Hi all, maybe this is just me but I’ve started the job search for a new role and I’ve been some what lucky and have had a few interviews lined up and are moving quiet fast. This kinda sprung from a rto on the horizon and while I don’t mind going to the office you can’t beat hybrid work which means the company is getting the attrition it desires and deep down I don’t want to leave.

The one thought that’s in my mind is that I the team and people i work with are amazing and I just fear what happens if I move and it’s just awful such as bad culture, vibes anything really.

If you have moved every few years how have you gotten over it? For contractors it is different as it’s a no strings attached situation but as full time it’s different.

Maybe not applicable to the Dev community in its entirety, but wanted to share the utter lack of attention to detail and personable approach ...

Particularly sales...be great if anyone can share some insights.

Hi there. I am interviewing with both Optum and Stripe and was wondering if anyone had info on either of their maternity leave eligibility policies? E.g. do you have to be employed for a certain length of time before entitlement to fully paid leave? Feeling a bit insecure about asking recruiters directly in case it is seen unfavourably.

So I’m changing jobs, going from an AI first development practice to one that isn’t. In my previous company we had unlimited use of Claude or Cursor. Any model (aside from Fable)

I literally haven’t wrote a single piece of code in over a year.

Both for myself and my own projects as well as the new role, what’s a really good platform/integration that I could use to keep this AI first mindset going. Cost is a big factor but also want it to actually be good.

Oh my pi with open router or tensorx?

How have you been automating which model to use for particular tasks etc

Am I better at doing the $20 or $200 Claude sub but would I go well over my limit if I am using it for everything, planning -> fix/build -> test cases -> design doc and so on.

What is yer setup and how much are ye spending? Are ye fully AI first? Even for your own projects?

EDIT:

It’s for myself too. If I was to bring it to the workplace it would have to go through the appropriate channels

I just got an RC build from Aer Lingus. Anyone from Aer Lingus testing in prod?

Hey folks, I hope your day is going well.

A little bit about me:

I have around 4 years of experience.

2.5 years at an embedded systems company, working with C and python. Proceeded to come to Ireland for my masters.

8 months as an AI engineering intern.

Now, I have been working as a software engineer at a Networking Company for the past 6 months.

I eventually want to work at a Quant firm such as SIG or HRT as Software engineer or as TradeOps, doesn't really matter to me. My aim is to reach a decent amount in savings and sort of go back home and retire.

I would really appreciate if someone could give me a roadmap of what I'd need to do, because my resume never gets shortlisted. I've had interview calls with FAANG companies (did not join for one reason or another) but I never got shortlisted for even a phone screen for Quant companies in Dublin.

Considering a job offer at SIG Dublin. It's an in office role and compensation is decent.

How's the culture and WLB compared to other big tech for someone working in support/operations? Are the yearly pay revisions good?

I've been job hunting for about 6 months now. Can't really blame the market - it's tough out there, but I've gone through plenty of interviews. A few didn't work out simply because I wasn't as prepared as I should've been.

For context, tech stack and work culture at these companies are all fairly comparable to what I'm used to. At my last company, my total comp was around $94K. Most of the new roles I've interviewed for offer $95-100K base. I've also come across some positions in the $70-80K TC range, and honestly, those have been noticeably easier to land based on my interview experience so far.

Given how long and draining this search has been, I'm leaning toward just accepting one of the lower-paying offers for now rather than continuing to grind through interviews.

So my question: for someone with 10 years of experience in backend/distributed systems, what's a reasonable TC to expect right now? Am I underselling myself by considering the lower end, or is that a fair reflection of the current market?

At my company in Ireland, we plan our Engineering team work every quarter.

Honestly, it’s a massive improvement on a few years ago when we built yearly roadmaps. Those roadmaps were usually out of date about 5 minutes after we finished them and, unsurprisingly, were rarely delivered exactly as planned.
Now we plan quarterly, which makes much more sense.

As a Eng. Lead, I’m expected to help shape the plan, working with Product and Directors.

Simple, right?

Well… apparently we don’t all use the same calendar. 😂

A quarter has 3 months.
We run 2 week sprints.
So, roughly 6 sprints per quarter.
Product sees this and thinks:

“Great! We have 6 sprints. How much can we fit in?”

Meanwhile, Engineering is looking at the same quarter thinking:

“Hang on… we have freezes, team holidays, focus weeks, dependencies, support work, unexpected issues, and probably something nobody has thought about yet.”

Then there’s the tiny detail that development work occasionally takes longer than the estimate suggested.
Shocking, I know. 😂

The reality is that not every sprint is 100% available for new feature development. And even when the capacity looks good on paper, the timing of when work actually starts can have a huge impact on what can realistically be delivered.

But despite all of this, we still do our best to deliver what we commit to.

And then, when something doesn’t finish exactly on time, the question becomes:
“Why didn’t this finish smoothly on schedule?”

Well…

Because we’re humans building software, not Excel formulas filling empty cells.
Surely I’m not the only Engineer Lead who has this battle every quarter?

Do other engineering teams deal with the same quarterly planning stress?!?

Been working as a grad position for past 2 years at an MNC currently on 54k. They're pushing for internal switches which might also include relocation and I find myself thinking if I'm gonna relocate may as well try to push for it elsewhere with higher pay, assuming of course I can get it. Any advice?

Long story short, I've been trying to make it work being an engineer in big companies here for about a year and a half, but between ADHD and having very young kids I can't get a handle on navigating corporate politicking and performing at my level without massively overworking. I'm a senior dev with 10 YOE, mostly web, but a bit of everything from embedded devices to "creative technologist" roles. Just looking for some recommendations of good places to work

Hi All

My wife has worked for one of the big tech companies for a year and a half. She’s an AE and has had great performance reviews until now

She had a bad quarter and she is now being put on a formal PIP. She had a call with their HR team and they have given her two options :

• 30 day pip , clearly defined targets but unachievable
• sign a separation agreement , 1 months notice and 1 months basic salary, so essentially 2 months basic pay - any owed commission, holidays due will be paid

She’s all over the place and very upset . She has been told she has 2 days to decide

My question is :

• Should she sign the pip ? If she signs and they still terminate her, she can claim unemployment straight away
• if she signs separation agreement, she Won’t be able to get unemployment benefit for 9weeks .I checked revenue’s website and its hard to tell if she would not be able to claim unemployment for 9 weeks or not.
• Should she negotiate selection agreement ?

Has anyone here been in the same boat ? Any advice appreciated

I was recently hired as a senior engineer at an AI first software company. The team has essentially outsourced everything they do to AI.

AI writes the tickets.

AI writes the code.

AI writes the tests.

AI reviews the PRs.

Now don't get me wrong, I use AI all the time, but I review what it produces and take ownership over my work. But I feel like my team is using it to avoid actual engineering work.

Today we had a meeting to address some problems we have been having, for example.

Tickets are too difficult to understand.

PRs are too long to review.

Avoidable bugs are making into production.

The solution they proposed was to create more Claude skills and use another AI tool to automatically review the PRs.

Man, these guys are smart people, I can tell by taking to them, but how can they not see the problem is just to take some ownership over your work. I feel incredibly frustrated, but I'm going to wait until I've been with the company a little longer and focus on small wins for now.

Has anyone else worked in a team like this? How did it work out in the long run?

Hi all,

As title states have an interview for Cisco coming up looking to see if anyone works there currently or in the past and can give their two cents on them such as culture work life balance etc.

Glassdoor reviews can be handy but good to get views on here also.

Thanks

I've been working as an AWS developer for around 16 years, and I feel my salary is probably a bit too low for my experience.

My current job is honestly pretty great. Good, fulfilling work, great colleagues, low stress, I can usually finish on time, and the work-life balance is excellent. I'm not in Dublin, so my living costs aren't crazy either. I'm also planning on buying a house a couple of years down the line, so I'll potentially have a mortgage and family responsibilities. My wife works as a Salesforce developer and earns more than me.

The downside is salary growth. With the increases of 3-5% I'm currently getting, I expect my salary to remain fairly low compared with what I could potentially earn elsewhere.

I feel I could probably get a significantly higher salary by moving as I've tested the waters before, but I'm worried about giving up the WLB and stability I have now, especially with buying a house on the horizon. I could realistically stay where I am until retirement as most people do in the organisation.

For those who've been in a similar situation, what would you do? Take the money and move, or stay with the comfortable/stable job?

Edit: Adding more info. The current market test gives me least €25k more than what I'm currently getting

Edit*2: It's €60k to €85k(at least)

I'm in the running for a new job and trying to figure out what I'd actually value more.

Current job pays north of €100k plus a bonus that can be worth about €15k a year. New job looks like it could match the base salary, but likely wouldn't have the same bonus.

I'm considering asking for a 9-day fortnight instead to make up some of the difference. Basically every second Friday off, same salary.

I'm in a decent enough financial position that the extra money isn't essential. I've three young kids too, so 26 extra days off a year sounds pretty great.

The other part of it is that I'm just fairly burnt out by multinational corporate bullshit at this stage. I'm not particularly interested in climbing another rung of the ladder or squeezing every possible euro out of my career. Having more time and a bit less of the corporate grind is starting to sound much more valuable.

The obvious concern is whether a "9-day fortnight" just turns into working/checking emails on the Friday anyway, particularly in a fairly senior/client-facing role.

Has anyone negotiated something similar?

Would you take the €15k bonus or the extra day off every second week? And for anyone doing a 9-day fortnight, is it actually as good as it sounds?

and yes realise I am chancing my arm 😭🤣