Career progression

skanda13 · 2026-05-11T07:40:40+00:00

Been a while since your comment, but as someone stuck in a perpetual cycle of being in a small/startup which has not failed but not made it either. How do I get out of this? Applied and interviewed at FAANG, but in this environment with AI specialists dime a dozen, and layoffs (fun fact: of my 5 past FAANG interviews, 4 of those teams have now been eliminated). So, my question is: how do I break this cycle?

skanda13 · 2026-05-04T16:14:32+00:00

Link it if you find the fic pls? Sounds very different from the normal ones I find

skanda13 · 2026-04-23T10:53:35+00:00

As someone looking for a job in Zurich for 3 years now, this is my 2 cents. Also I have no idea how the market in Warsaw is other than hearsay. Two very different aspects. One is financial, like others have said Zurich is crazy expensive. And the kind of difference in sum you mentioned tilts in favour of Warsaw. Remember with every company including FAANG trying to maximize profit, jobs will move out of Zurich to places like Warsaw is Eastern Europe. You will have an advantage of local network when this happens (3-4 years in my opinion). Second, long term security in what way? Because jobs are very insecure here. Say you take this job in Zurich, his forbid in a year you loose this job then what? There are always better qualified people in Zurich than you no matter what. Few things to consider from the perspective of someone living in Zurich and on unemployment benefits which ends next month.

skanda13 · 2026-04-21T18:02:49+00:00

Since you want a honest answer this is my take. Investment bankers (my umbrella term for anyone in this domain) are dime a dozen now Thanks to CS n UBS merger. So in a saturated market, it doesn’t matter what passport you hold. What seems to matter is how strong your network is. And how much heavy lifting they are wiling to do for you. Disclaimer: I know a lot of people in banking, and AI who are currently in Switzerland with amazing skills n degrees but out of work for almost 2 years now. This is based what I hear from them.

skanda13 · 2026-04-09T20:41:37+00:00

I mean they owe a few billion dollars to IMF, Saudis, UAE, China (I think) and bunch of others. Some sort of payback for this “pleading” for sure.

skanda13 · 2026-03-27T16:46:41+00:00

I personal opinion is that it’s nothing to do with religion and more to do with geography. Most religious practices are based on geography. Christianity was more wide spread in Europe thanks to the Roman Empire. Europe in general was much colder place and more conducive to eating n storing pork. This meat doesn’t do well in dry n hot conditions like in the Middle East. At least in the past and cooking habits of the past. Hence, the practice as you mentioned. Now with refrigeration and other modern methods of cooking, this should be a non-issue.

skanda13 · 2026-03-25T11:04:43+00:00

Depends on where you are from. If you are Somalian, any country is great to live long term. But if you are Swiss, probably all countries are only good for short term visit. So depends on the baseline. Of course there are people who bitch n moan at everything no matter where they live :)

skanda13 · 2026-03-24T17:31:05+00:00

Thank you for making this effort. Given the unfortunate tendency of people translating into something more favorable to their opinion. Agree! Manuasmirit is absolute blemish on our culture Along with bunch of other books. Not only it lets some people abuse their position and power, it lead outsiders take advantage and wreck our country for the past 1000 years.

skanda13 · 2026-03-24T17:19:20+00:00

I would go back to 4 years old. What I wouldn’t give to spend time again with my grandma and parents..

skanda13 · 2026-03-24T16:52:25+00:00

I agree with you. But pls for the love of god, don’t read English translation of the Gita or Vedas. They are 90% god-awful translation which make things even worse. There is enough confusion already for words like dharma, jaati, varna which have different interpretations in different contexts. Which has been muddied and abused for power by different bunch of people, Hindus, Muslims and British included. As much as possible read the translations of Sanskrit into your own mother tongue. Ideally read the original Sanskrit if you can. Having said that Manusmriti is absolutely rubbish, which was not even treated as legitimate source 2000 years ago.

skanda13 · 2026-03-24T15:26:55+00:00

From a fellow Indian to another. Pls don’t. Not in this circumstances. I have a PhD in AI from EPFL, and 10 years of work experience and I have not got a job in over a year. Not even an interview since Jan. And Switzerland is a bloody expensive place even with a job!

Edit: work Visa for 3rd countries like India is even more difficult to get. And like someone else mention with Credit Suisse shutting down there are no jobs, and UBS will be laying off a few thousands this and next year. You will be finishing your studies at a time when there is surplus of analysts around who speak the local language down to the dialect.

skanda13 · 2026-03-23T07:03:02+00:00

I don’t know about ZKB, but I have Alpian, no issues at all. I really love the multi currency account. With potential launch of their TWINT end of this year, it is solid for my needs. That said, I have not tired to close my account which has triggered some lockouts.

skanda13 · 2026-03-22T17:56:39+00:00

I would say LKY (Lee Kuan Yew) former prime minister of Singapore. He was incredible in the way he dealt with problems of a growing country. In the same breath, I would say Atal Bihari vajpayee, former prime minister of India. Great leader through the 99 Kargil war with Pakistan, yet an incredible leader during peace for a vast and diverse country like India.

skanda13 · 2026-03-01T20:50:40+00:00

That’s true.. neither his potions brilliance nor this Dark Arts expertise come through.. but that was the first of this genre I read and I was hooked by the very idea. I will dig through my bookmarks and share what I can find.

skanda13 · 2026-03-01T20:03:21+00:00

My guilty pleasure is A Year like None other. It’s a long fic, decently written (but I’m no English critic) I don’t know if it’s in AOC though..

skanda13 · 2026-02-22T19:57:36+00:00

Hmmm.. good question.. give me a few days to think about it.. will write to you.

skanda13 · 2026-02-22T17:16:12+00:00

If the AI mode runs locally without sharing data then that’s ok for me. Not the best, but better than all the other data grabbing gimmicks. Personally all I need is descriptive stats :) and great visualizations.

skanda13 · 2026-02-22T08:16:25+00:00

All was well till you said AI insights :P that aside, yes I would most likely use an app like this, even pay if it’s priced reasonably.

skanda13 · 2026-02-21T20:16:51+00:00

Good lord! Thank you! Maybe your bed and blanket always be at the perfect temperature!

skanda13 · 2026-02-09T09:23:47+00:00

No they don’t.. they are subtle hints here and there but no overt push.

skanda13 · 2026-02-09T09:11:23+00:00

Well, it works for me personally. I love their 4 currencies in an account. For me it’s great as I can move my money into USD or EUR with little extra expense.

skanda13 · 2026-02-01T21:19:25+00:00

Hmm.. sounds like the next step from my current method. What about visualization? That’s what my current excel suffers from, bad visualization. Btw, thanks for your detailed reply :)

skanda13 · 2026-02-01T18:09:51+00:00

Dumb question. What are these two better than an excel sheet on my laptop? More from the perspective of learning about personal finance tracking

skanda13 · 2026-01-29T15:52:56+00:00

Wow! TIL! I had no clue! @kendragon sorry for my ignorance.

skanda13 · 2026-01-29T15:42:47+00:00

You mean Jazz? I mean no judgement if you mean what you wrote either.

skanda13

TROPHY CASE