Life as a Distinguished Engineer  

Can’t click on the link

😂😂😂 yea so deep man, really

“Sthg” lol

This is what worries me. I’m doing a computer science degree, is this hassle worth it? All I want in the end is a decent job that allows me to also love a life.

@@cowliver1032dude, you’re definitely in the right path. This guy in the video is a distinguished engineer. You’re decades away from reaching his level if ever. You can stop and smell the roses and stop chasing the next promotion at any time.

@@cowliver1032nah you’re good bro. Comp Sci is such a broad field you can definitely find a lower stress job in the field and make a decent wage and still enjoy life. Maybe not as your very first job out of college, but those kinds of jobs are out there.

@@cowliver1032 I’m a software engineer and work at a small company with great work life balance. I may not make as much as the big tech guys but I live a comfortable stress free life

if you dont enjoy coding outside of work you are probably in the wrong field atleast in your 20s

​@@anmolmohanty4806 that is a shit take. I know plenty of developers that don't develop in their spare time

@@nathangekthis is a shit take from you. Lot of leads I know do develop in their free time on their projects etc.

​@@nathangeki'd say depending on person, tho i'd also understand a person who loves to code to take a break from coding as they are probably tasked with something that is just horrible to code, or something like that

​​@@anmolmohanty4806 Just because some do doesn't mean all do. Some leads and principals enjoy coding outside of work, but plenty of them do not. It doesn't mean you're in the wrong industry if you don't.

Do you mean age or years of experience?

@@ImTheBatchMan Probably age, I am currently a manager in big tech (24 years old)

@@ImTheBatchMan age

you also have to be good. there’s plenty of SWE that work long hours and don’t get much done. source: me, i’m bad lol

Are you referring to the cashier in the drive-thru at McDonalds?

If you do easy things, your life will be hard. If you do hard things your life will be easy.

In those jobs it’s easiest. Like finance. It’s not intellectual work so you can churn it out like Chinese workers on an assembly line. The only limit is how tired you get and the grey matter build up in your brain telling you you’re beyond bored

​@snarkyremarksbyginger3161 Apperently in your head, you either work as a swe or work at mcdonalds

Are you sure?

@@_Holy_Lance_ He himself has mentioned that in the video

Yep, he wasn't distinguished back then, but I'm sure those long hours contributed to his success.

@@RahulPandeyrkp Yes maybe. But my point was that it's not necessary that you have to work long hours at very senior levels.

@@DK-ox7ze agreed! just depends on what you want

I 100% support the right for everyone to work as much as they want and find the balance that’s right for them The problem comes when those that work 20 hours a day, have no life, and use the extra income they’re making to build wealth, get villainized by those that don’t want to work as much. “It’s not fair that this person has so much”

@@user-gp3qt5qd5w there is no way to justify because there is no reason to justify. No one needs to justify what they’re able to sell their labor for. If someone is willing to pay someone $$$ to run a company, then so be it.

And fuck the L7s 😂. Worst of both worlds.

​@@codycast What a strawman. Nobody is villianising the SWE who overworks himself and becomes a millionaire. People are villianising the billionaires who actually own these big companies and aren't working much at all. They only delude you into thinking they work hard. They are just reaping the benefits of others labor while underpaying them.

@@nou4605 except the fact that everybody wants to start a business where you’re able to hire engineers and sell the value that they create for more than that value creation cost you. So given that everybody would like to do what these billionaires are doing, and 99% of them risk their capital to try and fail, it would stand a reason that the ones that are actually successful are the ones that ended up driving value for consumers. If I have 1000 engineers that are each making $100,000/tear and generating $200,000/year/each of profit, I don’t know how that makes me a bad guy. So I don’t have sympathy for any of the venture capitalist that risk millions or even billions of dollars trying to make a successful product and then lose it all because I also don’t have El the rare examples where it pays off and the investor does very well How much other people make or lose is none of my business

are you at Amazon? They've changed their standards, over the years- they shit on everyone up to L7 now. It used to be: do an outstanding job/meet their standards, get left alone. now managers are so incentivized to fire/exit people that, unless you're one of them, you're going to get abused until you quit.

Coding is different from banking in how mentally draining it is. Banking has more consistent long hours by a wide margin though

Bros comparing banking to swe😂.

Earning 1 million / year at 25 years old would mean he could get to 10 million of savings a lot quicker than 45.

@@user-go8oj4dl4w is he 25? I ballparked him at young 30s

Getting to work at 11 means he’s still working an extra 5 hours a day…

Almost everyone I talk to in medicine advises other people *not* to get into medicine 😅

@@RahulPandeyrkp They're socially savy, unlike engineers lol. That's how they keep their job stability. Meanwhile SWEs have their market flooded with bootcamp grads and are automating their jobs away with AI. It's funny how it works out

Can't really relate, but that makes your experience all the more interesting to me. Do you plan on retiring young? Or maybe switching careers?

@@miloradowicz i plan on retiring young. Maybe around 35-40 - I plan to start a company.

@@miloradowicz but what they didnt tell you, although from the outside, that while being in a high position, people assume, youd have more freedom because of the money. Maybe that is true for certain jobs, but this is not one of them. In a industry like this, the more skill and experience you have the more responsibility and workload is being put on you because no one else can perform what you do, until someone comes along up to your position and the same level of understanding and work. As you reach higher, there will be less and less people, meaning less work distribution.

Why are you even here? Get back to work!

He wasn't a Distinguished Engineer at 24, that promotion happened years later. He got promoted rapidly within the company.

It's literally luck. You can work for 15 years, know everything these guys know, have a larger portfolio etc, but unless you happen to make the right connections at the right time you're not going to get there.

@@daylen577 of course luck is a big role. but its also naive to think that you can be lucky and dont have to try at all. yes he probably was super lucky, but he was also working 90 hour weeks. luck opens the opportunity for you but it doesnt guarantee you'll actually get anything from it

@@daylen577true. You gotta be ready if the opportunity is there But lots of people dedicate their lives to preparing for something that doesn’t come

@@daylen577 Respectfully, if you think it's the size of your portfolio that gets you promoted to a very high level then you haven't been paying attention.

Maybe he likes his work as much as you like your paycheck

@@shreyasshanker858 you are getting confused. With money you can have more time. Time is something you can’t get back.

Depends on company and location. If you are in big tech, minimum it would take 8-10 years(given you are highly talented and good opportunities are present before you)

@@rocknroll7967 wow thanks. This is really helpful information.

Andrew grew from New Grad to Distinguished Engineer within the same company (Pinterest) over ~8 years.

its not chill but yea the money is the sweet spot

I didn’t realize until I became one.

How much L5 get paid?

Much less than distinguished engineers.

@@Budulai89 Obviously

@@Budulai89 lowest iq response.

He wasnt at his current position at 24 lol that was much earlier

I went back to school at 26 to get my computer science degree (my second bachelor degree). No regrets

Take the yearly income you need to survive, adjust for inflation up to the year you want tor retire, and multiply that number by 33. So if you want 100k per year in today's money to be satisfied, and you want to retire in 10 years, inflation will kick that up to roughly 130k. Multiply by 33 to get 4.29 mil. You can then increase your yearly withdrawal by the inflation rate and you should theoretically never run out of money (based on historical market trends) You can retire on way less than that if you can live on less than 100k, which most people do anyway. You can also retire on less if you bank on social security existing when you retire. This number doesn't factor in any government benefits. Remember to include costs specific to retirement in your income like the fact that you will probably be paying for your own health insurance. If you buy a house, factor in when it will be paid off for a big reduction in yearly expenses.

He wasn't a Distinguished Engineer at 24, that promotion happened much later. Andrew was at Pinterest for 9+ years.

Make sure to have a balance though, you don’t want to reach 70 one day then realise you didn’t enjoy your younger years

Maybe L1/L2 are for interns? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Level of Engineers in a company

Usually the engineering ladder starts at L3. L1 / L2 are reserved for non-tech functions and/or interns.

@@RahulPandeyrkp Thanks

Taking advantage? It's a voluntary situation where the employee is free to leave at any time. Nevermind earning $1M a year in TC. Gimme a break with this exploitation nonsense.

Let people work as much as they want to...... You don't have to if that's not something you value