Who's a tech youtuber slash a former that a scientist who worked at Facebook on Buzzfeed.

In this part of the interview, we talked about his transition from little science to software engineering as well as his life on a career in general.

So let's just dive into it.

So my first question is, I understand that you decided to switch from data science to Selfridges.

Could you tell us why you decided to make a switch?

Yeah, So I think, um, I think I reached the point where?

Well, I guess it gets a little bit personal.

Like when when I was working at Facebook, there was a time where I kind of just like, burnt out because of, like, videos and work.

And the reason was, there's like, two reasons I did the work first for the work.

It was because, like it was getting like, a little bit harder.

We did a project that was a bit more, a bit more stressful because, like there's huge implications for what we did and like, like monetary implications, so and then I also like switch teams like switch sub teams, and there were a lot of reorders on on my team, so that kind of made like things not super stable and then for videos.

I think I was at a point where I felt like I was too pressured to do.

Like I added too much artificial pressure to myself saying like, Oh, I should make this video at this time every week, for example, at, like Thursdays.

But But the issue of that is, especially when you're working of sponsors or you have friends or you have a life.

It's kind of hard to meet the deadline exactly at that time because there's a lot of factors.

So then I think at one point I just got, like, burnt out a little bit, and then and then I kind of took a break.

But that break allowed me Thio think about my life in a more holistic way, and then because I had more time to think about it, I was like huh?

Like, maybe data science is not right for me.

Maybe video is not right for me.

You know, I started asking a lot of questions, and then at that point I thought OK, in five years or imagine if I wantto work on something for five years, so I want to be a really good day to scientists like analytics.

Or did I want to be really good as a song for Engineer House?

Except for engineering?

Sounds cooler because you can actually build stuff.

And I thought to myself like Imagine in the in a situation where I had to work for a start up or I want to do my own startup What would be more useful?

Me being able to build the product myself or me being able to analyze the data myself?

But the thing is for me, I think like when you're doing a startup, it's It's very easy to get insights from the data in the beginning, because all you want or care about is like, What's the retention of the users?

How many new users are getting already using this feature?

Nothing complicated, right?

So getting more skills for data science doesn't translate well to being a very effective worker and at a start up.

So I thought being a softer engineering like being a suffragette here, might be Maur like, maybe more fitting to me and then the other reasons.

Just like I feel like I want to build things because I've always been like that.

And I also had a C s degree, so I might as well, you know, use it.

Yeah, right.

So it sounds like your like, ultimate goal long term goal is to do it started for work back then.

Yes.

Now, like, I'm not that sure anymore because, like, because I like, you know, I've grown have changed and then yes, like, if I can do a startup, Yes.

But it's not my ultimate goal, but I do think about it sometimes.

Like it's just in case, in case I want to do it right?

Yeah.

Uh, I think another thing you mission is that you like building things.

Could you maybe tell us a little bit more?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, um, like, not in the software related realm.

When I used to be when I was a kid, I used to play these games, and sometimes they're like these mini games with any games where you could, like, build things, and it's pretty useless, like it's I'm in part the the normal story.

Like, for example, kingdom parts you could build like your spaceship and stuff like, uh, and I just really like building that spaceship and then just see it, Just like yeah, like playing like Legos.

I used to like I used to like tinkering with things.

There was something called the rain meter.

It's It's on.

Windows is where you could, like, make your own widgets on your desktop.

And I just like to make things nice, you know, or, like, useful.

And yes, So I think in my mind also videos, right?

Like, videos is also something that you kind of build and create because yeah.

So and I also like Photoshopped I still like, you know, like making new images out of, like, multiple images and stuff like that.

So I thought to myself, like, you know, I was always, like a builder.

Kind of a guy.

Maybe sell for engineering this for me?

No.

So you felt like in Dennis eyes you weren't You weren't doing enough building.

Yeah.

No, you don't.

You don't build anything at all because I especially what I was doing.

Yeah, you.

Nothing you do is really permanent.

Usually just do something doing analysis or basically do something such that you could convince other people to build stuff.

But you never actually build your own thing.

Especially at a big company where Dana Engineering is already done.

All the pipelines air done.

All you have to do is just get some data, like, spit out in sites like you don't you don't build anything.

That sounds pretty frustrating for you.

Um, it depends because, like, some part of me do like doing analysis and like understanding to product inside out because I really like to spend time and understand users.

So that was fun.

And but, yes, it sucks that there's nothing that I can show for, right?

I can't be like, Oh, yeah, I built that.

Or like, I did this, you know?

So, yeah, so I think that's the reason.

I see.

So it sounds like, um, you liked some of the things that you were doing as a neuroscientist.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

But they were like these other things that you missed.

Right?

Right, Right.

Okay.

On dhe when you said you took a break.

Uh, what do you mean by that?

Well, like a couple weeks.

Yeah, I took him.

I think I took two weeks off like of work.

And then I also I I still kept I kept making videos also, but then at one point, I stopped making videos for, like, like, months.

And then and then I also went to work.

But then I also like, took a lot of vacation during work, so I was literally doing nothing, all right?

Kind of like, you know?

Yes.

Always doing like nothing.

So that's the breakout was taking.

All right, See, you know, and then eventually you decided to take the leave or take the leap on, uh, leave your job pretty much, Yeah.

What was that process was just like so, Yes.

So at first, like, I didn't think about leaving my job directly.

I was thinking about like, Oh, maybe I could switch teams, you know, because because maybe the problem isn't the job.

Maybe it's a team or something like that.

So I thought about switching teams.

I thought about doing like, internal transfer to suffer engineering and stuff like that and, um, Indian, like the one that would make me the most money would be if I switch companies to do software.

So that's like why I chose that and, um, I just want to say like, it's like usually I wouldn't quit my job before getting like, another job in hand because I think that's pretty risky, especially for someone.

If you're like on a visa, for example, then you have a limited time before you get kicked out of the country.

So I would advise against that.

The reason that I did it is because, um, I was pretty confident in terms of like because of my connections because of like, my studying and I did study during, um, during the time I was still working on Facebook and I was still, like, practicing coating and stuff like that.

And I did do a few interviews, right?

I just have been, like, accepted on offer yet, So I was pretty confident that I won't get a job in the short amount of time.

So that's why I was able to quit kind of early on.

And the reason why I quit pretty early was because I kind of want to start my vacation, like, pretty early.

Yeah, right.

Uh, you know, you mentioned that you thought it practicing self for engineering interviews.

How did you prepare for them, right?

Um, the code we have.

So the first thing I did was like, um, yeah, I just started, like, opening.

Leeco bought a premium membership and then I just, you know, started practicing easy questions first, and I just did them grinding them.

I did like one or two per day because I want to take it slower because I was still working at Facebook.

But I'll take it.

I take I took it slow, so I just did, like, one or two questions a day, and then right before an interview, I would do a lot of them.

I would do a lot of them beforehand and then also bought, like, elements of programming interview.

So I that complimented my, uh, my decoding sessions.

And then also one thing I did was people told me to I read I read blind a lot and they told me Thio practice like white boarding.

Unfortunately, don't have a whiteboard, so I just take, like, a piece of paper, take a pen, and then usually I try to solve it on the paper first and then write on the computer.

I'm done.

Yeah, that's it.

Would you like run the code.

Right.

Okay.

On the code, you could run the code.

So, yes, I would write it, like on paper.

And now we're just copy it on the code.

And then I would run it and then see if it's good or not.

Yeah.

And then for system design, I just read a lot.

Uh, have I read something called Rocking the system designed interview where they have, like, these simulation questions we're going to try to build instagram or build Twitter.

And I would read how they did it, you know, like load balancers, bubble blonde and stuff like that.

Databases.

And then whenever I don't understand something, they have a link to click into, like, different database type like like sequel database.

Sorry, Relational versus non relational.

And then you just get more more knowledge.

That's how you can answer these questions.

No.

Would you recommend someone else go through the same path and use the same resources?

Yeah, I think so.

I think it worked.

It was working pretty well for me.

Nice on s.

So you you started preparing for those interviews.

You left her job.

You kept prepare for those two years.

And how was that.

Can you tell us about, like, how the whole process was like to interview numbers and maybe they negotiate forever?

Um, yeah, so I'll talk about, like, a few interviews, but basically, huh Looks like it's like, once you feel like you're pretty confident in your coding skills, then what you do is, um yeah, you start, you start applying.

But that usually what happened for me was that I got kind of lazy, so I just kind of I applied.

And then they tell me why.

Okay, let's schedule a phone stream, are on site, and then that's like a deadline for me.

It's so that's when I start actually bearing.

And so they had to do phone screens usually.

And then you prepare for that.

You do a few quoting questions, and then once you did a phone screen, if if you pass it, then they usually put you into like an on site and on interviews and usually during on site interviews.

There's like five or six interviews.

It's super long.

One of the longest one I've had was like from like 9 a.m. toe like 5 p.m. I think it was like six interviews and one lunch interview.

It was so freaking long like my throat started to hurt I towards the end.

Yeah, so then, yes.

So then after the on site, you know, you wait and you really any hope that the recruiter sends your congratulations email and then if they do, that's awesome For some companies and might be slower, some companies might be faster.

And then usually what they do is that they might ask you, like well, before the interview, they might ask you like, Oh, what?

What kind of compensation do you expect to have?

Usually, I would say, like, say something like higher than what you currently have just so that you can at least get a boost and then yeah, And then they also ask you like, Oh, do you Are you interviewing other people?

They always ask that The reason why they ask, that is because if you are, they might expedite the process that might make it faster.

And then once you get that information on, do they say that you have offered That's where they give you numbers.

They usually give you like a bass competition bonus, and then also equity.

Onda Um, yeah.

So you get that number sometimes, or I should most of time.

You can just ask form.

Or even even if you have, like no counter offers for some reason, like they would just be okay with it, they'll increase it.

But another strategy that's really good is if you have a counter offer from another company.

So you see which one has the higher compensation and you bring that to the one of the lower compensation and then don't like, match you if you're lucky, they might even, like, increase it the Mord and match.

But usually they don't do that.

They just like match, because there's no reason to Yeah, and then, yeah, so, like a little tip companies that are, like, well known that most people want to go work for them.