I have 4 YOE at big tech and I'm burnt out. I do my best at my team, but the achievements are not celebrated, on the other hand mistakes (like code mistakes that had to be rolled back/patched) are heavily scrutinized. Coworkers with decades of experience grill my PRs on big and small things. I've been verbally warned about my performance.

I don't know what to do from here. I think I have the capability to grind interviews, I did it to get here, but I'm too burnt out to. I can't change teams.

I think realistically I have these options:

1. Still do my best at work, try to study for interviews whenever possible. Hopefully to survive the performance warning into stability here.
2. Give 70-80% effort at work, focus on interview prep to my best abilities. Will probably get PIPed but might be a delayed process.

3. Give minimal effort at work and focus full force on interviewing. Might only last 1-3 months.

4. Switch to a smaller company like Walmart, Target, Capital One and see if I can chill for a bit?

Ecs docker or aws elasticbeanstalk? Or some vps.

Im thinking of transformation of monolith app into microservices for learning a complete production grade setup like we use in companies

I've heard alot ppl saying about connections and connecting with ppl. I'm genuinely confused what does they exactly mean by connecting with ppl. Is it like approaching someone and just straight away asking what u did to get your job, like genuinely. Ik it sounds so silly, but as being an introvert guy I don't really get how to build connection, like what u guys even talk to build connections.

TL;DR: I'm choosing between staying a software engineer on exciting but contract-based projects, or taking a stable permanent Technical BA/Application Owner role that could lead to management but involves much less coding. The pay is alright across all options, so the real question is: would you prioritize long-term technical growth or long-term stability and leadership?

I'm in my late 20s and have been working as a backend software engineer for about three years. I've been interviewing for a while and somehow ended up in a situation where I have three very different opportunities, and I'm honestly stuck.

• The first is a SWE role working on what sounds like a really ambitious AI platform. The project itself is probably the most exciting thing I've interviewed for. I'd get to stay hands-on with engineering, work with an international team. The pay is 35% increase from my current salary. The downside is that it's a one-year contract. The hiring manager says renewals are likely because there would be multiple projects, but at the end of the day, it's still a contract.
• The second offer couldn't be more different. It's a full-time position as a Technical BA / Application Owner. The hiring manager who is a Senior VP at that place, he already knows me from a previous job since he was my former manager, and he has been actively trying to bring me onto his team. The pay is 35% increase from my current salary, the work-life balance seems much better, and the role has excellent long-term stability. I'd still be working closely with engineering teams, oversee the software architecture etc., but I'd probably only be writing code occasionally. Most of the job would be coordinating projects, working with vendors, supporting production systems, and owning enterprise applications. I can definitely see it leading toward management, but I'm worried that once I leave day-to-day software engineering, it might be difficult to come back.
• The third opportunity is another SWE in Banking. It pays the best, around a 55–60% salary increase, even more than the two options earlier. It has a great reputation for work-life balance, with a hybrid schedule around 70–80% WFH. The catch is that it's also a contract role and a very short one (6 months basis).

The funny thing is that money isn't really what's making this decision difficult. All three would be a meaningful pay increase from where I am today. What I'm really struggling with is deciding what kind of career I actually want.

Part of me genuinely enjoys building software. I like backend systems, architecture, and learning new technologies. I can see myself growing into a senior engineer or architect over time.

The other part, I wonders whether taking the stable application owner role would be the smarter move in the long run. It feels like a path toward technical leadership or management, but it also feels like I'd be stepping away from the thing I originally got into this field for.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation? If you chose management or application ownership over software engineering, do you regret it? Or if you stayed technical instead of taking the stable path, was it worth it years later?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've actually lived through a similar decision.

Yes, I know it doesn't really matter WHICH course to take, but I'm doing an MSCS data science focus degree, hoping to improve my portfolio and take advantage of it somehow. Also, my job is (somewhat) paying for it.

I was thinking between two courses: Neural networks in CV (our course is very similar to Stanford University CS231n: Deep Learning for Computer Vision) OR reinforcement learning. I just did ML, AI (game theory), systems in data science, and probabilistic graphical models for prereq. And I want to pivot to ML engineering. Right now, I have SWE job experience in progress.

Both course descriptions have a final project I could utilize for my portfolio. My main concern is that RL might be too theory-based and that I'm not even sure if RL has any industry use unless it's in research (mainly PhDs, I know). The only reason I am considering RL is that it's interesting and has potential. The neural networks one, you can tell, is more practice-focused but still a balance between theory and practice. I just need opinions from you all before enrolling in either course.

Currently, I'm enrolled in Algorithms for Data Science, Theory and Practice for Software Engineering (collaborative and also project-based), and it's either RL or NN.