Just Doubled My TC; Thanks Blind

Solera Holdings / Eng
h8us๐Ÿคฆ

Solera Holdings Eng

h8us๐Ÿคฆ
Mar 1 14 Comments

I feel accomplished and want to briefly share my story in case it motivates others in a similar position.

Cliff Notes:
10 YoE in Dallas, TX
Current TC: $165k ($150k base + $15k bonus)
Accepted Offer: $331k ($200k base + $525k RSU/4y) from Twilio

Applications Sent: 11
Passed resume screen (i.e. got a recruiter call): 5 of 11 (no call or rejected: Stripe, Twitter, Uber, Block, Plaid, Instacart)
Passed recruiter screen: 3 of 5 (rejected: Atlassian, goPuff)
Passed tech screen: 3 of 3 (aborted Coinbase loop due to Twilio offer, the numbers were $192k base + $175k equity for Senior SWE)
Passed on-site: 2 of 2

Offers:
Twilio Staff SWE ($200k base + $525k RSU/4y)
Affirm Senior SWE ($155k base + $240k RSU/3y + $150k RSU/2y + $15k sign on)

Investment:
* 167 LC problems over 6 months (casual for first 4mo, hit it hard last 2mo). Bought 1y premium for the locked questions.
* ~20h studying Crack the Coding Interview
* Bought 1mo of LinkedIn premium

What helped me:
* I drank the LeetCode kool-aid, and it definitely helped me. At the beginning I was god awful at nearly every exercise. For 10 YoE, figured it'd be a bit more second-nature, but it was months of struggle. Blind 75 was a great way of touching a breadth of DS&As, my prior technique of hitting random probably wasn't the best. Eventually I did feel comfortable with most of the Blind 75. Ultimately, the only algorithm I used in interviews was interval sorting, but the practice kept me fresh regardless.
* Referrals from Blind were INVALUABLE. I didn't get a single call from any application that I didn't have a referral for first. Actually Coinbase and Twilio rejected me first before they called me back due to another application through referral.
* Blind culture of "you don't have to be special to get a FAANG job" was really motivating. Understanding that studying for an interview is normal helped put things into perspective.
* Learned how to navigate the modern interview loop from lots of searching on Blind. Being 9y since my last interview I had many rudimentary questions which many on Blind had asked before. For example: how to get multiple offers? what types of interview questions to expect? are the TC numbers on levels.fyi representative of the norm? what details can I share with my recruiter?

My goal going into this job search was $200k TC but due a mismatch in my expectations and this crazy gravy train going on now, I set my new goal to $300k and _still_ shattered that goal. So pumped.

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TOP 14 Comments
  • Compass
    sjfurn

    Go to company page Compass

    sjfurn
    Location? Nice work OP
    Mar 1 3
  • Sonos
    flag much

    Go to company page Sonos

    flag much
    Congrats OP

    โ€œyou don't have to be special to get a FAANG jobโ€ ๐Ÿ˜
    Mar 1 0
  • IBM
    hentaidad

    Go to company page IBM

    hentaidad
    Congratulations on your success! What about system design? Also how many hours did you try to study during a work day?
    Mar 1 1
    • Solera Holdings / Eng
      h8us๐Ÿคฆ

      Solera Holdings Eng

      h8us๐Ÿคฆ
      OP
      For the first four months I spent maybe 5h/wk studying. But for the last two months I was putting in about 3h during each work day. My company moved all our engineering to India, but I'm in US, so there's no one to interact with after about 10a CT at the latest. So I had lots of time to study.

      For system design: I started with tryexponent.com's materials. I would watch YouTube videos for any specific systems I was curious about. Then I also put on InfoQ's YouTube channel any time I was driving somewhere, they have some great material.

      I have been a software architect last 4 years so I think that gave me a bit of an edge on system design due to being fresh on my mind. Although my company doesn't operate nearly on the scale of any of the companies I was applying for.

      Edit: updated my answer, originally misread there were two questions.
      Mar 1
  • Good job. Hopefully this will be me in a few months
    Mar 1 0
  • NTT Data
    ipjobmarkt

    Go to company page NTT Data

    ipjobmarkt
    Congratulations
    Mar 1 0