Really? I wouldn't have thunk that this place would have contract roles. Were they w2 or c2c or 1099? The last 2 are super hard to come by. Got any tips to share on where to find such roles?
There's a monthly "seeking freelancer" thread, or at least there used to be. I also always mention my comfort working contract with people even when I'm interviewing for full time roles, in case that's helpful for them. "Any way that gets the money from your bank account to mine".
Edit: Also, I do recommend the "startup match" system they run, I've been having good success with that this year, found my current role and a number of solid roles that were candidates for acceptance. Be forewarned, that there are many well-intentioned but unserious people on there, so you definitely have to do a ton of legwork. Don't judge a book by it's cover, some of the best roles were people who frankly seemed somewhat unhinged but ended up being really interesting and compelling.
The problem is that for senior+ interviews, you need to know things like cold starts, consistent hashing, dealing with different invalidations techniques for the cache, etc - the combinations seem infinite
There's a lot of stuff to know! Senior+ isn't called that because some rando can memorize a couple of things in 5 minutes and ace the interview. It takes years to learn tons everything and get an intuition for things, and even then there's a bunch you still won't know.
The systems design interview is in knowing enough of the building blocks and being smart enough to put them together, and being able to discuss why put them together that way. There's no right answer, using a relational database to ingest log messages from a service is an acceptable answer to the right question, but you have to be able to sit there and explain the tradeoffs being made and when you would and wouldn't want to do that.
As you've noted, studying the questions won't help unless you memorize enough of the questions and get lucky. So get to know enough of the building blocks well so you can come up with a combination of them that's reasonable. All systems have tradeoffs, what's the optimal, least-bad solution? What are the considerations you're optimizing for. The system you'd build for a FAANG isn't the same system you'd build for a VC-funded company, isn't the same one you'd build for a boot-strapped company.
Tough question to answer but if your network is solid - you can do stuff.
I was in a similar boat, and still am, frankly, but at this point I have decided that dealing with people is a big No-No for me, so I will stick to the IC track.
This way I will have to get good at coding and my skills but my head will also be free of bullshit. Ideally, I would have my own LLC and get work that way, but that also seems very difficult to do.
It seems that asking the questions that you're asking involves some kind of "spark" and brings to mind the saying "anything worth doing is hard" or something like that.
So I would say if you are confident that you want to do Engineering Management is just apply to jobs and tweak your resume in the best way possible, and explain how your previous roles aligned with engineering management.
And I mean really become a beast about this. Make your resume slide through to the Recruiters table with zero friction.
I would recommend looking for partners in your state, or somewhere you don't mind working. Get your resume ready, and figure out where you're at in terms of remote or onsite work. Reach out to org leads or recruiters and see if they have any matches for your skillset.
I am considering it because I'm not noticing a lot of benefit. Wellbutrin helped me with quitting weed and the withdrawals, and also my depression a bit, in allowing me to do things more.
Lexapro ... I'm not seeing any benefit at all.
ADHD meds just seem to make me super anxious.
I also struggle with irritability / short-fuse type problems which manifests itself in a lot of different ways.
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I'm seriously considering quitting all of them but also super afraid cause I don't know what I will experience.
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On the other hand the ADHD fucking destroys me because if I have some kind of task that I am uncomfortable doing or that gives me anxiety, it's the only thing I could focus on.
It was only when I started working out that I realized what it means to do something well. I became super fit and could do some ridiculous shit. But I never had that drive for Technology or Programming.
I would really like to Write but who the hell can maintain a family with a salary like that.
I had to try two antidepressants before one worked right, and it works amazingly. My anxiety is just gone. I went off it for a few years cause I was doing so well, and ending up having a breakdown, went back on it, all good again...
Do not go cold turkey from SSRIS (lexapro is one) The whiplash effect could kill you. Seriously. If you decide to quit tell your doctor and they will safely ween you.
