5

Advice for newly promoted mid level engineer?

Profile picture
Entry-Level Software Engineer [SDE 1] at Amazona year ago

Hey folks, I recently got promoted to L5 (Mid Level). Looking for any advice in general on how should I approach my work, what to look for etc. Any words of wisdom that people would like to share?

TIA

PS: Apologies if this sounds too generic. My intention is just to learn from other people's experiences. Any advice is welcomed.

244
2

Discussion

(2 comments)
  • 5
    Profile picture
    Senior Software Engineer [SDE 3] at Amazon
    a year ago

    Congratulations on the promotion! Here's my 2 cents:

    • Amazon has a well-defined role guideline for all levels. Keep that in mind and evaluate your work against it periodically.
    • In addition to thinking about individual deliverables, start thinking about the team. Think of ways you can help the team to be better - this could be by sharing knowledge, improving processes, promoting best practices.
    • Maintain a journal for all the work that you've done. This would be handy during performance reviews.
    • Learn to promote your work and gain visibility, especially outside of the team.
    • Try to be a mentor to L4 engineers and help them grow
    • Get a mentor for yourself if you don't already have one
  • 3
    Profile picture
    Tech Lead, Senior Software Engineer [L5] at Google
    a year ago

    First of all, congrats! I remember when I got promoted to L5 at Amazon, it was extremely meaningful. So by all means please enjoy this time and make sure to thank the people that helped you along the way. And like Vaibhav said, please pass whatever wisdom you've learned to others, whether by finding a mentee or commenting here on Taro!

    I will offer you one interesting question that people often think about when they get promoted.

    Is my work, my team, my org, and/or my company aligned with my goals and interests?

    I've often found that the same environment that promotes one type of growth isn't always good for another. While you don't necessarily want to jump ship right away after a promotion, I think you at least could to do some due diligence to ensure that it's still right the place for you. There also tends to be less self-imposed and external pressure to meet deadlines and such in the immediate term, so in my opinion it's a good time to explore!

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and much more. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world".
Amazon154 questions