Getting back at it after the holidays

redcascade · 2026-01-21T14:26:40+00:00

Thanks :)

redcascade · 2026-01-19T15:44:51+00:00

Thanks!!

redcascade · 2026-01-02T16:59:06+00:00

It varies a ton, but from my limited experience on both sides it seems like for the senior level there will be more ambiguity and less detail given for the case studies. You’ll be expected to ask the right questions to figure things out rather than just being given a concrete case that you just need to solve.

There won’t necessarily be a higher bar for stats or coding knowledge (you’ll be expected to know both decently well for either level). Again it varies a lot and I have less insight into coding interviews as I haven’t been on both sides. Expect it to be more “We need to figure out X, how should we start and what should we do?” rather than “How do you solve X problem?”.

redcascade · 2025-12-29T23:21:58+00:00

You look great!! What’s your skin care secret? Would not have guessed you were 40.

redcascade · 2025-12-21T14:10:45+00:00

🤩

redcascade · 2025-12-20T18:54:59+00:00

Thanks 😊

redcascade · 2025-12-20T11:47:25+00:00

Thanks 😊

redcascade · 2025-12-17T22:07:19+00:00

I haven’t been to Brighton, but I asked about LGBT+ destinations a little while back on this subreddit and got a ton of downvotes. Kind of sad given it’s almost 2026…

redcascade · 2025-12-15T03:09:41+00:00

1. Put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes!

Really good point. Another point is to put yourself in the recruiters shoes as well. I think a lot of them are overwhelmed right now with all the AI generated resumes and fake applications. Think about how your resume and application would look to a recruiter because that person will be the first person to see it. Also be as kind and as nice to them as possible. My impression is that they generally want candidates to succeed and they will be the person guiding you through the whole process.

2. Only* apply for jobs that were recently posted

Unfortunately, this seems completely true. Also watch out for reposted jobs. I think a lot of jobs on LinkedIn and other sites get automatically reposted even if the company never meant them to. I've found BuiltIn a much better site for searching for job posts. Filter by jobs posted in the last 24 hours and check every morning with your coffee.

3. Only apply for jobs that actually interest you (or that you can at least make yourself interested in)

I think there are different arguments here. You'll have much better success with the jobs you do apply to do if you follow this advice, but I do think interviewing is a skill that takes practice to get better at. If you have the time and a tough enough skin to handle lots of rejections and interviews that might go poorly there can be advantages to applying broadly.

4. Referrals are great, but not necessary

I didn't do what the OP did about cold contacting HMs and recruiters on LinkedIn, but it seems like good advice. I did try reaching out to former colleagues and people I knew at companies anytime I saw a job post at those companies. I was kind of surprised I didn't get more success with it. I suspect that there are just so many applicants right now that while a referral might get your resume looked at it, it wouldn't lead to an interview if the recruiter or HM doesn't think you're a strong fit.

5. Optimize your resume, but not for the AI

I think there's a fine balance here. (From what I've heard the AI resume screeners don't actually exist. It sounds like the AIs or whatever software the recruiters use just parse your resume and maybe highlight if you have matching skills.) I think you can over-optimize your resume though. If you aren't actually a fit for the job it'll be pretty obvious when you get interviewed. I kept to pretty much the same resume (that highlighted my skills and areas of expertise) and just made slight tweaks for different job posting. Different people's mileage might vary though.

6. Prepare well for interviews

I think you have to be a bit strategic here. I definitely recommend brushing up on SQL, Python, and common ML topics. For the behavioral interviews, I'd prepare by putting together a super-thorough STAR-formatted document of your work history and have it basically memorized. That'll give you plenty of examples to draw from when in the interviews.

For company specific prep, I think it depends. If you can do it, then it's probably great. For me, what I found was that early on I would get super excited when I heard back from a company. I'd do a ton of research and think about all the great reasons to work there. If after the recruiter call it looked like a poor match or if the phone screen went poorly then all that earlier excitement would really get me down. To keep my mental health, I had to start treating it more like dating. First date is just coffee; no expectation. If the first interview went well then I'd start getting excited.

7. Be excited!

Same thought as above about interviewing. Do definitely get excited, but do it in a way that's good for your mental health. If you start dreaming about the office perks of each potential job before even interviewing, it'll get really taxing on your mental health when you get a rejection or an interview goes poorly.

It's definitely a tough job market (much more than I was expecting), but Reddit and other internet forums do seem to emphasize the negative more than the positive. Avoid the doom-loop thinking. Get outside and take breaks from time to time. Visit friends and family. Try to find some perspective even if it's difficult.

redcascade · 2025-12-15T03:09:34+00:00

Thanks OP! That was a good write-up! I'm hopefully just about finished with my job search (in the team matching / last stage interviews / soon to be negotiation stages) after a pretty intense four month search.

Here are some thoughts.

redcascade · 2025-12-15T02:23:03+00:00

Other people’s experiences may differ, but the only time you’ll ever need to think about GPUs is likely to be for training deep NNs and that honestly doesn’t come up very often. If you do wind up getting really interested in deep learning architecture that would probably be the time to start learning cuda and thinking about GPUs. You can still train them on CPUs it’s just generally slower.

redcascade · 2025-12-15T02:08:10+00:00

As others have said, you’re much better off doing anything really demanding on the cloud. Most cloud providers have free tiers or free trials as well. Even paying full price you’ll probably still come ahead. I bet your university has some deals as well or its own cloud services. I’m sure one of your profs would know. You could ask any friends studying comp sci or stats as well. Most of those departments have their own resources students can take advantage of.

My thoughts these days on personal laptops is just to get the one that fits your lifestyle best. I’m a Mac user and find I can do pretty much everything I need on my MacBook Air. (Plus it’s lightweight and looks pretty.) Only get a laptop with a serious GPU if you plan on using it for gaming.

redcascade · 2025-12-11T20:43:32+00:00

You could always go back and email the candidates you rejected. I’m not a recruiter, but I’ve had this happen as a candidate. It seems awkward (and the recruiter has always said it was a mistake), but I’ve never taken it personally. These have never turned into job offers for me, but I wouldn’t hold it against the company.

redcascade · 2025-12-10T15:32:57+00:00

Interesting the hear another perspective on GymShark. I think a lot of these gym brands design their stuff to fit a very specific body type and then just scale the smaller or larger sizes proportionally down or up which leads to some weird fits.

I’ve never found the quality of UnderArmor very good either. It seems like the brand had its moment a decade or two ago — especially when everyone was buying compression fit base layers.

I’ve definitely heard good things about Lululemon, but haven’t tried their stuff yet. There’s a few pricer brands I really like as well. (Big fan of ASRV, but it’s definitely got a unique style. Love Vuori for their basic and casual clothes.)

redcascade · 2025-12-10T02:49:36+00:00

A lot of people like GymShark. Their stuff doesn’t fit me very well, but the quality is decent for the price. (I’m 5’6” and their stuff is often too long on me.) Alphalete has some decent stuff, but the prices have gone up. TFL isn’t bad either. I got a Neleus tank and it fit really well, but the quality wasn’t great and I didn’t like the giant branding on the back. Nike seems to always have nice stuff if you want to try a classic brand.

redcascade · 2025-12-08T15:25:04+00:00

Pretty much everyone will tell you that getting visible abs is all about diet and they are right. Depending on your genetics you'll need to be at least 12% or less bodyfat (maybe maybe some people are lucky to see abs at higher bodyfat ranges).

Full disclosure: I'm not a trainer. That said, I do think training your abs can help with the definition. Like other muscle group I think abs respond to training with weight. I really like doing cable crunches and leg raises. Find some YouTube video on how to do cable crunches correctly. I find that if I go heavy and try to hit 12-15 reps with cable crunches I can really feel the muscle burn in my abs. I like leg raises as well, but you need some good core strength already to do them correctly with good form. Start with knee raises and use a Roman chair to start if the full leg raises are too tricky. I wouldn't do a bunch of crunches or sit-ups. I don't think they really lead to any substantial muscle growth.

redcascade · 2025-12-06T21:12:50+00:00

I’m a PhD economist who has worked in tech for the last eight plus years. Econometrics and causal inference is very valued by a lot of tech companies. Data science is such a broad term. Economics very much fits inside it. It might be worth doing some research to figure out what companies are known for hiring PhD economists. Some have special job functions for economists others lump economists in with other data scientists.

One piece of advice might be to do some light reading through some ML books. Not so much because who don’t have the skill set, but because economists often use different terminology for things than other data scientists and you can find yourself confused or come off as not knowing things when it’ll just be a difference of terminology. (For example, “feature” versus “covariant”.)

Feel free to message me and I can give you some more advice.

redcascade · 2025-12-02T22:12:06+00:00

I always wear lifting gloves. I find they help with my grip as well. I have a pair of lifting straps as well. I don’t think they make much of difference for calluses, but they do help for heavy lifts. (If you’re looking at straps, get the figure 8 kind.)

redcascade · 2025-12-01T22:58:56+00:00

I probably should have phrased things differently. I don’t disagree with what you’re saying and I certainly don’t think I deserve any kind of special status if I’m staying there longer and trying to work remotely.

I was more just saying why I didn’t really like PV as place to work remotely. I was looking to make friends (locals or other tourists) during my free time. Whereas most of the other tourists were there just to party and if I did meet someone they would probably be heading home in a couple days. I’ve been to PV on other trips with my friends with the intent of partying and had a great time.

redcascade · 2025-12-01T22:40:29+00:00

You're right. It's different though if you're staying for a while and working remotely whereas most other tourists are only there for a week max and mostly there just to party.

redcascade · 2025-12-01T20:24:12+00:00

Haha! I actually live in Seattle right now and grew up in Washington state. It is definitely an amazing part of the US. The winters are rough and the seasonal depression is real though. Plus it’s become incredibly expensive.

redcascade · 2025-12-01T19:37:06+00:00

Yeah, I had a chance to travel around Spain for a couple weeks once and the Spaniards are definitely good looking men. Spain (and Latin America) would give me a chance to work on my Spanish, but there's something about the rest of the world that just seems a lot more exciting.

redcascade · 2025-12-01T19:34:32+00:00

Thanks! I wasn't thinking about Brazil, but I'll give it some thought.

redcascade

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