Big 4 Discussion - November 25, 2018 CS Career Questions |
- Big 4 Discussion - November 25, 2018
- Daily Chat Thread - November 25, 2018
- Other than version control, was there anything important that you needed to know that you didn't learn in school?
- My first job has little to do with data structures, algorithms, or coding, more to do with knowing a million different technologies and how to plug them together. I don't like it. If I go to grad school, could I later expect to work in something more niche where I would actually be able to code?
- "We don't care how much you work, as long as you get your work done."
- I just saw someone on LinkedIn get promoted to Principal Engineer (L8) in 7 years. How is this possible? What do you need to do to get promoted this fast?
- I'd like to LEAVE the Bay Area. Has anyone done this and has any tips?
- I’m too stressed out
- Skills assessments for lower tier local companies
- Triple the commute for 11.5% raise?
- A senior dev in need of some career guidance
- Is it ever a good idea to "downgrade" jobs?
- What are your criteria to accept the job offer? How to identify red flags before joining or early at your new workplace?
- I was rejected from a rotational program that teaches you how to code because of my "technical." Is it appropriate to reapply next year's cycle?
- Dumb question about first day of new junior position
- Doing side projects during adult life
- Quitting job to study or work on projects?
- Should I let employers know that I will be a Master student next semester?
- What do I need to do to ace coding contests?
- UX Technical writer - Can someone tell me anything about the role and breaking into it?
- What internships can I still apply for?
- Consequences of reneging an internship offer in favour of a better one?
- Transitioning from a major in computer science to a career in finance
- Ever had to take a non-tech lower-skill job to fill a gap in the middle of your CS career?
- Bunch of questions from a college kid
- Did your college grades define your career?
| Big 4 Discussion - November 25, 2018 Posted: 24 Nov 2018 11:06 PM PST Please use this thread to have discussions about the Big 4 and questions related to the Big 4, such as which one offers the best doggy benefits, or how many companies are in the Big 4 really? Posts focusing solely on Big 4 created outside of this thread will probably be removed. Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk. This thread is posted each Sunday and Wednesday at midnight PST. Previous Big 4 Discussion threads can be found here. [link] [comments]  |
| Daily Chat Thread - November 25, 2018 Posted: 24 Nov 2018 11:06 PM PST Please use this thread to chat, have casual discussions, and ask casual questions. Moderation will be light, but don't be a jerk. This thread is posted every day at midnight PST. Previous Daily Chat Threads can be found here. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2018 11:44 AM PST I'm always being told that school doesn't teach you many important skills that you'll need in industry. I'm doing my bachelor's in CompSci and looking at all the courses we take, it seems like a very solid foundation in computer science and software development. I can't think of anything major I'd be missing once I've graduated other than version control (which indeed my school offers no courses on). Note that I'm talking only about the computer science side of things: there are of course many other things we'd only learn once we started working (ex. social or management skills). Sorry if this is a naive question, any answers are appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2018 11:25 AM PST I've been in my first job out of school for three months now and all we do is just have meetings about how to plug things together, I never get to code, and I don't like it. If I had 10-20 years under my belt like some of these guys then maybe this role would be cool in that it's rather high level design stuff, but at this point for me it's 100% of my career so far and it's too high level for me. I should be coding. I know that knowing all these technologies is important, but ideally over several years I would learn about all these million different technologies and the best architectures for them to work together, instead all I do is listen to guys with a lot of experience talk/argue about how to do x and it's just implied that I know all this stuff too. I don't think this role is appropriate for a new grad. I also just feel like in general I didn't learn anything in school that's germane to this (and possibly many) development jobs, i.e. version control, build stuff, practical security technologies, the whole Microsoft and .NET world, etc. So I'm thinking that this isn't for me and that maybe I ought to go back to school for a Master's degree. But I want to come out of grad school with a very specific set of skills, like machine learning or something, so that my next job can just be super focused on one thing I know a lot about so I'm not lost in a sea of different technologies and I can just code instead of sit in meetings and produce documents. I could also do my best to learn about all these technologies on my own time while in school so I wasn't so lost on all this stuff. TLDR: my question is, for those who have gone to grad school, were you able to get some specific skill out of it (machine learning/AI, data science, robotics, whatever) and did this then allow to take positions where you didn't have to be a tech stack polymath and could be more focused and apply that skill? Or is grad school basically useless like people here tend to believe? Or does it depend on what you go to grad school for? [link] [comments]  |
| "We don't care how much you work, as long as you get your work done." Posted: 25 Nov 2018 12:08 PM PST A company recently said this to me when I asked about working hours during the interview for a salaried position. It seems that it could go both ways:
Because of that, I really don't know how to interpret what they said. Has anyone worked in this kind of environment? What did you find it to be like, in practice? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2018 12:47 PM PST I saw someone on LinkedIn who entered as an L4 out of undergrad (for one thing, I don't even know how this is possible, as I thought all undergrads started at L3) and get promoted to staff software engineer (L6) in 4 years, and principal in another 3 at Google. How is this even possible? What do I need to do to get promoted this fast once I graduate? Were these people all just gods at programming, or did they bring more to the table? Also, what's the fastest promotion you guys have seen? [link] [comments]  |
| I'd like to LEAVE the Bay Area. Has anyone done this and has any tips? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:45 PM PST As my throwaway username implies, I'm a "real" impostor here in the Bay. Why? I got my current run-of-the-mill AWS+Node+React webdev job at a known-by-most-via-name-recognition-but-not-FAANG-or-Unicorn-but-has-decent-to-good-TC company only because I:
i.e. NOT grinding LeetCode. So now I'm a run-of-the-mill webdev (which is not what I wanted to do in the first place) and have been for 3 years. My TC is growing but my career and social life aren't (60hr work weeks exhaust me), and I decided after grinding LeetCode for much of the past couple weeks that I don't WANT to be shut in after work doing MORE programming in order to catch up, when I don't even feel like I have the "knack" in the first place. (Aside: Re: LeetCode I'm doing better despite my unintelligence! I can do many Mediums without hints, and some Mediums with hints and I've tackled a couple Hards with high completion rates. I just know that this isn't good enough for most of the companies in the area, especially ones that look good on the <Work-Life Balance, TC> chart, and *especially* with 3 years of experience). I'm very okay with being a 24 year old that got a taste of the Bay and moved back to an area with a lower cost of living and a pace that's closer to 40 hours of work a week, being a non-rockstar dev but being able to take 20 hours more per week to get out and pursue other interests and having an interview process that plays more to my own strengths when gig-switching time comes. I know with the name on my resume, I probably won't have problems finding a webdev gig, but I love the AWS+Node side of things (systems and heavier logic) way more than the frontend work so I was thinking of picking up Azure + .NET as a skillset in my off time over the next few months, then trying to get a gig in a low COL area with that (since it seems to be the more common stack in flyover/Midwest/Southern states - there were like 5 Node jobs in the entire state I graduated from on Indeed last I looked). I was going to check my contacts list first and see if I could get a referral from ANYONE, and then just mass-apply with "willing/looking to relocate" prominently displayed. As mentioned, my social life is garbage so I'm single and don't have to worry about leaving connections behind. Anyways, that's my plan. But has anyone else been in a similar situation (can't do whiteboard interviews but worked in the Bay by sheer chance, moved out) and has any advice? Cheers. EDIT: I suppose I should mention - the work-life-balance at my place is normally not too bad, but I have to pull 60hrs because I'm just slower than everyone else. Like I said: I don't have the "knack" and it takes me time to get the working solution, but you know how it is: I have to clear the tickets or I'm out a job. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2018 04:59 PM PST I've achieved some sort of "rockstar" status on my team probably because of me being relatively "senior" within my team, consistently putting out working features, and being able to mentor a single guy. But damn, now that I've trigged some sort of eye by my lead/management, my workload became huge. I've become to go to guy for any technical help from all of the developers on my team. I peer review and mentor literally all day, and maintain a new backlog of people who I'm going to help while I also need to be completing my own features. This sort of sucks, all I really want to be doing is programming and especially learning more about technical details or practices, not teaching some guy how to use Git correctly and write cleaner code from stuff I read in a book and then rush to finish my own code. I'm not getting enough time to actually learn anything anymore. What should I do? [link] [comments]  |
| Skills assessments for lower tier local companies Posted: 25 Nov 2018 07:08 PM PST What should I study for lower tier local company skills assessments? I'm assuming I won't be doing hardcore algorithm stuff for an entry level gig at a small exam prep products shop in a rural area? [link] [comments]  |
| Triple the commute for 11.5% raise? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 06:17 PM PST X-posting from good ole regular /r/careerguidance https://www.reddit.com/r/careerguidance/comments/9yk3bf/having_trouble_deciding_to_stay_or_go/ Essentially im going from a 9 mile commute to a 27 mile commute(with traffic), 95% highway in both cases. The new commute would have traffic and in order to avoid that I'd have to leave at 6:30am (to start work at 7am vs 8am) vs leaving at like 7:50am.
EDITED to clarify why i'd be leaving earlier [link] [comments]  |
| A senior dev in need of some career guidance Posted: 25 Nov 2018 11:18 AM PST I'm a senior back-end developer at a mid-sized software company. I've been with the company for 9 years, it's been my one and only job since I graduated from college. I always thought that I'll probably retire with this company. Lately, I've been thinking more and more about relocation and looking for another job. Perhaps the main reason is I feel like my career is in full-blown stagnation. My day-to-day responsibilities had been reduced to some pretty boring and mundane work. Mostly mentoring junior devs which involve running the daily stand-up meetings and lots of code reviews. I don't get any opportunities to learn anything new or develop anything new. That is not the case with other seniors who are constantly doing all sorts of cool stuff. I tried talking to my boss about it explaining that I understand that training and mentorship are important but I don't want this to be my full-time job, he just brushed me off with "But you're so good at it!" My boss doesn't seem to have a real clear purpose for me here. Code reviews don't really take my entire day, beyond that I have to come up with work for myself. And every time I ask my boss should I be doing that, his response is always "Sure! That sounds like a great idea!" I feel like I don't add any real value to this company and I feel that it strongly reflects on my paycheck. Salary is another reason why I want to leave the company. Low pay is the biggest complaint about our organization on Glassdoor and Indeed. Along with lack of bonuses, no 401K matching and pretty basic benefits overall. For that reason, we were never able to attract any skilled devs, because we simply had nothing to offer them. Even when we did they'd stick around for maybe a year but then move on to something better. And now I think it's time for me to do the same. Or at least start preparing for it. Here's the problem about looking for a new job. First of all, I'm completely ignorant about the whole process. As I said, this was one and only company for me, I never thought about looking for a job anywhere else before that. I don't have a resume and my LinkedIn page is pretty bare. But I guess one thing I do have is time. Recently I've decided to relocate to Austin area, to live closer to my family and friends (also from what I'm seeing there's no shortage of software development jobs there). The place where I currently live is first of all in another state and pretty far from all the people I know, but I also have zero ties in here, no friends or relationships. And I'll probably end up moving right around this time next year. So I thought while I have a whole year to prepare, how exactly should I be preparing? What's the interview process or general expectation from senior devs? Should I go ahead and start grinding leetcode now or is there something more useful I could be doing? I know a lot of potential employers get turned off when someone isn't from their area is reaching out, so how do I deal with that or let them know that I'm willing to relocate on my own? I guess, what is the best way to educate yourself about the interview process? Any advice would be appreciated. tl;dr version is basically the last paragraph, everything before that is just me griping about my current job. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it ever a good idea to "downgrade" jobs? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 10:28 AM PST The general advice in this sub seems to be that you need to always "level up" when switching jobs. But, is it ever a good idea to "downgrade" instead? For example, going from a fast-paced, prestigious company to a slower-paced, unknown company for better work-life balance. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2018 06:59 AM PST I have made couple of bad choices and decided to resign in short period after joining the organisation. I came to know about the reality behind the rosy picture shown by HR / hiring agency after joining the organisation. Glassdoor reviews , google search were inadequate to judge the company beforehand. How can we get sufficient information to identify red flags / toxic environment or lack of long term vision of company beforehand. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:30 PM PST A few months ago I interviewed onsite for the final round of a rotational program. The program is for new grads so seniors typically interview. I had just graduated two months before I interviewed. I failed the interview because I started getting nervous and my brain went blank. All of the interviewers (besides my technical interviewer) loved me and added me on linkedin and wished me luck and said they are around to help if I need. Would it be appropriate to apply again for next cycle? I can just reach out to one of the guys or call the recruiter but just was wondering in terms of how to go about it. This program teaches non-cs stem majors how to code which is why I am so passionate about this program. What do you guys think? [link] [comments]  |
| Dumb question about first day of new junior position Posted: 25 Nov 2018 08:16 PM PST I think it's just nerves, and I am pretty sure I am overthinking and the answer is what I think it. Who do I report to on my first day? I was onboarded with BambooHR and at the end it gave me a start date and time and a contact in HR. Up until tonight looking it over I assumed that was who I was supposed to contact when I arrive but I am second guessing it. Also I feel like going with only a notebook (will be issued a work machine) and lunch is being underprepared. Sorry in advance, these feel like dumb questions. I'm super nervous. [link] [comments]  |
| Doing side projects during adult life Posted: 25 Nov 2018 08:15 PM PST Hey guys So I'm in college right now, and I spend a lot of time doing side projects and learning about technologies in my free time in order to have the best shot at internships and to set myself up for a good career in the future. I like doing these side projects and learning but it's taking up a lot of time, and I don't have much time for my actual hobbies. So I was wondering, will I have to keep up this grind even after college, when I start working full time? I really don't want to keep grinding new technologies every day for the rest of my life. Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Quitting job to study or work on projects? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 08:06 PM PST Hi all, just looking for advice or what you would do in my shoes. I'm currently about to finish my Bachelor's degree, and for the past year, I've been working full time at a small startup. I'm getting tired of this startup, a mix of only 2 people on the development team (and we work on separate features), and I feel extremely undervalued by my boss. I'm getting paid below average, and the amount of stress and expectations on a small team is taking a toll on my mentality. I really want a new start, and also a new project to work on that's more exciting to me. I have 20k saved up to get through a 'studying' period. I really hope to experience working at a Big N company, or at least in a bigger tech scene compared to Vancouver. I'm not confident my resume will land any interviews at the moment - I know I lack more interesting projects/competitions on my resume. TLDR, Would you ever quit a job to work on your portfolio, in preparation for a better career prospect? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I let employers know that I will be a Master student next semester? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 07:24 PM PST I have been told that I should leave off that I will be a part-time Master student next fall since I am graduating this spring and will be applying for a full-time position. Or should I include that I will be pursuing it part-time?? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| What do I need to do to ace coding contests? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 10:16 AM PST I completed my 3rd LeetCode contest yesterday if you can really call it completing. I still cannot get past the 3rd question within the 90 minutes of the contest duration but there are always people that finish all the questions within 30 minutes and usually above 50 people who can complete it within 60 minutes. The questions always include at least one of each difficulty level; easy, medium and hard from what I can tell. I can probably understand the people who complete them within the time limit or before 60 minutes mark if they are really good, but I just cannot understand the people who complete all 4 questions in 22 minutes. Probably just reading all the questions and examples, and understand what they ask for takes me at least 10 minutes. I definitely wouldn't call myself an idiot or a stupid person. I'm definitely smart. I have a master's degree with a very high GPA, people at my work really respect my intelligence, I'm usually quick to find solutions to problems I face (real world or work) but these type of stuff destroys my self confidence. How can a person completely dominates those 4 questions flawlessly without any bugs in 22 minutes where it takes me 10 minutes to understand and 80 minutes to complete only 3 of them with lots of incorrect attempts? Are they gods, today's Einsteins, robots? I know lots of people will say practice, but I do practice, not enough obviously though. I can probably complete it within the time limit or even in 60 minutes with enough practice, but even if I practice a lot, it still feels like there is no way I can complete them in 22 minutes unless I literally study/practice from the time I reach home to the time I leave for work for months and I'm usually too tired to practice even more than 1 hour after work. I am super depressed right now. What am I doing wrong here and how can I improve myself to get to their level? If you are one of those omnipotent beings, what did it take you to get there? [link] [comments]  |
| UX Technical writer - Can someone tell me anything about the role and breaking into it? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 06:18 PM PST So, I'm wrapping up with my Masters' in Computer Science in couple terms, and truth be told, even though I understand the coding and the math, those things haven't been really playing to my strengths lately. I am however really interested in HCI, UI/UX. And I've been writing/editing for a good portion of my academic career. I really think UX Technical writing is something I'd be good at. I'd like to know more about the position in general, and things I can do to set myself for success at it. I know that this is a bit far from the usual conversations in this sub, but any bit of knowledge you share would help. [link] [comments]  |
| What internships can I still apply for? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 06:17 PM PST I know its kind of late in the year and I only applied to a few internships. Which ones can I still apply to? [link] [comments]  |
| Consequences of reneging an internship offer in favour of a better one? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 02:30 PM PST I was given an exploding offer for a big tech company, Company A, that hires 400+ interns every year. Its not my top choice for an internship and I don't want to work there fulltime. I felt pressured to accept the offer last week because of the really short offer deadline (it was nonnegotiable). I was told by companies that I would pick over Company A that I would hear back my results after the Thanksgiving break (this week). If I'm given an offer from one of these companies, I'll be tempted to take them over Company A for a variety of reasons (better name, more interesting work, better pay etc). What consequences could stem from reneging on the internship offer? [link] [comments]  |
| Transitioning from a major in computer science to a career in finance Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:57 PM PST I was wondering how hard it is to transition from a major in computer science to something in finance. I somehow got past the easier Introduction to CS courses, however this year I'm doing a course on data structures and no matter how hard I try I can't understand the material at all. I can't see myself continuing in CS later in life, and I know its only a matter of time before I end up depressed/suicidal if I keep forcing myself to keep studying CS the way I have been. I'm not sure if I should abandon my CS degree completely and switch to Applied Math(I did Linear Algebra and Calc 3 in HS so I wouldn't be too far behind in terms of prereqs), and then get an MBA in finance or if there's any hope for me to continue doing CS and then get an MBA in finance. [link] [comments]  |
| Ever had to take a non-tech lower-skill job to fill a gap in the middle of your CS career? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:50 PM PST Not counting jobs that you had to take because you had zero experience in software. Any jobs that have little or nothing to do for tech that you had to take for some reason or another in the middle of your CS career. It can be manual labor, hospitality, etc. If you have any stories like that where you needed to switch gears temporarily with work and then jump right back to software, I'd like to hear them. [link] [comments]  |
| Bunch of questions from a college kid Posted: 25 Nov 2018 01:52 PM PST I know there are a billion posts like this, but I feel like I'm at a pretty unique spot right now. For reference, I'm a second-year student studying Math and Computer Science in France. This isn't a double major, I think; it's more like two majors in one. I've heard that having a background in both math AND comp sci can be a hell of a combo, career-choice wise. However, I imagine people say this for people with a bachelors in Comp Sci and a masters in math, or vice versa.
Sorry for the wall of text and the unconnected questions, but I'm a little lost when it comes to how this all works. Any advice is deeply appreciated. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Did your college grades define your career? Posted: 25 Nov 2018 05:19 PM PST I'm obsessing a lot about my grades right now and losing sleep before the semester finals. To those of you who've been in the business a while... in hindsight, how important was your GPA for the development of your career? [link] [comments]  |
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