But a FAANG Staff Engineer will get a similar base, and then $1mil in stock for 4 years.
-- Are there people outside of FAANG and Big Banks / HFT firms making those kinds of monies?
-- if So who are they? and what do they do?
The short term contract will be finished by the time I start the c2c.
I'm wondering what they'll say when they see these 2 jobs on my Work Number provided by equifax. I started both of them recently so they were not on my resume when I started the interview process with the c2c.
Should I just freeze the work number or should I just try to explain it to them?
I'm really interested to get the c2c job because it is exactly what I want to be doing and it has potential for renewal.
I read the Kalzumeus blog, and specifically this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4805091
And the comments there are vastly related to Kalzumeus not offering a Software Engineering solution but some kine of Online Advertising/Marketing Service.
What Kalzumeus says makes sense - explain to employers how you can make money for them and then do it.
While it makes sense in theory -- if your background is something else -- how do you justify who else needs it?
For example, my background is in HPC and Software Systems. In most of my roles I've looked to improve software systems, the interactions of the different pieces together, performance bottlenecks, cost optimization, operations etc.
While marketing/ads seems very easy to reason and quantify results about, my niche is not that clear. Furthermore -- if basic engineering principles are followed it's very easy for a company to not need a guy like me. But in my experience, having worked in so many companies during my career, I've seen a lot of inefficiencies in processes but also poor solutioning.
While I do think that I can bring value to companies, it seems rather challenging to explain it or to seem distinct from a regular Software Engineer -- to which it would be very easy for them to say: well, we don't need you, we just need more headcount.
If you are truly trying to pursue a Freelance Consulting business approach, what are some things you can do to Echo the value you bring clearly, and also further define it so that you don't go hungry & broke.
With that being said - when it comes to tackling these interviews - it seems that most of the time I am trying to regurgitate information rather than actually doing some kind of "problem solving".
The other end of this would be to read many System Design Interview Answers and learning those - and then knocking on wood and praying that you're going to get one of those questions.
Neither of these sound very productive.
How would one be able to answer such questions with confidence if they have never build out those systems? And what would be the preparation needed to be able to do that?
Though, the number of resources online is overwhelming.
I was hoping that someone who conducts these types of interviews can provide some insight as to what resources might be the most helpful.
However - I seem to be stuck in this repetitive cycle: -- Recruiter Reaches out to me on LinkedIn -- I go through the interview rounds with their client -- Ghost
Of course, I might not ace every interview, but this happens, every single time. Some recruiters even ghost prior to having an interview which is strange, and doesn't usually happen with Full-Time or W2 contract roles.
I did not create a Website for my LLC nor did I put it on my LinkedIn page. I'm basically applying to 1099 jobs and waiting for recruiters to reach out to me for these types of roles.
My specialization is in Software Systems (mainly backend) - and I really enjoy designing "well lubed" systems, so I know there are many small-to-medium businesses that could benefit from my skills but I am unable to attract them.
Any thoughts on how to get these kinds of jobs, whether it be a short-term project, freelance, hourly project, or even kind of like a 9-5 with an hourly rate as a contractor.
The reason I'm also pursuing this is due to my inability to interview well. I'm quite solid on Algorithm/Data Structure questions now (I started doing Leetcode/Hackerrank this Feb pretty religiously after losing my job, and now I'm enjoying it) and I'm improving on System Design interviews as well (read: in many cases the engineer interviewing you has read 1 article about the question they're asking you, and they want you to provide exactly that -- if you know too much, they might not get it so you end up failure as well -- I'm approaching this to learn all the "common questions" & architectures that get asked).
But for some reason, I never seem to be able to land a job that I enjoy, either due to the people or due to the limited scope. (and the pay is always subpar)
So I want to really own a bit more in terms of the projects, and I think I would learn a lot more this way. I would feel "whole" in a way, like an animal in the wild, in sync with nature.
I think establishing myself as someone that can deliver work for companies would be far more beneficial for me rather than getting a new job every few years or so and going back to mediocrity.
This pushed me to get good grades at all costs and it lead me to creative ways of doing that. I was on the 3rd grade while reading a lesson about the Earth and Nature and it took me a whole Sunday to just read one page. I didn't know it then, but I do know now, I had ADHD (inattentive type). Needless to say, it took me way longer to get anything done in comparison with my peers. Though, all the way up to the end of high school, I earned a 4.0. All of this I accomplished through relentless dedication to school work.
It was at the time when I got a scholarship to study in the States. The first two years, I did ok, cause the classes weren't that bad. But in the subsequent two years when things got hectic, I broke down. I started smoking weed, and for the first time in my life, I thought that I was myself.
I also suffer from depression and anxiety, so weed helped me with these things as well. My emotional intelligence is super low, so I didn't lose much by not having friends. I got really into working out, and became generally happier.
Though I realized that I had to smoke weed all the time in order to feel good, otherwise I was a mess. And I noticed that my Executive Brain function improved a lot. I made choices that were good for me, instead of making difficult choices.
It became so bad that I really hated the ME that was surfacing every time I quit weed. So weed gave me satisfaction in life and I was able to finally be able to enjoy things and waking up in the morning and going for a walk or a swim or a tan or a game. But my career and my school work took a major turn.
Weed does not allow me to do any type of work, but quitting it was no option at the time. I took a Programming Support role, despite having a Masters Degree from a Reputable CS lab in a top university. Weed made me really good at bullshitting, so I managed to get by, and find better jobs consistently.
Though, I always opted for non-leetcode type interviews so that I could bullshit through them.
I'm now off weed, but on many anti-depressants and ADHD meds, but I honestly do not feel any better. I got fired from my last job due to underperforming. My state of mind is ok, but I hate myself so much and my brain for being the way it is. I absolutely despise software engineering as well and grinding through leetcode is a nightmare.
I wake up with dread every single morning and I try to do Leetcode. I don't like any part of it. Nor am I interested in the field. I just did it so I could get paid.
I have a beautiful family that I love. But I feel unable to withstand my sober self. My mind is telling me to go to a warm place, by myself, transfer all my wealth to my wife's account and be away.
I do not posses the ability to maintain relationships, my wife stuck by me for all this time and I don't know why. I really don't want my kids to even see me because I bring a really bad vibe. My mind is always scared and depressed and I don't want them to see me that way.
I got arrested and got bullied in high school and got laid of multiple times from jobs due to my behavior. I don't have any kind of accountability for my actions as my brain does things however it wants. It cannot think and reason and I have suffered from this my entire life.
Only weed made me make conscious choices, but it prevented me from having a job. And it also made my relationship with my wife terrible because she wasn't supportive of it.
I don't know what I want from this post I'm just ranting I suppose. But if I could find some kind of thing that I could do and it wouldn't involve programming I would be so happy to pursue it.
I like it a lot, however, it would be even better if there was one that provided reading materials based on user-preferences. So one doesn't have to decide what to read, instead, they just read something interesting and engaging.
I'm wondering if such a website exists?
Cheers
What do you recommend?
My manager just told me that sometimes I need handholding (I do disagree, but I didn't tell him that).
95% of the time I do my tasks on my own.... however, sometimes I have to ask questions to the higher-ups on clarifications or just bouncing off ideas...
Being free of handholding can take me to SE3 apparently, and I want to do that as soon as possible.
If not that, then do you know of any website or place where you can post about your career problems and people will help you out in regard to that.
