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How do I get domain expertise?

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Entry-Level Software Engineer at Taro Communitya month ago

Hi Taro community,

I currently have 1 YOE as a SWE at a large bank and I am on STEM OPT. I want to be more intentional with my career.

In short - I want to know how to get domain expertise. My tech stack is mostly python, SQL, and some Angular. In short, I don't feel like an 'engineer' at all and since it's a bank things don't move that fast and I feel like I will get complacent or obsolete with how fast the tech landscape is evolving with artificial intelligence.

My issue is I don't think I am gaining the 'depth' of knowledge that I would hope to acquire. I am just working on stories as they come and the knowledge I am getting is mostly proprietary to the org I belong to. I can't see how transferable the knowledge will be.

I am trying to figure out what my next move should be. So far I have tried:

  • Applying to other jobs. The bad thing is that the tech job market is awful and while I don't mind leetcode, it becomes a parasitic activity that leeches on my free time.
  • Switching to another team - roadblock here too. We have a hiring freeze.
  • I've had some luck interviewing with startups but unfortunately a lot of them don't sponsor. I actually think that had my visa situation not been a problem, a startup would be a great way to supercharge in improving my skills.
  • Build projects - I've seen this advice on here before and it seems like the only wiggle room I have until something better comes up. But, as far as projects, past a certain point they are just toys I feel - they lack the complexity, and business context that makes a good engineer. I mean after all, engineering is a team sport. Also, I am not sure how it gives me the 'depth' that I want.
  • Courses/Technical papers? This is another option I am thinking of: maybe start or join a reading group for technical papers and try to re-implement and discuss the concepts discussed? Maybe brushing up on computer science fundamentals/system design will help?

I am a little worried because it seems like I will be at this job for a while - which is not a bad thing because I'm very lucky to have one to start with, but at the same time, I don't want to be left behind.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your comments!

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Discussion

(2 comments)
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    Thoughtful Tarodactyl
    Taro Community
    a month ago

    Great question and very relatable. Curious to hear others thoughts on this as well

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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    a month ago

    Great question! I am not surprised to hear that you're not getting adequate learning at a large bank as banks are notoriously slow. I have several engineer friends who have worked at banks, and almost all of them were super bored. 🫠

    First, I highly recommend going through this very similar question (also from a junior engineer who works at a bank!): "Help needed: New grad job going at a slow pace with nothing to do - Next steps?"

    Second, my advice is to make the best of what you have. Just because you aren't getting meaty tasks or insightful code review comments doesn't mean that you can't strive to write clean code and publish highly-polished PRs. If you show everyone else that you deeply care, there is a small chance it triggers a ripple effect where others will try to write better code too. Check out the code quality course: [Course] Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer

    Lastly, 1 YOE is definitely enough to start applying to jobs (it's kind of expected for engineers to stay at their first job for only around 1 year as it's usually not the best job). We have a ton of resources in Taro to help with that, and I recommend starting with this: [Course] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer