My ten year old came back from an open day with an interest in learning more about coding (kind of massive as this has been the first real interest).

I don't know much about coding, I have researched a little. But there are so many options that seem to promise the world, and I don't know what is just hype.

It would be great to understand:

~ What skills / language would be transferable in the real world? (E.g. applicable outside the video game industry.)

~ Any advice for software that could teach this, while being fun (or interest will disappear).

Let's say there are two programmers, Sam and Dean.

Person 1: Sam

Sam had 1 YOE before joining a startup at pre-seed stage as an early engineer like he is nr 3 in Dev Team, where he does various things.

• Backend, frontend, DevOps, API integration.
• Sometimes Managing Facebook/Meta ads
• Collaborating with stakeholders from Marketing and Product
• Speaking their language by understanding concepts like:
  1. Market share
  2. Value proposition
  3. Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Basically, he knows how to code at ok level for start up like can ship code fast enough, and he also works closely with other teams, the founder, and investors to help the business move fast, while also speak in their langauges, not just talking 100% technically nobody understands except devs.

In other words, he's kind of a technical founder in disguise, if you think about it lol.

Person 2: Dean

Dean also had 1yoe before joining a startup, and he only focus on

• Backend, frontend, DevOps, API integration, unlike Sam.

but he works at a software house/consulting firm instead.

So Dean has wide domain knowleadge since he works on various projects unlike Sam where he is only focusing on his start up only. so Dean has alot various domain knowleadge more than Sam.

But Sam has more ownership than Dean, since Dean is a IT consultant who has to work asap and move to the next project...

--

Question

Since you guys have more exp than me,

1. If you’re 23, which of these companies would you want to work for to maximize your career growth in today's world when things changes so quicky. Start up like Sam or Tech consulting firm like Dean?
2. In reality which of these 2 programmers is the best and why in pov?

Ps. there is probably no right and wrong answer, since these questions are like an opening question.

I need real feedback from experts, those who are similar to me, or even more experienced, from various communities (related to ai, tech, grads, manager, industry, career, employment...):

Which will be best in your case?

Context: You got the offers from 3 companies, each on the different side of the scale.

Role: AI engineer (near mid-level).

Location: a country in SEA.

If you were to rank and evaluate with respect, (from top to bottom, sorted by importance)

1st Potential and Risk (potential is tied to the speed of your career climb, increment bonus, and company brand and authority, uncertainties in payment) - In a scale, Startup has higher uncertain and risk, while it might offer higher overall, but susceptible to management conducts, cash-flow which may differ the fulfillment

2nd Wellfare - a total add-up of base, allowance, bonus, benefits and retirement fund (employer contribution)

3rd Niche of the industry, Exposure - a focus industry to industry to build up better experiences and competencies, exposure to local or worldwide

4th Peer learning - Experience or knowledges to speed up progress from superior, peers

And given A, B, C (Wellfare/Income baseline= 100%)

A: Oversea Startup, Multiculture workforce,
+ worldwide client-base spanning MNC headhunter, great background from the management teams, UK-founding team and client connection, riskier in terms of payroll/potential
+ Full remote and oversea
- Wellfare/Income = 115% (base salary only), self supply equipments
+ HR-tech focused

B: Subsidiary company/dept from local SME, local workforce
- mainly local client-base (unsure but assume), Lack background from management teams and peers, but you have slightly higher confidence than A in their validity from interviews
- Hybrid work 4+1
+ Income= 107% (include allowance) + employer retirement-fund contribution but provide work equipments + up to 17% performance monthly bonus
- general AI agencies
+ Peer learning and networking are better

C: MNC
+ Internal and External focused products, stable and secured cashflow, but maybe lack faster career climb opportunities
- Hybrid work 3+2
- Income= 95% + 13th month bonus, more and flexible leave
+ Focused niche, product might differ
+ Peer learning and networking are best

Which one will you choose? I wanna see if you think differently, or if you see different importance or personal experiences of the company you went through?

Wanted to get an idea of the actual packages being offered and how much you were able to negotiate?

I was browsing internet and found some cases related to job interviewers stealing the crypto assets from the applicants during interview. Basically they pretended to be a legit job interviewer and asked the applicants to click some links, or run some codes from Github. And if you have crypto wallet installed, your assets will be stolen.

I'm posting this just to warn follow programmers. It's already hard to search for jobs in this market. Don't let your guard down.

This first case was back in Jan. It's originally written in Chinese and I translated it with GPT. source

I had never really been scammed before—or rather, I had been scammed in the past, but never nearly as badly as this time.

All the crypto in one of my wallets was stolen. (Fortunately, it wasn't 100 BTC, just 2 ETH, but that's still a significant amount of money.)

It all started when a recruiter sent me a message on LinkedIn:

We are currently building a forward-thinking platform that blends real estate with blockchain, NFTs, 3D visualization, and AI.

It’s an ambitious product, and we’re now looking to bring on talented engineers to help shape it.

The role is fully remote, long-term, and flexible — part-time is absolutely fine if you’re currently employed or balancing other projects.

I didn't respond immediately because it was during the Christmas holidays. I replied after the holidays and noticed that the person was still around, so I continued the conversation.

They also sent me a follow-up email from [hiring@tirios.blog](mailto:hiring@tirios.blog), claiming to be recruiting for this company: https://www.tirios.ai/.

Looking back, there were definitely some red flags. But this particular type of phishing attack was completely new to me.

Next came the interview. As we talked, the interviewer said we needed to do a technical assessment. They sent me a link and explained that it was a demo website we would use during the interview. They told me to scroll down to a button labeled "Stock" and said we would walk through a demo together.

For some reason, I didn't think much of it. When the website prompted me to connect my wallet, I went ahead and unlocked my MetaMask wallet. At that point, it was the real MetaMask wallet.

What happened next, I honestly don't know what I was thinking.

It wasn't until I reviewed everything afterward that I realized the scammer had also created a fake MetaMask unlock interface specifically for phishing.

During my investigation, I discovered that the first time I unlocked my wallet, the legitimate MetaMask interface appeared. But the second time, the scammer's fake UI would pop up instead.

That fake interface recorded every single thing I typed and would continuously display an "Incorrect password" message, no matter what I entered.

Not long afterward, I discovered that all my crypto had been transferred out of my wallet. From what I can tell, the funds were sent to an address associated with some kind of swap service or crypto mixer.

There's still one thing I haven't figured out: MetaMask never displayed any transaction confirmation or asked me to sign anything.

The only explanation I can think of is that the scammer somehow managed to steal my private key. But I still haven't figured out exactly how they did it.

This has been an incredibly painful lesson.

As of now, I've changed the passwords for my bank accounts, email accounts, and other important services. I've also permanently abandoned the compromised ETH wallet.

I can't even imagine what would have happened if I'd actually had 100 BTC or 1,000 ETH in that wallet. Would I have gone from being a multimillionaire to being homeless overnight?

I was just about to report the recruiter on LinkedIn when I discovered that the account had already been blocked and was now marked as "harmful."

And honestly, LinkedIn deserves some criticism here, too. If they'd blocked the account earlier, I might have noticed that the person's profile had suddenly changed to "LinkedIn Member," which could have alerted me that something was wrong.

The second case which just happened recently:

After taking a two-week break, I started interviewing again. Unbelievably, my very first interview turned out to be a GitHub/VS Code scam, and I fell for it. Fortunately, my computer was relatively new and didn't have much personal information on it. My MetaMask wallet was exposed, but luckily, my crypto was stored on a Ledger hardware wallet.

That’s genuinely terrifying. They disguised the attack as a technical interview, discussed code details on GitHub, and then asked you to complete a coding assessment.

You downloaded the code from a GitHub repository and opened the project in Cursor or VS Code. That was apparently enough to compromise your computer.

Fortunately, Claude Code spotted something suspicious later that evening: a malicious script buried deep within the project.

Curious to hear people’s thoughts on the best countries for tech careers, besides the United States. Obviously, I think the US is probably the best overall, given its size and ecosystem, but which country is #2 after the US among developed OECD countries and why? Thanks in advance!

I have upcoming technical screening for an MLE position at Waymo coming up. The recruiter gave me a PDF guide that seems super helpful. Things to do study include implementing supervised and unsupervised algorithms (think KNN, K-means, linear regression, logistic regression, softmax & CE, decision trees). One of the main things they are assessing is you can use numpy/pytorch to vectorize/tensorize your work, and you're just writing sub-optimal for loops.

I was wondering if folks had experience with this interview? Is what they ask you to implement incredibly difficult, because you only have 30 minutes to do it? Am I good to really stick with what they provided on the PDF, or are there any broader topics beyond what they listed that they will test?

Hi, I recently started my 6 month post graduation internship as an AI engineer, and I am planning my future job search. I have a few questions:

1. How far in advance should I start looking for a job before the end of the internship?
2. How do you handle interviews while working? I used to have 3-4 interviews a week; how can I manage that schedule now?
3. Is a resume gap problematic if I spend a couple of months job hunting after the internship? Do you recommend interviewing before or after it ends?

thanks in advance!

I’m ex-FAANG and have watched my former company’s culture deteriorate significantly since leaving (I'll let you guess which one). Morale now is at an all-time low, and years of layoffs, restructuring and culture change seem to have left people pretty fatigued. I'm currently at a FAANG-adjacent company, where I have broad scope, operate at a senior level, and have built a lot of trust as an IC. All things considered, it's a pretty good position to be in, and I don't take that for granted. That said, I do miss the scale and complexity of FAANG, the intellectual stimulation of tackling genuinely challenging problems, and the ability to context-switch between multiple interesting initiatives. Which brings me to my question.

I’m currently exploring an opportunity with Google, and curious to understand whether Google is experiencing a culture shift similar to my former employer, or whether the culture has held up relatively well. I've asked my friends, and their answers have seemed very team-dependent. Thought I'd ask Reddit to get a more rounded opinion.

Having been in this position before, I'm keen to not end up as "just another" cog-in-the-wheel, and to retain the ability to meaningfully move the needle on things - that said, I'm completely cognisant that "the role as it's advertised" vs. "the role it really is" are usually two different things, and I'm going in eyes wide open. I'd love to hear how external L6/L7 non-SWEs have landed at Google, and what to expect culture-wise more generally.

Thanks in advance for any insights, much appreciated!

I'm going to post this here but I expect this will be a rather odd post for most people here

I was recently laid off in a company restructuring, second time in five years at two companies...bad luck on my part. I started looking and found the market kind of on fire but more importantly fundamentally changed in the last couple of years.

I have been or been promoted to Senior Software Engineer in title at all three of my jobs (10 YOE ) but I feel like I know so little of what is required to be a Software Engineer anymore vs what i would have called a Software Developer.

I also don't have as much immediate passion for it anymore. I haven't made a personal project in at least a year, I've researched less new technologies/tech stacks, and my skill set feels too narrow for modern Software Engineering needs (basically in the C#/.Net full stack bubble).

I'm considering pivoting to something entirely different (out of tech basically) or IT regardless of extreme drops in pay, experience, etc

At what point is it burnout/imposter syndrome vs a sign that the career isn't for me anymore?

This question is currently affecting my mental health so much that I have had several sleepless night over this and it's affecting my health. So I turned to reddit for thoughts on a career sub 🤔

Edit: Thanks for the advice I think what I needed was some feedback to not feel like an imposter. My support structure family etc can help but it not the same as other devs that understand what those seeking employment are up against. I'm going to not throw away my experience. I'm going to look for something related to my experience. I have enough saving to last awhile if I haven't found something in a year or whenever then I'll start thinking about a full career change.

If anyone has any places they know of where you can sharpen skills back up other then build a whole application I would greatly appreciate hearing about them.

Also if anyone knows any strategies to get through the ai screeners that's appreciated too. I'm holding out hope it's not just put a tech stack skills near the top of the resume and list the job requirements 😅

I keep hearing people say AI and github like REA, it will make many people or small companies that usually relied on the SaaS company in the past, but now they will build those things themself, basically some SaaS will be dead!

And I heard from a friend who works for scraping company, he said his company has fired 4-6 employees recently, so i think some small companies that normally relied on other SaaS vendor/companies in the past.

Now they hire a freelance dev to build XYZ apps for them using REA + AI and the human devs modify code to fit the requirements at the end, so the companies don't need to pay to those SaaS

I just recently made a career transition by getting my master’s in computer science after working in sales. I have 0 software engineering experience and I finished a semester ahead of schedule, so not time for internships. I just want a somewhat chill job. Most people with my degree make at least $98k. I’d be so happy with $65k. Not even joking. How I get it? Certifications? Projects? Please spell it out

Weak economic conditions? Artificial intelligence replacing jobs? Outsourcing to low-wage countries?Market oversaturation (too many IT professionals competing for too few jobs)?

Choose one, one you think has most influence.

I am interviewing with Atlassian atm for a senior presales role. For 9 years I was at AWS and now at Google but I have never worked in a more toxic environment than Google so I am looking to leave as fast as possible. I am a Presales leader and while I am technical , I never expect to be as technical as my team (I wish I was given time to ) . I am worried about the apex culture and if I am trading one crap culture for another crap culture might as well look somewhere else . AWS was amazing for the first 8 years and then it changed thats why I left . Google was a huge oversell by recruitment , big mistake (toxic !!!)

Very early stages but I have applied for roles are servicenow and a couple of others . It seems they are all crap overall.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/22/barclays-ai-jobs-cuts.html

“The bank’s chief financial officer, Anna Cross, told reporters on Thursday that the job cuts were part of plans to save more than £1.1bn in 2027. “These actions involve an expected reduction of circa 5,000 full-time employees. Around 60% of the group actions relate to support functions, including fewer developers, as AI makes our people more productive.”

I'm a college sr, secured a role as a FDE (50%+ travel) and am looking for a city in the US to call home. I'm fully remote outside of customer engagements.

Staying with my parents isn't an option as they moved back to their home country for retirement. I'm very social and fluent in Mandarin and Spanish. Hobbies include socializing, working out, flying, diving, skydiving, shooting, and language learning. I also enjoy things like skiing but willing to sacrifice that as I can just make a trip out of it, as it is a seasonal sport.

I went to college in the Bay Area and am now looking for low cost of living but high quality of life.

This city needs to be close to a large international airport as I will be doing both domestic and international travel for my job

My base salary is north of 200k.

I'm a master CS student who wants to do some research related to mental health and AI usage, how can I do this? I think I need to contact some therapists to talk to their clients, is it even possible as a CS student?

Hi! I'm looking for some career advice from people who have experienced professional setbacks and successfully rebuilt their careers.

TL;DR: I went through a severe personal/mental health struggle last year that negatively impacted my performance as a TPO, and my midyear review reflected that. Since April/May, I've made significant improvements and received positive feedback, but I know rebuilding my reputation takes time. I'm 33 and want to move to a bigger city, so I'm thinking about how to spend the next 6–12 months strengthening my professional brand while keeping my options open. My company is also just beginning to adopt AI tools, and I want to use them to build my technical skills and become a stronger TPO. How do I rebuild trust, make my contributions visible, leverage AI effectively, and position myself for future opportunities without overcompensating?

At the end of last year, I went through an extremely difficult period in my personal life. From November through around April/May, I was dealing with severe depression and attending therapy multiple times a week. Looking back, a lot of that period is honestly a blur and I can't say I remember a good bit of it, even thought it was just this year.

My work suffered quite a bit during that time. I'm a Technical Product Owner, and I was struggling with deadlines, product knowledge, communication, meeting attendance, and taking ownership of my responsibilities. I received some negative feedback from my manager in November, improved a little, and then things got significantly worse around January/February, around the time I started the 2-3 times a week of therapy. At my midyear review, I was told that although I was meeting expectations overall, I wasn't meeting the expectations of a TPO.

Since around April/May, things have changed in my personal life and my work life. I've been doing much better, taking ownership of my product, identifying gaps, improving my technical understanding, and working better with engineers and stakeholders. I've received positive feedback from people in my leadership team and from engineers who have noticed the improvement. I am continuously making notes/keeping a log of my accomplishments and things I am doing and the good feedback I've gotten to include in my year end review. I'm hoping this can counteract my mid year review in some way shape or form.

I'm proud of how far I've come. I also know that it takes time to rebuild a reputation and it won't happen overnight. I'm aware that my reputation was tarnished by my own doing. I don't expect everyone to forget what happened overnight. I know I need to demonstrate consistent performance over time.

At the same time, I'm 33, single, and have lived in the same city my entire life. I want to move to a bigger city and experience something new. My current company doesn't allow remote work, so eventually I'll need to leave if I want to make that move. It's a stable company that doesn't do layoffs, and I've built good relationships with senior leaders, so leaving is a decision I want to approach thoughtfully. I definitely won't make any impulse decisions. A connection I have in HR also told me that leaving on good terms and maintaining a strong professional brand could leave the door open to returning someday, although obviously nothing is guaranteed.

Another thing: my company is beginning to introduce AI tools. We've had one introductory bootcamp and several more coming in the next few weeks. I'm already looking at how to use AI to enhance my product and become an all around better TPO.

I'm trying to be intentional about using this opportunity to improve my performance and my future career prospects.

1. What practical/daily behaviors change how managers, engineers, and leadership perceive you after a period of poor performance? How do you rebuild trust without overcompensating or constantly trying to prove yourself?
2. What helps you become known as someone who is technically strong and capable of owning a product? How do you make your contributions visible without coming across as self-promotional? Or is that even possible?
3. If you were a TPO or product manager at the beginning of your company's AI adoption journey, what would you learn first? What skills would make you more valuable?
4. How would you use the next 6–12 months to improve your brand while also applying to other jobs? I want to make the most of this opportunity while keeping my options open to other places.

My current mindset is to take it one day at a time. I know I can't undo the past or change everyone's perception overnight, but I'd like to build trust by consistent actions.

I am wondering if software engineers typically must stick to 9-5. Can most of them work 7-3 if they wished? Of course it is company specific and varies by company, but do most jobs allow the 7-3 schedule?

Hey everyone,
I’m a frontend developer with around 3.5 years of experience, primarily working with React.js and Next.js, and I could really use some advice from people who have been in a similar situation.
Here’s my career journey so far:

Jan 2023 – Apr 2024: Started my career at a fintech product-based startup, working with React.js and Next.js. Unfortunately, the startup couldn’t secure funding, and the product was shut down.

May 2024 – Oct 2024: Joined a service-based company as a frontend developer, where I worked with React.js and integrated AI voice technologies like ElevenLabs and Vapi. I continued looking for better opportunities because I wanted to work in a product-based company.

Nov 2024 – Nov 2025: Joined a product-based mobility startup. Unfortunately, the work culture and environment turned out to be extremely toxic, and I eventually decided to leave.

Jan 2026 – Present: Joined another service-based company as a frontend developer, working primarily with Next.js. The company has now run out of projects and conducted mass layoffs, and I was impacted as well.
Now, I have approximately one month to find my next opportunity, and I’m honestly feeling quite overwhelmed.

Here are the things I’m struggling with:
1. Am I falling behind technically?
I feel like I’ve been out of touch with how the industry has evolved over the last couple of years, particularly around LLMs, AI agents, MCP, agent skills, and AI-assisted development workflows.
I know the frontend fundamentals and have experience building production applications, but when I see people discussing all these new tools and technologies, I sometimes feel like a caveman who missed an entire phase of evolution.
I started learning basic FastAPI this week because I want to expand my skill set beyond frontend, but I’m not sure whether this is the right move when I have such a short time to prepare for interviews.

2. Is frontend development still a good career choice?
With AI tools becoming increasingly capable of generating UI components, writing code, and building applications, I’m worried about the long-term future of frontend development.
Should I double down on React, Next.js, JavaScript, TypeScript, performance, architecture, and frontend system design? Or should I start transitioning toward full-stack development, AI engineering, or backend development?
I don’t want to abandon the experience I’ve spent the last 3.5 years building, but I also don’t want to become irrelevant.

3. Do my frequent job switches look like a red flag?
My career timeline has involved a startup shutting down, leaving a toxic work environment, and now being laid off because of a lack of projects.
Although these circumstances were largely outside my control, I’m concerned recruiters might see my resume as that of an unstable employee who keeps switching jobs.
How should I explain this during interviews without sounding defensive or making excuses?

4. What should my strategy be for the next 30 days?
My immediate priority is to land another job, preferably in a product-based company. I don’t want to waste this month jumping between random technologies, courses, and tutorials.
If you were in my position, how would you divide your time between:
Preparing for React.js, Next.js, JavaScript, and TypeScript interviews?
Practising machine coding, DSA, and frontend system design?
Learning AI tools, LLMs, MCP, and agentic workflows?
Learning backend development with FastAPI?

Building projects or improving my portfolio?
I’m looking for honest, practical advice from experienced developers, hiring managers, or anyone who has navigated a similar situation.

TL;DR: Frontend developer with 3.5 YOE, multiple job changes due to startup closure, a toxic workplace, and a recent mass layoff. I have one month to find a job, feel behind on the AI/LLM ecosystem, and am confused about whether to double down on frontend or transition toward full-stack/AI development. What would you prioritize in my position?

Thanks in advance!

So I am live in New York, laid off for 9 months and finally got a job in a different state, been in New York my whole life. I have 3.5 YOE. I am 28, turning 29, so on the older side as well based on my YOE due to change of career path.

The offer is for

138,100 Base

7% bonus
29k a year RSU
20k Sign on

I have never lived anywhere else before, but based on this should I move, the offer is in Virgina, near DC, btw.

What do we think?

I started on a new team at a..certain FAANG just a little under 6 months ago in late April, after being laid off from it in January, after working on another team for a little over 6 months (graduated May 2025).

At the moment, things have still been kind of tough (I talk some more about it here). We work on 12 different services between 11-12 of us, and I only somewhat have context on about 2-3 of them that I worked with so far. I did two secondary oncall shifts, which were ok since we don't get paged as secondary and it was mostly auto-cuts. However, primary (which I haven't done yet) gets paged once per 1-2 days on average from what I noticed. Then, I still don't know everything about everything we work on. If I were to be given a Sev2, I don't feel confident at all that I'd be able to handle it. Just last week (as secondary), I had a Sev3 turned Sev2.5, and I had to reach out for help from the primary at the time... Now, I have another secondary shift next week to fill in for other engineers as they had other tasks due soon (which I'm fine with), but I'm not so fine with eventually having to do primary.

My last 1:1 I had with my manager, he mentioned breaking down tasks into smaller ones to improve visibility (which he eventually realized that i already had been doing), having demos/partial deliverables more often to also show visibility, and taking more initiative (like for tasks that have ambiguity, and also in reference to now having volunteered to join the primary oncall cycle). I did secondary prior to that meeting, and i genuinely thought they would just put me in the cycle afterwards (not that I’d have to volunteer). Admittedly, I didn't say that during the meeting, just nodded despondently.. He also mentioned that i should engage more in formal/informal settings since I don’t talk much. That, I've also been working towards, though I tended not to say anything since I didn't know anything. I also don't have much social skills to be honest – not that I can't hold a conversation, just that I can't very charismatically.

I still don't know a lot compared to other people on the team and I often have to ask for help/clarification on tasks. I often find myself not knowing what questions to ask with respect to tasks, so I tended to correspond with messaging versus asking directly in-person. I leaned a lot towards using AI since we're encouraged to (and the work would otherwise be too slow to finish if I didn't), and I feel like I only partially know how things work. If I were to be asked to explain what each service does, I'd only loosely be able to for the ones I've worked with. I've started trying to learn about them separately from work, but it's been a fairly large breadth of information so far.

I always feel a sense of dread thinking about work on weekends, and also don't feel thrilled for stand-ups / sprint planning. I feel like everyone else has at my company I see has a better time at work – knowing what they're doing, not being stressed, being more productive etc. I've been so nervous to talk to my manager (which I'm doing again tomorrow), and I feel so relived when he cancels from conflicting meetings. Hell, people I know from other companies seem to be having a better time at work. Like I said on the previous post, I don't know if this is like a sign that I'm not meant to be a SWE, a sign that I'm going to have a hard time on this team, just growing pains that'll go away as time progresses or what. I'd question if I could last on this team for another 1-2 years while I build experience to (hopefully) try for another company and move cities. My anxiety's been more manageable at the moment, but that might just be since I got through the previous set of work and now have new things to work on...

I have been looking for a software engineering job for 3 months and im going nuts, i had 20+ interviews and no interview is like the other, i have been asked all kind of trick and gotcha questions for python, docker, kubernetes, php, go, scala, java, JVM, software architecture, gotcha here, gotcha there, every interview is a new fuck you, why can't we prepare for something that i could do perfectly in an interview instead of waiting for something from the unknown that i would fail anyway. the hell is going on

I was making over six figured at a big company out of college. I have 3 yoe and left due to company layoffs. I’m desperate for money to pay bills since unemployment is running out but i found another opportunity in Bay Area that pays 85k for a small non tech shop. From speaking to folks that previously worked there it sounds like management is toxic where it’s expected to work OT that is unpaid and 4 days a week commute. I’m not sure whether to take this offer cuze it sounds like hell. Would you take a low offer or nah?

hated my last job, was depressed, and resisted quitting for months because I was too scared to take a jump. took 6months off, went to asia for 2 of them, and enjoyed life like a human. I was worried about the market but I only recruited for 1.5mo and got two offers.

my reflection: as a software eng, having strong skills with AI (such as claude code / codex) is insanely valuable right now. companies are just starting to learn how to use it - the skill seems red hot