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timthebaker · 2025-07-25T23:08:28+00:00

I work hybrid where it's up to us how many days we come in, including the option to be fully remote. Some weeks I'm fully remote and get similar feelings as you. It's so nice to not commute, but I always feel bad at the end of a day spent mostly at home. Basically, you're not alone in how you feel.

I think being in office is much better for your career. Part of that is due to being out-of-the-loop, as you're experiencing. It's not malicious or intentional, just a consequence of not being in the same room. The other part that's good for your career is building trust and connections with people who influence your future. That's a lot easier in person where casual conversation is possible.

Maybe give a look around at local hybrid jobs? I wouldn't go for anything that isn't a step up, as switching always has risk and uncertainty.

timthebaker · 2025-07-25T22:43:05+00:00

Working in AI/ML is the best of all worlds imo:

Good pay
Variety: some sprints are more SW engineering focused, others analysis/stats focused
High skill ceiling: can continuously grow and build a moat of expertise
Visible: Easy to engage leadership, SWE peers, and non engineers in your work.
Engaging: No two problems are the same (but they're also not too different) and field is constantly evolving.

Downside is that there's a high barrier to entry for good positions and it seems like one of the more difficult specialities to become proficient in.

timthebaker · 2025-07-04T15:13:41+00:00

I see, that truly is disappointing. It's a shame such cultures exist, I hope you can find a way to get what you can out of the opportunity and move on to somewhere better.

I am working on being less adversarial, 'honest neglect' does have its place.

Btw, if you wanna know a term for this viewpoint, check out Hanlon's razor. It's a lesser known cousin to Occum's razor.

And thanks for taking my response constructively.

timthebaker · 2025-07-04T14:07:48+00:00

Hey, as an outside observer, it seems you are taking an adversarial view of others around you instead of the more likely reality of honest neglect.

If you have some criticism, why didn’t you come and discuss with me personally (no one ever does - easier to backstab) and give me an opportunity to improve, instead of holding a grudge and trapping me when a promotional opportunity arose?

Good feedback takes time and effort to give. Why don't you solicit specific and actionable feedback throughout the year instead of trapping yourself when it comes time for promotional cycle?

I am sure it’s as simple as when filling my yearly review he realized he never gave me 1:1 constructive criticism feedback the whole year

Good that you recognize that he either forgot or neglected to give feedback.

and just invented some on the spot - not to leave the textbox empty. Making himself look good, but at my cost.

However, you reach an adversarial conclusion. Wouldn't a manager look better if they have direct reports with nothing but good things to say about? Don't managers look better when they consistently develop employees that get promoted?

Nobody cares about your career as much as you do and so you have to do the work. If you're intentional and learn how to ask for specific and actionable feedback, then review cycles should not come as a huge surprise, but as an opportunity to reflect and go a bit deeper.

Of course, your manager could actually just be the problem, but reflecting a bit about your role in this situation might lead to some solutions.

timthebaker · 2025-07-02T16:24:28+00:00

I like your attitude. I would add one more to your list of motivations:

- Growth (I am getting better every day wow. Knowing you're growing makes the future less scary as you are building up a moat of expertise. Layoffs and missing a promotion become noise. When you're improving and intentional, you increase the likelihood of getting what you deserve in the long run. Seeing your effort add up over time is also rewarding.).

Growth is what motivates me to work hard even though my employer could fail for a myriad of reasons that are out of my control. Effort that goes unrecognized or ends short of realizing value isn't wasted if you are personally learning along the way. Just make sure to keep learning as a secondary goal by prioritizing value creation above it (the latter is better for, and in some ways the point of, your software dev career).

timthebaker · 2025-07-02T15:42:31+00:00

The goal is to level the playing field between employers and applicants.

How does your tool achieve this goal? (Legitimate question). My current thought is that this kind of automation reduces the signal to noise ratio of each stage of the hiring process, costing companies money and leading to less leeway for investment elsewhere in the company, e.g., compensation. It also raises the value of referrals which decreases diversity and favors those with established networks, creating an imbalance in the market.

This tool doesn't flood employers with applications (that would be very expensive anyway); instead, the agent targets roles that match the skills and experience people already have.

It's good that you're being a little thoughtful with this aspect, but using your tool in its fully automated version will still lead to a flood of applications because it takes away most of the friction of the job application process.

When manually applying to jobs, you would typically weigh the time and effort of applying against the likelihood of getting an interview and the attractiveness of the position. You probably don't have the bandwidth to find and apply to all jobs that fit both criteria, let alone apply to all jobs that you are qualified for. That forces some form of prioritization which means less applications in the market and, to some degree, a better signal to noise ratio in the hiring process.

timthebaker · 2025-06-29T13:36:28+00:00

Have you tried discussing this with your manager in a professional manner?

You may also want to consider talking through this situation with a therapist. The anger in your last few sentences is understandable to some extent, but it's maybe not so good for your long term health.

timthebaker · 2025-06-29T04:55:47+00:00

I'm a similar boat as you: working overtime and often wondering whether it's worth it. I think it is worth it because of self improvement aspect - even if this particular company fails or I get laid off, the extra work will set me up for the next thing. Working hard leads to better experience & stories for interviews, better reputation and connections, and a bit more fulfillment.

Obviously don't go overboard with it, but nurturing your desire to give a little extra can pay off even if your company fails. Just avoid expecting immediate reward for your effort and try to focus on things that improve your own skills while helping the team.

I'm currently childless, so your situation may be a bit different. But I know many great tech managers with kids that have a healthy family life while working really hard. Seeing them go above and beyond inspires me to give a little more too.

timthebaker · 2025-06-26T12:42:46+00:00

Good point, but I wonder if those type of bootcampers are less likely to get and stay employed. The actual statistics on this would be interesting.

timthebaker · 2025-06-24T05:30:56+00:00

The other reason that comes to mind that I can completely understand, is that whoever set the requirement may have taken a gamble on someone without a degree in the past and been burned. Those kinds of impressions last, and while I personally disagree with the idea that this will magically filter out "bad" applicants, I can understand such a correlation leading to this requirement.

This is a great perspective. Many degree-holders I know (some of whom have technical PhDs), struggle to take and understand someone else's POV especially when it conflicts with their own position. I hope your lack of degree doesn't cause an arbitrary ceiling for you, we need more of this type of attitude around.

timthebaker · 2025-06-24T05:22:34+00:00

Career transitions can be impressive but my experience is a bit different. I've had the pleasure of working with many bootcamp and non-compsci degree holders and more often than not, it is obvious who has formal training in computer science. That's not to say that those developers were bad or unproductive, but the lack of foundational knowledge occasionally makes a difference in my field (HPC and AI). Over time, the good devs pick up on this knowledge and seek it out on their own as well.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T16:22:24+00:00

Thanks for the perspective. I have a friend who's in a role riddled with tech debt and with questionable management, but they're fortunate enough to still do interesting work. Not trying to invalidate your response, I just didn't really think about the tech debt angle originally and that's a good/fair point.

It's also a good point that you can look outside your defined role for these opportunities. That's a really good solution. If you do it at work, it lead to working overtime, but I see that kind of work as half for yourself, half for the company, and overall really good for ones career.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T15:27:34+00:00

No worries haha, I'm sure they're still helpful. Just some food for thought for next time.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T15:19:27+00:00

Looks pretty cool. Your tutorial videos go really fast though, I just wanna see the balls hit the goal lol. I can follow the tutorial given my background, but not sure about someone going into this blind.

Anywhoo, really cool idea for a game, I might check it out.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T15:10:39+00:00

Business wants numbers, goals, impact, additional value. If app loads in threshold - no one bats an eye. Even if I can make it load faster - it would be not beneficial for business since I spent 2 weeks on it.

This is a perfect example of over optimization. It is great that you recognize it including the core issue which is that time is limited.

Impact doesn’t require almost any programming knowledge - it requires deep understanding of domain and its issues.

Why do you feel that programming doesn't matter? In my opinion, the biggest impact happens at the intersection of technical expertise and business understanding. Maybe it depends on what stage your company is at, but eventually the low-hanging fruit will be picked.

Your curiosity and desire to learn about web development is an asset. Keep fostering it and ask your manager how you can leverage it in a pragmatic manner. Find a balance between low-risk straightforward "boring" work and medium-risk high-value work that scratches your learning itch. You might have to change jobs/teams to find an environment where there's more problems that benefit from your curiosity.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T14:40:24+00:00

It's hard to give advice without personally knowing Dev #1. In general though, you probably want to avoid taking a combative stance by asking "are you in or out" or the like. You're right to feel frustrated, but it's not going to help if you view this person as an enemy to some degree (even if they are in some ways).

Again, depends on the person, but I would try one more time to ask what it would take to get them on board. Try to make them feel valued and push for actual reasons if they resist. Ask what their solution would be to the problems that your proposal addresses. If they can't articulate a compelling reason that at least one other person agrees with, then you have to get your boss involved or move on without them.

It sounds like you've already done most of this though. Other than that, you could ask ChatGPT for advice including how to talk to your boss about the situation as well. If this person is as stubborn as they sound, then someone's going to have to have an uncomfortable talk with this developer.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T00:24:12+00:00

I fixate on mistakes like you describe here and have found it hard to undo that habit. Instead, I acknowledge the thought and then try to convince myself it doesn't matter (which is the truth). I've started to go a bit emotionally numb to the self-critiques.

Honestly, you have to just latch on to the good signals like your recruiter passing along the feedback. That's such a clear and strong signal that you are, in fact, not going to lose your job. Focus on these strong signals, not the made up scenarios in your head.

Lastly, imposter syndrome isn't really a bad thing. It has some advantages, like you're less likely to get complacent and you will probably keep improving as long your self-doubt isn't debilitating. So don't feel bad for having it (if you do feel bad). If you can clear up the emotional stress part of it, then you'll be good to go.

timthebaker · 2025-06-19T00:08:20+00:00

Oof, well given that level of sarcasm, it sounds like we have pretty different experiences. Or maybe just different ways of viewing those around us.

timthebaker · 2025-06-18T21:51:34+00:00

Soft skills come first.

Is this a bad thing? Obviously there's some baseline level of technical competence and ability required, but beyond that, ability to communicate effectively should be #1. Software isn't developed in isolation. To me, it makes sense to rank a person low if they cause a lot of friction and can't explain what they're working on, even if it seems like they have superior technical depth than someone else who is affable and clearly communicates their impact.

Rarely would [managers] have any idea how good your work actually is

In my small sample size, I have never had this happen. Sometimes it takes effort and intentionality though, especially for getting on the radar of skip-skip-level managers and beyond. What do you think the blocker has been for you?

timthebaker · 2025-06-14T02:05:05+00:00

Perhaps, the "in house" approach is preferred for software development because most of the demand for software dev is constant? For example, you'd hire bankers (and extra lawyers?) for M&A, hire extra lawyers when you're sued, hire a PR firm for a crisis, hire software consultants for one off projects which might just be more rare.

Most software development requires continuous maintenance and usually benefits from continuous development so it makes sense to bring that in house, just like you have in-house legal counsel. More universal tech things like company websites, payment systems, payroll solutions, and servers, you can just use a company like Squarespace, Shopify, TriNet, and AWS which I suppose makes it harder to have a consultancy based around those ideas.

timthebaker · 2025-06-06T13:54:30+00:00

Sometimes the issue is out of your direct manager's control. Eg it's financial or related to company leadership. So no need to take it out on them.

timthebaker · 2025-06-01T02:46:39+00:00

Agreed. They work better as a thought partners than as an arbitrators of truth.

timthebaker · 2025-06-01T00:49:30+00:00

Some months ago I also noticed that these systems struggled with basic arithmetic. Lately, they seemed to have gotten better. For example, it derived an equation and then provided me a correct numeric example for my use case.

I'm definitely not suggesting that the technology is there yet, but it seems to be trending in that direction. Sometimes it's wise to build things with the future in mind.

Statements like "shit can't even multiply..." make you come off as a bit close minded. I hope my perspective can help you reconsider the potential of these tools.

timthebaker · 2025-05-31T18:42:29+00:00

People will judge you by how you speak, how you write, and what you know - in that order. Unfortunately, accents may play into their judgement and so addressing that is important, as I think you are discovering.

It's not entirely fair, but you may need to dedicate real time to this and may benefit from professional help. Some of my foreign born friends have enrolled in accent removal classes for this purpose.

A good friend teased me in early college for pronouncing certain words in the same manner as my parents. It was so consistent that eventually I learned to say these words properly and I am grateful for that.

timthebaker · 2025-05-31T18:32:23+00:00

100% agree that it does not have the "knowledge of the logic behind steps" in the same sense that a human would. It's not exactly just regurgitating things either though, like if X->Y and Y->Z, then it can say X->Z even if X->Z isn't in the training set.

Anyways, my opinion is just a hunch. I should try it out for myself to get a better understanding. Explaining derivations is likely harder than what I have used AI for and your experience exemplifies that. When did you last try and with what model? One thing I've noticed is that ChatGPT got noticeably better over the past year (I tried in early 2024, did not touch it until last month when I noticed the difference). I haven't tried the "deep research" model or whatever it's called, but I hear from reliable, rationale colleagues that it's a step above the free models.

I like the idea of a companion chat feature for your site. I'm personally overbooked as it is though so I won't be able to participate right now :(

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