for all my new followers btw, welcome youtube youtube.com/@techtoby_?si=bO… insta instagram.com/techtoby_ newsletter techtoby-newsletter.beehiiv.… tiktok tiktok.com/@techtoby

people keep asking what i’d do differently after those 26 interview processes stop applying to permanent jobs and just go contracting - i wish i started years ago tbh if you’re highly skilled, take the plunge and/or band up with other highly skilled trusted people to build your own consultancy

Access rules decide what any device can reach once it's in, including your own server if it's ever compromised So really you should deny by default - allow only the ports you need Then servers can't reach your personal devices

porridge, boiled egg, berries - my kids are more locked in then me for breakfast

sentiment in my network atm is watching swe’s who’ve displayed weaponised incompetence for several years get zapped by managers who say to them “but you can do this with claude in an hour” is satisfying

Mint banter how United always have a proper new manager bounce then just down tools

So this is why TV’s are the only cheap technology?

I can’t believe it’s rained all day

How To Become A Cloud Engineer in 2026 (or DevOps/Platform Engineering)

i'm going to start uploading my youtube videos to x once they die off

In light of all of the security vulnerabilities I thought I'd share how I secure my self hosted VPS

I transferred all of my pensions to my Trading212 SIPP Aviva - transferred in 24 hours Scottish Widows - transferred in 1 week Smart Pensions - still waiting 3 weeks later what on earth is going on @smartpensionuk ?

funny because i was discussing a couple weeks back with my mrs the only reason stopping me relocating to bath is there is not enough supermarket selection outside of the central area oh and the copper internet

Being a parent is crazy because you essentially sign up for 4 years with broken sleep. 8 years really because you’ll probably have 2 kids. And you’ll have a cold at least 4 months of the year. People that have more than 2 kids I find absolutely insane.

26 interview processes since Jan 2025. 5 offers, 18 rejections, 2 withdrawn, 1 ghosted. Here are 18 of them, with the salary and how far I got. Thanks Claude for pulling the data from my emails for me. FAANG (3 processes, 0 offers) FAANG 1, £170k: rejected after the full loop (assessment, phone interview, 5-interview loop, plus an extra interview) FAANG 2, £140k: rejected after the assessment and phone interview FAANG 3, £200k: rejected after the coding interview, even though I got it all right - had weird vibes off of the interviewer Big cyber and cloud vendors (3 processes, 0 offers) Cyber 1, £175k: made the final 4th round, they hired an internal candidate who relocated from the US Cyber 2, £150k: rejected after 4 rounds Cyber 3, £130k: rejected after one interview - this role wasn't really a good fit tbh which we agreed during the interview UK, EU and US tech and fintech (8 processes, 0 offers) FinTech 1, £125k: rejected after 2 rounds (live technical exercise) FinTech 2, £118k: rejected at the final stage, 6th round Energy SaaS, £100k: rejected after the final (threat modelling, pair coding, behavioural) FinTech 3, £95k: rejected after the technical interview - 3rd round Cloud Platform, £95k: didn't get past the recruiter screen Insurance, £90k: rejected after the pairing task - 3rd round AI Chip, £90k: rejected after the code pair and technical - 2nd round Cyber SaaS, £75k plus bonus plus on-call: rejected after round 1 Defence tech (2 processes, both withdrawn) Defence Tech 1, £105k: withdrew Defence Tech 2, £75k to £105k plus equity: withdrew before the technical test because of the London on-site requirement Consultancies (2 processes, 1 offer) Consultancy 1, £100k: OFFER (2 stages and a case study) Consultancy 2, £90k: rejected The other 8 (4 offers, 3 rejections, 1 ghosted) were mostly contract roles - which is what I eventually pursued Crazy to think before 2025 I had almost 100% interview success rate The tech job market has changed a lot Opportunity is in front of you, not behind you, keep going

not sure what’s going on but i’ve had 12 brands reach out to me for sponsorships since monday for youtube collabs this is unprecedented

I’m glad I self host on a VPS You can’t really trust these big companies any more when everyone is deploying with AI - staff members are bound to slack off and just merge whatever

So far in October £660 family of 4 This tweet caught my eye and made me check, fuck me. Lets minus of £50 for toiletries etc in those shopping transactions though I guess

Why is my Bristolian 2 year old pronouncing water as wataaa