Escaping

For the past 9 years, I’ve been stuck in legacy tech. I built niche monolithic apps with no exposure to distributed systems or system design. Time flew by, and I got pigeonholed in outdated “dinosaur” companies. Trying to leave my job was incredibly demoralizing. Thousands of job applications and a painfully low callback rate. I was discouraged by this and even more, by my background and lack of modern systems experience. I really felt like I was stuck at a dead end. I posted here asking how long it takes to prep for system design interviews from 0. Many replies were disheartening, like “you need real on-the-job experience.” But it turns out…you don’t—at least not to pass interviews. Here’s what I did while working full-time: LeetCode (6 months): Focused on the top 150 problems, revisiting and practicing each one 4-5 times. (I failed many, many interviews along the way). System Design (1.5 months): Started from almost zero and crammed, studying about 15 systems deeply, mainly through videos and practice. Applications: Sent out over a thousand applications with very low callback. Landed interviews mostly through headhunters. Interviews (6 months): Juggled my full-time job while going through processes with 45 companies (failing most of them early on). It was brutal: endless rejections, self-doubt, and burnout. But I just landed 2 solid offers in AI (around 250k+ TC). If you’re in a similar rut, know that it is absolutely doable with consistent effort. You can break free even without the “right” background. AMA if you have questions!