civicsquid

One thing that I really appreciate about the blockchain and AI communities is that there is a lot of open source activity in these spaces. It seems feasible to find an interesting project on GitHub, get a deep…

In the very late 1990s to the early 2010s, it seemed like the volume of distributed systems research was enormous. If I search for papers during that period, I see everything from theoretical stuff like Chord to…

Most of my co-workers aggressively max out their 401k's and contribute to an after-tax scheme once they hit IRS limits. They stress to me that it is important to keep as much money as possible out of taxable accounts.…

I want to read some technical papers on distributed systems to understand what work has been in focus over the past few years and to learn a bit more about those topics. One thing I'm not sure about is how to even find…

Back when I was doing research in VR about a decade ago, everyone followed the golden rule: do not cause any sudden acceleration! This was because studies had regularly shown that doing so produced feelings of motion…

This is probably a dumb question, so bear with me. In the past few years I've noticed some folks at my company migrate to some pretty interesting mid-stage startups, all of which were completely unknown to me. I feel…

I work on an infrastructure team at Meta. I love large distributed systems work and like the sort of work I do, but I’m getting a bit ground down by the machine. I had a thought about how I’d love to try to solve some…

I work for Facebook (now Meta) on an infra service and have for over 3 years. When I joined I knew I was getting into an environment that had high expectations of ICs. Ever since I started there has been this high…

I work at Meta, and I have for 3 years now. I made it from new grad to a terminal level. For better or worse, I stayed on the same team the whole time. I am not interested in building a career on a single team at a…

I'm pretty burnt out. I'm looking for some trips that might help me get back to myself. I've tried to plan some larger trips but I don't have the energy, so I figure I should focus on something more restorative than…

I am a fairly recently-minted senior engineer at a MAANG company (3+ YOE). I think it is time for me to move on as morale is low, my compensation has dropped significantly recently, and I no longer really feel motivated…

I work in a large infra organization at one of the big tech companies. I like almost everything about my job and I feel like the infra space is right for me. But one thing I really don't like is the social situation.…

I work at one of the big tech companies. I make what I think is good money, and I generally enjoy my work (although it has been starting to feel like a bit of a grind). I've been here for over two years. I got an offer…

I've heard a lot about The Great Resignation these past few days. If you took part in it (or plan to), what will you be doing next?

When I was younger I never really developed any hobbies or things I liked to do. From the end of middle school until I finished college, it seemed like the only thing to do in life was work. Now I'm out of school and…

I'm trying to decide whether or not the bay area is a place I could live. When I interned there last summer I didn't have a car and lived in Sunnyvale, which made things pretty boring. If I were to move there I'd…

I'm 21, going to be 22 soon, and going to graduate college sometime next year. I've had a 100% overbite for a while. Makes me not want to go do things or smile, so I figured I'd change it by looking into braces/aligners…

I have an option to work for a large tech company in the Bay Area or in Seattle. I'm not sure which to pick, and as far as I can tell the work experience will be about the same. Any thoughts one way or another?

This is my final year of undergrad. I have a new-grad software engineering offer with one of the FAANG companies. I can choose between the Bay Area and Seattle. Base comp is a bit over 100k plus RSU's (a reasonably…