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Day 28: A Little Dip
I woke up to my first interview offer! The hiring manager at LeetCode said he was impressed with my background and wanted to set up a 30 minute phone interview. Obviously I'm excited, but also wary. The application was a stretch for me and I honestly don't know how much technical ability they expect me to have. I'm learning SQL, know my way around HTML and CSS, and I've got a bit of Python under my belt -- but that's it. I can throw my back into learning fairly quickly if it comes to it, but I also don't want to misrepresent my skills.
Then there's the company itself. LeetCode is a website where coders can practice interview questions that are typically found in applications for coders, which is a pretty neat service. They also serve up daily challenges, contests, etc. for folks looking to keep their skills sharp. I signed up as soon as I learned about the interview offer and I dig their interface. It's obviously for serious coders and from what I've seen the community there is friendly and helpful.
But then you look at their ranking on Glassdoor and it's not too great (3.7). Work/life balance is cited as a negative, and most reviews say that their pay isn't the greatest. Customer service representatives typically make around $65K there -- which isn't bad -- but it would be a pretty big cut to the $90K I had been making with Udacity. The salary range for the position is posted as $100K - $120K, though. That's well above the typical salary for the position, which seems to be just around $80K. The big spread in pay is a bit worrying, and so are the reviews. It's possible they're coming out of layoffs as well, so who knows what the morale is like there.
Either way, I'm definitely engaging with the process. There are a number of ways that this could fall apart, from shift and salary expectations to my own relative lack of experience. The outfit is located in Palo Alto which isn't a terrible commute, but it's not great either. I'd much rather work from home if possible, though I also know there'd be a distinct benefit in heading to the office on a regular basis as well.
My plan heading into the interview is to be honest about my skillset, where my passions lie, and ask questions about why they're hiring, the work culture, and what sort of challenges I'd be likely to face while I'm there. I'll think carefully about the vibe I get, and do my best to present a positive, friendly, can-do attitude. We'll see where it goes from there.
I've also been trolling the job sites of various city and county government jobs. I'm beginning to see why people don't talk about those as viable options; the positions list pretty specific skills and it doesn't seem likely that you'll find a large candidate pool to fill them. Still, there are a few promising leads there, and I'll have to make time to go through the fairly arduous application process. In addition to the standard resume and cover letter, there are questionnaires that ask you to be very specific about exactly when and how you acquired the requirements for the position. I don't mind that so much -- it's a government job, so of course they're going to be thorough -- but it's also an exercise I haven't really done before. It's one of those things I should probably study up on to put my best foot forward.
R.'s health insurance application finally came through, so I was able to refill my Adderall prescription with only a $5(!!) co-pay. His insurance is so much better than mine, so I'm thinking about staying on it for the duration and adding the extra payment onto my rent/utilities. It's worth it for the stability, and for the very nice reduced co-pays. I really wish I could land a state job or something like that; they don't pay as well as the private sector, but once you're in, you're in and the benefits just cannot be beaten.
I also applied for unemployment insurance finally. The process was fairly interesting; they verified my ID remotely using my smartphone, state ID, and some new-fangled verification system. They also had me total up my gross pay by quarter for all of 2022 and 2023 so far. I was...surprised by the results. I'm learning a lot about my spending habits through this process, so I suppose that's one silver lining. There are a lot of things I could do to cut back and spend less, and I'll be mindful of those lessons even after I'm employed again.
I'm nearing a 75-day streak in Duolingo French, and I'm proud of that. I've internalized my inability to be consistent quite a bit, so having this small success makes me feel more confident in my ability to replicate it elsewhere. If I put my mind to it, there's no reason I wouldn't be able to write every day, or move through my online learning with effort, or actually get things done when I say they will. It might be a long way off before I'm able to do any of that, but it's possible. I'm learning French, and best of all my speaking is getting better. It feels good to see how consistent daily effort leads to that kind of progress. I'm still not going to rush out and buy Dumas in his native language, but I can work out some of the subtitles when I see them.
I feel good. I'm still falling down in a few ways -- no writing yesterday, for example -- but I'm building good habits and applying myself in ways I haven't for a little while. The time away from marijuana isn't as soul-bleaching as I thought it would be; I feel like I have more curiosity about things, I can think a bit more clearly, and it's actually fun to poke and prod at things, learn about them, see how they tick. Challenges aren't as scary as I was worried they'd be. There's still anxiety management, but it's not taking as many spoons.
I forget that I'm stronger than I gave myself credit for.
Then there's the company itself. LeetCode is a website where coders can practice interview questions that are typically found in applications for coders, which is a pretty neat service. They also serve up daily challenges, contests, etc. for folks looking to keep their skills sharp. I signed up as soon as I learned about the interview offer and I dig their interface. It's obviously for serious coders and from what I've seen the community there is friendly and helpful.
But then you look at their ranking on Glassdoor and it's not too great (3.7). Work/life balance is cited as a negative, and most reviews say that their pay isn't the greatest. Customer service representatives typically make around $65K there -- which isn't bad -- but it would be a pretty big cut to the $90K I had been making with Udacity. The salary range for the position is posted as $100K - $120K, though. That's well above the typical salary for the position, which seems to be just around $80K. The big spread in pay is a bit worrying, and so are the reviews. It's possible they're coming out of layoffs as well, so who knows what the morale is like there.
Either way, I'm definitely engaging with the process. There are a number of ways that this could fall apart, from shift and salary expectations to my own relative lack of experience. The outfit is located in Palo Alto which isn't a terrible commute, but it's not great either. I'd much rather work from home if possible, though I also know there'd be a distinct benefit in heading to the office on a regular basis as well.
My plan heading into the interview is to be honest about my skillset, where my passions lie, and ask questions about why they're hiring, the work culture, and what sort of challenges I'd be likely to face while I'm there. I'll think carefully about the vibe I get, and do my best to present a positive, friendly, can-do attitude. We'll see where it goes from there.
I've also been trolling the job sites of various city and county government jobs. I'm beginning to see why people don't talk about those as viable options; the positions list pretty specific skills and it doesn't seem likely that you'll find a large candidate pool to fill them. Still, there are a few promising leads there, and I'll have to make time to go through the fairly arduous application process. In addition to the standard resume and cover letter, there are questionnaires that ask you to be very specific about exactly when and how you acquired the requirements for the position. I don't mind that so much -- it's a government job, so of course they're going to be thorough -- but it's also an exercise I haven't really done before. It's one of those things I should probably study up on to put my best foot forward.
R.'s health insurance application finally came through, so I was able to refill my Adderall prescription with only a $5(!!) co-pay. His insurance is so much better than mine, so I'm thinking about staying on it for the duration and adding the extra payment onto my rent/utilities. It's worth it for the stability, and for the very nice reduced co-pays. I really wish I could land a state job or something like that; they don't pay as well as the private sector, but once you're in, you're in and the benefits just cannot be beaten.
I also applied for unemployment insurance finally. The process was fairly interesting; they verified my ID remotely using my smartphone, state ID, and some new-fangled verification system. They also had me total up my gross pay by quarter for all of 2022 and 2023 so far. I was...surprised by the results. I'm learning a lot about my spending habits through this process, so I suppose that's one silver lining. There are a lot of things I could do to cut back and spend less, and I'll be mindful of those lessons even after I'm employed again.
I'm nearing a 75-day streak in Duolingo French, and I'm proud of that. I've internalized my inability to be consistent quite a bit, so having this small success makes me feel more confident in my ability to replicate it elsewhere. If I put my mind to it, there's no reason I wouldn't be able to write every day, or move through my online learning with effort, or actually get things done when I say they will. It might be a long way off before I'm able to do any of that, but it's possible. I'm learning French, and best of all my speaking is getting better. It feels good to see how consistent daily effort leads to that kind of progress. I'm still not going to rush out and buy Dumas in his native language, but I can work out some of the subtitles when I see them.
I feel good. I'm still falling down in a few ways -- no writing yesterday, for example -- but I'm building good habits and applying myself in ways I haven't for a little while. The time away from marijuana isn't as soul-bleaching as I thought it would be; I feel like I have more curiosity about things, I can think a bit more clearly, and it's actually fun to poke and prod at things, learn about them, see how they tick. Challenges aren't as scary as I was worried they'd be. There's still anxiety management, but it's not taking as many spoons.
I forget that I'm stronger than I gave myself credit for.
no subject
For what it's worth my brother, who does hiring management for (federal) government stuff [ and who for obvious reasons couldn't nudge any of his underlings to give me a good look-over ] told me repeatedly that the job requirements for government jobs are, like many, filled with wish lists and you should feel okay about applying to anything where you have mastery of a couple topics. And that government jobs can be very good ones because they tend to be crunch-resistant and to be fine with you forgetting about them after quitting time.
no subject
Yeah, to be honest, that's one of the big reasons I'd like to get a government job. I know there's a stereotype about the checked-out employee with all government services but I don't think I'd hit that until at least my 70s. ;)
I'll be a bit less shy about applying to government positions, but they also take a *really* long time in general. That limits my ability to fire-bomb them with applications in general, but that just means I need to be really targeted!