The initial year, everything is new and you are challenged and learning. From your previous experiences, what do you think draws your to starting a new job, and being in that initial phase?\
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Is it the steep learning curve? Is it the challenge? It is natural that things start to settle on that one year mark, you are familar with the code base, people and the pace.\
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I would recommend, you talk to your manager find ways that you can contribute to a brand new project that your team has? That way you can maintain the excitement of being part of something new without having to switch jobs. 

Senior Software Engineer at Intuit

Rashmi Kishore

If maintaining your work is important, then I would say focus on your work, wrap that up, to meet any impeding deadlines.

Take a few days off (2 days, that way you get 4 days padding on a weekend) after you have met your deadline, and jump start your interview prep. The initial days of interview prep are the hardest because you are training your brain to focus, solve things outside of your regular job.

Multi-tasking in my opinion is the way that one does multiple things poorly. Love the book, [the ONE thing](https://www.amazon.com/ONE-Thing-Surprisingly-Extraordinary-Results/dp/1885167776).

Another thing to note, what jobs can you outsource? Food delivery? Office tasks? Instacart? This can free you up from some mental load.

I'm sorry you are going through a rough phase, do something that brings you joy for 30 mins -&gt; non- negotiable!

Are you able to talk it out with someone? Meet people you are comfortable sharing?

I hope you feel better and your circumstances improve.

Hey, the way I learnt Java was to build out projects back in the day. I personally think most learning happens just via practice, regardless of any of the books / youtube videos I have seen. \
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An alternative: Instead of figuring out what project to build, simply open up Leetcode, and pick easy questions, and start solving them to learn the language. Don't worry about solving the question itself, you can take a peek at the solution, and solve it using Java on an IDE, like IntelliJ.

This sounds stressful.

What is causing the stress? 

This is a deeper question -&gt; \
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1\. Have you received any feedback or  is it to maintain a perception of a high achiever in a competitive work environment?

1. That mental stress soon makes our patience run thin when it comes to young kids ( when they have their own meltdowns)
2. Are you filling your cup before you attend to your responsibilities?
3. Can you carve out 30mins - 1 hour a day to do what you love, if it is to workout / watch TV/ read? Where you are not needed by anyone. Try this for a week, and see how you feel. As managing everything with an empty tank, can get very overwhelming.
4. Take a few days off work ( with kids in daycare / school) , and see whats out there and how you can ground yourself.
5. If you still want to change your job, go for it, without quitting. One never knows how work-life balance is, unless you start the job. Grass seems greener on the other side. 

 

I can share some of thoughts here. \
Having been through a layoff in the past, this was my concern as well.

> **and expecting layoff in the coming month.**

It can be hard to be deterministic of whether one will be laid off or not, and Intuit (IMO) is doing well.

> I am thinking to take a break to give myself enough time to prepare and land a good opportunity instead of just accepting something which is below my calibre

I had the same thought : Do I accept something now versus do I wait for the right opportunity? Since you are okay with a 6-8 month gap, I can conclude you are not limited by the visa issues. \
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Here are some key points I would consider:

1. What are straight up no-gos? Like you would not accept pay below a certain amount, or wont accept a role below L4 or no relocation etc.
2. What are nice to haves? Like maybe getting into a FAANG+ / promising startup / 2X salary / L5+ role
3. What are acceptable conditions?
4. Besides ***getting additional time to prepare for interviews*** **and** **taking a break** for maybe traveling, spending time with family, ***one cannot really time the market.***
5. What I would do?
   1. Give myself a month / two, to process the layoff and prep, relax.
   2. Look for a job which is acceptable ( mid way point between no-go and nice to have)
   3. Keep looking to get the dream job with a job in hand.
   4. I believe one has higher leverage when looking for a job while being employed.
   5. Also, you never know, you might just like your "in-between" job and grow there

Good luck!

I’m currently leading an UI automation effort in addition to my dev project. Here are some of my take aways :

1. It depends on how mature the product is, have they finalized the design, and only adding new features or are they still updating the UX Design. As with tools like playwright, if the UI devs have not properly identified the locators, they UI test will fail each time there is a design change.

2. Can you do a combination of API and UI tests, build out a basic UI setup, call this setup via an API, and UI test core functionalities.

3. What is the composition of the team? Are devs expected to write end to end tests or is there a dedicated SDET team for the same.

Hey OP,

At the risk of revealing my identity, I would still like to share my experience, so that you have a perspective from an ex-FAANG.

I was also affected by layoffs and I had to take &gt; 50% paycut when I switched jobs last year. Though I got a job within a month, I think I was fortunate ( was on H1B visa ) 

The TC is definitely lower than what it used to be. As currently, FAANG+ are not hiring as much. I would say, take a job that pays you a decent living wage, so that you have access to health insurance, etc.  

If TC is not an issue, then wait to get back into a FAANG+ Adjacent. Or else, bite the bullet and take the paycut, if the role is interesting & people seem kind. 