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Career advice for people with bad luck

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Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#191

Post by dakna »

bad_luck_tw wrote: post #137
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ex. you graduated in 2008-2010/now or your business sector got wiped out by COVID I feel bad for the higher class pizza restaurant that opened down the street from our house at the end of January after a long time of renovating the building. Even though their pizza isn't really as good as the fancy pizza place at the mall (it's a mall in a rich area) down by the nearby…

Something similar happened to me during this outbreak. Got my CS degree from a no-name university in a third world country a few years back, got a job in one of those software sweatshops getting paid peanuts, moved to a new one an year later where I worked my ass off to learn things and generally be a good developer, but here too I was paid a pittance, mostly due to my education and previous job. I hated working here…

You probably already know that, but sometimes it helps to hear it again:

The world is a competitive place, and a lot of success factors are outside of your control. (timing, pre-existing resources, sheer luck)

What you can control is exactly what you are already doing: Work really hard and make the best of what you have. Come up with a good long term plan and execute it. Do life decisions that help with that plan.

This will make you more successful than your relative peer group and over time wash you into an upper percentile compared to others dealing with the same factors.

Keep up the good work! It's a long game.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#192

Post by vikramkr »

dkersten wrote: post #189
vikramkr wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No pain no gain. If the US and SV opportunities aren't a type of gain that's compelling to you then of course you dont need to worry about it. But if they are, then you need to make your own luck by making those sacrifices. Things about family ties and wants and stress are all part of the work you put in to make your own luck. Being American is a pretty great gig, for all the stuff you keep hearing on the news. There…

> No pain no gain. If the US and SV opportunities aren't a type of gain that's compelling to you then of course you dont need to worry about it There are many reasons why this might be out if your control, beyond visa requirements. Maybe you have dependents your can’t bring with you (sick or elderly family for example), or maybe your SO has a job that’s hard to move. Or you have a family and can’t afford the crazy SV…

I was replying to the bulk of the comments in the post above, which were along the lines of not wanting to go because of age/liking hometown etc, and specifically mentioned at the end that there are valid barriers to consider, including one in the original post about the complexity of immigration. There are true barriers in the way, my disagreement was with the ones listed above.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#193

Post by distances »

bitL wrote: post #155
0xfaded wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step 1: Move to SV. I'm sorry, I'm Australian and studied and worked in Australia. I spent 4 years in SV, and now founded a startup in Europe. Even after the Covid issue has played out, I'm convinced SV will still be where a passionate technologist can optimize their impact and lifetime earnings. There's just nothing that can compare to being surrounded by so many smart people who share your interests. I've heard sto…

> expect to pay 50% in taxes (+ 25% VAT) Don't forget the tax prepayments that might be 1.33x of your previous taxes, i.e. you pay 100k in taxes for one year and for the next year you need to prepay 133k.

In Europe? I've never heard of anything like this.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#194

Post by jorblumesea »

> Your equity package is a lottery ticket with expected value of zero.

While this is true, it's vastly more true for startups and privately owned companies vs publicly owned. Amazon's stock price might fluctuate but the chances of it being worthless are slim.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#195

Post by dkersten »

decafninja wrote: post #138
karamazov wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Any reasonably good programmer can get a job at a FANG company with three months of serious study; any reasonably intelligent person can become a good entry-level programmer with 1-2 years of serious study. The demand for engineers far outstrips supply.

I've been studying for the past two years and have failed at multiple FAANGs, some twice. Failed at FB, NFLX, AMZN, in addition to MSFT and UBER. Then again, I'm not entry level (10 yoe), so I might be competing at a higher bar. However, I'd gladly join any of these companies as a junior engineer without hesitation. I've seen stories of, amongst others, someone who studied while in prison get into GOOG, someone who w…

Why use stock ticker names instead of typing the company names out properly? It literally only takes a second or two longer and is much clearer to read.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#196

Post by rapfaria »

decafninja wrote: post #138
karamazov wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Any reasonably good programmer can get a job at a FANG company with three months of serious study; any reasonably intelligent person can become a good entry-level programmer with 1-2 years of serious study. The demand for engineers far outstrips supply.

I've been studying for the past two years and have failed at multiple FAANGs, some twice. Failed at FB, NFLX, AMZN, in addition to MSFT and UBER. Then again, I'm not entry level (10 yoe), so I might be competing at a higher bar. However, I'd gladly join any of these companies as a junior engineer without hesitation. I've seen stories of, amongst others, someone who studied while in prison get into GOOG, someone who w…

But why would you want to join those companies as a junior engineer?

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#197

Post by dkersten »

vikramkr wrote: post #192
dkersten wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No pain no gain. If the US and SV opportunities aren't a type of gain that's compelling to you then of course you dont need to worry about it There are many reasons why this might be out if your control, beyond visa requirements. Maybe you have dependents your can’t bring with you (sick or elderly family for example), or maybe your SO has a job that’s hard to move. Or you have a family and can’t afford the crazy SV…

I was replying to the bulk of the comments in the post above, which were along the lines of not wanting to go because of age/liking hometown etc, and specifically mentioned at the end that there are valid barriers to consider, including one in the original post about the complexity of immigration. There are true barriers in the way, my disagreement was with the ones listed above.

Ok, that’s fair enough. I don’t disagree, I just think that it’s often out of your control (which it sounds like you agree with too).

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#198

Post by LarryDarrell »

mdorazio wrote: post #67

I really want to see more articles like this on HN. However, this is really "career advice for people at struggling companies." The luck part doesn't get discussed in the way I expected. To me, bad luck is things like: - You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ex. you graduated in 2008-2010/now or your business sector got wiped out by COVID - Despite your best efforts at networking, you simply never meet that ma…

I suspect it's because there isn't much advice to give.

My answer, having checked a few of your boxes... Your lifetime wages are going to be lower than many of your peers. This is unlikely to change. Adjust your worldview accordingly. Don't assume any debt that relies on increasing future earnings to be comfortable.

By all means, keep trying, but stay level headed. Success for most is not always right around the corner. Prior to SV eating the world, the only people that said that we all should be entrepreneurs really just wanted you in their Amway downline.

Society doesn't like to show the magnitude failures out there, or worse, the getting-by'ers. There are a lot of self-conscious IT people in the midwest making $70k/year feeling like failures, when they are the winners of Kokomo, IN.

Read some philosophy. Buy a reliable used car. Look inward for contentment. Try therapy if your shitty childhood and shitty parents made inward a hard place to look.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#199

Post by dkersten »

username90 wrote: post #133
TeMPOraL wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Step 1: Get a well paying job at a big tech company. You mean, a remote job in a place with low costs of living. Otherwise, this algorithm doesn't work for people with families. I've been on the job market just before COVID-19 hit. The costs of living in tech hubs are absolutely ridiculous. If it's not housing, then it's something else. For instance, you could afford staying in London with a spouse on a tech salary…

Kids are not luck though, people have all the power to decide not to have kids until their finances are better.

Potentially very unpopular opinion, but to add to this, I think it’s irresponsible and unfair to the children if you choose to have have kids before your finances are in order. And selfish to put your desires above the wellbeing of the potential child’s.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#200

Post by decafninja »

rapfaria wrote: post #196
decafninja wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been studying for the past two years and have failed at multiple FAANGs, some twice. Failed at FB, NFLX, AMZN, in addition to MSFT and UBER. Then again, I'm not entry level (10 yoe), so I might be competing at a higher bar. However, I'd gladly join any of these companies as a junior engineer without hesitation. I've seen stories of, amongst others, someone who studied while in prison get into GOOG, someone who w…

But why would you want to join those companies as a junior engineer?

- Because it would give me better career development than where I am now as a senior SWE.

- TC trajectory would be significantly higher, even if it means taking a minor temporary paycut.

- Intangibles, which might sound trivial, but stuff like working with smart coworkers, not having to dress up like a businessman to work, etc.

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