Been working for a startup as a SWE for ~2.5 years now. - Less than 10% of the staff are female. - Less than 10% of the staff are non-white. - Two rounds of layoffs. - Projects are very 'clicky', meaning if you're not one of a fixed set of people you're probably working on grunt work. - Others work well above 40+ hours and give incredibly long daily stand updates. I get slack messages after midnight typically. I try to work 30-40 hours, but I'm worried it's starting to show. - Pay is meh and equity is not real. - Upward growth is not there. It's starting to really get to me and I'm thinking about leaving. Is all tech like this? I'm wondering if I should start the LC grind or try to find more boomer type of companies. I'm trying to stay motivated but depression is kicking in with the situation I'm in and realized how much work interviewing is going to be. Idk how I can manage it with the crushing amount of work there is daily. Any advice is greatly appreciated! I'm in my mid 30s and never been in a FAANG before, so I don't know what to expect. TC: 145K
For me it’s a no to every one of your questions.
No to everything except #1
90% white software engineers? Do you work in Milktown, Wisconsin?
you most work at a weird startup. the AAPI population should be much higher than 10%
VWYF. Sounds like you workplace is just shitty - The male to female ratio is pretty shitty at other places too. My team only has 1 girl and like 8 guys. The ratio seems to be much better with the interns though - mostly indian and Chinese in my team. - out of the FAANGs I think only Amazon is that unstable - you're like to do grunt work at bigger companies too. But I find that if you're a high performer, you'll get the chance to stand out and work on more important projects eventually - Microsoft doesn't pay as high as other tech companies, but it's much higher than your current TC. Check out levels.fyi for reference Staying in boomer companies is the worst thing you can do for your career. Start the LC grind and start interviewing asap. You'll get a huge TC boost and a fresh work environment will do wonders for your mental health
The idea that a technology company could be more than 50% caucasian is hard to believe. In 20 years of work in software and hardware roles, I have worked at five companies, and interviewed with eight more. In no case was the team I worked with or interviewed for more than 40% white. In most cases, it was under 20%. One factor to consider is the fact that your employer has few women. The women I have worked with are far more likely to be Indian or east asian than the men. Less than 5% of women I have worked with in technical roles are white.
Why are people at work worried as to what is the skin colour , race or gender of people who work with them ? Shouldn’t your focus be on work, if you are being treated with respect , recognised for good work and rewarded on merit ?
Because OP is a racist, sexist human
Having only 10% of the staff be non white is weird to me. Where are all the Indians/chinese
Wait till the company grows. Eventually it’ll be all Indians/Chinese. And op will be questioning if it’s the same everywhere.
Indochinese are smart and go to FANG instead