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For kicks I once saved a local company I was working at about $30k by installing a wordpress caching plugin. Their website went down when they got some interna

For kicks I once saved a local company I was working at about $30k by installing a wordpress caching plugin. Their website went down when they got some international attention, and the consultants they hired designed a "solution" which involved big dedicated machines to host their (essentially text+image) wordpress site. The site wasn't my job at all, but when I overheard the price (and read their engineering plan) I asked for admin access and told them 10mins later to fire the consultants. The director of engineering (an awesome guy) advised that I register a business and not use my name, then he hired me under pseudonym as their new consultant and I billed them at twice the rate they were paying me during the day for a few hours here and there at night (in retrospect, a total steal for them as I was an intern..)

HPMOR 4y ago
That director of engineering sounds SO cool. What a chill dude.
- wnolens 4y ago
  Ya most fun workplace due to it being basically 15 best friends who've worked together for many years. Even the CEO was their buddy from college. Now I'm in big tech and while it's astronomically better for my career, I absolutely loathe it socially. Not sure it's worth it (holistically), and look forward to someday joining a local medium sized company with average achievers + personalities.
  - HPMOR 4y ago
    That's awesome! I'm still in undergrad and naturally I want that big FAANG+ payday, but, I think building a company or just working with people I really like would be much nicer. But now that you've seen both sides, do you see your self moving?
    - wnolens 4y ago
      Yes, waiting for a promotion and maybe some stock vesting, then I can't wait to move. As much as I love money, I'm financially stable enough. Going to force myself to prioritize other things. Good luck.
      - HPMOR 4y ago
        Yeah, my dad left a very very lucrative SWE role to work as an entry level NASA employee because he loves Space so much. Honestly, he seems pretty happy with the shift.

HPMOR 4y ago

That director of engineering sounds SO cool. What a chill dude.

wnolens 4y ago
Ya most fun workplace due to it being basically 15 best friends who've worked together for many years. Even the CEO was their buddy from college. Now I'm in big tech and while it's astronomically better for my career, I absolutely loathe it socially. Not sure it's worth it (holistically), and look forward to someday joining a local medium sized company with average achievers + personalities.
- HPMOR 4y ago
  That's awesome! I'm still in undergrad and naturally I want that big FAANG+ payday, but, I think building a company or just working with people I really like would be much nicer. But now that you've seen both sides, do you see your self moving?
  - wnolens 4y ago
    Yes, waiting for a promotion and maybe some stock vesting, then I can't wait to move. As much as I love money, I'm financially stable enough. Going to force myself to prioritize other things. Good luck.
    - HPMOR 4y ago
      Yeah, my dad left a very very lucrative SWE role to work as an entry level NASA employee because he loves Space so much. Honestly, he seems pretty happy with the shift.