technology churn on WallSt^internet

my perception of churn has been fundamentally shaped by two phases in my professional experiences — 1) pre-2007 internet career in SG and 2) post-2007 WallSt career in US/SG.

The technologies in the internet space has faster churn.

A big chunk of WallSt infrastructure is browser-based, intranet or internet. They experience similiar level of churn. Jxee is affected. Remember PWM servlet-based framework?

Another chunk of WallSt infrastructure is low churn, including coreJava, c++, SQL, MOM, FIX, sockets, batch jobs

By the way, Linux is dominant on WallSt and in the broader internet ecosystem.

UI technology is usually high-churn. Increasingly browser-based.

Macq2015: I decided to ask for no raise

This retrospective aims to shed some lights on my sentiments

• background: at that time, my visible burn rate was around 6k/Mo, so my  brbr was more than 2.0
• my fear: bonus stigma. I was driven to do everything I could to avoid another traumatic experience. With low base, it was easier for manager to pay me some bonus.
• .. now I feel I can be stronger in my psychological defense. Am a weather-proof adult, not a young graduate.
• my hope: low base (160 vs 200) would make me less expensive, and therefore lighten the weight of expectation on me. I really wanted an easy job like a contract job.

scalability^latency on WallSt^web2.0

Web2.0 shops care only about scalability and don’t care about micro latency engineering including multi-threading, language/compiler features.

However, web2.0 shops are not always impressed with WallSt scalability. OPRA feed handler copes with 20,000 kmps and requires scalability. Similarly, my NYSE XDP feed handlers can cope with 370 kmps per thread. These systems are operated by a dotcom!

Many WallSt architects don’t care about scalability per-se. For other architects, scalability is achieved with hardware and architecture.

Both camps care about data structures, which are fundamental to scalability and latency.

some realities4China developers #wage,age

Above 35 … considered too old for coding job. Screened out by Many hiring teams. Most guys above 35 need to move into mgmt or consider something else or somewhere else.

— wage:
In Shanghai, above RMB 30k/M is hard (Jason Fu). MS fresh grad (probably in Shanghai) RMB 300k/Y, then slow increment towards 500k/Y

My in-law was an IT manager in Shanghai. CNY 400k is achievable, but CNY 600k is tough. See https://bintanvictor.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5321&action=edit&classic-editor

I can see the livelihood stress level.

— 996 culture — 9am-9pm, six days a week. I think this is fairly realistic, not exaggerated.
“Ten years ago, people rarely complained about 996”, said one insider on https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-ma.html

An engineer’s day at one of China’s tech giants started at 8:00 a.m., and should have ended at 8:00 p.m., but he said that nobody wanted to be the first to leave, for fear of being labeled unprofessional or uncommitted. Reported on https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-workers-are-starting-to-rebel-against-grueling-9-9-6-workplace-culture/

edu credential: I beat most@those brank guys

In terms of college brand recognition and exclub status, most of those “brank” guys are actually at or below my level

• shuo
• Jiang.Zhu
• Zhao
• LN.Qiao
• Mo.Zhu
• those MDs

I tend to dismiss this educational achievement but if I reverse role with one of the brank guys, and look at Tan Bin’s UChicago achievement, I would recognize

1. [h] he achieve it at age 43
2. [h] his GPA
3. [h] he never copied homework of others, and others often copied his homework
4. [h] he has one of the highest class attendence rates
5. [h] Most students took 2 Pass/Fail but he took only one.
6. [h] most students took about 1 year to finish the program, but he took it over 2.5 years, and learned more.
7. UChicago has heavy homework and non-trivial exams
8. [h=hard facts, not subject to interpretation]