One thing that stands out for me is the ratio of onshore to offshore engineers. I have only worked in a few organizations with offshore teams but the experience

One thing that stands out for me is the ratio of onshore to offshore engineers. I have only worked in a few organizations with offshore teams but the experience has always been frustrating. First, if you're working in an organization like this, it means they value cost management over product. I know that's a sweeping generalization because it's possible to build good products with offshore teams, but it takes tremendous effort, or unusual coordination at the offshore location. This brings me to the second point. If the product work is being driven by the onshore team, at the ratios mentioned, then a large portion of your time will be coordinating with the offshore team. This can be a demoralizing process. I've often found that it would take me an hour to do what it took me 30 minutes to coordinate and the offshore team 3 hours to implement, for example. The response from management is that this is still a force multiplier and so it's worthwhile. So as a rule, I avoid companies that do this and I walk away when the offshore cost savings buzz is in the air. If you actually enjoy building software, then that's a special gift. Many people you'll come across in the profession regard it as a job. You should seek an environment where the people seem to have an active interest in these things. I don't know where you live, but you might look into an HN meetup or something similar. As others have said, work on building up an informal network. It only takes one good connection to make a great difference in your professional life. Good luck!