Hey everyone. Im a software developer, self taught. I tried the university route but the format just wasnt for me. I decided to work on personal projects/freelance and got a lot of experience, due to some of personal projects becoming big(nothing huge, but enough to gain experience with building and fast-growing websites alone) I started working at a crypto exchange last year and I lucked out pretty big. Company was small, and in the beginning stages of re-writing their whole stack so I was able to place myself at an essential role there and become a key member of the team. Went from intern to intermediate developer in about a year, and now have a pretty stable and respected position in a company that grew 10x in size over the past year. But, my pay has not matched my role in a while and my attempts at negotiating it up were met with stonewalling and avoidance from executives. I didnt want to be too pushy and use the leverage of being one of the three developers that know the whole codebase inside and out, so my TC is at 75k at the moment. I want to leave, look for a place with better compensation and an org thats further along in its maturity(relatively more wlb, more defined scope of work, less toxic “cult-like” culture, etc.). I am sort of over the startup atmosphere. Trouble is, due to my lack of formal education I dont think I would interview that well. I never spent hours on leetcode, and due to that I havent refined the skills needed to approach the types of problems that come up in coding interviews. It doesnt help that almost none of my job is even close to solving those types of problems, so I have to spend my free time to refine those specific skills. My question is: Is there an alternative way to get a job at the type of org I described(reasonable comp, mature org)? The reason I got into this role was because the interview did not involve a coding component, just system design and a few trivia type questions, which I am pretty good at. But, from my experience the orgs that have those types of interviews(startups) are the exact opposite of what im looking for. Its not that I dont want to refine my interview problem solving skills, I just dont see how those skills will provide much value in the activities a developer does daily, so spending valuable time practicing them seems like something that has the singular process of getting past the interview. If thats what I have to do I can, but I just wanted to see if there are any other routes people on here have had success with. TL;DR Self taught software developer that isnt good at leetcode questions, want to see if I have to just get good or if there are other paths to getting a job at an established org. #interviews #softwaredevelopersalary #fintech #engineering #software
Try to slog through the blind noise to see what companies interview with non leet copy pasta. Otherwise the sad truth is that you have to prove to others you are worth what you ask for… and right now that means you have to get good at interviewing, negotiating and networking.
At least add TLDR, I will suggest to open a web browser and navigate to leetcode.com and start solving those problems
Sorry, new here and most of the posts I saw on here were long form so I figured that was the norm. Thanks for the answer though, I guess its time to get to work.
No problem. Happy to help
You have valuable experience apply for other crypto exchanges to know your real value!
I have a pretty broad non compete that last two years. I havent shown it to a lawyer but either way its a hurdle that makes me think twice about going that route. Ive also come to realize that the whole crypto space has this whole stench about it that just makes me feel like just running away and doing something else. Cant put my finger on it, but people on the outside looking in have told me they see it in a similar way.
Heads up, very very very rarely do non competes hold. Do what’s best for you.
There might be a few orgs that doesn’t care you don’t have a degree and that doesn’t give you LC questions. But really if you EVER want to work at a FAANG+, maybe just to build your resume, then suck it up and learn to LC. If you have experience and can interview well then nobody will care that you don’t have a degree.
Honestly, just grind LC. If you can build systems, you can learn algorithms. Also, why not use your leverage as a key developer to get a raise? That’s exactly how negotiations should work.
I think it was multiple factors. Mainly it was that I thought pulling that card would foster some toxicity from management/executives towards me. Both side of the table knows that I can leave at any time, and that would deal a great deal of damage to the company, but I figured pushing those buttons would have been a net disadvantage for me. In retrospect, I was wrong. The resentment I have built because of the outcome of those negotiations is far more toxic than whatever the imagined consequences would have been of me taking that route. I still am fairly young and inexperienced, so I guess it was a good learning experience. On the other hand, the way they treated the negotiation process was incrediby frustrating, im guessing by design. I had to bring up the fact that we had to reevaluate my role in the company in a very frustrating call with my manager, which was initially about him telling me how ive been doing so well and how my responsibilities would start growing(i.e. promoting me without promoting me). After I got him to agree to a formal promotion, a week of silence went by until it was announced. A week of silence after that I got a slck message with a document from HR that said my salary would increase 5k(from 50k). Then I had to go to my manager and initiate a month long game of telephone between me and the cfo(a person who I knew personally and had no reason not to be talking to directly, other than my manager and HR forcing themselves inbetween), who was the person deciding this number. after that I was honestly just tired. I figured if this is the sort of way they handled stuff like this, I did not want to stick around. I finally accepted one of the numbers that was thrown around and have been planning to leave after I get my bonus and my options vest by EOY
Fair enough. You’ll definitely get a much larger bump externally than you ever would’ve at that company. Seems like the exchange is making a very shortsighted move here. They save for the short term, but will likely spend more in lost productivity replacing you.
I thought this post was going to say i worked at a crypto exchange and now getting paid millions in shitcoin.
I wish… Im actually a crypto skeptic, never really put too much money in it. I have to say, though, seeing my coworkers make a killing on some of these shitcoins sometimes makes me want to give it a try.