How do software engineers determine if a company is good or bad to interview with?

This is hard, as there are only good and bad bosses, worthwhile and worthless projects, and happy and toxic teams

My view has been to give it a try, and see how I get on.

You just can't reliably know how things will turn out at interview time

-Alan Mellor

Why companies call their employees "Family"?

• I don’t put much stock in what companies (or people) say. I pay a lot of attention to what they do. If they treat me like an ideal family, support me, nurture me, and protect me, then I believe their words and repeat them. If they exploit workers and then cast them aside, I laugh at the pretentiousness of their words.
• You can fire your family by dissolving your marriage, walking away from your parents, or ceasing to communicate with your relatives. Family holds no special place in this regard, as much as we wish it would.

-Kurt

My boss is offering me a higher position with higher responsibilities but without a raise in salary, should I take it?

Who says the responsibilities are greater? The same boss that won’t give you a raise to take the job? Any chance there are some reasons why the job is not desirable, reasons you haven’t been told about?

Jobs are worth what someone will pay for them. If the pay is the same, it is arguable there’s nothing really superior about the job. If the boss is giving you a song and dance about “growth potential”, be sure to ask him to put that boast in writing.

-Kurt Guntheroth

Poor people are stuck looking for a fancy solution.

 Shiny Object Syndrome.

Poor people are stuck looking for a fancy solution. For some, it’s the new business idea they have been waiting for. For others, it’s getting their promotion or the new online course they found.

However, whatever solution they believe is the secret to getting rich, won’t make them rich. Because there is no one solution.

Money is a puzzle that requires multiple pieces to solve. Most people try to fix the puzzle by only looking for one piece.

According to them, it’s their one idea/promotion/course that's keeping them poor.

If you think like this, let me break your bubble, there are multiple things that keep you poor.

• You never jump. Money is the swimming you learn only by jumping in. Most people don’t start a business. Don’t save. Don’t invest. Don’t learn.
• You play to your weakness. You can make money in any industry. Yet, you didn’t pick a job/business according to your strengths.
• You make your work hell. What happens when you drive a car in the wrong gear? You stress out. Most people never find their working style.
• You are ignorant. Most people don’t have the humility to ask/learn from people who are already succeeding. If you could only imitate what the rich do, won’t you become rich?

I can list many more reasons but that’s not the point.

The point is to make you look at the bigger picture. To make you see that there are more than one obstacle and more than one solution.

If money is a painting, don’t see just the painting but also the painter, the brush, the paint and the skills which made it.

-Rafael Eliassen