u/high-on-adhd

i've got a compensation interview left at a palo alto startup, how much do i demand?

i have 1+ yoe as a software engineer. they didn't have a JD, i cold dm'd, got on a call, passed the interview, so yeah. their stack is pretty wide. python, sqlite, vscode itself (vscode fork), and more that i don't remember right now.

my current compensation is not that great tbh, it's $540 (local company) which i why i don't think i should let my current pay be an anchor point for my next pay, because for one, it's a palo alto startup, and second, of course they are gonna pay much higher than just $540. this is what i don't know how to calculate, a valid number. do i ask for $3000, $4000, or $5000. i dont know. they are on a hiring spree right now. 5 people joined just within june incl. me.

its for a software engineering role.

* dos vs. don’ts during the interview?
* how do i make/present myself a cultural fit?
* how do i present myself and act throughout the interview?
* how do i ace the interview?

its for a software engineering role.

* dos vs. don’ts during the interview?
* how do i make/present myself a cultural fit?
* how do i present myself and act throughout the interview?
* how do i ace the interview?

its for a software engineering role.

• must dos vs must not dos in the interview?
• how do i make myself a cultural fit?
• how do i present myself and act throughout the interview?
• how do i ace the interview?

working as a junior software engineer (fully remote) in backend (kinda distributed) and infra. i use Go/Golang for the typical work. there has been no new or meaningful development in the product i was hired for, for the past 5 months (i get paid on time, but i have started to feel bad now, especially since it’s a startup, and the CEO is a nice guy🙏). i will never ever resign on my own unless i get a new job, the industry is somehow even worse off from last year. while the work was stalled, i did open source contributions and built (not from scratch, kinda helped along) an agentic sandbox application, so my skills are all there. learned some more. but i don’t wanna stray away too much, because i don’t know how that will pan out for my career.

what do i do? what’s the smart choice here? applying to new jobs in pakistan, trying freelancing, more open source contributions to gain visibility? i am open to all sorts of discussions. personally, i feel like leaning towards agentic infrastructure, since agents are all the hype right now, and i have a solid experience and skills for infrastructure stuff

working as a junior software engineer (fully remote) in backend (kinda distributed) and infra. i use Go/Golang for the typical work. there has been no new or meaningful development in the product i was hired for, for the past 5 months (i get paid on time, but i have started to feel bad now, especially since it’s a startup, and the CEO is a nice guy🙏). i will never ever resign on my own unless i get a new job, the industry is somehow even worse off from last year. while the work was stalled, i did open source contributions and built (not from scratch, kinda helped along) an agentic sandbox application, so my skills are all there. learned some more. but i don’t wanna stray away too much, because i don’t know how that will pan out for my career.

what do i do? what’s the smart choice here? applying to new jobs in pakistan, trying freelancing, more open source contributions to gain visibility? i am open to all sorts of discussions. personally, i feel like leaning towards agentic infrastructure, since agents are all the hype right now, and i have a solid experience and skills for infrastructure stuff

are they what they say they are? are they really paying that good? are there caveats? how do they pay so much? i mean other companies exist and they probably don’t pay as well compared to these guys for the same years of experience?

and genuinely why tf is their cofounder/team lead posting about getting a car within a few months of starting the company? (cornball as hell, no hate) how did they mana to succeed this much right off the bat? how are they getting so many clients anyways?

how do i deal with this internal monologue? i am someone who feels happy for others, and i also have people in my life who feel the same way about me. there have been times when i bought something expensive that they could not afford at that moment. even then, they were genuinely happy for me, and i could not ask for more.

at the same time, i sometimes notice that they quietly wish they had it too. they do not say it, but in that moment, it feels obvious that they wish they were in my place or had the same thing. this makes me wonder if i should avoid sharing these things with them. even though they are happy for me, i worry that it might also make them feel a little sad inside. should i stop sharing these things with them?