Vibgyor5

While I have been tweaking CV according to specific roles, your comment made me realize I should overhaul these categorically for different audience. Appreciate your suggestion!

I usually don't comment on HN but needed to ask you: How did your framing work? And can you elaborate "learning my own limits"?

It's been 8 years since I graduated. I started working at a Bank in a Management Rotational Program with great manager but dropped it within 4 months because young me dreaded being pigeon-holed at 9-5. I joined a promising startup but... the co-founder unexpectedly passed away. Long story short, I have had 6 jobs (incl. internships) within last 8 years: I have lost jobs for one reason or the other (startup folded, directions changed etc).

In good times, I am able to appreciate diversity my experience but I feel undervalued; I am more of a "jack of all trades, master of none" and feel I've taken 2 steps forward, one step back in my career. This has also damaged my professional as well as personal interests. In early 30s now, I crave moving to a more stable job/corporate but feel typecasted as someone who's worked at early-stage startups most of the time; this economy hasn't been kind when it comes to finding work either.

I usually don't comment on HN but needed to ask you: How did you recover?

It's been 8 years since I graduated. I started working at a Bank in a Management Rotational Program with great manager but dropped it within 4 months because young me dreaded being pigeon-holed at 9-5. I joined a promising startup but... the co-founder unexpectedly passed away. Long story short, I have had 6 jobs (incl. internships) within last 8 years: I have lost jobs for one reason or the other (startup folded, directions changed etc).

In good times, I am able to appreciate diversity my experience but I feel undervalued; I am more of a "jack of all trades, master of none" and feel I've taken 2 steps forward, one step back in my career. This has also damaged my professional as well as personal interests.

How do I move forward from here?

Giving you real example of buying SIM card in 3 countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Russia) within last 6 months:

You step into the shop/kiosk at the airport (or in the city, however you prefer). They ask you to choose any SIM with desired numbers, plans are clearly well-written, take xerox of your passport (or click a snap of it), and plug the SIM in, pay money, reboot phone, and that's it. It did not take me more than 10 minutes in any scenario.

In all cases, it is cheaper (than using Airalo - and why are we promoting one app anyway!)and less hassle-free than buying eSIM.

Sidenote: but no, drafting is not so quick and there are multiple ways to refuse to do that.

(I'm in RF at the moment)

There're no EORs (Employer of Record) like Deel etc. operating out of Russia so they'd need you to be legally/officially registered at the very least in Russia.

I know someone who did the same and then spend ~6-7 months outside Russia. Within RU, they work remotely and have never visited the office even. As a sidenote, not only did they get the job, but their income progression has been 1.5x since they joined as a newbie within 1 year.

Its all relative — I paid $10 for a month in Germany as a resident (comes with full EU roaming). Prices in other EU countries are even cheaper. It took 1 minute to plug it in.

Also, travelers from Western countries might not really be ecstatic about paying for paying $$ for something that comes with zero upside to physical SIM.

As a digital nomad + business traveler, eSims are total misdirection and more cumbersome experience:

Case in point - I stay in Country A (home country) for 3 months, Country B for 2 months, and then C for 3 months, back to A. Until now I used an Android with Dual-SIM (physical) and all I had to do was: put in physical-SIM whenever I am in and call it a day. With iPhone and more and more phone manufacturers praising about eSIMs, not anymore.

Country B/C/D etc may have extremely complex or underwhelming infrastructure/process to support e-SIMs. Lots of issues with “network reception not working” to troubleshooting the signup process. Heck, there are additional charges in some countries for eSIM vs. physical sim.

They use Telegram - highly popular in Ukraine, Russia for messaging as well as news consumption.

Its not. It is indifference which leads to the very few - who can hold the power - to continue holding it unobstructed and play their narrative with propaganda because they themselves know that even if people realize this is BS, they'd still not do anything about it.

There is a cumulative "corruption of will" - for the lack of better term - that comes with it. And when there is no will, those who can have their way, will continue to have it.

I am in Russia currently. Not Russian but I speak fluent Russian and have acquaintances in affected territories.

Update: 19:28 Moscow time.

- Situation is normal in cities and oblasts: as in, there seem to be no panic but people are definitely reading the news.

- Everyone support the government - although I find Russians to be highly political apathetic (which is one of the major roots of the problems in the country IME). The ones who'd soft corner for Wagner also seem to note that Prigozhin should've picked a better time for this. Wagner posters for recruitment are being removed. In all sense, it has fallen from grace.

- Wagner definitely does not have a high proportion of supporters amongst civilians. Within the army's junior ranks (and in Rosgvardiya) there are people that are more sympathetic to it, hence, why they do not explicitly used force against them. Rumors here are that this is one of the reasons why Ahmat forces were sent to Rostov.

- Wagner forces themselves seem to have strict instructions not to use show of force against esp. civilians in order to not alienate them.

- I'd take Western-news with some salt as well because this is a good time to mix information-war as well.

- Moscow is on high alert, people aren't suggested to make too many public movements, and Monday is declared holiday for most public institutions. Many dense places (malls etc.) have been evacuated. I believe this is to ensure that civilians are neither impacted nor used as hostages.

- For best/live updates, use Telegram channels (in Russian) or Tass (in Russian, use your BS-sensor accordingly)

I myself have a difference of exactly one year from my real birthdate and official one.

Why? Because in 80s/90s India, it was common to have 'official' birthdate extended with expectation that this will result in one additional year of government benefits. That logic does not make sense to me but was prevalent at the time of my parents/grandparents etc.

It irks me a bit at times, however, there is nothing I can really do about it at this point - all my records, passport etc. are based on 'official' birthdate. To avoid any confusion or misunderstanding, I quote official birthdate to friends and other people. Realistically, only people who're aware of my actual birthdate are my family.

I see your point and agree - Substack etc may exist today but might not in 2-3-5y down the line and it'd be valuable to have hold of your own writing from Day 1.

On a different note, what has been the value of "creative posts" and even "creative name for your blog" for you?

I am overthinking this but sometimes I find myself wondering whether my post is really all that useful, that my blog should have a more creative/captivating name to catch audience's eyes etc. Did you ever face that? If yes/no, how'd you suggest to overcome this?

I recommend it. Start a blog - on your own domain, on webspace that you control.

Following up on this - any specific reason behind this? I am considering starting a newsletter soon to first gather audience and Substack looks like right solution for this without requiring much technical setup, esp. as a non-tech. Idea is to first start blogging, get into that mindspace, build an audience and then you can move it to a proper blog on your own website, if required.

Curious what would be your thoughts here?

I have been using Wise (formerly TransferWise - which is how I still refer to it) for close to 8-9 years at this point...and this UX/UI design is one of the most horrific and unpleasant one I have seen in years.

It is not one of those "I got used to the design so much so this change annoys me" - it is one of those "works useful, iconic, and there was no point in ruining it."

This behavior reminds me of "justifying" their job or gaining points in front of the Management by having useless but visible projects (something I have heard was a frequent problem at Google fwiw).

Green color is great for enabling color-blind folks to navigate. Sure, but it did not require a completely cartoonish overhaul of the UI Design.

Font is too big, website is a mess with whitespace, and currency calculator now require scrolling down. It is very difficult in terms of legibility.

Imo - the article is missing forest for the trees with many comments attributing it to "individualism" in the US society and how it differs from Europe.

Imo - this boils down to a simple thing: US employees actually have a lot more power than they realize simply thanks to the sheer amount of tech companies operating in such a large economy, fighting for the best talent they can find. This is also reflective in topics like no NDA in California fwiw. Employees in Europe are much more married to the job and with fewer tech companies operating, the market innovates less.

Just wanted to mention out there that this is one of the topmost reasons why I left Germany (and moved back to Asia).

- Lack of political will to fix the bureaucratic mess: I had to come to Immigration Office standing in the queue at 3-4am due to lack of appointment slots online.

- One of the biggest companies in Germany didn't know how to move my employment permit from Berlin to Hamburg. No complicated case even! I was on visa, single, residence tied in Berlin and for 4 weeks their HR and Immigration partner kept deliberating on where/how the application should proceed. I worked at small startups as well as some big ones and I felt a major lack of empathy for foreign workers among German/European colleagues who never had to deal with such paperwork.

- I felt tons of virtue signalling here but minimal support for once you were in the country. Eg. Poland had had Immigration Advisory Centers you could call and seek advice on your case for free, in multiple languages incl. English. Poland! - the country "infamous" for not being very foreigner-friendly. Zero such support in Immigration Center (Auslandsamt) in Germany with silly argument of "we can't speak in English even though we work in an office where we must interact with foreigners every day because what if legal repurcussions?"

Long story short, it left a poor taste and I chose to leave.

Turned out for the better but just wanted to point out: I still believe that problem is not just collecting information (there are sites like allaboutberlin that are good at it) but handholding/support (like Jobbatical/Localyze are doing and some lobbying/support to the govt. to fix the bureaucracy that is living 20 years back in time.

Does anyone have ANY recommendations for referral platform?

Cold application is fairly useless in today's age and time. A referral puts your application much ahead in the pool so that a human actually reads it.

Blind used to be a tolerable place until they made it exclusively US-centric. Importantly, I really loved their side product - Rooftop Slushie - where you could have resume reviews, interview prep, and get trusted referrals for a small sum. They seem to have closed that though.

Does anyone have any recommendations for referral community/platform?

Question to folks who respond and experienced managers: how do you deal with peer managers who're not as supportive and out to get you?

Context: I joined a startup and I'm leading a new function for this org. While I have decent relationship with all others, one of my peers is far less supportive, demonstrates his value/("we made this call before you joined") at every opportunity, and even wanted to push through some of the tasks/projects on me/my team where we need not be owner but partners.

Management is supportive of me as well but said peer has a stronger rapport and I don't want to be finicky about this to the management.

How do you rightfully pushback in this scenario then?

Glad to hear you tried and liked it

For anyone looking for an INCREDIBLE note-taking app, check out UpNote. https://getupnote.com/

- Sleek UX/UI. It does not overoptimize there either. Just the right amount of perfect for me.

- Importantly, cross-platform: as someone on Android and Mac, it works seamlessly

- $24.99 Lifetime pricing. No subscription BS.

- Developers pay close attention to user feedback but they're also not dumping features there left, right, and center. Most updates are targeted at making this faster than bigger. (It is already fast enough)

- No "Social/collaborative" BS. I want my notes to be mine.

- Export capability to PDF, HTML etc.

Disclaimer: No, I have no affiliation with the product. Just a super-happy user who'd like to recommend this to everyone. I have tried many note-taking apps out there but this one really hits it out of the park

I think the folks who rode the ride a couple years back got it good: somewhere around 2012-2019 was great time for someone who had worked at marquee tech companies, had massive stock options, and commanded premium on the job market when they moved on from their orgs.

plenty of PMs and PMMs being let go fwiw as per my feed

Strong disagree with that one and this is a fairly unambitious take. Most companies and employees themselves in the EU buy their own kool-aid of "yeah we are ok with getting paid $40k because we got health insurance" (which does not work as efficiently in practice as one would like).

EU - esp. Germany and some other European countries - have abysmal salary compared to rest of the developed world and a poor wage growth over the last 10 years or so.

Heck, even countries like India have experienced faster growth: netto, a senior tech professional in India can earn more than what what they'd get in Germany. And that's not even accounting for 3-5x difference in cost of living.

He's lost a lot but it's not like he's having to ask his wife to stop going out to lunch with her friends

Fairly sure that none of the FB employees are paid so low where they have to stop asking their spouses to go on a $20 lunch with friends.

Curious: any insights you can share on learnings you had throughout your career when it comes to writing succinct but to the point emails/documents/communication?

I think this would be very helpful for someone who's just venturing on to half of your career length.

My cursory internet search shows me that it has 700 Million active users worldwide - that number is not "small" in my opinion. One of the most popular messaging apps in Asia, Europe, CIS countries, LatAm etc. I think you just prove my point of there being an North American bias against other messaging platforms fwiw

The fact that you are getting so many response arguing that "its just your social circle/just one anecdotal data", when the parent pro-iPhone comment is exactly the same anecdotal evidence speaks volume about pro-iPhone bias that plenty of North American users may have.

Some of the arguments are straight up bonkers for me - for instance, "iMessage is more secure." Is it? Apple is a US-based firm and subject to the whims of US laws and governmental intrusion.

In my circle - and I have lived in both Europe and Asia - we heavily use Telegram. I find it to be far more favorable experience than iMessage. UX and interoperatibility between platforms is far more superior and it runs flawlessly - doesn't matter whether it is a flagship Apple/Samsung device or a cheap Xiaomi phone. Or PC/Mac/Linux for that matter.

I am more surprised at the speed at which they reply with a reasonably well-thought response