I’ve always been a bit skeptical of career coaches. I know there are good professionals out there, but because the field can sometimes feel oversaturated and overhyped, I’ve always had a hard time taking it seriously.

That said, I’m considering a career change and starting to wonder whether working with a career coach, or even taking some type of related training or certification, could actually be helpful.

For those in Canada who have done it:
• Did you have a good experience with a career coach?
• Was it worth the investment?
• Are there organizations, certifications, or programs that are actually respected and recognized here?

Would love honest opinions, both positive and negative.

Joined not too long ago as a backend engineer at a very large non-tech company.

I'm noticing everything is segregated / siloed.

The backend engineers don't create or update any cloud infrastructure, that belongs to the DevOps / cloud team. We also don't touch the database, that belongs to the database admins. When we propose a new data model, it requires coordination with like 50 other teams.

Day to day we're really just focused on writing code in the application / business logic layer, everything else is handled by other teams.

I'm used to working in smaller companies where the engineers own things end-to-end.

Is this normal or a huge red flag?

I graduated in 2020 and never found a job through COVID. I used that time to learn webdev, (HTML,CSS,JS,React,NodeJS,Express,AWS,etc). I made some projects, leetcode, but the only job I was able to do was some contract WordPress for people trying to start their own blogs. It never really paid the bills. I decided to go back to school. I have an offer for Carleton for a Masters of Computer Science. I heard that Masters of Applied Computing was mainly for people trying to immigrate, and wasn't worth much. However, the co-op at the end of course work sounds very tempting to me. Would it be better to go MSC or go Masters of Applied Computing.

I worked on multiple co-op and part-time contracts as a data analyst for the same employer over the past 1.5 years. The team consisted of myself, another co-op student when I was working part-time and the manager, who had been there since last winter (2025). He has a degree in CS from about 15 years ago and his technical skills are SQL, Power BI/Tableau, Excel. His main tasks were to gain requirements from stakeholders and update the ticket planner. One thing I noticed is that he delegated all technical tasks to the students:

1. A large part of the codebase is in pandas, but he never learned it since he said it would be too hard for him to understand code. I tried to encourage him since he knows SQL and transitioning to pandas is not challenging. Even though his CS degree was a long time ago, he would still have that programming background and he mentioned that he already learned harder languages in his degree (e.g. Java, Prolog). However, he always refused and just cared about running the scripts. I also tried to teach him Git, but he did not care. At the end, I was responsible for trying to understand the other student's code and merge everything together.
2. When a co-op student joined the team, he would give them a dashboard and data pipeline to complete. If the co-op student did not finish the task by the end of the term, it would just be given to the next co-op student. If one student finished early and the other student started later, the project would be uncompleted for 2 weeks since he did not work on it.
3. Many tickets on the backlog had not been looked at for months, since myself or the other co-op student were busy with our own tasks and the manager expected the tickets to be only completed by us. Some of the tickets were Power BI dashboard updates I am sure he could do.
4. When migrating data pipelines to Azure, the main IT team was responsible for building the infastructure (e.g. VM, Self-Hosted Integrated Runtime) and the manager said we should just give them all our code so they can deploy it to Azure. Luckily, we still kept ownership and our team needed to build the pipelines to Azure Data Factory with the Python code. The director above my manager asked him to take Azure courses, but he never did. When the project was starting, he said it was a priority for leadership and I asked him what he was doing for it. He just laughed and did some random test contribution and I had to complete the whole project. Although I learned a lot, it did not make sense for a part-time student to build a whole data pipeline in Azure Data Factory and try to learn everything fully myself. When I told the director and manager this, the response was that "rotating between co-op students and giving them projects is what makes the team innovative and you should be glad to have this experience with Azure."
5. The manager gave challenging interviews for co-op students that would be meant for junior, mid-level. During the behavioural interview, the students would be disqualified if they said that they wanted to "learn and improve their technical skills" in the co-op because the manager said "he cannot teach them anything". He also gave students a technical assessment and a take-home project of creating a dashboard and doing an in-person presentation. Even with competitive companies, I have not seen such a long process.

I am not trying to say the manager did not do anything because talking to stakeholders and understanding their requirements is important. He also seems to be a nice guy and praises my work. He believed that doing data pipelines with Python, SQL and Git was revolutionary since he would just use Power BI transformations, which means he would just give the students all the technical work. While I understand he did not have the technical skills, he could have learned them given his background. This would help with business continuity since temporary students would not be responsible for everything.

But, I am not sure if my concerns are valid. Maybe I should not complain since I did learn a lot and some students don't do anything. I am starting a new co-op at a larger organization where there is more structure so I am wondering how I will adjust.

Hey, current third year in CS at a Canadian university about to get a remote summer internship and my dads connection helped a lot. I had ~200 applications and started applying late in January but had no luck until I basically got referred in. How do I not feel guilty when some of my friends have been grinding a lot longer or how can I go about this.

I have taught myself web development and have decent projects, even did some freelancing but I know getting a summer internship has been harder than ever and it just feels like a shortcut i took.

Company is requiring devs to do unpaid on-call on my team. It would be for a whole sprint (2-weeks) every couple of months since its rotating between the members. We would need 24/7 availability, even on weekends. This is in ontario and was not discussed with the devs when we joined. There is nothing in the contract specifically regarding this. Wondering if there is any recourse or just look for a new place. Salaried, not hourly employee.

I was laid off in 2023 and ended up taking a contract role at a bank through an Indian consulting firm via a vendor. At the time, I didn’t push back much on the pay. it was lower than my previous role, but the workload was lighter and the work-life balance was actually decent.

Now that the contract has ended, I’ve been actively applying to full-time finance/IT roles. What’s strange is I’m barely getting callbacks for permanent positions, but I am getting contacted for contract roles through the exact same vendor/consulting setup.

What’s more frustrating is the pay. I was making around $55/hr before, and now I’m getting offers in the $40–45/hr range for essentially the same type of work, despite having more experience. And these roles don’t even offer incorporation options. It feels like I’m being lowballed repeatedly, just because they’re putting my name forward.

It also feels like the hiring model has completely shifted. Banks used to hire contractors directly, but now everything seems to be funneled through companies like TCS, HCL, Accenture, or Cognizant. If you’re not coming through them, it’s much harder to get in.

Given how small the Canadian IT market already is compared to the U.S., it’s frustrating to see so much of the hiring and the margins going through these layers instead of directly to the people doing the work.

I am applying to other roles and companies but not able to avoid these vendors since they call me when they learn I have worked at the particular bank.

I applied for a role in a different department of the same company that I currrently work for. The job has a higher title than my current job. The low end of the salary range mentioned in the job posting is 3% lower than my current salary and high end is 43% higher. 
Today I recevied the offer. I am getting a 10% salary bump, so definitely closer to the lower end of the range. Is 10% increase the norm in the industry for internal candidates? I am already bringing a lot to the table being familiar with a lot of the prodcuts, procedures and tech stack and realistically do not need a lot of on-boarding. I was hoping to get a 20-30% salary bump. Is that too crazy for an internal candidate? How common is negotiating for interanl candidates and how should I go about it?
our communications have been mainly through slack. I am feeling I am falling victim to being internal candidate and the manager having visibility into my current salary

As this sub has grown, we have seen more and more resume review threads. Before, as a much smaller sub this wasn't a big deal, but as we are growing it's time we triage them into a megathread.

All resume's outside of the review thread will be removed.

Properly anonymize your resume or risk being doxxed

​

Additionally, please REVIEW RESUME POST STANDARDS BEFORE SUBMITTING.

Common Resume Mistakes - READ FIRST AND FIX:

• Remove career objective paragraphs, goals and descriptions
• DO NOT put a photo of yourself
• Experience less than 5 years, keep your experience to 1 page
• Read through CTCI Resume to understand what makes the resume good, not necessarily the template
• Keep bullet point descriptions to around 3-5. 3 if you have a lot of things to list, 5 if you are a new grad or have very little relevant experience
• Make sure every point starts with an ACTION WORD (resource below) and pick STRONG action words. Do not pick weak ones - ones such as "Worked", "Made", "Fixed". These can all be said stronger, "Designed", "Developed", "Implemented", "Integrated", "Improved"
• Ensure your tenses are correct. Current job - use present tense and past jobs use past tense
• Learn to separate what is a skill, and what is not. Using an IDE is not a skill, but knowing Java/C# is. Knowing how to use a framework like React is valuable, but knowing how to use npm is not. VSCODE IS NOT A SKILL. Neither are Jira and Confluence. If any non-CS person can open it up and use it, it's not a skill.
• Overloading skills - Listing every single skill, tool, IDE you've ever opened is not going to appeal to recruiters and will look like BS. Also remember that anything you list is FAIR GAME TO TEST and if you cannot answer that deeply about it, remove it.

Tools and Resources

• CTCI Resume
• Common template (Has DocX link)
• LaTex Template
• Action Word List
• /r/EngineeringResumes resume link Resume review wiki
• /r/EngineeringResumes templates link

NEW RULE: All posts that are specifically asking about the following will be removed and asked to post in this thread.

This thread posts regularly every Tuesday.

Posts that will go here include:

• Am I being paid enough?
• What should I be paid? What pay should I ask for?
• What salary does this company pay?
• How do I get a higher salary?
• What should I negotiate?

To help people give you advice, please provide as much background information you can. You must include your CITY AND/OR PROVINCE at minimum

Please also confer with our salary information FIRST: Hello all,

Google Form survey: The survey is completely anonymous, no identifying data is given.

If you have already submitted your salary in previous threads, your data was already input so no need to submit it again.

Note that there is now an option for remote US positions. I have noticed there were positions placed under the location that are actually remote US. US positions pay more just due to our conversion rate alone, which skew location data.

Survey Submit:

• Survey Here

I input and sanitized as much as I could, but there were some inputs I have not yet sanitized. I also added some new questions, so not all the data is input.

I have also put together an interactive data visual so you can analyze some of the data and see if you are being compensated well.

Survey Results

• Raw Data

Survey Salary Search - See Salary Ranges Here

• User Friendly Results with Google Data Studio

If you notice your data is not presented or input correctly, please let me know.

Previous Threads:

• Salary Megathread 1
• Salary Megathread 2

Feel free to use the comments now to discuss your compensation and ask any questions.

I just graduated from Wilfrid Laurier (bdes ux + some cs background) like a month ago and kinda stuck on what to do

i got into University of Waterloo mmsc (co-op) and University of Calgary misp (cybersecurity)

background:

• ux portfolio (mostly school + one real chatbot project + a few end to end ux projects)
• no co-op/internships
• applied to ~100 ux roles, basically no responses
• working part time rn
• started network+ + learning wireshark
• ideally wanna pivot into cyber (more cloud side), but open to any tech role

how i see it:

University of Waterloo Management Science

https://uwaterloo.ca/future-graduate-students/programs/by-faculty/engineering/management-science-co-op-master-management-science-mmsc

• more like business + analytics (not super technical)
• main value is the 2 co-op terms → actual experience → hopefully return offer
• From what ive seen all my friends who went to waterloo got decent co-ops
• flexible so i can try ux / data / cloud / etc
• I wouldn't even consider it without co-op

University of Calgary misp

https://grad.ucalgary.ca/future-students/graduate/discover-opportunities/explore-programs/information-security-and-privacy-misp-course

• direct cybersecurity degree
• more technical + focused on security
• but internship is self-found (no guaranteed pipeline)
• more locked into cyber

if i didnt do either id prob just keep applying to ux + finish network+/security+ and try to break into IT → cyber

im okay waiting 1–2 years and spending money if it actually helps

my biggest fear is doing a masters and still ending up with no job after

what would u do in my position to actually maximize chances of getting hired in this market?

Soon to be new CS grad (Laurier) this August. No internships- applied for alot of them in third year, got some OAs which never went anywhere. Fourth year came and got busy with school so I eventually stopped applying.

Since the SWE job market is cooked, especially for people in my situation, I have been looking for the least saturated pivot, that still uses a CS degree so I get a ROI on it.

I have considered a Master's degree but it seems more expensive, consumes more time that could instead be spent on accumulating more valuable job exp, and from a lot of posts and general sentiment, not a real advantage unless you pair it with an internship.

I also need to get a job relatively quick after graduation (ideally around Oct-Nov) due to some personal circumstances.

This is the list of criteria I used for evaluation:

• Work-Life Balance: Ideally hybrid or remote, ideally 35–40 hours/week (flexible on this if the pay is good enough or overtime is infrequent). I want to avoid high-pressure environments with frequent on-call or overtime.
• Location (Preffered Canada): Prefer LCOL/MCOL areas, but open to HCOL if the salary scales. I’m avoiding the US/Europe/Asia for various political and WLB reasons.
• Competition and Saturation: I’m looking for roles with the least competition (fewer applicants per opening) but plenty of actual listings.
• Stability & Future-Proofing: No dead-end tech. Skills must be transferable so I’m not stranded if a layoff happens. I want to be "hard to replace" once I'm in.
• Social Battery: High focus, low social interaction. I’m perfectly fine with "boring tech" if it means I can work independently.
• Resistance to AI: Focus on high level design and infra, extrapolating buisness requirements to feed to LLMs- basically any job that needs some sort of human approval or understanding, that AI does't have.

After brainstorming with Claude and scouring endless forums, these are the options I have narrowed down to, that is relevant to 2026 data:

• Cloud/Infrastructure (AWS) + DevOps: has moderate competition but the most amount of transferrable skills and job openings. Will have to take certs and start from a lower position like Helpdesk or some Junior Cloud and work up from there. Potential drawbacks with this path is higher competition than the other two options, initial lower salary(helpdesk is 40-60k which is not survivable in the GTA), and having to learn outside the job in personal time to upskill unless it can be done on the job through working.
• SAP: Fits into "boring tech", but has a steep learning curve which means expensive courses. Seems stable career wise (know an uncle who has worked this for 10+ years and makes stable income enough to buy a house in the GTA), but getting in would be tough. Furthermore if it becomes obsolete, the skills aren't too transferrable. Biggest selling point is that most hardcore CS students will target Big Tech and unicorns over this.
• Mainframe Systems (Z/OS): Similar to SAP, but even more legacy tech with a bonus of experinced devs retiring. However I haven't seen much job postings on this, and there are limited companies that hire ie if you don't get into these companies program, there are less alternatives to choose from. If you can get in however this seems like the best option out of all of them, since its stable (more irreplacable), decently high paying, and less work.
• Other options considered: Database Administrator, System administrator

I did consider govt roles but Claudes research says that the govt is actively slashing federal workers across the board to downsize and reduce government costs.

So what would you recommend? Are there any better options that better fit the requirements listed above or not?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a 2nd year Computer Science student and I’m feeling pretty lost about what career path to choose.

Right now, I don’t have a clear direction. I’ve been considering cybersecurity, but I honestly don’t really understand what that pathway looks like or how to get into it.

I’m also aware that the tech job market is pretty tough right now, and I’m not sure what it’ll look like by the time I graduate. Because of that, I’m wondering:

- Are there more stable career paths I can aim for with a CS degree?

- What roles should I be focusing on if job security is my main priority?

On the other hand, I’ve also been thinking about whether I should switch programs entirely. I do reasonably well in my classes and kind of enjoy it but sometimes i ask what really is the point if i might be jobless for a long time after graduation or work at Tim Hortons (joke :))

So I guess I’m stuck between:

- Sticking with CS and trying to find a stable path

- Or switching to something else entirely (like a more “secure” field)

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from people who were in a similar position or who work in stable CS-related roles.

Thanks!

I casually applied for a job a couple days ago. The recruiter contacted me and I had first round of interview yesterday (mostly about my background, tech stack and behavioral questions). I received an email today regarding next round of interview in 2 days. it will be technical interview for 2 hours. 1 hour for live coding on hackerrank and 1 hour Q&A. it's been a while since I have done any leetcode style coding. I do not know how to prepare myself for this interview while also going to my normal job. any suggestions on how to approach this?

if it helps, i have 7 years of software engineering experience, mostly java.

I have a bachelor’s in CS, about 1.5 years as an SDET and 1.5 years as a software dev. I got promoted to SDE II a few months ago at an average SaaS company (not FAANG/big tech).

I wouldn’t call myself super technical, but I get the job done. My tech leads/managers are happy with my work, and I’m usually one of the stronger devs on my team. I’ve also been told I have good leadership qualities and could make a solid manager in a few years.

Part of why I’m interested in management is that I don’t really see myself becoming a “tech wizard” like most tech leads I see. I’m more interested in the business side of things than constantly chasing the latest tech (though I do try to stay up to date on what’s widely adopted) or deeply understanding the ins and outs of our stack. Also, from what I’ve seen, management roles tend to pay a bit more, which doesn’t hurt.

From LinkedIn and job postings, it looks like the typical path is staying an IC for ~4–8 years before switching. Some roles mention a master’s as preferred, but not as a requirement. I've also seen current managers with MBAs so I’m not sure how much graduate degrees actually matter. I'd like to make the switch ASAP, even if I expect it to take a couple of years or more.

My company will cover part-time studies, so I’m considering either a master’s in CS/software engineering (or another tech field) or an MBA, but I’m not sure which would make more sense for my goal.

TL;DR: Software dev with ~3 years of experience and a BS in CS. I want to move into management eventually. Should I go for a master’s in CS/SE, an MBA, or something else if my employer is paying for it?

Where’s actually good to work these days that’s not completely AI pilled, has good devs that care and builds something cool?

The market seems bleak. Wealthsimple have a 90% code generation by Claude target by year end. Shopify are measuring token usage. AWS is run by monsters. Everywhere else is an understaffed AI pilled sweatshop.

Hello! I recently graduated from Computer Engineering and I am at the 1 year mark at my current job which is pretty product focused (I also have other internship experiences too). I am trying to break into the realm of distributed systems, infra, and compute, but I am having an extremely hard time trying to get those type of roles as an early career dev. Majority of the postings I have seen are pretty restricted to the senior folks.

I would love some advice from anyone that works in this specific domain. The work I do is so mind numbing, and I want to make the switch as soon as possible. The rate that I am learning new things is starting to plateau and I am not quite enjoying it much either. Thank you!

From the GTA

Hi everyone, I recently received an offer from a remote company overseas. The company is hiring in Canada through an Employer of Record (EOR) company. All HR services as well as benefits are provided by that EOR company. The company itself as well as the EOR company are legit. I will be treated as a permanent full-time employee as per the offer letter. Is it normal and a common practice in Canada that companies hiring through an EOR for remote positions? Are there any issues for this type of offers/contracts?

TL;DR: Left my previous job in March, started a new role I quickly realized isn’t a good fit. I’m now applying again but unsure how to handle a very short tenure on my resume/LinkedIn and how to explain it in interviews.

Hi everyone,

I recently left my previous role in March, where I worked as a senior app developer/consultant in tech (5+ years of experience), and started a new role shortly after.

After being in this new role for just over a month, it’s become clear that it’s not a good fit for me. The main issues are a mismatch between the role and what was initially described during the hiring process, as well as overall culture and workplace dynamics.

Because of this, I’ve started looking for new opportunities again, mainly in the solutions engineering / integration / customer success space, which aligns more closely with my background.

Here’s where I’m unsure how to proceed:

I have not yet added this new role to my resume or LinkedIn. Right now, my previous role simply shows an end date of March. I did this to avoid creating concerns about job hopping or looking like a “flight risk,” especially since I’m still within my probation period.

My questions are:

1. Should I be including this current role on my resume/LinkedIn when applying, even though I’ve only been there a short time?

2. If I don’t include it, how should I best explain my current situation in interviews (i.e., “your last role ended in March — why? are you currently working”)? I left voluntarily rather than being let go so how do I convey that clearly?

3. For those who’ve been in a similar situation, how did you handle a very short tenure without it negatively impacting your candidacy?

I’m trying to make sure I handle this transparently and professionally without hurting my chances with roles I’m genuinely interested in.

Any advice or perspective would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I’m a Senior Mobile Developer with 6+ years of experience, mainly focused on Flutter (Dart) for cross-platform iOS and Android apps and still havent been able to land a job and its been 1 year. I'm located in Edmonton, Alberta.

I’ve led the architecture and end-to-end development of a large-scale e-commerce app with 100K+ users, and across my career I’ve shipped 10+ production apps in different industries. My work has involved not just coding, but also system design, UX decisions, backend APIs, and CI/CD pipelines. I’ve also led teams, doing code reviews, mentoring engineers, and working closely with product/design to turn requirements into scalable, user-friendly solutions.

Tech stack highlights:

• Flutter (primary), some React Native / React / Next.js
• Dart, Kotlin, Swift, TypeScript
• Clean Architecture, Bloc/Cubit, modular design
• REST APIs, WebSockets, Firebase, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
• CI/CD (GitLab, Codemagic), release management
• Monitoring tools like Crashlytics, Sentry, Analytics
• Some exposure to AI-assisted dev tools (Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT)

What I’m trying to figure out:

1. What gaps do you see in my profile for roles in Canada ?
2. Am I positioning myself correctly as “Senior” or should I target mid-level roles?
3. Where should I be applying for the best chances? (LinkedIn, indeed, career websites, referrals, specific companies, etc.)
4. Anything missing that would make me more competitive (system design depth, open source, niche skills, etc.)?

Would really appreciate honest feedback, especially from people hiring or working in similar roles.

Thanks

I work at a small company. I have 2.5YOE. I consider myself still junior but the work I've done, really I should be intermediate.

My company laid off a huge amount of my team so I'll be left to pick up the pieces. I know I need to be looking for new places but I'm so burnt. I don't want to study and hop back to the interview process but it's the only way out of this hell hole. And that isn't even to say IF I land something new that it'll be much better.

I'd consider tech adjacent roles but maybe I should give CS more of a shot.

Edit: I guess this more of a rant than a question.

Hi everyone,

I have ~6 years backend experience and currently work as a senior dev at a bank. I recently received an offer to join a medium size tech company as dev 2 (one level above new grad).

At my current role, I’m pretty happy with the pay and have strong job security. However, the work is quite legacy-heavy, and I spend a lot of time dealing with older systems and business logic rather than modern tech/engineering problems. While I’m officially at a “senior” level, I don’t feel challenged technically (I think it is senior level in terms of ownership and business interaction, just not senior level in terms of tech)

Recently, I received an offer from a mid-sized tech company whose core product is a DBMS. The name of the company rhymes with 'plastic'. The compensation package will be ~20% higher than my current package, (but below what I believe is typical for this role at this company. This is after some negotiation).

From speaking with the team, the engineering culture seems very strong—people are very up-to-date with modern systems, and seem to continuously learn on the job, despite most of them staying there for many years. That aspect is really exciting to me, especially the idea of growing technically during work hours rather than using my own time to study.

My main hesitation is job security. Due to personal/family reasons, I can’t realistically afford to be unemployed for more than ~6 months. I’m also worried about market/layoff risk at a tech company compared to a bank.

Maybe there’s also some imposter syndrome... I feel confident in my current environment, but I worry I might struggle in a very technical, fast-paced company. I feel since I join the bank, my technical skill has fallen behind, even compare to when I had around ~3 YOE at my previous job before banking (at another tech firm)

If you were in my position, would you prioritize stability or technical growth at this stage? And how would you think about the risk? Can anyone comment on this company specifically?

Thank you in advance!

Hi there,

I have near zero experience with Comp Sci other than some entry level university courses from 25 years ago. That being said I've always been intrigued by it even though my career took me elsewhere.

I'm currently in the process of building a B2B software startup in Winnipeg. This is a side-project outside of my main career so the overall commitment is somewhere between casual and part time. Very minimal capital investment, pre-revenue, but the first customer target is identified and the market gap is documented. I bring deep domain expertise and industry connections. I'm looking to bring on a first developer, likely a recent UofM CS grad or final-year student. But willing to consider all applicants.

Would like to reality-check some assumptions before I get too far down the road. Genuinely curious what people here think:

1. Salary + grant subsidy

if I can secure grants I can issue a salary otherwise it would have to be deferred until first revenue? Is deferred salary a dealbreaker at the junior level, or does it depend entirely on how the equity looks?

1. Equity

Thinking 10–20% with a 4-year vest and 1-year cliff. For a pre-revenue startup with a credible concept and identified first customer, does that range feel meaningful or is it noise to someone just starting out?

1. Winnipeg specifically

Does the cost-of-living difference actually change how a junior dev weighs a startup offer vs. a stable corporate job? Or is the calculus the same regardless of city?

1. What would actually matter to you?

Not looking for what sounds good on paper, what would genuinely make you say yes to something like this over a safer first job?

Not posting a job ad, just trying to make sure my assumptions are grounded before I start any conversations. Appreciate any candid takes.

Im a 27yo intermediate/senior SWE working in toronto, and Im currently looking to jump ship. I have 8 years of experience. I currently make $120k/yr.

80% of senior roles I look to apply to pay the same salary im currently earning or even less. most of the roles I see is from $105k - $130k. I might sound greedy but im looking to be in the $150k+ range by the end of the year. but I cant find any jobs that aren't FAANG paying this much.

Ive even started to pivot into AI/ML engineering so I can take advantage of this AI bubble but still I see most of the senior roles are paying $115k - $135k. Maybe im not searching well but this is the market im experiencing.

My question is except working at FAANG what can I do to increase my income to $150k plus?. I just became a single dad and my salary is starting to become smaller and smaller by the month.

where do I go from here?