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Career advice for people with bad luck

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Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#401

Post by friendlybus »

rhizome wrote: post #360
wwweston wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. 12 Rules for Life - Jordan B Peterson A note on this, since mentioning Peterson tends to spark controversy: I think I think the people who get the best out of Peterson don't treat him as a guru issuing rules written in stone tablets (in spite of the implication of the book title) but as a provoker of attention/reflection. This is probably generally true of anyone, but especially worth considering here. I also te…

> but as a provoker of attention/reflection. Smart business choice, this is how you capitalize on ambiguity. Sarcasm as a business model.

Is that your model? Because Peterson is cited and sourced.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#402

Post by opportune »

mettamage wrote: post #318
whycombagator wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ok, I studied algorithms, got rejected at the paper round. Now what? If you actually studied then play the odds? I.e apply to the dozens of other large tech companies that pay handsomely. Unless there's only Google in the Netherlands (assuming that's where you are based on the Dutch reference) or you already applied to dozens and got rejected at the paper round by all of them

Other than HFT firms, tech companies here don't pay handsomely, so you need to look for other European countries. I've tried Google and Facebook for years (not in NL they aren't that big here and want specialized people, not graduates). You're right, I only tried Optiver 18 months ago. I should try all the others. I'm not too interested in HFT but the technical challenge sounds fun.

What about Google in Munich?

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#403

Post by pmiller2 »

chadash wrote: post #34
throw4failure wrote: post #29

This seems like a good thread in which to try to solicit some advice, since it's at least tangentially related. I was terminated from my last job. In my opinion it was due to my chronic and major depression that I have since been seeking extensive treatment (medication, several months rent in therapy) for. I say "in my opinion" because I really can't rule out that I'm just a lazy, crappy developer who is trying to us…

I interview people regularly and if I see someone with technical talent, then I'll proceed. Chances are I'm not looking up your references until I'm pretty sure I want to hire you, so up until that point, it's on you to impress me with your technical knowledge. Brush up on the fundamentals. Maybe read cracking the coding interview. And if possible, spend some time working on an open source project, preferably an exis…

If CTCI is your idea of "brushing up on fundamentals," you're doing it wrong.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#404

Post by ghaff »

jimbokun wrote: post #391
ghaff wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just very aware of how lucky I've been on a couple of different occasions (ADDED: Specifically from an employment perspective). During the dot-com bubble bursting, my company was having big layoffs and I landed a new job based on an informal lunch meeting with someone I knew that I had literally a couple of days after being laid off. (Some other leads I was investigating in parallel prior to getting an offer prod…

> "have a network that knows you do good work and is in a position to hire you." Which is an extremely important insight.

But it's not especially actionable. Except perhaps insofar as a reminder to not let yourself be locked in a company building and never interact with anyone outside those 4 walls.

In my case, it basically boiled down to working a long time in the industry and having relationships with former co-workers, consultants who did work for us, and clients.

ADDED: Having said that, a lot of people think their resumes are all they need to land whatever job they want. And maybe that's true in some cases. But other than my first job in the tech industry--which I got out of grad school--every other position has been basically through people I knew and my resume was essentially irrelevant.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#405

Post by miguelmota »

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #203
LarryDarrell wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 corn…

> 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. I'd recommend the following: 1. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius 2. 12 Rules for Life - Jordan B Peterson 3. Letters from a self made merchant - John Graham

I've read 12 Rules for Life and disliked that Peterson uses a lot of Disney movie and bible references to support his claims. He makes some good points every once in a while but the book is unnecessarily verbose. I recommend reading the cliff notes to understand 90% of the book.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#406

Post by throwaway987978 »

decafninja wrote: post #390
throwaway987978 wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep going. You only need to pass once. :) I'm kind of in the same boat. I failed all my interviews as well and I have about the same amount of experience as you. I agree that getting into these companies is easier as a junior engineer. You may want to look at an interview prep course like Outco.io or Interview Kickstart. I haven't attended one yet but will most likely do so once I'm ready to start interviewing again…

I've been in touch with the people at Interview Kickstart. They seem like nice people, but I'm pretty sure I know what my problem is - not doing the coding rounds with 100% perfect optimal solutions, when another competing candidate is doing so. For example, in my failed FB interview above, I quickly and successfully solved two problems in the phone screen - thus I passed. The first onsite (virtual) coding round I st…

Yeah I hear you. I've struggled with the exact same problem. The stress doesn't help and often times I've figured out the answer just 5 or 10 minutes after the interview was done. I know I got rejected from Amazon and then a week later I was doing practice interviews on interviewing.io and the guy who was mock interviewing me said that he works at Amazon and that I should apply. I had to tell him that I did apply and just got rejected from an onsite interview the week before.

Yeah, referrals at these sized companies only help to get a recruiter to pay attention. It doesn't really help. I've even gotten interviews just by searching LinkedIn for ___ recruiter and messaging them directly.

FWIW, I recently attended the Outco sales pitch and they do have a almost guaranteed payment option. Instead of paying up front you can pay nothing and then pay 10% of your first year's base salary. Obviously that would cost you more than if you had paid up front but that could be an option.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#407

Post by pmiller2 »

spotsandstripes wrote: post #310
throw4failure wrote: post #29

This seems like a good thread in which to try to solicit some advice, since it's at least tangentially related. I was terminated from my last job. In my opinion it was due to my chronic and major depression that I have since been seeking extensive treatment (medication, several months rent in therapy) for. I say "in my opinion" because I really can't rule out that I'm just a lazy, crappy developer who is trying to us…

I was in a really similar situation a couple years ago. I was having mental health problems two years into my first job out of college. Around the same time my manager quit and a new manager started, and the new manager only knew me while I was struggling so we didn't have a great relationship. He told me to take a leave of absence, and before the three months were up he sent me an email saying that my job had been t…

> He told me to take a leave of absence, and before the three months were up he sent me an email saying that my job had been terminated due to my company's abandonment policy.

I don't understand here. Unless the new manager was just being shitty, being on a leave of absence would generally not be considered job abandonment.

In any case, good job on gaming a shitty system. When will people realize that some of the things employers take as "deal brakers" have literally zero correlation to actual job performance?

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#408

Post by pmiller2 »

harimau777 wrote: post #78
throw4failure wrote: post #29

This seems like a good thread in which to try to solicit some advice, since it's at least tangentially related. I was terminated from my last job. In my opinion it was due to my chronic and major depression that I have since been seeking extensive treatment (medication, several months rent in therapy) for. I say "in my opinion" because I really can't rule out that I'm just a lazy, crappy developer who is trying to us…

Its fairly likely that your previous employer has a policy that your previous employer will just confirm that you worked there. In that case, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. There are services which you can pay to call up a previous employer pretending to be a new employer doing a background/reference check on you. They will then report back on what they say. In the case that they do say something negative, one…

You don't really need to hire a service to do a fake reference check and report back. Just find a trusted friend, or, if the company is large enough, you can probably do it yourself.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#409

Post by 8bitsrule »

blululu wrote: post #339
taurath wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many miles does your Philosophy Minor have on it? I've heard they're not very reliable

In fairness it does break down constantly, but I can usually repair it on my own. I should mention that it handles well in difficult terrain, and it appreciates in value over time.

Philosophy will get through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no philosophy.

" Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself." — Rumi

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#410

Post by opportune »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #126
username90 wrote: post #90

Step 1: Get a well paying job at a big tech company. There is very little luck involved in this, just get really good at algorithms. No need for a famous school, specific degree etc. It requires intelligence, if you don't have that then you need luck. Step 2: Save more than two thirds of your take home salary, you can still live way better than the people sweeping the office floor. Step 3: You now have a ton of money…

> 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…

I think London is particularly bad regarding the cost of living:SWE pay in general. But even in SV, if you started as L5/E5 at Google or Facebook and had enough for 20% down you should be able to afford to buy a 3bed house with <1hr commute based on the cash flow from that single job.
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