12 years senior SDE, not making progress

Bloomberg / Consultant
blinddsy

Go to company page Bloomberg Consultant

blinddsy
Mar 16 16 Comments

I'll keep it simple. I have been a developer for about 12 years and have been in the NY area for most of those years.

I meandered into hedge funds and have been consulting with hedge funds and Fintech firms for the last 6 years. But, this has severely stagnated my career.

Java, C#, Python, Angular, Messaging and rdbms + Nosql has been my tool stack mostly.

What should I focus on for the next 1 year, so I can pitch myself to a broader employer base?

Tc: $250k
Yoe: 12

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 16 Comments
  • AT&T
    hhtX81

    Go to company page AT&T

    hhtX81
    Switch jobs. With your YOE any job you land will at least pay you double the current one.
    Mar 16 5
    • AT&T
      hhtX81

      Go to company page AT&T

      hhtX81
      I think you are doing fine. Jumping between 3, 4, 5 is not a problem at all. One of the elements I would worry for anyone is overdoing it. The constraints are meant for you to chose wisely. Next time also ask about your team size who will work alongside you and also time constraint. And focus more on building a simpler solution compared to trying to use a hot technology. Also ask about legacy code already existing. Most times that determines many things. Only if its completely a new project with no time constraint you go for hot things like kubernetes and lambda and golang. Otherwise you only stick with java and python and whatever already exists based on constraints.
      Mar 17
    • Bloomberg / Consultant
      blinddsy

      Go to company page Bloomberg Consultant

      blinddsy
      OP
      Makes sense @hhtX81

      I will fine-tune my approach for the Algo questions too. Im focusing on the optimal solution and eventually end up with code that's not completely there.
      Mar 17
  • Google
    sharat333

    Go to company page Google

    sharat333
    leetcode and faang interviews?
    Mar 16 3
  • New
    umidk

    New

    umidk
    Try being TL or TPM?
    Mar 16 1
    • Bloomberg / Consultant
      blinddsy

      Go to company page Bloomberg Consultant

      blinddsy
      OP
      What's the career path if I switch to the TPM role? I tried looking at the requirements for these roles at FAANG but they all require significant product management experience, which is essentially lacking when you work in silos in financial firms.
      Mar 16
  • Meta
    felice415

    Go to company page Meta

    felice415
    Try joining faang. At any rate that experience will shake you up pretty well.
    I have high YOE just like you and last few years at Meta taught me a lot.
    Mar 16 1
    • Bloomberg / Consultant
      blinddsy

      Go to company page Bloomberg Consultant

      blinddsy
      OP
      I was interviewed for L5 at Amazon and I did poorly on the system design rounds.

      Other non-FAANG companies have say too many newer tech in their requirements for me to get an interview call.
      Mar 16
  • Amazon / Eng
    VCdR10

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    VCdR10
    Why would fintechs stagnate your career? How is the developing work different from general tech companies? Also, I think fintech like stripe, square, sofi pay a lot. Is that right?
    Mar 17 1