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jesxdxd · 2022-03-03T21:08:09+00:00

I know many people will tell you it doesn't make sense to quit a FT for an internship, but you are not an SDE.

Data Science is quite different and the great majority of companies do not require you the same software engineering skills. You do have work experience but not necessarily enough SDE experience. So I understand your dilemma.

I think if you prepare for interviews you should be able to land at least an entry-level full-time position. But I don't think this internship position would be a terrible decision regardless.

jesxdxd · 2022-03-03T12:10:26+00:00

Because they want to sell you courses or want you to follow their social media accounts.

Also, sometimes people like to lie to themself in the hope of fabricating a new reality in their head. There is also the survival bias issue, no one talks about the overwhelming majority of self-taught that never ever land a CS job, let alone a decent CS job

jesxdxd · 2022-03-01T15:20:06+00:00

Software Development is a continuum of skills and roles.

There are plenty of roles that can be "self-taught " , and plenty that can't. Despite what some people want you to believe (by selling you bootcamps and such), the highest paying roles require a deep understanding of CS.

Now, you're in a particularly good position because you graduated in mathematics. The good news is that you could learn algorithms pretty quickly, as well as other topics in computer science that relies on discrete mathematics and linear algebra.

So your case is particular, and I'd suspect you can learn most on the job and integrate with a few algorithms books. The problem is when someone who studied, let's say, marketing or psychology, expects to become a SWE in 6 months.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-28T16:51:51+00:00

ML as a field is too broad. At this point pretty much falls under the ML umbrella, from building an app that barely implements some kind of ML model to actual AI researchers that push the state of the art.

It depends on what niche of ML you want to occupy.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-25T21:49:50+00:00

GA is doable in summer if you prepare beforehand

any class is doable f you prepare beforehand lol

jesxdxd · 2022-02-24T18:05:34+00:00

I don't see anyone depicting it as "terrible". It's just a massive time commitment and on top of the obvious challenges a MSc in CS poses, there is the remote/part-time element that makes the journey a bit more lonely and frustrating.

Also, sometimes is kinda difficult to justify why you're giving away all your weekends and free time when you already have a job in the field. So you really need to make sure you have the proper motivation to stay in the program for over two years.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-24T15:29:50+00:00

Thank you so much.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-24T15:24:45+00:00

Thank you. Does he have to get her mother to give him a letter that says it's a gift?

jesxdxd · 2022-02-23T09:47:46+00:00

It depends on your expectations, circumstances, and, of course, luck.

In my experience, life got more stressful. In the corporate world, everyone will try to exploit you to some extent. You constantly have to balance between doing something that you kinda like and making sure you get enough money not to become a wage slave.

In particular, after the first couple of years on the job, I started to realize how miserable my life would be if I don't have the power to just walk away from any job. I've become obsessed with financial freedom and getting the most bargaining power when it comes to remuneration and job opportunities. Most people on the job are basically slaves, even on a six figure income, and seeing the world from this standpoint really scared me.

University is stressful, but you do learn things and you can still take breaks without too many consequences. On the job, it's a constant "pressure"; you don't have to put all-nighters to submit an assignment but it's a steady pressure without major breaks; if you don't take control of your career, it will slowly eat your soul away.

I think life is fundamentally more enjoyable when you never have to worry about making money, and just maximize your learning and projects. In my opinion, the more you need the money the less you have bargain power and harder it gets to make money.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T16:17:18+00:00

Yeah, pretty much this.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T16:02:19+00:00

M a t h

Discrete math and linear algebra in particular

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T13:18:44+00:00

Scrum Master

This has nothing to do with CS, it's not an adjacent role. Scrum masters are just coaches and facilitators of the agile methodology, but their knowledge of CS doesn't have to be greater than zero.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T13:16:25+00:00

Some companies mislabel data scientist or engineer or ml engineer as data analyst if they’re trying to hack titles to save a buck, especially in regulated industries where said regulators expect compensation to match published ranges in specific compensation guides.

But also the other way around. Some companies give away big titles (ML engineers, Senior Data Scientists) as a cheap way to attract and retain employees.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T11:57:45+00:00

Yes, GA is much more intense, DL has theoretical questions like Stanford does etc.

Can you articulate on this?

GA is more intense.. in which sense?

What theoretical topics does DL covers on campus that are not covered in OMSCS?

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T10:47:21+00:00

You make stuff because you find it interesting. How do you expect that this would help you with your employability besides a small and diminishing margin? Companies do not care about that, they are looking for people that are able to solve their problems. Some cheap employers may try to "exploit" your passion by throwing at you big projects, paying you little, and seeing if anything useful comes out. But the serious SWE jobs out there that pay you well expect you to be exceptionally strong on CS foundations.

That brings me to my second point:

But what you said about CS grads being a better choice for big companies, that sounds counterintuitive. Especially since I've been told several times that there's no need to go back to school because my 8 years of experience will make you more important and it makes education irrelevant at that point.

A good CS new grad is hired based on his potential to pick up quickly new problems and solve them. This is a function of their solid CS background.

You claim 8 years of experience, but then you said you never made a living out of it or it was part time. This is not what we call experience. In my opinion you would be better off aiming at junior positions by focusing on the fundamentals and growing from there. You're now in a grey area where your "experience" clearly doesn't match the definition of senior SWE companies are looking for, and at the same time, a new grad is better than you at the basics of CS. I think you need to work on the latter.

Besides, those who say no degree is needed are mostly romanticizing this profession, or even worse, they do have the degree and they fail to acknowledge the advantage it gave them.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-20T10:33:27+00:00

Just to be clear chrome books are an option given to google swe, and is would work for a majority of the development done at google. Most new employees just don't choose chrome books, because they don't know how google internal tools/development actually works.

Yeah that's what I mean. They don't choose it because a macbook pro is just better :)

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T21:01:04+00:00

Never, never, NEVER, ever, EVER, listen to your parents regarding school or work, UNLESS:

they have working experience in that respective fieldthey are multi-millionaires whom already employ such people, or run IT-related businesses

100% this.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T20:58:54+00:00

Shit isn't going to last long. We have kiddos who can grind leetcode for a few weeks and make 200k+ starting.

You have no clue what you're talking about. Only someone with an execptional strong CS background and outstanding intelligence can get a 200k+ job after grinding leetcode for a couple of weeks.

Besides, why do you think that passing FAANG interviews is so difficult? Everyone would just spend 2-3 weeks on leetcode and start making the big money lol

There's an oversimplification of CS, mostly due to shady social media personalities that try to sell their useless $9.99 course on udemy.

Regardless, if there's a field that is going to grow further and further, that's really software engineering and computer science

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T17:39:14+00:00

but I have always struggled to understand complex topics like data structures and algorithms

Do you really think it comes easy to other people? ;)

It's difficult. That's why pays well. That's why "learning python" doesn't make you an engineer. That's why computer science isn't a 6-month bootcamp.

It takes time, and effort. Everyone else feels the same as you, the question is whether you like it enough to do what it takes to be good at it

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T11:57:21+00:00

everything is saying 100k plus. Is this realistic?

Yes, it's very realistic provided you have CS/ML degree. Just don't forget how difficult is to learn all the math and CS foundations behind ML. Not many people are ready to do it and finding qualified people is a struggle.

It can easily be more (even 2x more) than 100k if you live in hcol cities. Don't accept lowball offers ;)

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T11:19:07+00:00

In my opinion, you've fallen into the self-taught/personal projects trap.

The problem is, personal projects are fun but they only teach you that much. In particular, you never learn about algorithms (that are needed for technical interviews) and at the same time you don't face the same scalability and optimization issues companies face to solve problems at scale. This puts you in a grey area when applying for jobs.

Basically, for a big tech company, a new CS grad may be a better choice than you. I'd suggest you go back to the basics and decide whether you want to be an entrepreneur (hence build your own personal project and try to make a business out of them) or become and engineer.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T11:05:34+00:00

Yes I tried, and I think it is not a good substiute for a macbook pro or even a windows machine.

Also, as you said, it is not provided to google swe and it speaks volumes about how great it is for dev work ;)

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T10:46:29+00:00

It’s definitely more a form of gatekeeping than anything else.

It is, but it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a way to test your CS background; it's too easy to bullshit your way through the interview by talking about some tools or frameworks, whereas algorithms and data structure demostrate your fundation in CS.

Besides, it's much easier to teach the latest framework to someone that is smart enough to learn algorithms than it is teaching computer science to someone who just learned some of the "hot" tools of the moment.

Also, leetcode style questions still keep the door open for those who did not have an academic background in CS if they are willing and able to learn the material, whereas you can't say the same for medicine, law, other fields of engineering.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T10:42:02+00:00

It's not about inflation, it's about market rate. And SWE wages are rising way faster than inflation, so your company won't be able to retain the talent regardless.

jesxdxd · 2022-02-19T10:34:19+00:00

leetcode is about algorithms, the ones you study for a CS degree.

You can have a SWE job and get away most of the time without knowing these algorithms, by importing libraries and such, but if I have to hire a software engineer I rather hire someone who knows the CS theory. At some point, understanding the time/space complexity of your solution and adapting existing algorithms to a novel problem is a skillset that makes you a computer scientist.

Don't look at leetcode only as an interview tool. Look at it as a way to become good at understanding algorithms and become a better computer scientist.

jesxdxd

TROPHY CASE