Long Post—Alert. Reflecting on my journey starting out as a non-technical person. 2015: I was working behind a front desk of a hotel making $13/HR at the age of 26. Bills up to my chin and eviction notice stapled to the door. I Google 6 figure jobs with least amount of math and Computer Science pops up. One day I called out sick and snuck off to a local university to ask what it would take to get into the Computer Science Masters program. Graduate director told me, “You have a bachelors in business, computer science is too hard and it will take too long, stay in hotels.” I made a deal to go post-Bach for a year and take the fundamentals. If I kept a 3.5 or higher, he’d admit me. That day—I quit my job, and signed up for Uber and Lyft to drive to earn cash. 2 months later, I was taking Java 1 in the Summer. A year later, I was in the Masters CS program. Would have had a higher GPA, but my Java 2 lab instructor told me after submitting my 2nd assignment, “Your code is garbage.” My confidence was shaken and I stopped going to lab the rest of the semester and took the 10% hit. 2016: Started grad school and my first software engineering internship at a tech company making 46K/Year. Got ragged on for never making an “A” on my assignments—I was never top of the class. But I was on top of the world! $13/hr($27K/YR) to $46K/YR in 11 months…LIT! 2017: Co-worker: “I mean you can code…but you’re nothing exceptional.” I switched into technical product management intern role. The thought that although I got my work done, I was not on the level of my peers weighed in on me a lot. Got a pay bump to $75K/year and worked that role well into 2018…Then…The Company starts many rounds mass layoffs. I jump ship. 2019: Switched to Scrum Master role—$110K/YEAR! Living the dream. Realizing this is the sweet spot for what I like doing. I hated being a product manager and certainly did not like coding. In this role I begin to realize that I can command the respect of engineers, peers, product and management simply from my organizational skills, work ethic and curiosity to learn. I inquired about being a team lead or a TPM and guess what my boss said? “You’re not technical enough.” 2021: Jumped to new company in program management in the fall of 2021. New Total Comp: $140K/year! Job was easy peasy but I felt it didn’t allow for me to get much technical depth and knowledge to keep me sharp and begin earning engineering respect or do well enough to pass FANNG interviews—so started looking again. 2022: Just signed an offer for a new total comp of $230K ($180K base) fully remote near Houston, TX as a Senior TPM. It feels good to know that I am truly just getting started. I have FAANG companies kicking down my door. I’ve interviewed at several of them and only returned back with an offer from Google, but accepted a role at another company due to remote and higher pay. Several interviewers at Google even said, “I’m impressed with your resume.” My goal is to learn all I can and ramp up my TC as high as I can before my 40s. How realistic is $400K/YR? Idk..But I never thought $100K would be achieved in my lifetime, yet here I am. Reflecting back, I wish I had given myself more grace and love. I beat myself up a ton thinking how could I be so far behind in life and these youngsters so far ahead of me. I want to say to whoever needs to hear this, it’s never too late. Make a plan and be unwavering. Whenever I had a weak moment, I asked myself, “Do you want to stand behind that hotel front desk on your feet for 10 hours straight overnight for $13/HR again ?” That was enough to keep me motivated. Be fair, kind and gracious to yourself. I guarantee your journey won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. I’m nothing exceptional—that’s very true. I am also not gifted. But one thing id always say to myself is this, “No one will out-work me, no one will be more hungry and tenacious than me.” Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue…But hey. Total Comp: 230K YOE: 5 BTW that old co-worker who told me I was nothing exceptional? Guess whose asking me for a referral and career advice? Be careful how you treat people. You just never know who you’ll need in the future. I was taught to never look down on a man or woman unless you’re looking to lift him/her up. #google #meta #apple #tpm #tech #netflix #amazon #roblox #databricks #twitter #snap #microsoft #twilio #facebook #stripe #datadog #lyft #square #slack #janestreet #citadel #coinbase #linkedin #doordash #nvidia #oracle #HRT #robinhood #akuna #chime #scale #airbnb #fiverings #capitalone #salesforce #boozallenhamilton #tpm #productmanagement #pgm #programmanager
You’re a legend and this is what it means to win. Don’t look down, don’t look back.
> 2017: Co-worker: “I mean you can code…but you’re nothing exceptional.” You had 1 year of experience? Fuck that coworker. Congrats on your success, well deserved after the hard work you put in.
That coworker feedback caused OP to pivot to TPM. May be it was a blessing in disguise. Congratulations to OP!
Agreed, 1 year of experience is not enough to judge someone. Don’t think for a minute the fact that OP was black didn’t factor into that.
Congrats, that’s quite a journey! 400k is realistic in FAANGs at high end of L5 PM.
^This!
Awesome! I respect your hard work to have gotten to where you are. I’m sure it was tough but you really killed it. Great job
So you are 33? Is this what ppl on this website mean when they say 5 YOE?
No they are 5 years old and already in manga
Well…for my first software engineering role, I asked for a Senior position. The recruiter took my resume and said, “Well that’s not gonna happen. Non of your hospitality experience counts. So…with that said, you have 1 year of experience—In this field.” Imagine the gut punch that was.
The sweetest revenge you can take on people talking smack is going ahead in life and succeed. Shuts them up pretty good!
I reminded the graduate director every semester that I passed. I made him reflect on his discouraging comments. My old co-worker—he’s several times asked me for a referral
I have constantly seen people in schools and universities talking smack to students who end up earning more than twice than their lousy asses! I hope he learnt his lesson! Never write anybody off!
What state were you doing hotels in and did you move?
In Florida. Yes. Moved to DC. It was the struggle bus
If you know how to be cheap you will make more than you lose in California, bay area.
Way to go!
Phenomenal story! Congratulations on your success!
thanks i hate it