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Comment by padraicmahoney | Hacker News Reader

Yes. Some of the opportunities exist in odd corners of the software universe.

To offer just one example, I'm aware of a software company that does nine figures in ARR making high performance computing software for very large financial institutions. There's basically no chance you've ever heard of them. They're very low key. The company hasn't grown headcount much in the last decade, and their employees don't really leave. But some of their people writing really low-level code are certainly making multiples of representative peers at FAANG.

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I used to work at such a place. Contracts with places large as BAML and other places you e never heard of…

Unless you’re the low level wizard you’re just going to make an industry standard salary, maybe a bump but nothing special.

What does a low level wizard need to know more specifically?

Assembly would be a good start. But to really make use of that you need to learn the internal intricacies of processor architectures and operating systems. If you want to be employable, there's just a gigantic amount of seemingly boring details to learn before you can even start to build something interesting. With high level languages you can jump into the job market almost immediately, so the cost of entry vs. potential reward is better for most people. If you don't have fun when spending years of your life banging your head while digging down incredibly complex rabbit holes, it's probably not worth it.

There's nothing too terribly special about low level wizardry, other than you really _do_ need to understand how the hardware works, and how your language works. Oddball skills you really need to know (and can easily pick up if you have a mind to) include: a) Reading processor/part data books. These are your API docs. Most of your answers are in there if you care to look. b) Reading schematics. You don't need to be able to write/design hardware, but you need to be able to figure out what each CPU pin is wired to and how you're expected to access peripherals. Again, not hard to figure out if you put your mind to it. Very handy to know: How to use a multimeter/oscilloscope/JTAG programmer/logic analyzer. There are your debuggers. You don't need them often, but when you need them, you NEED them.

This sounds like a typical embedded software engineer and I frequently see people around here complaining about the low salaries for these roles. What am I missing?

Like everything else, salaries vary widely, even in a fixed geographic area. Pay isn't bad if you can find a place that appreciates the work.

HFT

Magic missile, garbage collection enchantment, server resurrection.

Multiclassing is hard, but some get by as a making a divine pact and taking Eldritch Blast and Prestidigitation as cantrips. When all you have is sledgehammer, even smaller hammers are nails.

Server rez on a low level wiz build? That's way high level thoughts and prayers to the Top 500 (also a cleric build) or lim. "request" to the Blackrock genie over in Budapest. Besides, 7th? Pff, call "company of choice" to fight for you, save or die server vileness!, and of course "peon:cleanse everything? peon:what do mean everything? cleric:EVERYTHING."

Frankly you probably want a PRC, and at those admin levels much, much save or die. Probably got so many server pokes per minute you're gonna be furiously holy wording your file system all day long. Team members? Rez? Please. You solo that.

Low level wiz? "Welcome to name brand, and lack of female desirability, here's your special hat..." "Why aren't the lights on?" [1] "Help, I lit my own hands on fire!" [2] "Ah, every threat one hits me!" [3] "Man they target me bad at conferences, how'd I draw DARPA as agro..." [4] "Holy s*t there's a lot of documentation to write!" [5]

High level wiz? "Computation hates all magical ideas and their very implication!" "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal of my trust, our own company is secretly controlled by Orcus and seeks the death and slavery of all life on Earth" [6] "Join me in the bag within bag abyss together and we shall quest to Jubilex for glory and honor across the eternal battlefields of tomorrow!" [7] ITGETSOEPIC::THEYWONTLETULEAVE::ALREADYATWARP::AUTOLADDEREJECTED::HOWDIDRAWULTRONASAGRO::MIDASTOUCHISHORRIFYING::AHHHHHHH [8]

[1] https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/light.htm

[2] https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/burningHands.htm

[3] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SquishyWizard

[4] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShootTheMageFirs...

[5] https://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#scribeScroll

[6] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FaceHeelTurn

[7] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/cpp-and-winrt-...

[8] https://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1355

BAML?

Possibly BofA Securities formerly Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BofA_Securities

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Now BofA

Aren't you just indirectly working at FAANG then? In most cases you end up being hired by a 'talent' agency that finds work for you at these major companies.

If I understood the top-level post correctly, no. They are very much not working for a FAANG, nor for a talent agency that works for a FAANG. They're working for a company that supplies software tools to high-frequency traders or something similar. Very, very different.

(Of course, the original question was "not FAANG or HFT", so this still may not be what they were looking for...)

Do you have a name for said company?

Note that the two accounts responding in this chain were made only a few days ago, and that this entire thread might be some kind of phishing/advert

It might be, though it also sounds like where I work, which is a company that has been mentioned a couple of times on HN (to a mixed reception).

Yep can confirm - if you know who this is, then it’s obvious who they are talking about.

Is that the company which shall not be named?

I’m not going to name them because for some reason these comments have chosen not to mention them by name, but they’re not a secret company - they’ve had a lot of posts on here on HN… they do cool shit and are super smart, but I guess the biggest reason people don’t like to talk about them is they’re a secret weapon and you don’t want others to have your advantage (even though everyone knows about them lol)

who is it?

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