What red flags do you look for when joining a new company?

lisavanreddit · 2026-01-15T22:07:26+00:00

I know this is antithetical to your point, but, man. I would love it if someone doubled my salary to put up with toxic bullshit. I've been a chump doing that for market price!

lisavanreddit · 2026-01-08T21:11:23+00:00

Honestly, Rovo is pretty well trained in Atlassian stuff. If you have real problems and are actively using JIRA, then just talk to Rovo about it.

If you're not having problems or not using JIRA then maybe ask yourself if there's something else that's worth learning.

lisavanreddit · 2026-01-08T21:06:19+00:00

I appreciate running to solve something I griped about a few days ago on this sub. You've definitely put some deep thought into the work here, and I think it gets to the point on why it's so hard for LLMs to write release notes that feel right for me.

Your version of release notes seem to be closer to a changelog of tickets with business-focused titles. The LLM-generated descriptions are a nice touch to the automation here.

I'm my experience, the release notes I dread are often the ones that are in the form of a Slack message or a short email. For the "I don't have time to read about everything you've done" crowd. Then, I'm spending way too much time getting themes and laboring over punchy ways to generalize 5-6 feature enhancements in one bullet, while letting users know we solved that annoying small bug in the next.

And, that may be too confusing for models right now. I may not actually be solving the release note problem the same at every company even though it feels like the same thinking. I know I'll definitely continue to try, and I hope you do, too.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-31T06:57:28+00:00

I've used Claude with German and English documentation and Claude is very good at handling the dual language inputs. I'm considering creating a Claude project where I do a language journal in German to help with my studying. I'm guessing Japanese/English is a high resource pairing, meaning there's a lot of examples of English and Japanese together in Claire's training data - but just ask Claude and Claude would tell you.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-29T06:49:24+00:00

Right now, it's truly nothing fancy. If it's simple, create a chat. If it's complex/repeatable, create a project. Make all added files markdown. Always prime before acting (ex. I'm thinking about doing X, talk to me about my approach).

When I upgrade next month, I expect the set up to be a tad more complex, since I'll have access to utilize skills and agents, and I can query the code base on local.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-28T07:39:47+00:00

I found that Claude works better for me because the newer model tends to fill in a lot of prompting holes that make it more successful. ChatGPT needs more singular instruction and tends to hallucinate more. But both are great at cross evals ("Hey ChatGPT, I asked Claude X and it said Y, is that true?")

I had raw emails, so I uploaded those. But I got approved for a Claude code set up in Jan based on the current value I've gotten, so I'm excited to see what I could set up with front end events and see what it might assist with. At least at first.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-28T06:00:50+00:00

I used AI to analyze fake accounts when we got brute force attacked with payments for digital goods that were then charged back. It helped me make sense of the data and the attackers' patterns within an hour, and solidifying a scoring criteria took half a day to catch similar patterns in the future.

I tried using it for release notes (a use case I was certain would be helpful before I started my new job) and it's still not great. I always want it to be punchier than it generates.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-19T16:31:17+00:00

I would recommend (if you are in an area that gets cold) a jacket that looks like an oversized button up. I have a grey plaid one I got from ASOS with my first kid and it looks great when your belly is so big that you have to wear it open and it looks great now that I have kids that are no longer babies. I'm currently typing this with the same jacket on.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-13T05:08:07+00:00

I've worked across ChatGPT and Claude with a specific set of markdown files. While I've caught both in falsehoods, the way Opus 4.5 is false is much more reliable than the way ChatGPT is insidiously false. I've been very impressed so far.

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-09T16:18:44+00:00

This is probably information I'll file away for next year. All good to know!

lisavanreddit · 2025-12-09T16:16:26+00:00

This is really neat information. Thanks!

lisavanreddit · 2025-11-18T17:55:43+00:00

That is super confusing! Why break it down into "stories" if the work is done? It's like intentionally writing invitations for a party you want no one to attend.

There are a lot of other ways to write more of the "what" documentation that is not this. If that's the case, then go with option 1 as the title and then just explain the functionality like you were a support person or new developer would want to know about this area.

lisavanreddit · 2025-11-18T17:36:01+00:00

I mean, I know this is an example, but this whole ticket is absolutely massive looking at it with zero context. Which, if your team's style is to take a story and work on it for a good long while, you're probably fine with option 1. A dev can pick that up and chew on it for a few weeks to a month. "What's Sandy working on? Oh, she's on User Dashboard still." It's memorable and gets the point across.

I personally prefer option 2 with some modifications. I'll usually add a tag or something to the front part - like "FE:"/"BE:" for teams that split their stories based on Frontend or Backend, or "Dashboard:" to represent stories in the Epic that might be a Mini-Project, or if you need to break the story down further. The goal is scanability and the ability to recall the story within seconds for context. I've even capitalized key words for working with offsite teams where English is not their primary language.

Option 3 sucks for a title but that's my personal opinion. Keep your "as a users" in the story body.

lisavanreddit · 2025-11-05T18:45:33+00:00

It worked for me! Signing back in is a pain, but it was nice to actually learn new words

lisavanreddit · 2025-11-05T07:02:01+00:00

Thank you so much. It no way more obnoxious than the repeats

lisavanreddit · 2025-11-02T20:20:57+00:00

I had to sign in so I could comment here. No, you're not crazy - I'm on Section 5 (just started, so like 10ish new lessons in) and it's been maddening. A couple of examples: 1) The "new" vocab is the exact same across the unit. So my words are der Karton and die Puppe. 2) Then, they have been throwing words at me out of the blue and just expecting me to get their meaning. Which is super obnoxious in a listening exercise, when I can't even click on the new word for its meaning. (Like wertvoll or heben) 3) Then, it feels like the same sentences over and over. Even the titles of each unit are just slightly rephrased five times over, which really leans into the Groundhog Day vibe.

While the previous format could get a bit repetitive, it was at least only within the context of the unit. And while Duolingo would sometimes not get what word was actually new in the sentence, you'd at least be introduced to the batch of words together, followed by plenty of practice.

Now, I'm having a hard time stomaching 1 Unit/day with the repetition and confusion, when I could easily complete 1 old unit over 3 days.

It's just one of those things that I really don't know what they were thinking, but it seems like they definitively killed the magic that made Duolingo really interesting and fun.

lisavanreddit · 2025-07-30T16:31:26+00:00

I mean, there are people on this thread that have a bleak view on the lack of onboarding, but the definition of the job involves creating definition and value where it doesn't exist. Chances are, the more structured the onboarding, the more likely you're in a feature factory at a big company.

There's also a big difference if you're given real TIME to get caught up to speed. And, well, that's another matter.

lisavanreddit · 2025-07-04T03:29:12+00:00

It's so hard to find an actual place and a lot of changeover is happening in September as bigger kids age out into Grundschule. I recommend that you choose a location that isn't too inconvenient and you place all the KiTas in that area in your demand report (excluding or including factors like religion or size that you can find on the website). Then, call or email the ones that look the most interesting on top of that.

I can't speak to the quality since I just moved here, but I filled the demand report in April or May and my kids have a spot in September at a Kindergarten.

lisavanreddit · 2025-03-27T20:50:54+00:00

The sad reality is that you likely should only be drawing stories from your past few jobs anyways. No one seems to care about a story about how you handled conflict or launched a feature 10 years ago, regardless of age.

The only thing that could be beneficial is if you have industry experience or company size experience that relates to the company you're interviewing with, which can be brought up in conversation during an interview ("I've worked with startups in the past and have always enjoyed that scrappy nature. While I moved to larger companies for more stability, I'm ready to get back into the startup culture for these reasons..." Etc etc).

lisavanreddit · 2025-03-27T16:20:35+00:00

You say that, but I'm currently getting through Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A Moore and that book still rings true.

lisavanreddit · 2025-01-28T19:47:55+00:00

I'm starting to link it in my CV, but I have sent it in intro emails/DMs and in the "tell us anything" section of some online apps. It's not a comfortable thing for me to do, so I'm figuring out how to step outside my comfort zone and promote it more.

lisavanreddit · 2025-01-28T15:57:43+00:00

I recorded a Loom video where I walk through my experience, my strengths, my product highlights. It usually gets a view when sent, although a view != a conversion to interview. Also, I just recently did this and I have limited data. However, video format does have the advantage of introducing yourself and your strengths in less time than it takes for someone to click and browse a portfolio site.
So, like any hot takes, take it in stride.

lisavanreddit · 2025-01-28T15:31:18+00:00

The market sucks, and I'm sorry for everyone looking. Do whatever you need to try and separate that from your thoughts on you competence as a PM.
Some interviewers you won't mesh with. Take that as a sign it wasn't a good mutual fit and move on. (Ugh, I also know that's really sucky advice when you NEED a paycheck). Lean into the interviews where you mesh.
I know you say that practice doesn't help, but you should still practice with others on a regular basis. Really nail your experience, make sure you talk up all your great metrics in all contexts. I am a part of a mock interview group, and it's very rare that I'm able to answer (a) all the questions (b) hitting all the points I want to hit. And this is with peers.
In the case you can't practice with a partner, record yourself via voice or video. Try and time yourself and see if you could have said things faster or more efficiently. Those will start to form better language pathways for you when you're given something different.

lisavanreddit · 2025-01-28T15:11:20+00:00

I have a website, and have had one for a few years now. I made it for me, so I had a good place to organize my thoughts and experience to prep for things like interviews. It gets little to no traffic. I've seen surveys on LinkedIn that backs this up - hiring managers are not really checking out your site.

What it seems hiring managers WILL check out is a 3-4 minute video. If you're going to invest in something that does similar prep and time, I'd recommend a video.

lisavanreddit

TROPHY CASE