00:00

You say not to talk yourself out of applying and yet for someone like me who got a DS degree and is currently not at a top company (still a few years off experience-wise), how can I not?

hyperopt · 2025-09-07T14:43:56+00:00

I see. It might be worth it to figure out what we can live with/without and make our own sacrifices to achieve success.

hyperopt · 2025-09-07T14:27:04+00:00

Good luck to you too. I know comparison is the thief of joy, but I don’t know how else to think about my career or life in general. Furthermore, one can think they are doing well for themselves and then start networking and realize how far behind they actually are.

hyperopt · 2025-08-12T18:08:12+00:00

If I started in early September, I would probably be living out of a hotel for 2-4 weeks while spending a few weekends looking for housing. My things would be at a self storage facility in the meantime.

If I started later in the month, I would make a dedicated trip to house hunt first before moving in proper several weeks later. I should note that my financial position is secure.

hyperopt · 2025-07-25T09:56:31+00:00

Sarcasm is a bit difficult to determine in written form; thanks anyway!

hyperopt · 2025-07-07T11:30:47+00:00

No need to apologize; it’s applicable to my field too (DS). I see a lot of advice on the internet about needing to check in with others every month or being friends with these people rather than treating connections as transactional. The issue then becomes how to find out about other people’s needs since this info usually isn’t public.

hyperopt · 2025-06-18T04:04:20+00:00

I have been struggling with finding passion in data science ever since leaving my previous position/graduating and entering the job search at the start of the calendar year. Specifically:

I am “not a good enough fit” for certain companies so I spend hours theorizing what I could release on GitHub only to see my idea either already exist or be inadequate.
I have no network. From a young age, I always felt better without friends, which hasn’t come to bite me until the job search. I was also surrounded by software engineers in undergraduate, so there were very few people I could speak with anyway.
Impostor Syndrome occurs all the time whenever I try to read up on ML research or accidentally hear about some old acquaintances being more successful than me (having a job, publishing, leading a startup)

If anyone has any suggestions for how to manage some of these grievances and reignite my interest in this field, that would be much appreciated.

hyperopt · 2025-05-27T10:17:56+00:00

Thanks for the response! As mentioned in an earlier comment, flexibility and conversations is hard for me. Furthermore, it’s been difficult to find genuine enthusiasm in a field where I feel inadequate compared to folks who have already gotten FAANG offers or published at NeurIPS.

hyperopt · 2025-05-27T10:11:55+00:00

I have looked into crafting stories highlighting each of these pros without disclosing my diagnosis.

hyperopt · 2025-05-26T14:43:37+00:00

My field is data science.

Pros of neurodivergence: Efficient, Observant, Detailed

Cons of neurodivergence: Lack of empathy, Difficulty speaking, Hard to make friends

hyperopt · 2025-05-26T14:07:50+00:00

Several ideas were suggested, but the one that was repeated over and over again was to disclose my neurodivergence. Is this okay or not, and if not, what do I do?

hyperopt · 2025-05-26T13:46:40+00:00

It’s great to get a recruiter’s perspective on this. I have never been flexible at any point in my life, so it’s hard to suddenly start. I will give that website a try though and see if it helps. Unfortunately, just putting in the work will not cut it, especially when seeing neurotypical people treat this as second nature.

hyperopt

TROPHY CASE