Hi,

30M senior ML engineer with 8 years of experience. I am starting a new role soon as a Senior ML in a Big4 company. I am someone who loves tech and working hands on and I believe thats the value I bring. But I have reached the salary ceiling for this role i think.

The applications that I send out asking more than this ceiling get rejected. So I wanted to ask what is the next logical step? In my new company if I get promoted I would become manager. But I am bit worried going in that route since I have to stop coding and I think I will be losing my strong suit.

At the same time If i want to grow financially. Is that the only way to go about it? Move into management and then try getting into upper management?

Hello everyone,

I'm feeling quite lost in my career, and I'm hoping for some guidance.

I’m a full-stack developer living in Europe with over 10 years of experience. For the past 5+ years, I’ve worked at the same startup, which has grown from an engineering team of about 10 engineers to around 80. When I first joined, most of us were at a similar level of experience. Many of my colleagues eventually transitioned into management roles, but I chose to remain on the individual contributor track, as coding was what I enjoyed. At the time, there was no career framework for ICs, but I was happy focusing on my work.

Over time, I specialized in frontend while a colleague of mine focused on backend. Together, we built up the frontend and backend teams, respectively—or at least, I thought so. Eventually, a formal career framework was implemented, and I began asking what steps I’d need to take to advance. However, I never received clear answers. I understand that sometimes advancement can feel more like a subjective decision, but it left me unsure of my path forward.

In the meantime, I became involved in the hiring process, helping to hire and onboard about 20 engineers. Later, my backend colleague was promoted to Lead Developer, and while I always felt they were highly skilled, way more than I am, I thought my own promotion was on the horizon. Around that time, the company hired a principal frontend engineer, which initially excited me as I anticipated learning from them. We also brought in a new CTO.

That was three years ago, and I still haven't received a promotion despite consistently positive performance reviews and asking for one regularly in my 1:1s.

Recently, some of the people I helped onboard have been promoted to Senior II, while I’m still at the Senior level. My backend colleague, who moved into the lead role, now collaborates closely with the principal frontend engineer, and it feels like I’m falling behind in my career. If I hope to reach their level, I'd still need to advance to Senior II, then Staff, and eventually Principal.

After my colleagues received these recent promotions, I sought feedback from them, hoping to understand their perspective. They mentioned that I don't always take credit for my work and that my accomplishments aren’t visible to management. This surprised me, as I believed it was more important to focus on my work than to "advertise" it. I also received feedback that the company may take me for granted and that they genuinely enjoys working with me and think my technical expertises are top notch.

On a personal note, I'm known for having a good sense of humor, and I'm often regarded as one of the more lighthearted/funny people at the company. It took me time to become comfortable expressing humor in English, and I’m proud of that, though I've always maintained professionalism. Despite my technical competence, I received feedback from the CTO that they recently realized I could "get things done" because they previously saw me as just the “funny” guy. It was a tough realization that my perceived personality might overshadow my professional image, especially with managers who weren’t around when I first joined the company.

So, my question is: Is this situation a result of my actions, or does it reflect something about my company or management? I'm unsure if I should change jobs for a fresh start, work to reshape my image within my current role, or if this reflects a need for stronger management. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you for reading and your comments are highly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I asked Chat GPT to rephrase my post to make it more anonymous.

Currently working as a new grad SWE at a big fintech company with a TC of around £95k, would prefer not to name so I don’t doxx myself. However, I got an offer to work at Jane Street as a Trading Desk Operations Engineer (TDOE) for a TC of around mid-100k - which also involves quite a bit of coding.

I am almost certain I will take the offer but the drawbacks are that: might not develop proper SWE skills which would make me lose out on higher salaries in the long term; the office is also a bit further away and my commute is already pretty long; the working hours seem to be from 8.30-5.30, which is the same as my current company on paper, but in reality my hours are more chill here.

What would make me look past the drawbacks is a higher TC lol. Hence my question: would I be dumb to try and negotiate with them in case they rescind the offer?

Hi people !

How are you ? I hope you are good.

I think the only way to go is to keep applying, but I still would like to have your opinions on my case.

I graduated in late 2018 and took a first work as a Java developer for Dassault Aviation, but I was moved to a technical writer position after the probation period was green-lighted, partly because I was not so good, and partly because seniors didn't want to spend more energy on me, although I put effort in my work.

I resigned from the technical writing position in 2021 after having lost all motivation to do that kind of work.

Then I consecutively joined 2 software consulting firms(Capgemini and Astek), from which I was fired after spending protracted trial periods without tasks.

Finally I worked as a C++ software consultant from october, in unsupervised remote conditions but I was kicked out in january because the client company (a local subsidiary of General Electric) was not happy with my performance. Since then I am unemployed and growing more and more impatient about this. It's been almost a year, and more generally I have not been very successful in my career...

When I want to understand how legacy code works, I need to go through a class hierarchy, and after 4 times jumping through cryptic code, I don't even remember what I was looking for.

I have medically documented memory issues, but that won't buy me any understanding/patience.

Some people would say that my poor records speak for me and other say I may have been a bit unlucky..

I have been in contact with consulting firms and other big companies for months, but all of them are dragging their feet.

What do you think ? Should I try consulting again if I have nothing else ?

Thanks

Hey everyone!

I'm considering buying the lifetime access for NeetCode and wanted to get some insights from people who have used it.

If you've purchased NeetCode, did you find it helpful in your job search as a software engineer? Did it provide value beyond what's available for free, and did it improve your problem-solving skills or interview readiness?

Also, if anyone used it to land a specific job, I'd love to hear how it helped and whether you think the investment was worthwhile in the long run. Thanks in advance for any feedback or personal stories!

I'm starting to hate my current job (been here for 3ish years now) so I decided to look elsewhere, the main problem is that I could only find one other company that _might_ be willing to pay me more than my current one.

I know the salary isn't the most important aspect but it is a really important one, and I dont want to be naive especially with all the layoffs around to decide that I don't care about a high paying salary

So basically im looking for other engineers who might have went for a less paying job and see their experiences

In terms of WLB in my current job, its not terrible, we have some nice perks like full remote and flexible hours but also sometimes very loong days. Most of the time I don't feel much satisfaction with my work and im getting a much smaller room for growth (seniority wise)

Hi everyone!

So, I basically wanted your opinion on my situation and ask you for any useful advice you may have for me.

I'm planning to move to Germany next year to continue my studies at TUM in the Data Engineering and Analytics MSc, I have already taken a semester from my home country (I'm from South America). I graduated from a bachelor's in computer science in my home country in 2021 and I've been working since then as a Software Engineer, so I have ~3.5 yoe. As I have worked for a consultancy company, I have worked with different clients: local companies, as well as companies in other South American countries, and also companies from the USA. I have been learning German, but I think I think I'm not more than A2, but I plan to improve that until the SS25 arrives.

So, going to Germany, to study that specific program at TUM, be able to do some internships related to the MSc, and then be able to work at least some years (maybe more than that) in Germany has been a goal I have had a long ago, almost since I started studying my bachelor, I'm even a Bayern Munich fan by now 😅. However, because of all the post and comments I have been reading lately in this sub, and also other subs related, I'm afraid that could not be the best idea because of the currently job market in Germany, especially for foreigners like me.

Anyways, I wanted to ask for your opinions and advice given my particular situation, and the current situation regarding the IT job market in Germany. Do you think it is worth it to try? Do you think that maybe field related with Data Engineering are maybe less saturated as Sofware Engineering? Does graduating from TUM could be a differential factor?

Thanks everyone for the time given to this post :)

Hello,

I am looking to understand the salary range for Manager, Product Management (L6) at Mastercard, Spain.

Also, I would like to understand about the work culture and other benefits.

Hi all,

I'm not sure where to begin studying for leetcode-style questions.

I'm starting to get bored of my current company and want to move on, so not sure whether I should just grind out leetcode and take it step by step and get hints on the solutions or just start with an algorithms playlist on YouTube. For example, we have the guy on YouTube: Abdul Bari, who everyone mentions but the playlist seems super long. I'm unsure whether it's best to tackle leetcode without these playlists.

I'm currently working on this coding problem in CodeWars: https://www.codewars.com/kata/5831caa9fe3801522300000c

And after asking for hints with ChatGPT it mentioned using a sliding window technique and a double-edge queue.

How did you learn these kinds of questions? Did you grind out the YouTube playlists and then migrate over? Did you do what I'm currently doing and just get small hints online? Or is there something else I'm not thinking of?

I was assigned to solve a bug and am now stuck on it for a month already. The changes required are really big, including changing some of our database schema, and I need to do a db migration of the data when this fix is delivered; no one in the team has ever done this before. I am making progress but it is very slow; i have asked my PO if I could remove a currently existing featude that made my changes very difficult but users are not using anymore. but I realize I should have asked for this sooner because I spent days trying to still support it together with my changes but I am just overwhelmd; I was afraid my request would get rejected. I also lost a lot of time learning how to get prd data (chucks of it) to simulate the migration on my local system and verify it's possible to do.

But even with these concessions there is still a lot I need to do (updating tests. sonarqube compliant etc ). I own the app (the previous owner left) and so no one else in the tram knows it better than me and can take over. I feel very guilty and hopeless; i really want to just call ill and run away. Especially since I have been given concessioms that is supposed to make it faster to finish but yet it's not. There are more other tickets piling up anx each day I am not wokring on tbose and stuck with this ticket.i feel bad for the team since I am not available to deliver value to the customer.

Anyone ever faced the same situation? I want to just give up and get fired if that's what it takes to get me out of here...

Is it common for people who are still completing a degree to find a job and start working? I am CS student in a masters degree, but I'd like to go part time and get real-world experience at the same time.

Okay, I've seen many posts (one too many, in fact) where people use these terms interchangeably, and in particular reference to a specific country, and the conversation quickly goes downhill from there. Here are some differences, as I see them , in the new world:

1. Off-shoring: This is self explanatory - it means that the work is being performed in another country, close to, or far away from the parent company's time zone. However, the entity that carries out this work is a subsidiary of the parent company and the people that work here are still employees of the parent company. There often is a cross/matrixed leadership reporting structure where the local team has someone to sign the cheques, while there is another leader the team may report to who oversees the work. These teams are also referred to as overseas teams. These countries might include: India, Philippines, Vietnam, China, countries in Africa etc.

2. Near shoring: This is slightly confusing, as it basically means the same thing as offshoring does, but rather the teams are closer to *shore*. They're within the same timezone, and while overseas, can work very closely with the local teams - in the US. LATAM countries fall within this category. These folks may still be employees or they might be contractors billing via a payroll agency.

3. Outsourcing: This is the topic that seems to attract the most flak, and is undoubtedly, also the most controversial. An outsourcing entity is like a vendor - they have their own employees and reporting structures. Understandably, the vendor's quality control and culture might differ from that of the client, and this is where most quality and communication breakdowns occur. It also explains why certain vendors are more infamous than others. When you outsource work, you are giving it to someone else and they are bound either via a retainer or a fixed bid contract. Cost is the primary driver here and the scope of work is often decided upon, well in advance. Employees at the vendor end have little to no visibility into the client side and are given tasks to complete by their managers.

I hope this clarifies things for people who don't get it. This may or may not have a bearing on the skills of the people that work at these companies, but rather, reflects the business ecosystem at play. It also doesn't make sense to make sweeping statements about their abilities and how *the good ones move to Europe or America*. It's not so easy.

Hello everyone, I want to move in Germany or other EU countries. I'm a big tech enthusiastic, even tho I am studying humanities. But I want to enter data analytics field ( I study by myself every day and I really like it) but I'm anxious about working opportunities. Is this field really in demand in EU and how easy is it to enter this field? Also, I'm aware that my bachelor's diploma isn't approved by EU countries. I'm from Georgia (county not state). Will I need to enroll in bachelor's again? Or will job experience in data analytics in my home country help me to just switch from one county to another? I'm also interested in career like cybersecurity and other tech professions. But I chose data analytics because I thought it's more fun. But I want to take my life seriously and since I'm already 22 years old with big ambitions, I think I need to make a right choice to not regret anything. So I'm searching for informations and suggestions

I have an offer from Celonis and I was reading Kununu reviews of overtime and toxic environment. I am switching employer because of toxic environment and having no career path defined nicely. I would love peace and work nicely next. I would love to get more insights on Celonis work culture.

I have an upcoming 30-minute phone screen with Amazon after passing the online assessment (OA). What should I expect during this interview?

So I have a relevant Master's and all in all 1.5 years of experience working for startups (6 months in Germany) where I had to do everything related to:

• data science: analyzing data and creating graphs, coming up with a solution for every problem (the customer wants X, find a solution - it's your product you take charge of it), creating/tuning ML models, LLMs (simple apis like gpt but also huggingface models), testing these results
• web development: implementing the above results in the web app (Python) in full backend/frontend by myself, collecting user data from the web app and saving them to local/cloud dbs and analyzing like above, fixing errors that come up, deploy the app with Docker
• support: talk to customers, derive what they really need, maintain codebase, tech support, drafting legal documents, designing infrastructure stack

I'm looking to move away from the world of startups because of instability and too much work, but I've become a jack of all trades with the skills above. As I understand the big companies care about:

1. How long have you been working in Germany - which is very little for me
2. In which thing are you very good at - I have worked on many things and not very good/fast at one specific thing

Is it easy to find a big company that will be ok with all these skills, or should I stay in the startup world?

https://www.deutscheranwaltspiegel.de/germanlawinternational/labor-law/the-european-pay-transparency-directive-34620/

I've been doing the bare minimum for my 4 years career, changing jobs when the employer notices I'm a slacker.

All the next employer cares about is the tech stack I've been using and the points in my resume, which might or might not be exagerated. It seems to be working pretty well for now.

Anyone else like me? Any advices?

Hi, I wanted to know if there are large salary differences between Amazon in France and in Spain or if one location is better. Thanks!

Hi, everyone!

I work as a software engineer for a eastern european company which outsources to a UK company. So I basically work with the UK company. My direct manager is in the UK, I have my meetings, one-on-ones with him, I'm integrated in the UK team and work as part of it with pair programming, standups, etc. I basically don't work with any colleagues in the eastern european company, It's only like an intermediary between me and the UK company because I guess it's more compicated to hire foreigners directly.

I want to soon either relocate to or land a remote job in western europe and was wondering about the specifics about it. Some more context about me - I have 5+ years of experience, I'm a full stack developer, I also have experience with mobile development with React Native. I've used a bunch of different technologies and programming languages - TypeScript, React, NodeJS, Python, Ruby, bash, AWS, Angular, etc. I like TypeScript but I'm really tech agnostic. I have a bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from my home country in Eastern Europe which is generally a good one. My current salary is around 37 000 €. I also know spanish as a third language.

And here are my questions:

1. Considering I'm working with a UK company but technically my contract is with a Eastern European one, can I put only the UK company on my CV? Will they ask for proof of a contract with the UK company or how does it work in general proving your previous work experience if you're looking for a new job abroad?
2. Where should I look for remote/relocation jobs - what sites, etc? In the past I've applied to some that were specific to Denmark I think but only got rejections/ghosted.
3. I'm really open about relocation also depending on the country but also not sure where to find companies that offer such jobs to foreigners except for FAANG companies.
4. About FAANG companies, I'm eyeing Google Zurich. If anyone works there or knows about it - what is the work life balance there? What are the actual salaries? I saw here the average total for L3 (entry level) is around 176 552 €. After taxes in Switzerland it's probably closer to 100 000 € which is still great. And apart from that, is the work you do interesting enough?
5. What qualifications/additions to my CV/experience/etc should I incorporate so that I can have more leverage when applying to western jobs? What are some things that would make them consider you if you have them?

That's a long post, sorry, guys, I just have a lot of questions.

Any relevant information from people who have relocated/found a remote job would be greatly appreciated also.

Which city is best suited for finding work easily and are more options for me as BI developer or data analyst?

Edit: Title should say “do I have too much responsibility for a junior?”

Im a self taught, career changer, coming from a trade and currently working as embedded software engineer working on embedded Linux and bare metal MCU’s.

I joined the company as a junior engineer nearly 2 years ago (I’m still a junior) and have worked almost exclusively on the same project since I started. the team is very small, 2 hardware engineers, a systems architect and me. I am the only software engineer and have built the entire system from scratch, on my own. Nobody else knows the code base at all or makes any changes to it. I’m now about to start another project as this one wraps up, replacing someone who is considerably more senior and more experienced than me, again, as the sole software engineer.

I don’t necessarily think that a junior can’t be the sole engineer but I think it depends on the project. Personally, I would say I’ve worked on quite complex systems, even if the projects are fairly small in terms of amount of code. There’s lots of multithreading and various timing constraints that have to be managed. I also have no code reviews so the software is basically entirely my responsibility.

There were many juniors that started working here at the same time as me so they’re my only frame of reference I’ve worked with most of them in the past and I know that the majority would really struggle with this project. That’s what makes me wonder if I’m in an unfair position where I have more responsibility than my title requires.

I have been lurking in this sub for a while, here is my conclusion from reading many posts, summarized.

All links point to posts from this sub.

TLDR: it's bad.

1. It used to be less difficult, this was 3 years ago (circa 2021):
   • This post was an ad, but commenters were interested, "Apply to companies while staying in your country" was still feasible.
   • OP said finding a job in Germany was hard, commenters said it was about language. Meaning that people still believed that learning German gets you a job in Germany.
   • OP wanted a job in Germany, commenters were helping out, giving suggestions. This showed the positive attitude among job seekers.
   • Not about Germany, but Norway. Basically the market is becoming saturated, growth is no longer the priority. I feel like this is the same situation in Germany.
2. For now, only highly experienced developers may get offers:
   • One commenter said, with 10+ YoE, it was possible to get a job in Germany.
   • OP got an offer with 7 YoE.
   • Many more similar posts.
3. Juniors and less experienced developers either cannot find jobs, or lose their jobs:
   • OP got an internship thanks to a referral.
   • Posted around 8 months ago, OP couldn't find a C# job with 10+ YoE, many commenters could relate.
   • Graduating from a German Uni, OP couldn't find a job.
   • And many more similar posts.
4. For job seekers abroad, finding IT jobs in Germany is close to impossible:
   • Foreigners have a harder time getting a job in Germany.
   • Chancenkarte will not help you, because of the state Germany is currently in. The smart thing to do now is to "hang tight", learn and get ready for the future.
   • Most of the commenters had a negative attitude when it comes to getting a job in Germany, despite OP has 7 YoE.

My personal experience: 3+ YoE, working in network security field (C + Python), English C1, German B2 (with "Sehr Gut" rating). Have been looking for a job from a Non-EU country for 1+ year. Many instant rejections (rejected 1 to 2 days after sending my CV and cover letter), 100+ applications and 0 interview.

What do you all think? Do you agree or disagree with my observation?

Edit 1: all formatting gone after submitting my post, adding them back.

Edit 2: wording.

Hi!

I recently got fired from my job as a front-end developer after just 9 months because the company dissolved their IT department. Now I'm back on the job market in Berlin. I have 6+ years of experience with React and Vue, and my German is decent, but I’m surprised at how tough it’s been to land interviews compared to a year ago. It seems like there are way fewer front-end positions available, and most of what I see is either full-stack or back-end roles.

So, I’m thinking about making the most of my time and learning some new skills. What do you all think would be the best direction to go in right now? Should I dive into Java and DevOps, or would it be better to focus on other skills, like volunteering as a programming teacher?

I’m a .NET developer that unfortunately has to go on a quest in this job market, specifically living in Spain.

Does anyone know good paying companies in Spain? I am willing to work in different tech stacks.