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

I'm in my early 20s and started a startup with my friend from college shortly after we graduated. We got into Y Combinator and worked on the company for about 2 years in total before shutting it down recently. I didn't go to a name-brand school, and didn't work full-time anywhere after graduating, but I did a few prestigious internships, one of which being in Deep Learning. I've heard larger companies and recruiters in general don't like former founders, and I mostly did sales/product for our startup. We built a few web-based products and a few AI infra/AI apps, but nothing crazy and nothing with massive traction. We spent most of our time pivoting and doing user interviews/sales. I want to get an engineering job rather than PM, because I have internalized the value of being technical when being a founder and don't want to give entrepreneurship up yet. There aren't too many entry-level positions open, and I was hoping to not have to go into an entry-level role, but simultaneously I'm not sure I have enough experience to feel confident in being self-sufficient as an engineer. Before starting the company, I had a return offer at one FAANG company, and a New Grad SWE offer at Facebook that I let expire. I emailed my recruiter to try to reinstate it, and she implied that I would not be eligible for New Grad since I was too far from my graduation date. Ideally, I'd like to work in AI at a larger company since that's where all my experiences in college were and where I see the most opportunity (ideally OpenAI or FB). Otherwise, probably back-end/infra at a post-IPO startup/FAANG or worst-case post-PMF startup. I have a few questions: Should I only apply to entry-level engineering jobs, and am I even eligible for them? If not, what level of experience should I apply to and how do I convince them I'm qualified? How should I write my resume/describe my experience+title (especially for larger, more bureaucratic companies which are less open to former entrepreneurs)? Should I even include that I was a co-founder? How custom should I make my resume for each different kind of job I'm applying to (new grad swe, new grad mle, ai eng, at faang+ vs. growth stage startup)?

My main goal right now is to level up, and that next level for me is making the jump from junior to mid-level, hopefully within 2-3 years. To better understand the evolutions I need to make, what are the main differences between junior and mid-level when it comes to SWE?

Some of my work involves coding in an old AngularJS codebase that has a lot of issues. Most files are 5-6k lines long, many of the functions are on v3() while v1 and v2 are left in there creating technical debt. We've already moved on to a rewrite of the application in React, leaving the AngularJS code a mess that no-one cares about. How should I approach work that is assigned to me in this codebase? Get it done as fast as possible so I can get back to my "real meaningful work" in the React codebase, probably adding on more technical debt in the process? Take my time and try to make the most even if the code is worse and I might be learning anti-patterns? The AngularJS codebase will be deprecated and migrated away from in a year anyways so developers don't really care about refactoring or improving the code quality. I've been trying my best to essentially avoid work in the AngularJS codebase, but unfortunately I can't ignore it since 200 million+ users rely on it and oftentimes on-call issues crop up in it.

Our VP keeps office hours every week (even more so recently because of the layoffs announcement). However, I see (and he often complains) that people do not utilise those, perhaps because people do not know what to ask. I see this as a wonderful opportunity to learn from the senior management (as well as build some visibility). However, I myself am not sure how to utilise them so that it is not a waste of their time. I have utilised them once and it helped me understand what the work expectations look like from our VP's perspective as well as his insights on growing fast. But, I am not sure if I did it right, and any perspective on this would help.

Hi, I'm currently a software engineer 1 working with a senior engineer trying to ship a new feature. The way it works, the senior engineer I work with has outlined the technical problem, scope, and approach we're doing. She has assigned the tasks and most of it (BE/FE) will be done by the senior and the portion I'm doing involves a BE service I've worked on before. Our deadline is in a month, as I'll be going on leave. I wanted to do a portion of the FE just to learn more about frontend technologies and was assigned tickets, however my senior engineer has started work on these and it looks like most of the work I'm going to be doing, apart from my tasks, are going to be reviewing/testing my senior engineer's PRs. I've worked with this part of the product before but I was hoping to get more exposure and practice. I was hoping to really learn more about the frontend aspects of our product so I'm a bit disappointed but I'm wondering maybe if my expectations (which was to learn more about FE) are unrealistic and perhaps unnecessary. As a new grad, what is the expectation from senior engineers? Do I communicate this to our manager or should I re-adjust my expectations?

Hello folks, hope to get some advice on my current situation. I have started my job hunting process and a recruiter reached out to me with a open SWE role recently. We had an initial chat and the compensation range for that role was lower than what I had asked for but the recruiter encouraged me to just go ahead and try anyway. I agreed to it, as I wanted to chalk up some interview experience, and managed to make it through the interview stages. Today I was informed that I got the offer. However, the compensation is too low for me (which is expected). There's not much room to negotiate a substantially higher compensation because it is the budget given for that project (it's a contract role). The recruiter is still trying to encourage me to take up the role and potentially coming across as kinda...pushy. Any advice on how best to reject them? The recruiter has honestly been really helpful and friendly (eg. giving me tips on what the interview could ask etc) so I will still hope to be able to get the help of this recruiter for other roles, but at the same time i really don't want to offend him or make him think that I'm a picky candidate etc. It's my first time job hunting so would really appreciate advice! Thank you so much

After this past half (I joined mid-August), my manager is saying I'm working at a meets all (MA) level. Granted, I only joined in the middle of the half, but when I ask him how can I take the next level to be promoted or have an EE or above rating, I get very vague answers with not much detailed support (he's also a new manager and this will be his first PSC). This past half, we had an expectations doc where it listed each project and the impact it should have. I hit all those expectations, but with his vague advice, I'm not able to create actionable steps for myself for this half to get the promo or higher ratings. From Taro, I'm learning code quality, velocity, and impact are the most important at my level - which from my feedback, I'm doing well in. What are some ways to take it to the next level? Finish my projects earlier and take on more projects in the half? Feeling a little bit lost so any advice is greatly appreciated!

I work with several senior engineers who split their time between teams. This leads to odd stand up updates such as “I have no updates for this team”. As a result, I feel like I’m not getting value from their updates, and I also don’t know how to structure my updates to make it relevant for them.

I know the general advice if one does not know is to ask their manager but sometimes an inexperienced manager might not know themself. Can anyone provide an example to make these concepts clear? A few criteria I came up with that can be included in the framework involve Number of stakeholders (across how many dev teams does the project span) Roadmap vs. feature level ambiguity (Designing a service vs. designing an API in that service) Technical complexity (How many different services are talking to each other, etc) For reference, when I talk about mid-level vs. senior-level I am referring to the leveling system across big tech (L4/L5 for Amazon, E4/E5 for Meta, etc.). Thanks!

I'm not going to sugar coat it, not having a CS degree is inducing a lot of anxiety right now. I know companies like Shopify (especially) don't really care about your degree, but when I see loads of job postings with a bachelors in CS as a minimum requirement, it terrifies me. I live in Toronto as well and the number of job postings are a lot lower than the US. Should I drop everything to try and get a masters? Or do you think it's better to continue gaining experience first?

How often does everyone pair program here? And how do you regard them? I am at a startup and since I have started, first as a junior, my pairing frequency is about 1-2x per week. I do not consider myself a junior anymore (at least not at the company, but maybe on Leetcode >_<) and find these sessions more valuable as volleying ideas flow more. I was wondering what it’s like for others and if it is a day in the life thing at big(ger) tech; is it kind of seldom or frowned upon or do some of you use it as a measure of skill, etc. Hope everyone is having a good start to the week!

I've recently been working on multiple work items at once. One of them is an older work item that has been blocking me for while and needs research, and the other is on a new project that needs me to learn a different paradigm since the application is built differently (say, something like functional programming). Since the build and deployment for my own testing (prior to pushing code) for each can take time (around 10-15 minutes), I try to swap between tasks to get more done. However, I've noticed a decrease in the quality of my own code in terms of the feedback I've been receiving - similar comments, silly mistakes etc, that I'm not happy with. Part of that might be because I'm working with a different type of application and codebase than what I'm used to, but I still don't feel like I'm able to focus while jumping between things. How do you juggle and work with multiple work items effectively? Do you time block, do it on alternate days, anything you would recommend? Thank you in advance.

I rececntly joined a series D startup as a software engineer 2. Prior to that I have about a year and half of experience, where I didn't get to learn much due to remote work and an absentee manager. Since the beginning of this new job I have been feeling very anxious, as if I don't deserve this new role. I feel the team will figure out they made a mistake hiring me at an SE-2 level. The leveling in this company is different compared to big tech so SE-2 is not same as Amazon SDE-2. Coming to my actual struggle, the product in itself is infra heavy and I have very limited understanding of DevOps. I am feeling overwhelmed with everything I need to learn to understand even basic tickets, and I end up just starting on the tickets directly instead of taking up say a docker/kubernetes course or even going through the numerous onboarding video recordings. Add to it that a good part of my team is on PTO this past month so I was getting stuck with no-one to unblock me. I would love some tips to figure out a framework to follow, things to do when I get stuck, or better practices that show I am not repeating my mistakes. Right now I am documenting the patterns (say how to test a plugin) that keep repeating.

I just graduated college this May and have no job lined up struggling in this really tough market. Struggling to land a job in this market has me feeling like a failure/I'm doing something wrong even though I did all the "right" things when starting college (get good grades, do LC, get internships, do projects, network) So fellow members of Taro, do you have any advice on how not to feel down during these trying times? Especially when seeing few classmates land jobs and I'm still struggling here I hate to make posts like these since its depressing but there's people with far more wisdom than me and I would really appreciate any wisdom you can part :)

In the team-matching phase, I connected with a team focused on a monolithic backend built in Django with GraphQL. My manager recommended I learn Datadog and Sentry, and I’d love some tips on onboarding to these technologies as efficiently as possible. This is for Nextdoor working on team that owns Feed, Events, Groups and Messaging. I've been working through a course on CodeSignal that covers GraphQL and Apollo Server, but it’s primarily JavaScript-oriented, using Apollo with Express. Since I already have a Django side project, I’m interested in how to apply what I’m learning specifically to Django and Python environments. Additionally, I’m aiming to streamline my onboarding with some guidance around these points from my manager: GraphQL basics – Use it with a simple Django web app to surface data. Datadog and Sentry – They use Datadog for real-time monitoring and Sentry for API error tracking. Any specific tips or resources to dive into these tools effectively? For context, I am currently a Data Engineer who uses Python and SQL and am transitioning to a Backend SWE role. I do have experience building things, here is a side project I have built from scratch.

I'm currently in bootcamp and deciding between back-end and iOS/Android. I'm pretty neutral about these stacks, but I do have a slight preference for back-end as it seems similar to topics I learned in school. Are there any differences in growth potential in any of these focus areas?

Hey folks have started out on my first full-time job as an Early Career SWE at a Big Tech Company. Wanted to ask what is the ideal line of progress in terms of as months pass by. For example in 3 months at least I should be capable of doing XYZ things.. in 6 months XYZ things... and within a year's time XYZ things independently. I ask this question mainly since it's going to be close to 5 months of joining and I do require handholding with other peers on the team my aim is to operate as independently as possible. One of the feedbacks in the first quarterly check-in was to go in full depth for the debugging and independently create test plans for the work assigned before asking questions. As for the creation of test plans yes since the codebase is too large I do tend to ask other team members if there is an existing functionality that can be leveraged or in case I get stuck as to what to do ahead or when I don't understand something. The good feedback was the questions I asked were formed and detailed. From the feedback, I am kind of at a crossroads in understanding whether I should ask questions or not ask questions and also crippled with self-doubt Another pointer was how to be assertive in the sense I tend to be scared to share my ideology or idea about how we can potentially do something. Communicating with peers also seems intimidating especially Senior or Lead members or Manager too. Is there a more proper way to communicate/send messages? The primary mode of communication is Slack and at times threads get bulky. Any tips to understand the feedback properly and improve on the above pointers or in general are highly appreciated. I hope to get better at being a good SWE.

I'm a new E3, and I know that there's the up-or-out promotion timeline to E4. I was wondering how much of a challenge this level-up generally is and what are the main things to keep in mind with this promo?

Hi, I have a question about answering these prompts for Meta referral How well do you know this person's professional skills within their area of expertise? (Never worked together, just by reputation, worked occasionally, very well) Why do you think your referral should be hired? How important are they? What are they looking for?

I was recently persued by a big tech startup on LinkedIn for a full-stack JavaScript role. In the phone screening they asked if I would be open for their new grad program. As I have been working at my current company for 4.5 years (3 years part-time during university) it simply didn't feel right. They ended up going with someone else after the phone screening which could've been for multiple reasons, but was it wrong of me to not consider the new grad position? Should I consider new grad positions at big tech companies if it is my goal to work in big tech, even though I have some previous my experience?

I just started my software engineer journey and have a typical 9 - 6 working schedule. I feel like the time is getting so limited after I get back home. My goal is to keep some personal time for learning and personal projects every day but still achieve a good balance. Genuinely look for time management or scheduling advice for newbies in the industry. Thanks a lot!

Hey, I just posted a question related to me considering to quit my job here: Should I leave my company due to effects of commute? (jointaro.com) TLDR: I am seriously considering quitting my job due to the commute, I live in SF, have 1+ years of experience and am looking to work in the city/remote. I have 6+ months of savings and am a U.S. citizen. Effectively, I'd say there's a 95% chance I'll quit my job in Jan 2024. Considering this, I'm evaluating the current tech job market. Generally, my impressions are that while the overall economy is doing quite well, the tech market is in a bit of a lull w/ potential layoffs in 2024-2025. We had the major overhiring of 2021-2022, then the layoffs in early 2023 and now are in a period of stasis relative to the bull market of the past 10 years+. I believe this is also due to the end of zero interest loans making capital expensive. This then leads to profits being more emphasized, then cost-cutting in large corporations (employees being a major cost, so layoffs occuring) and then difficulty for startups to raise money. Additionally, I recently read The Pragmatic Engineer's take on Spotify's recent 17% layoff. "Unfortunately, I suspect Spotify is early in having a realization which other tech companies will also have, next year. With the zero interest rate period (ZIRP) over, it’s expensive to borrow cash. Spotify making a loss meant it was effectively borrowing money in order to operate. Turning a profit is more urgent than when capital was cheap. But how do you turn a profit if you cannot significantly increase revenue? You cut costs, and the biggest costs for most tech companies are employees, sadly. As a result, Spotify could well become profitable, assuming it generates similar revenue in future. And this is exactly the plan; to keep doing the same as before, but with fewer people. In this way, Spotify’s cuts make business sense in the context of business growth slowing, persistent loss-making, and a hiring spree in 2021-2022 which didn’t boost revenue. These cuts may be surprising for many at Spotify, but probably not for the leadership team. The only question is how many other companies are in the same position as Spotify, but with leaderships yet to draw the same conclusion from the economic conditions. This is probably a good reminder that the tech jobs market remains volatile. If you have a stable job, it could be a good time to put aside some earnings for a nest egg, stay engaged with your network, and to position yourself to work in areas seen as profit centers, not cost centers." What are your impressions of the tech market right now? Any recommendations of how to navigate the market or resources to utilize? Anything advice years-of-experience specific (Junior engineers vs. senior engineers vs tech leads vs. etc)?

Hi, I recently joined Meta and this is my first job out of college. I'm a bit unsure about how performance is categorized and what initial signs to look for. Is it considered a negative if it takes longer to onboard? What is the normal period of onboarding? Is it normal to have a mentor assigned for an extended period if onboarding is slower, or does this reflect poorly? What should I keep in mind and avoid to get an MA (Meets All) or EE (Exceeds Expectation) rating? Also, how can I avoid receiving a BE (Below Expectation) rating as an E3? The stack ranking is confusing and I don’t understand the baseline expectations.