Junior Engineer Career Development Videos, Forum, and Q&A

I have a new grad offer from Amazon, which was forcefully deferred earlier this year. I currently work as an SRE (which I don't want long-term), and my offer is for an SDE role in the same team I interned at when I was there pre-layoffs. Plus despite me working for >6 months elsewhere, they're not increasing my comp in any way. I'm attracted to the Amazon job since it's a SWE role and that's something I want career-wise, but given that the company and current economic situation have been kind of unstable, I'm hesitant to join. Does anyone have any advice for me on how to navigate this? I'm on a student Visa so I guess that's why the threat of layoffs is a bit higher in my eyes.

How do pull requests and pull request comments look like with an increasing level of seniority? Are pull requests for senior engineers not expected to have any comments for improvements? If yes, then what kind of comments should be there? Also, have seen some principal engineers not sharing their pull requests as they are quite high in seniority and merging it directly. Do you recommend that? If not, who should review PRs for very senior engineers if the team does not have engineers at that level?

I'm a junior SWE at a small company which does not have a lot of standardized culture or process. A lot of inaccurate / non-standard terms get thrown around (for example, we call the entirety of one of our older apps the "backend" because of the way our repo is structured) and I've found that this has caused confusion in meetings, especially with new engineers being onboarded. Even though something like this usually only causes a 10-second confusion which is cleared up with follow-up questions, it feels like such an unnecessary inefficiency that could be easily resolved. Also, in general, I believe this can leak into situation where repercussions are worse like client-facing or investor-facing meetings, where for example a manager might call the old app the "backend" to a client, leaving them confused and thus unaligned on what's going on. I typically wouldn't care about something of this scope as a junior, but it seems to me that the entire org would benefit from something like this, and that nobody else has addressed it nor will address it. So I've drafted a proposal for standardized terminology, with suggestions for specific terms to use and specific terms to deprecate in our company vernacular. My question is whether it's appropriate to submit this proposal to my managers. It feels necessary but also not be my place / come across as aggressive. Of course it is hard to answer this question without knowing the specific company culture, but nonetheless, I would like to hear thoughts from seniors about how something like this would come across when coming from a junior.

I'm currently building a side project. I completed my idea of a MVP for the project and I'm looking to market it at some point to get some real users. I have some ideas on posting on reddit and linkedin, but I'm a little nervous as I've never posted on linkedin before. My project is a web app.

I've looked at the leadership principles. But it's a bit overwhelming the number of questions that can be asked. I dont want to be caught like a deer in headlights when I'm asked a question. But it also doesnt seem practical to prepare every question. I'd love to know people's preparation strategy. Are you preparing 5-10 stories and then tagging them to different principles? if so what kinds of stories should I be preparing? i.e. what are the broad topics of each story? Or Maybe are you preparing 1 different story for each leadership value? Also If I'm asked "Who was your most difficult customer?" how would I answer this if I'm just a junior and have never dealt with customers first hand? or similar where I'm just like i've never been in this situation

In the class "How To Succeed At A New Team Or Company As A Software Engineer - 10/29/2022", we talked about how easily people get defensive when receiving feedback that they don’t 100% agree with. I’m wondering, other than intentionally suppressing this instinct, are there any other tips, tricks, or mindsets that would help?

Is there a link to slack? I can't find it anywhere.

I have worked as a software consultant for 4 years at companies like Amazon, Hitachi, etc.

I have an interview coming up that isn't DSA / System design focused, but rather a project deep dive or work experience deep dive. If the interview is 45-60min long, how should I best describe my work experience in that given time. Also, if using STAR method to answer work experience / project related questions how many situations per bullet point on resume should be discussed?

I have been having a hard time dealing with my tech lead. He’s e5 and leading our project. I’m aiming for promo end of this half and I feel like he’s really using that as a weapon against me. For the project I am on, he gave me some deliverables. For one of the deliverable d1, I pushed back as there was no clarity. He basically said you have to do it or someone else will. I pulled in my manager and eventually the manager said it’s his project, his decision. Fast forward, after spending a good week or 2 on this , we were asked to stop the project due to the alignment issues I had highlighted earlier. The whole deliverable d1 was de prioritized and I was asked to work on something else (d2). It’s close to the end of the half now and the Teach lead is asking me to do more work to show that d1 made any progress and it was landed. Despite working super hard on this, I have not clear deliverables. I think this is a directional problem. A lot of this was out disambiguating stuff. He’s also said stuff like you don’t seem to be working much on this. I feel quite frustrated that despite working a lot the TL doesn’t seem to acknowledge any of the work or doubts cleared. How do I deal with this when I keep doing things and he keeps moving the finish line slightly ahead? I’m also tired of his snide comments such as this really isn’t e4 scope but I can say it is for you.

What is the best time of year to apply to big tech/unicorn/generally highly sought-after positions? My thinking is to apply between July and the end of November because I know that is when many big companies release headcount for interns and new grads which I presume they also release headcount for mid-level and above. For more experienced job seekers, when have you noticed the best responses in your past job searches for getting interviews or what is your general approach to timing your job search? Thanks!

Hi my software engineer friends, Want to ask what is the requirement for design skills at different levels. I am a software engineer, and for each project I always write a design doc, most time I am listing different options for some implementation. But that is mostly about different ways of data flows, the pros and cons of each data flow. It is not related to design patterns, nor architectures, but it seems enough to move on with my project and team is generally OK with design doc like this way. To make a good design, I feel right now it is more about context, about familiar I am with team's tech stack and all the data flows, and make good judgement about how to implement something. I also have that in mind "do not try to apply design patterns for the sake of applying it, use it organically". So a few questions I have Is it normal that in software engineer's daily job, the design is just about how to implementation something? Or I need to try to apply any design pattern or architecture? Is the general design concept same as object oriented design? Want to see am I under design stuff or I am overthinking about this How to you learn the design skills, especially to the space of web application? Any books recommended for designing web apps? What is your opinion about design skills at different levels? Do you think design is the core skill of a software engineer?

Hi Taro. I worked at Amazon as an SDE for a couple of years before I was laid off. Recently, I signed an offer for a 6 month contract at Amazon. I might get a one year contract at Meta soon though. I never worked at Meta before. I wonder if it is worth burning the bridge with Amazon to take the role at Meta. I have a few reasons for wanting to take Meta. Amazon is only 6 months and it may not get renewed. I don't want to put a short role on my resume and be looking for a job again in 6 months. Long term, I don't want to be at Amazon. Amazon really hurt my mental health. I would like to join Meta as a full time a lot more than I want to for Amazon. Their culture reputation is not great either, but I really believe it's better than Amazon. I have one reason for wanting to stick with Amazon: It's not like jobs fall out of the sky. I am returning to Amazon now and I may return there one day for a full time role even though I prefer not to.

Context: I work as a Entry Level SWE at Series B Startup with 25 people; the SWE team is 7 people total. I am the only person currently under my manager & my coworkers are fairly clear about what I am building & why. Also, the SWE team morale is strong and productivity seems to be at a sustainable rate. During our mentor-mentee meeting last week, my manager & I agreed to give each other specific feedback each week (and also agreed for our 1:1 meetings to be used for awkward, personal stuff as Alex & Rahul recommended). In general, I think he is an incredible manager; he’s personable, highly knowledgable, is available to answer my questions, & answers all my noobie questions but I do think there are some shortcomings as he is not used to being a mentor or a manager. I don’t want to just say “Great job!“ as that is an easy default to fall into week-after-week. So how do I evaluate my manager? Is there a set of questions somewhere? A framework of some kind?

I was told that exceeding expectations doesn't necessarily mean that you're operating at the next level, so I would like to get more clarity here. What does it mean to exceed expectations in a way that's building up towards promotions vs. not?

I recently got moved to a new manager, and I've been having some trouble building back up the more fluid and quite positive relationship I had with my prior manager. In particular, I'm trying to get more signal into my feedback and how I can improve. When I go over this kind of content with my new manager, they'll say something more quick and high-level like "That makes sense", but they won't give me something more specific and concrete. How can I go deeper with these kinds of conversations while keeping our relationship healthy? I want to make sure I respect their boundaries.

At times, we face tight deadlines which I believe are challenging to meet. Despite my reservations about the feasibility of such timelines, my fellow engineer peers often express confidence in meeting them, though history has shown they're frequently mistaken. When I voice my concerns, the project managers claim that delivery is non-negotiable, and everyone in the room goes silent. I've suggested prioritizing essential features for the immediate deadline and planning for a subsequent delivery for the rest, but my ideas are usually ignored. Despite not being in a lead role, it's disheartening to later hear about our inconsistent delivery timelines from my manager when I receive performance feedback. How should I navigate these situations? It's frustrating to be the only one on my team who ever expresses these thoughts as I always appear as the "pessimistic" engineer. I just try to voice concerns to make more reliable deliveries. What should I do in these situations?

I joined this new team in October and I'm finding it hard to demonstrate velocity as an entry-level developer. I'm sure this has been discussed before on this thread but what are some sure-shot things to do to increase my commit count? I know this isn't the healthiest way to approach things but commits and reviews are the best way to demonstrate impact at the L3 level and I'm trying to maximize my impact until the end of this year. How can I add code quickly? e.g. Add extra unit tests for edge cases, add logging statements, etc.

I kind of unexpectedly got a new grad swe interview at Meta. I know there are already discussions on Taro about Meta interview, but I wanted to seek advice on my specific situation. I am sort of new to Leetcode. I mostly interned at startups before so LC wasn't the focus (ik I still should have done LC - my bad). So here are few questions I have: 1. How much can I delay the interview? I am thinking doing it with 4 week breaks - the first round after 4 weeks from today, next round after another 4 weeks, and so on. Is that ok? 2. How many hours should i dedicate per day to leetcode, to get good at it FAST? Asking because I am also a full-time student so I am willing to sacrifice my grades if it requires putting more time into leetcode. 3. What are the HIGHEST bang for buck activities I can do? Time is extremely limited so I want to make sure I am spending it right. FYI - I do have access to algomonster () - I am thinking of doing my LC prep there cause it's pattern based + has AI coach. I would really appreciate some advice here. Have never interviewed for a FAANG so this opportunity means a lot. Thanks!! (Also if you know of good resources, suggest them too! I am willing to invest in resources/mentors.)

I'm struggling to come up with a way forward as a software engineer. My path to my job today has been VERY unconventional. I failed out of computer science at my university. I still have a degree but in an unrelated field. Did a lot of hackathons and got internships and finally a return offer from a decent ecommerce firm as a software engineer. I know the market is really bad right now but I can tell that I have a lot of prerequisites I'm missing. Trying to do better and I've started taking courses again. I want to craft a self taught dev path. And I want to do well but I just don't know where to begin

Layoffs are making me quite anxious. I understand job security might not really be a thing when it comes to big tech, but I do want to try pursuing employment security, if that makes sense. How do I "get good" so I can be a little more resilient when it comes to layoffs and employment? I'm not really sure where to start.

@Alex Earlier you mentioned: > Big Tech open-source is obviously ideal (many engineers got hired at :meta: contributed to their OSS), but it's extremely hard to ramp up on the library and get a major PR landed. And it's not like 1 PR will do it - You'll probably need 5 to 10 to get the attention of hiring managers. However, like with most things, it will get much easier over time (the first one's the hardest). And here: What technologies or stacks should I create a project to add in my resume for entry level software jobs? (jointaro.com), you said: > These companies all have a large OSS footprint, and I know several people who got hired into these companies by submitting major PRs into them. What are the parameters for determining whether something is a major PR in Big Tech Open Source according to you? Am currently working on Microsoft Windows Terminal. Would you consider the below major PR candidates that would get the attention of hiring managers? Btw they're both from this list as heroic tasks (7158 on completed tab since I've already completed that one): To my understanding Major PR means lots of people want it and 7158 has around 100 upvotes so that's Major PR. But there are also some PR's where people make commits with 500 - 1000 lines of code

Here are the 2 main options I’m thinking about: Build scope here at Booking, particularly with this Perl -> Java migration where I am well-equipped. I've only been here 6 months, but I have a decent amount of good-will here with a supportive team and manager. Go to a more prestigious Big Tech company like Meta/Google

I graduated with a master's in CS 1.5 years ago and since then I have been working at a no-name brand company as a full-stack engineer. I would love to join Spotify but I lack prestigious grades and side projects. The tech stack I work in is somewhat old (Angular 2, .NET, no cloud, in-house solution for CI/CD, etc). The company is nevertheless alright and my colleagues are all very friendly, including my boss and manager. If I would want to join Spotify, should I double down at my current job and try to get those side projects started, or should I consider another position in-between my current position and Spotify in order to increase my chances to join Spotify? The reason why I’m not a big fan of this idea is that I don’t like to join a company with the intent to leave within 1-2 years. The reason why I'm considering changing company is because I worry that my current growth could potentially be a lot higher than what it currently is. Will my lack of experience in newer frameworks/tools be a large disadvantage to me when I’m looking for a junior/midlevel role at a tech company where being efficient in languages/tools is a must? Is it better to stay since I can make more of an impact now since I’m familiar with my company’s tech stack compared to having to go through an onboarding process at a new company which may result in decreased impact for that period? I would prefer to join big tech in 1 year as a junior engineer, rather than in 10 years as a mid-level engineer.