Engineers Under 5

Wednesday — 9th Apr 2025

Just read a post from some posh-looking AI company that said, we do not hire hire engineers with more than 5 years of experience for the Jumior Engineer post. Pretty crazy, the pay was 130k anually USD, so a lot of people applied in general. But they just said that.

They said a lot of things, but the primary reason was: They are investing in talent. I get it. I watch a lot of sports, I’ve played VALORANT professionally, I know what real talent provides to you compared to known.. and perhaps exhausted entities.

Maybe it sounds a little harsh, but a programmer who’s been working professionally for five years has likely already revealed their potential. What you’re going to get is roughly what you see. That doesn’t mean that people can’t get better after that, but it means that the trajectory by which they improve has already been plotted.

The last bit was the hard hitting bit to be honest. I’m 10 months into work. I started July 8th, today its April 8 sort of. Am I getting better? Am I doing useful things? Am I contributing? Am I learning?

This is my time, this is the time where I am supposed to be learning at an EXPONENTIAL rate, doing so much work, absorbing so much, imrpoving so much, and becoming a much more capable person. Am I doing that?

Am I stagnant? Living in a comfortable place, where I am respected, where I don’t go beyond my daily, where I’m not necessarily as pushed as I should be. Lets say, I do get married in a year or two. I will for sure, not have time then to get anything done. To learn, to improve, to work on side projects. Am I making good use of the time I have?

Whereas a programmer who’s either straight out of school or fresh off their first internship or short-stint job is essentially all potential. So you draw their line on the basis of just a few early dots, but the line can be steep.

Its a great question, I think its time to push on a bit harder. I have a valid reason to opt out of a lot of the shit shows I get dragged into aswell now. Happy about that, the 10k coming in should also help me reinvest in anything that may improve my work.

The thing I need to do most at this point is suck it up a bit, I’m being far too grumpy and far too much of a dickhead these days. I need to be normal and be okay again. Be pleasant, or if I can’t.. not be unpleasant. Too many times a question just fires off my pressure cooker whistle, or an unprompted call gets my blood pressure high. Too early for all this. I’m 23. Let it be. Let people be. Tell them if you have to, what you prefer and don’t but stop being a dickhead and ruining their mental aswell.

[[Why we won’t hire a junior with five years of experience]]