[scarface_74]

I mentored an intern when I was at AWS and worked with a few other new grads and continued to mentor the returning intern after they graduated.

After three or four years in the industry, if they suck up everything they can and take advantage of every opportunity, they will be set.

The same is true to a much lesser extent on the enterprise dev. I tell people on that side just not to be a “ticket taker” and volunteer to have larger more impactful products - “don’t be the bullet. Be the gun”

[greenie_beans]

i've been mentored by dudes in their 50s who think they are providing a good to the world by mentoring young people (aka dad energy), then later received real mentorship from folks my age and a decade older than me. most likely they took what you said with a grain of salt and realized that you are out of touch.

[scarface_74]

It’s “dad energy” that you are doing. I’m telling people to “grind leetcode and work for a FAANG” (tm r/cscareerquestions) and to learn how to pass system design and behavioral interviews and pointing them to resources.

Whose advice is going to lead to better outcomes? Doing drop shipping from Ali baba and selling sweet potatoes on line or mine?

While I haven’t had to pass a coding interview at BigTech, I have had to pass system design and behavioral interviews at one and I have conducted a couple at BigTech.

I’m telling them to work to demonstrate skills with working at increasing “scope”, “impact” and “dealing with ambiguity”.

https://www.levels.fyi/blog/swe-level-framework.html

I know first hand the leveling guidelines at one of the BigTech companies and 2nd hand about another. From working at one less than 2 years ago.

My latest project I’m leading is a Kubernetes + Generative AI project.

Do you really think I’m someone who doesn’t have a pulse on the modern tech landscape?

[greenie_beans]

i wasn't suggesting that you were out of touch with technology, i was talking about career/life strategies. i believe that what worked for your generation isn't as sure a thing for my generation, and building various small revenue streams is a better approach. this is how i see it from my point of view as a younger person observing the world around me and where i fit in. a lot of people tell me that your way is right for me, but i disagree. a corporate 9-5 makes me want to kms, not exaggerating. i think we have fundamentally different worldviews and that's ok.

> My latest project I’m leading is a Kubernetes + Generative AI project.

we are no different. i'm leading a project to deploy an etl pipeline on azure kubernetes right now.

[scarface_74]

> was talking about career/life strategies. i believe that what worked for your generation isn't as sure a thing for my generation

My generation for the most part never will work for a FAANG or get equivalent compensation because we aren’t going to grind leetcode and do what it takes.

I would never have gotten into one if it weren’t for the very thin needle I threaded and I definitely wasn’t going to sell my big house in the burbs to move to Seattle to be an SDE (what the recruiter originally suggested).

There are plenty of people who post here who are under 30 and will make more than I will ever make. I’m not bitter. Like I said at 50, I can afford to purposefully prioritize lifestyle over chasing money and eschew opportunities to make more.

My Generation didn’t have the chance of graduating from college and getting a job making an (inflation adjusted) almost quarter million working for BigTech or the equivalent company back then. Many in my generation came in during the dot com boom and it took years for us to recover and some never did (I didn’t suffer any ill effects from the crash).

From looking at LinkedIn, none of them are or have ever worked for a company paying as much as my former coworkers at BigTech are making 3-4 years out of college.

The generation graduating post 2010-2012 has way more opportunities to make a lot of money.

[greenie_beans]

gen x in tech are some of the wealthiest people in the world. y'all are the new kings.

i graduated high school during the great financial crisis. i remember being near done with college at the university of mississippi when i visited birmingham, alabama and walked through the occupy encampments. i didn't make enough money to contribute to retirement savings til 2019 when i was in my late 20s. your generation has experienced unprecedented stock market gains over your peak earning years. i'm not hopeful that these gains will continue through my peak earning years therefore i prioritize finding creative ways to generate income before it's too late after being complacent with my fat ass tech paycheck sitting at my standup desk and drinking my kombucha with the wool over my eyes while the ai writes my code.

[scarface_74]

And you were on the opposite side of the bimodal distribution of comp within the industry from 2012-2019.

The top end of enterprise dev salaries for seniors is around that of entry level salaries at BigTech and adjacent companies.

That’s not meant to be an insult. I was on that side until I was 46 and now at 50 I’m back on the very top end of enterprise dev. But it’s still somewhere between entry level and mid level at BigTech and closer to entry level.

The advice I’m giving is to stop wasting time on a side hustle and do whatever it takes to get on the BigTech side of compensation if you want to maximize your income.

If you graduated in 2008, yes it was a shit show. But that means by 2012, BigTech comp and enterprise dev comp started really diverging. The stock market has been gangbusters since 2012. But it stagnated most of the 200x’s.

If you had jumped on the BigTech wave in 2012 you would have been set.

By that time, relocating wasn’t an option for me because I was 38, just gotten married and had two (step)kids.

[bdangubic]

i believe that what worked for your generation isn't as sure a thing for my generation, and building various small revenue streams is a better approach.

100% this.

this is how i see it from my point of view as a younger person observing the world around me and where i fit in

GODSPEED mate - you are on the right track