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Oh totally! My aim is to avoid leetcode as a 10y+ developer with real track record delivering $XM projects. To me it is a game breaker to have to study up on le

Oh totally! My aim is to avoid leetcode as a 10y+ developer with real track record delivering $XM projects. To me it is a game breaker to have to study up on leetcode problems, as it keeps me from juggling multiple interview in the pipeline. Every network job I've gotten (two) has been a walk on interview, I'm fine with this as long as I don't have to do circus problems.

scarface_74 2y ago
Sure you can avoid leetCode if you’re okay with not maximizing your compensation by working at one of the FAANG or adjacent companies that pay at top of market. But you aren’t going to have a walk on non leetcode interview at one of the companies that pay a quarter million+ for a mid level developer based on a referral. I’m not saying you are a mid level developer just giving an example of comp. The amount a returning intern I mentored when I was at BigTech had a return offer that was the same as I made two years prior at 60 person startup. Now that I’m out of BigTech, I had to get a job as a “staff software architect” at a 3rd party consulting company to come close to what I was making in 2020 as mid level consultant at AWS and I’m making over $80K less than I would make as a senior doing the same thing at AWS or GCP. I’m 50, an empty nester and I’m good with making that trade off. I would rather get an anal probe with a cactus than ever work at any large company again. But if I were 30 in 2024 instead of in 2004, yeah I would grind leetCode to make a 300K+ a year. And yeah I got into BigTech without a coding interview and could probably weasel my way into Google/GCP in the consulting department without one. But that needle would be hard to thread for the vast majority of prople That’s why I always advise anyone in CS to practice for coding interviews
- anarticle 2y ago
  I feel you dude, I definitely am not comp maxxxing, and it's because I simply don't want to run with the horses at this point in my life. I've had enough banality of the corpo world for now. Glad to hear there are still some old dogs like us making good money. :)
- bdangubic 2y ago
  good advice - I do hard disagree with Sure you can avoid leetCode if you’re okay with not maximizing your compensation by working at one of the FAANG or adjacent companies that pay at top of market. I think the BIGGEST misconception in our industry is that it is only FAANG that pays TOP dollar. No one teaches CS grads coming out of college the hardest truth of it all - you will get paid what you are worth to the company and your career should be geared towards figuring out how to make yourself more valuable to a company that company is to you - this is where REAL money is and this can be had in A LOT of places. there are maybe 10 people at FAANG that have this - 99.76% of people at FAANG are expendable. too many bodies - most of the people are no ones. on the flip side there are 1,000’s of companies that have been in business for decades - there, with proper planning (much better time spent than fucking leetcode), you can become more valuable to the company than company is to you and your salary will reflect that - even higher than highest of salaries at FAANG…
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    I don’t care how much I’m “worth” that 60 person startup I worked for pre-AWS wasn’t going to pay me $225K and I went in as a mid level consultant. That was fair, I only had 2 years of AWS experience at the time. The 600 person company I work for now isn’t going to match what I could make at Google. On the other hand, Google would require me to be in an office and I would not have unlimited PTO. Everyone is expendable. No matter where you work. I don’t think you know the salary ranges at BigTech and how they compare to the rest of the market. Those thousands of companies aren’t going to pay FAANG salaries. That grad I mentioned coming out of college is making $160K their first year and that was working in Professional Services not development. An SDE was starting out at $175K - $190K
    - bdangubic 2y ago
      Everyone is expendable. No matter where you work. I can tell you from personal and numerous other examples that this is false I don’t think you know salary ranges at BigTech… I may not (even though of course I do as this is public information at this point) but I was getting paid $900k at 15th year. And know people in similar-ish range - just coding… true story, I was on a honeymoon when I got an emergency call at work - no one knew what was going on, jumped on and fixed it in 10 minutes - got a bonus enough to buy a new car… every junior I encounter in my career nowadays I teach that they should NEVER consider themselves as an “employee” but as a “corporation” and working somewhere not as “employment” but as “partnership” - makes a huge difference through and through when you cement this in your brain

scarface_74 2y ago

Sure you can avoid leetCode if you’re okay with not maximizing your compensation by working at one of the FAANG or adjacent companies that pay at top of market. But you aren’t going to have a walk on non leetcode interview at one of the companies that pay a quarter million+ for a mid level developer based on a referral. I’m not saying you are a mid level developer just giving an example of comp. The amount a returning intern I mentored when I was at BigTech had a return offer that was the same as I made two years prior at 60 person startup. Now that I’m out of BigTech, I had to get a job as a “staff software architect” at a 3rd party consulting company to come close to what I was making in 2020 as mid level consultant at AWS and I’m making over $80K less than I would make as a senior doing the same thing at AWS or GCP. I’m 50, an empty nester and I’m good with making that trade off. I would rather get an anal probe with a cactus than ever work at any large company again. But if I were 30 in 2024 instead of in 2004, yeah I would grind leetCode to make a 300K+ a year. And yeah I got into BigTech without a coding interview and could probably weasel my way into Google/GCP in the consulting department without one. But that needle would be hard to thread for the vast majority of prople That’s why I always advise anyone in CS to practice for coding interviews

anarticle 2y ago
I feel you dude, I definitely am not comp maxxxing, and it's because I simply don't want to run with the horses at this point in my life. I've had enough banality of the corpo world for now. Glad to hear there are still some old dogs like us making good money. :)
bdangubic 2y ago
good advice - I do hard disagree with Sure you can avoid leetCode if you’re okay with not maximizing your compensation by working at one of the FAANG or adjacent companies that pay at top of market. I think the BIGGEST misconception in our industry is that it is only FAANG that pays TOP dollar. No one teaches CS grads coming out of college the hardest truth of it all - you will get paid what you are worth to the company and your career should be geared towards figuring out how to make yourself more valuable to a company that company is to you - this is where REAL money is and this can be had in A LOT of places. there are maybe 10 people at FAANG that have this - 99.76% of people at FAANG are expendable. too many bodies - most of the people are no ones. on the flip side there are 1,000’s of companies that have been in business for decades - there, with proper planning (much better time spent than fucking leetcode), you can become more valuable to the company than company is to you and your salary will reflect that - even higher than highest of salaries at FAANG…
- scarface_74 2y ago
  I don’t care how much I’m “worth” that 60 person startup I worked for pre-AWS wasn’t going to pay me $225K and I went in as a mid level consultant. That was fair, I only had 2 years of AWS experience at the time. The 600 person company I work for now isn’t going to match what I could make at Google. On the other hand, Google would require me to be in an office and I would not have unlimited PTO. Everyone is expendable. No matter where you work. I don’t think you know the salary ranges at BigTech and how they compare to the rest of the market. Those thousands of companies aren’t going to pay FAANG salaries. That grad I mentioned coming out of college is making $160K their first year and that was working in Professional Services not development. An SDE was starting out at $175K - $190K
  - bdangubic 2y ago
    Everyone is expendable. No matter where you work. I can tell you from personal and numerous other examples that this is false I don’t think you know salary ranges at BigTech… I may not (even though of course I do as this is public information at this point) but I was getting paid $900k at 15th year. And know people in similar-ish range - just coding… true story, I was on a honeymoon when I got an emergency call at work - no one knew what was going on, jumped on and fixed it in 10 minutes - got a bonus enough to buy a new car… every junior I encounter in my career nowadays I teach that they should NEVER consider themselves as an “employee” but as a “corporation” and working somewhere not as “employment” but as “partnership” - makes a huge difference through and through when you cement this in your brain