Accepting that shiny job offer?
Saying this as a somewhat privileged and entitled new grad, a lot of folks, especially my hardworking friends who want to switch for better roles (placements require luck at IITs) and juniors who are more often than not smarter than me, hop on the first offer they can get out of desperation and fear. It takes courage and leverage to negotiate for sure. I feel it's quite similar to dating girls you don't know much, one wrong move and and you are a gone case (now live with that embarassement boyy), but if things go right (things will reallly go nice after that).
In this age of AI, you are not a programmer, but a problem-solver, and the high-level problem to solve is how to make the business go brrr. You either increasing revenues or reducing costs. That's it. I don't know how to drill this in the minds of my junior ICPC addict nerds and research friends, nobody really cares about programming, its just a bloody proxy. You will find some random Physics major girl coding in her emacs in starbuck like a psycopath and piss your pants. You are most probably not even a good programmer. There are companies with idiot HR policies where lack of a buzzword means you won’t be selected. You don’t want to work for them.
Most jobs (that you actually want to get) are never available publicly (its mostly useless to apply to job openings in this day and age), just like most worthwhile candidates are not available publicly.
Networking just means that you meet people who at some point can do things for you (or vice versa) and making a favorable impression on them. Help people, don't be a selfish jerk (especially when it comes to someones employment). If you ever can’t help someone but know someone who can, pass them to the appropriate person with a recommendation.
Co-workers are not really your friends. Don't involve emotions unnecessarily. You will eventually become close friends with some of them, but, you will move on in some years. I advocate on being it is the moral thing to do, and an awesome friendly coworker, but do not be under the delusion that everyone is your friend. Professional network and friends are two really different things. Spend time with actual friends, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your family, and most importantly yourself. Thank me later.
Engineers with high perceived value make more than those with low perceived value. People working in high-cost areas make more than people in low-cost areas. People who are skilled in negotiation make more than those who are not.
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/ https://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/ https://huyenchip.com/2020/01/18/tech-workers-19k-compensation-details.html https://jvns.ca/blog/2013/12/30/questions-im-asking-in-interviews/ https://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/