by OsrsNeedsf2P on 5/15/25, 1:07 PM with 73 comments
by ZephyrBlu on 5/15/25, 2:10 PM
This is the key part. You need to think about the money side as well as the skills side.
I agree with the author though, despite regressed skills you can still be more in-demand because of cachet. It does feel quite silly.
by picafrost on 5/15/25, 4:12 PM
I don't care (that much) about your projects because they don't tell me if you'll drop into my team and kill it with your ego. I can't fully understand the context in which you developed those projects. I don't want to search around and see if it's just a clone of someone else's work you're trying to pass off as your own, or if the community you've mentioned in your CV really exists.
I'm more concerned if you'll be able to consistently make it to our stand-ups. I will take a mediocre but steady, agreeable, and trustworthy developer I don't ever have to think about over a "rockstar" who is making life hell for the team every time.
by _factor on 5/15/25, 4:10 PM
The issue is that recruiters and many times the first few interviewers are not at all technical. They have all the time to make their outward appearances business aesthetic, and their skill won’t deteriorate dramatically without being used.
They will use keywords and industry jargon to find candidates; that’s after the AI siphon out the resumes without the “must haves”. You’re left interviewing with people who have a superficial, if not backwards idea of what they’re looking for, and tend to be personable enough reject any “off” personalities which are common in the loner coder types who might not care to update their LinkedIn every time they fart into the wind.
Sure you 5x your salary, but the real shame is that the best talent becomes underutilized and dejected as companies fill with shiny slick employees who know how to sell better than engineer.
by notepad0x90 on 5/15/25, 3:00 PM
That's the key friend. put in your 8hrs and do what your bosses want at your job. but if open source work makes you happy, why not do that on your free time? don't do it to get a job or to pad a resume, but because it is fun. pick projects you enjoy and limit your contribution so that it won't affect your happiness.
by omgJustTest on 5/15/25, 2:17 PM
best advice i can give is stay razor focused on the goals - and what allows you to achieve them:
1. don't lie to yourself about the utility of the project - nice to haves are not need to haves - almost every idea is bad and few are good and even fewer are good enough to spend 5 years on, and vanishingly small amounts of them are goldmines (see #4)
2. understand what provides true value - treat it with respect and only allow it to be known, if necessary, & carefully present it when necessary so that others understand its value. if _they_ don't understand the value - they wont pay for it and will not care, you have to speak _their_ language and not burn too much time doing it.
3. be kind to yourself & enjoy life while you're chasing the goals - you need close relationships and satisfaction to sustain you and keep you from ruining yourself.
4. look for lucky opportunities & take them.
by ChrisMarshallNY on 5/15/25, 3:45 PM
It definitely informed my day jobs, but they never knew (or cared). I did it because I loved doing it. I designed software to help out altruistic organizations, and got some good work done (that no one signing checks ever cared about).
Now, I’m retired, and working on my own stuff. I treat my work as a craft, and really enjoy it.
by Doches on 5/15/25, 2:26 PM
As someone who explicitly did this and is now out the other side: can confirm, this is the way.
by franciscop on 5/15/25, 3:14 PM
This was my feeling few years back. But after some years working at companies, it doesn't feel the same to take my keyboard on my personal time and hack away. Sure it's still fun, but maybe there's more to life than that. Thinking that my energy for hacking away all night will return would be naive, though who knows, it'll be a new future. Maybe I will pick up woodworking, which seems to be the cemetery for devs, or renovate some Akiya, which is the equivalent here in Japan.
by j3s on 5/15/25, 1:55 PM
by taurath on 5/15/25, 2:37 PM
In my life I've seen the most brilliant, talented, driven, and effective people be completely unable to find paid work doing what they do best. This isn't even because there is no money in doing what they do best - many of those things are multi billion dollar industries. Its because they put all their points into a single skill tree. The second they start putting points into relationships, and manage to get past the early stages, suddenly their skills become relevant and it starts working, and they're seen for what they can do.
I suspect this is what happened to OP:
> During the day, I worked 8-9 hours for this startup, and until late at night I continued my open source contributions. Surely, they would take me somewhere.
When you play Starcraft at a decently high level, scouting is super important - not even necessarily to see what the other side is actively doing, but the important information to learn is what they cannot be doing. If they have 3 of one building producing units, they can't be building a different type of unit. I shoe-horned that Starcraft analogy to say: if you're spending every waking hour coding, you're unlikely to be building relationships. Especially if your goal is to be paid for doing something useful, relationships with people with money to pay you are necessary.
I'm almost certain I'm not as talented an engineer as the OP. I have my moments, but my attention and desire to work out different skill trees is too high to prioritize time like they have. All this to say: there's a lot of myths out there about what is valued, and if you take some advice literally you will find yourself pidgeonholed into doing exactly that and only that.
by Aardwolf on 5/16/25, 9:38 AM
It feels like there's missing a step here, how did we get from leetcode to 5x salary bump?
> But what about my skillset? Despite significantly regressing
How can skillset regress 5 years after university? It's not like you forget coding skills, or the old projects disappear (even if stale) during that time
by hnthrow90348765 on 5/15/25, 3:12 PM
FAANG will give you the perspective that software is just a hollow-feeling way to make money, which will eventually let you see the richness of what you were doing before.
by camcil on 5/15/25, 2:14 PM
by ChrisArchitect on 5/15/25, 3:23 PM
by butterlettuce on 5/15/25, 7:10 PM
by sorokod on 5/15/25, 7:08 PM
by yapyap on 5/15/25, 3:58 PM
by booleandilemma on 5/15/25, 4:30 PM
...what?