I am a dark elf, primary skills: destruction, alteration, one-handed, sneak (with some other minor skill perks added in). I chose dark elf because being sneaky is a lot of fun for me. I also like this general build - it seems to work rather well. Likely that illusion/conjuration might have been a better combo than alteration/destruction, but I'm not sure. Sneaking right in with only Alteration spells for defense is a little precarious.

The companion AI interferes with my playstyle a lot, though. First, Lydia was really bad at sneaking. Everything would notice us the instant she rounded the corner, so I hired Jenassa. Things have improved, but I still don't ever get to sneak attack even when I have a perfect approach angle. Slightly miffed at bethesda for making a skill so hard to use in this way because of poor AI, but I guess that's not the point of this post.

How do I make it work? I want to have a companion AND be able to land sneak attacks. Do I just have to use my companion as a mule, and make her stand at the entrance of every dungeon just to carry loot for me? Or will it get better as my companion and I level up?

Hopefully someone else out there plays a thief type.

Is there any way to get a sneak attack off when every companion in the game is terrible at sneaking?

Annoyed.

I have a hard time playing without a companion. I mean, Lydia single-handedly gave a beatdown to that witch boss whilst carrying all of my loot. That's useful stuff. imo, your best option is to use the Wait Here command before proceeding with a backstab. Gets annoying though.

You're a thief; go solo. That's what I'm doing.

Same here. I really don't want a companion. I think if it gets to hard solo I'll just turn the difficulty down rather than hire one