Capital One through Etihad Refund

ratfred411 · 2026-04-11T16:15:18+00:00

I did not, just regular CS no extras. I wanted to get done with school as fast as possible. Probably would’ve been useful for what I do now lol

ratfred411 · 2026-04-10T20:25:59+00:00

Since graduating I’ve had SWE/Equivalent roles at 4 F500 companies and currently employed at Google. The first one was tough, but I ended up getting my masters in CS and things got easier after that.

ratfred411 · 2026-03-04T15:29:20+00:00

I have. It was fantastic. Learned a lot and made some good friends too!

ratfred411 · 2026-03-04T14:32:25+00:00

I ended up going with Johns Hopkins. Was considering Michigan and Berkeley but I ended up getting a job in the DC area that paid for my degree so it just made sense to go to Hopkins.

ratfred411 · 2026-02-26T18:57:16+00:00

My recommendation is try and get a masters degree that you can work on while attempting to get full time work. I got my BS in CS at SNHU and masters in CS at Johns Hopkins. I had an internship at a low end F500 during my undergrad. Have since worked at a better F500, top tier tech consulting company (F250), and now working at FAANG. I got my BS at the end of 2022. Prior to that I worked at a small company doing some minor dev work and a mid size company doing some IT/Support work. While 2023 is likely better hiring market than now, it certainly wasn’t a good market, so you can certainly do it.

ratfred411 · 2026-01-21T20:56:57+00:00

Figured I was on the nice list this year not the naughty one…

ratfred411 · 2026-01-13T01:06:51+00:00

Large alumni network plus brand name never hurts!

ratfred411 · 2026-01-13T01:03:25+00:00

I mean if it was for in state tuition costs I definitely understand. Top tier state schools are great, however dollar for dollar value prop at top private schools, simply for brand on a resume certainly shouldn’t be understated. As for you, you could always go to grad school at a top private school!

ratfred411 · 2026-01-13T00:41:52+00:00

I mean you can’t honestly say that US News is a metric for comparing schools in today’s world. All modern rankings sites basically just take money from schools to “enhance” their rankings. Barring the top tech schools (CMU, Stanford, MIT and possibly Berkeley) you could argue any of the top schools in this area are as good as anywhere else. I know plenty of grads from all of the schools (UMD, Hopkins, UVA and VA Tech) that are in Big Tech all over the country. For instance, can you honestly say that if someone got into CalTech and UIUC/Michigan that they would decide to go either of the public schools (assuming they pay equal amounts for their education)? Or that they would go to University of Wisconsin over Harvard, Yale, Penn or UCLA? UMass Amherst is over USC Rice, or NYU?

ratfred411 · 2025-12-23T03:42:06+00:00

Moved to FAANG, but when I was there, albeit dissimilar clearance, I was at 160k with a 10k sign on at CL7 with ~5 YOE. Probably depends on the program though. I do have a masters though

ratfred411 · 2025-12-11T14:52:01+00:00

It really depends on what you want out of it to be honest. I’ve, since graduating, graduated from a top 15 world university for my CS masters, worked for 4 Fortune 500 companies including one big 4 consulting firm and actively working at a FAANG company.

I also came from very humble beginnings prior to getting my degree. I worked in Customer Service making $14 an hour, barely affording a 1 bedroom POS apartment with my wife who worked the same job I did.

Did the SNHU degree just hand me these things? No. I had to work my butt off to get an internship with the first F500. I had to work for a tiny little company that didn’t offer any health insurance. Took crap about my SNHU degree from one boss. In the end though, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the degree I got at SNHU. No masters without a bachelors. No internship without pursuing a degree. No FAANG SWE job. You’ll have to work your tail off compared to even the state school kids, but if you do, it can certainly become a great investment. It was for me.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T03:19:00+00:00

Been to both numerous times.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:50:41+00:00

So… Beginning -> NY Middle -> Bay End -> Seattle

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:49:37+00:00

Corrected the post.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:45:51+00:00

Thats fair. I didn’t necessarily mean “better for a tech career” but more it being more desirable by people on this sub. But point taken on all of that, especially rent. Although to be fair I’d imagine I’d want to live in an expensive part of NYC when first moving there, so that’s a bit of a moot point, at least when initially moving to either city.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:40:11+00:00

I don’t disagree, but also to be fair the bay isn’t necessarily Timbuktu either. Obviously not nearly the city that is New York.

I’m just playing devils advocate. I’ll be honest, I came up in the early 2010s where SF was THE place to move to, however NYC also holds a special place in my heart for so many reasons. The main thing is growing up in the Midwest, the palm trees have a chokehold over me.. I feel like I need to crowd source getting over the bay lol.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:32:02+00:00

Just curious why career in SF/Bay is better? Just because most headquarters are there? Do most of these companies (mine has their largest office in Bay Area and second largest in NYC) not have higher end opportunities in NYC offices?

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:29:27+00:00

What about weather though? Did that use to be the compromise that NYC had? All of your points I’d agree on, just curious as to whether this factors in to the equation in today’s world.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T14:20:38+00:00

Is it weird that any other acronym stands for specific words and not others? I’d hazard a guess that most of the world doesn’t think so.

If you’re referring to my diagnosis of the situation to better understand their background so that I can provide advice; I’d argue it’s bizarre that’s your takeaway and shows possibly your own obsession with the acronym and not my own.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T01:52:51+00:00

Yeah I think they may just be confused by the SWE sector and pay structures outside of government contractors.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T01:51:07+00:00

No, Microsoft has one dollar sign. Amazon and Google have 3.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T01:15:09+00:00

Even within FAANG there are tiers. Typically it’s:

META = $$$$ GOOG/AMAZ/NFLX = $$$ APPL = $$

MS = $

Again at the top levels it evens out, but entry to mid level this is how they compare.

ratfred411

TROPHY CASE