I got laid off. Fat severance, close to 6 months worth. Also have a fat emergency fund, 18+ months worth. Plus my wife is still employed. I've never felt super confident in my dev skills or resume, and I want to get out of the stack I've pigeonholed myself into. I know I'm capable of doing better, but working lame jobs has sapped all of my motivation to do anything more than the bare minimum. Letting my savings rate drop sucks, but I think I can make up for it if I just go balls to the wall with leveling up for the next 12 months. Like 60+ hours a week of just learning new things and building out some ideas. I just got married. I'll probably have a kid in the next 5ish years. I want to buy a house before then. I think now is the best chance I'll get in my life to pull my pants up and just get gud. I want 250k+ TC. Obviously I have a plan for this, I'm not just going into it thinking "I can do anything I put my mind to" and letting Jesus take the wheel. It feels like the most calculated risk I've taken in my life. How bad of an idea is this? TC 140k -> 0k 5 YoE @ shitty small boring companies that never sniffed an IPO and that nobody has ever heard of
You can take up another low paying/great wlb job and work on this on the side so you don’t deplete your savings. Good luck 👍
Savings won’t deplete because I am a DINK and my wife makes enough to cover all expenses, it’s just that I won’t be adding to it.
Thank you, by the way 🙏
Are you willing to move your family? Getting a full remote role at 250k tc is tough nowadays without being grandfathered in. I think it would be better to try and get a role at a scrappy startup with ex FAANG type people. You would probably learn a ton and build connections that could get you that next job.
I’m not too worried about having to relocate, there are plenty of hybrid roles near me (I am just outside of NYC). Appreciate this feedback. I might consider dedicating 1-5 hours a week during this period toward job applications, at least for the interview practice. A good role coming out of it before the 12 months would be a bonus.
Got it. You’re in a good location. A year might be overkill in that case. I would just spend a good 3 months studying LC. The market seems to be picking back up for senior roles. So you might be able to land something way earlier than a year.
“I just got married. I'll probably have a kid in the next 5ish years.” Good plan, just remember it only takes nine months
Ha, good callout. We’ve done well to avoid kids thus far.
You can do that while working lol
My problem historically has been that I lose motivation to grind if I’m getting paid. So if I get a job that doesn’t challenge me, then I’ll just remain unchallenged. I understand that's a character flaw that I need to work on, but I also want to play to my strengths - one of which is performing under pressure. Appreciate this feedback.
Cool, but this post isn't very helpful. What are your plans? What are you skilling up in and why?
For lack of a better way of summing up my plan - I’m just gonna get good. Spend 60 or more hours a week outside of my comfort zone. Become proud of my proficiency across the stack for once. Historically, I’m a mobile dev. Almost exclusively using C#/.NET for all 5 years of my career. So I’m learning backend tech now. Studying algorithms. Studying dev tools. Learning native iOS dev. Building and finishing projects along the way - in mobile, pure backend, full stack web. Anything and everything that catches my interest.
Sounds unfocused and all over the map, but good luck. Interesting that you're a mobile dev but primarily focused in C# .NET (would have guessed Android/kotlin or Swift for iOS...). I wish I had more C# .NET skills because I see a lot of postings for chill companies with that requirement. I'm stuck in startup land and really would like a chill enterprise gig at this point. You need to do you, but if I had your skills I'd double down on C# .NET and get a nice easy enterprise gig.
I did the same thing for the same reasons starting last year, about to start the interview processes now. I know I've gotten a lot better throughout the process and really took the time to understand what I value in a job. I loved my first job and the second one paid great but it sucked the life out of me. I hope to hear an update soon
Good luck! DM me if you want to connect, would be nice to hear what happens to you.
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I think I'm most worried about my lackluster resume holding me back when I start applying.