Поиск новой команды - Часть 2
(English translation is below)
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Привет! Продолжение моих карьерных мыслей 🤔

Начал я поиск команды, вариант со штатами пришлось отменить, из-за визовых проблем, которые описывал вот тут, так что сначала решил стать бритишем 💂

Процесс поиска я инициировал за 2 недели до хайринг фриза, так что в какой степени я очень удачлив. В дополнении к этому решил по-собеседоваться на стороне (об этом потом). Я списывался с несколькими менеджерами, но в итоге мне написал IC(7?) (senior staff, почти уверен) и предложил вакансию, которой пока не было на внутреннем портале. Я знал этого инженера, так как проходил буткамп в его предыдущей команде и когда то давно читал его книгу, но тогда решил уйти в другую команду. Мир тесен.

Мы побеседовали о проекте и мне сразу все понравилось, а такое бывает редко 😀. Был довольно большой и главное сложный скоуп работы, стек не самый приятный 💩, но работая в фанге и используя hack и vscode, запаха говна уже давно не чувствуешь. Intellij, я скучаю. Для меня была важна именно продуктовая часть и предполагаемый уровень задач.

Так получилось, что команде нужен TL (tech-lead), который взял бы на себя жирную часть проекта и тех-лидинг команды в 7 человек (4 прямых репортов, 3 XFN). Под этот скоуп искали изначально IC6 (staff eng), но найти не смогли, поэтому решили попробовать поставить туда IC5 (меня). Я должен признать, что несмотря на свои неплохие технические скилы, опыта в лидинга команд у меня мало, эта часть всегда отставала и я ее хотел развивать. Мне представилась отличная возможность.

Что повлияло на мое решение? 🤔

Мне дали интересный и сложный 0 - 1 скоуп в приоритетном направлении для компании, от которого будет зависеть успех проекта в целом:

1. Тех-лидинг команды
2. Прямая работа с IC7 и IC6
3. Очень сильные люди в команде. Есть автор технических книг. У кого-то был бизнес в прошлом. Кто-то просто очень крутой разраб.
4. Работая в больших компаниях, где уровни скрыты, всегда тяжело найти "role-model", на которую хотелось бы равняться. Но в этой команде есть стафы и даже старший стафф, я знаю кто они и вижу как они работают. Чем не role-model?
5. Diversified people. Люди со всех уголков. Будете смеяться, но мне очень нравится работать в таких командах.

Я также получил офферы на стороне, самый сильный был примерно с 65% прибавкой к текущей компенсации. Но я решил, что опыт, который я могу получить в текущем проекте - ценнее. Поэтому, я присоединился к оргу WhatsApp. Что делаем, пока сказать не могу, так как продукт разрабатывается и все под NDA. Пожалуй, теперь буду регулярно постить апдейт по работе. Так как интересныз чалленджей вижу много и будет нелегко.

Посмотрим, что получится! Про офферы расскажу в следующих постах. Спойлер: Гугл меня зареджектил без интервью. Но я думаю это связано с глобальным хайринг фризом в индустрии. Рецессия, как никак :)

Интересно, есть ли на моем канале стаффы в фангах?🤔

Спасибо, что читаешь. Теплого солнца желать не буду, Лондон был парилкой последние 2 дня (+44!), так что желаю наслаждаться второй половиной лета.

Беригите себя ☀️

#career #personal_notes

Team search - Part 2
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(текст на русском выше)
Hi! Continuation of my career thoughts 🤔

I started looking for a team, I had to drop the US team option because of visa problems I was describing here, so I decided to become a Brit first💂

I initiated the search process two weeks before the hiring freeze, so I was very fortunate to some extent. In addition, I decided to check out UK Market and interview a bit on the side (more on that later, though). I contacted a few managers, but one day, IC(7?) (senior staff eng, most likely) contacted me and offered me the position, which wasn't on the internal portal yet. I knew this engineer because I used to bootcamp in his previous team and had read his book long ago, but I decided to join another team then. The world is so tiny.

We chatted about the project, and surprisingly I liked it immediately. There was quite an enormous and, most importantly, complex scope of work, although the stack is not the most pleasant one 💩 but after working in FAANG and using Hack and VSCode, you get used to the smell shit (c) (sorry for foul language). Intellij, I miss you. But, for me, the product part and the perceived level of the challenge were important and got my attention.

It just so happened that the team needed a TL (tech-lead) to take on the meaty part of the project and lead a team of 7 people (4 direct reports, 3 XFN). They were initially looking for IC6 (staff eng) for this scope but couldn't find an engineer, so they decided to try and put IC5 (me) there. I must admit that despite my pretty good technical skills, I have little experience leading teams, this part has always lagged, and I wanted to develop it.

What influenced my decision? 🤔

I was given an exciting and challenging 0 -> 1 scope on a priority area for the company, on which the project's success as a whole would depend.

But here are also a few things that got my attention:

1. Opportunity for tech-leading the team.
2. Working directly with IC7 and IC6.
3. Strong people on the team. Quite diverse backgrounds
4. Working in large companies where the levels are hidden, it is always hard to find a "role-model" to look up to. But there are multiple IC6 on this team, I know who they are, and I see how they work.
5. Diversified people. People from all corners of the world. You'll laugh, but I enjoy working on teams like this.

I've also received offers on the side. The strongest one was about a 65% raise to my current compensation. But I decided that the experience I could get from my current project was more valuable. So I joined the WhatsApp org. Unfortunately, I can't say what we do because the product is not yet announced, and everything is under NDA. Perhaps now, I will regularly post updates about the work. I see many interesting challenges in terms of career growth and learning new skills.

Let's see what happens! I'll tell you about the offers in the following posts. Spoiler alert: Google rejected me without an interview. But I think it's because of the global hiring freeze in the industry. A recession is coming 🙂

I wonder if there are any staff engs at FAANGs on my channel? 🤔

Thanks for reading. I won't wish you sunny weather, because London has been a sweat lodge for the last two days (+44C!) 🔥. Instead, I hope you enjoy the second half of summer.

Take care of yourself ☀️

#career #personal_notes

🪆(Версию поста на русском, можно найти перед этим постом)

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I last posted on my blog, but there's a lot to share! I mentioned on my Instagram that some of the best ideas come to me while I'm on vacation. In March, I embarked on a 6-week vacation to Thailand. It was the perfect opportunity to clear my mind. Eventually, a few ideas popped into my head.

Backstory 🤌

In England, more precisely in London, a sector of the market exists where front-end engineers earn 800k-1M pounds annually 💷 (~50k pounds per month after taxes). Up until a certain point, everything remained in the realm of rumours, until a few friends of mine landed jobs in these companies. As you can guess, it's in the finance sector, specifically Hedge Funds. An idea ignited in my mind: why not give it a shot? And so, a journey lasting 4 months began. As I mentioned earlier, I like my ongoing project at Meta and I wasn't willing to give up on the goal of growing into a Staff role, considering the substantial social capital I had already built within the team and the project.

My primary objectives were as follows ✅:

1. Continuing to work on towards the IC6 level.
2. Getting prepared for the interviews with Hedge Funds.

While the goals themselves weren't particularly challenging, the real hurdle lay in managing my time effectively and I have to keep my preparation in secret since many of colleagues subsribed to my channel (thank you). Throughout these 4 months, my daily schedule resembled the following:

- 8 hours for work
- 5-6 hours allocated to interview preparation
- 1.5 hours dedicated to gym and cardio sessions

I dedicated my weekends entirely to preparation, although I did take breaks every 3-4 weeks for 2-3 days of hiking 🥾. These outdoor breaks were crucial in maintaining my mental well-being. I'll dive into reflections and share about the pre-burnout state a bit later on.

Tactics 🤔

The interview process at hedge funds is a secret. I found myself in a position of uncertainty regarding what to expect during the interview. The role is new and obscure for this kind of company. Plus, I hadn't written on the front-end stack in prod for about a year, but kept a love for it and used it in personal pet projects. Also, it was unknown if a leetcode would be needed (spoiler: no)

Preparation 📚

1. Tackled all bfe.dev problems (~200 problems), a process that spanned about 2 weeks, coupled with an additional week dedicated to speed coding
2. Solved ~300 problems on leetcode. This time it was notably easier than when I did it 2 years ago. On average, I managed to solve 10-15 problems per day. This phase stretched over approximately 5 weeks.
3. Re-recorded the System Design videos I had initially published 2 years ago. These videos were subsequently enhanced with fresh insights and valuable tips derived from subscribers and the YouTube community. (Stay tuned for the updated videos - I'll be posting them soon.) This step was accomplished within about a week.

Combat testing 🚀

It was difficult to go straight to the interview, so I decided to apply to small and medium-sized companies to practise my skills. In total I sent my resume to 34 companies, 29 of them responded, and then 23 of them scheduled interviews. Since my visa is not tied to the employer, companies were willing to interview me.

Result: 21/23 offer received
Minimum: 50K gbp (Senior Principal Engineer)
Maximum: 250K gbp (Staff Engineer)

I won't list the companies now, if interested, let's discuss it in the comments. The interview questions were very different, some companies have no coding part at all and it was more about experience and theory knowledge. I liked most of all when they gave a practical task for 2-3 hours and the interviewer came only at the beginning and at the end. Let me know if you want to see interview problems from these companies.

#interview #career

X Time ⏰

The list of hedges where a front-end engineer can go is quite small, I’ve applied to four companies.

1. Jane Street.
2. Two Sigma
3. Jump Trading
4. Citadel

I received responses from all of them quite quickly and interviews were scheduled. The interview process took longer than the preparation itself. Everything took about 2 months to complete. Was I successful in getting an offer? What is the interview process like with these companies? What's up with the promo on IC6?

The continuation follows in part 2, which I'll post in a day. In the meantime, write your comments, I'll be happy to answer if you have any questions. Thank you for being my subscriber 🙂

#interview #career