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

I’ve been e3 for about two years. my manager put me for promo last two halves but it didn’t go through .(due to a bunch of reasons which are ambiguous , the feedback I got both times was - you’re doing 4 work but we have a quota) I believe there was some politics involved but that’s water under the bridge. I’m going to reach e4 end of this half. I’ve lost trust in my management chain. I do think my team may have good opportunity and everything else is good but I don’t think my manager is invested in growing me. I’m very ambitious and would like to get to e5 asap. What would be good ways to set myself up for success?

Hi I have been watching on the taro courses. I wanted ask is there a template that one can follow while writing test plan and how to map it for code reviews ? Any example that can be shared to understand?

Hi Taro Community, Often times during presentations/demos and other informal calls, I have seen myself being stumbled by questions related to my work that I am unable to answer. The questions seem simple, and I have often felt in retrospect that these are things one ought to have known, or spotted beforehand. I feel there needs to be a modification in the way I approach a problem/bug/user story assigned to me. Does anyone have any tips on how to be more detail oriented and have a holistic view of whatever it is that one is working on? How to approach the work items assigned in a way that one is extremely clear with the basic stuff?

Hi Taro Community! I am in a very similar position as mentioned by someone here: and from the responses it is evident that switching teams/companies will be an unavoidable step soon. I am currently at an entry-level position (will be completing 6 months at current company soon) and wish to look for roles at the next level of hierarchy (for instance my current role is equivalent to SDE 1, I wish to look for roles similar to SDE 2 or equivalent next). Few points: I am planning to complete 1 year at my current company, so by the time I switch I shall have ~1 yr of experience as an entry-level software engineer (apart from other experiences as internships/side projects/etc.) Firstly, is it realistic to prepare for mid-level at the current position? Do companies hire entry-level SWE's with at most 1 yr of experience for mid-level? If yes, is it advisable to apply now (or 6 months down the line)? I do not wish to work as an SDE-1 (entry-level) in another company by leaving my current one as it will only lead to further delays in promotions (I believe it takes at least a few months to set a good impression in a new team that you are capable for a promotion) How can I best utilize the next 6 months before I aggressively start applying to companies? I understood the point related to side projects - is it advisable to build side projects in the tech stack my team is using, or should I expand my scope to include new technologies I am interested (but not actively working on right now)? Any insights/suggestions/interview tips will be really appreciated. I have very less workload right now and really want to make the best use of time to switch further. Thank you!

I am a self-taught frontend developer with almost 2 years' experience working for an outsourcing company. During an interview recently, the interviewer said that I had good communication skills and should focus on technical topics. My stack consists of JavaScript/Typescript, React, and I know a little bit about Python and Django. Typescript is mostly what I use. Here's my questions: Is there a specific approach you recommend I take to this technical part? Do I need to learn more data structures and algorithms since I do not have a Computer Science degree? In order to build a strong foundation, should I consider applying to a FAANG company? Your comments will be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

One of my colleagues from university recently completed his final interview round with SDM & Senior SWE. It has been five business days since then, but he hasn't heard back about whether he was selected for the role. He mentioned that the interview was supposed to be with HackerRank but encountered issues, so they used Google Docs instead. He said the questions were exclusively on basic Java and little bit of algo. He completed all five questions, except for one where he didn't notice a bug in the line, and another where his syntax was incorrect, although his logic was sound. His recruiter has been consistently responsive, which I told him is a good sign. I want to know what is taking them so long, whether they are considering rejecting him because of his mistakes or if they are planning to give him an offer.

I have attached my resume for review:

Basically what the title says. Market seems really bad right now for entry level and junior engineers. Any tips on how to become a better applicant and stand out?

I've not had great reviews from manager in the past few months. I think it all started with me taking PTO for 3 weeks in december and something I handed over to team before leaving not working as expected. Before that maybe I had a made an impression that I was not proactive enough and it all escalated with this issue in PTO. They had to source a member from another team to get it done. After I was back from my PTO I did work really hard to get back at the work left and finish diligently, but it again happened that after this work was merged, some other api's failed in Integration environment. And I fixed it soon and got it working. But by this time my manager had decided to put me in PIP I guess. Now about the PIP, its 60 days long and the way my manager talked about it seemed like she wants me to take it very seriously and improve and she and other seniors can support me during that. My skip manager who is a director, however seems like a not so nice person, I also have a have monthly connect with him next week. He can easily influence the decision even if I do well and my manager wants me. How do I talk to him is one question? And how do I navigate this whole PIP is another. Since the market is also very bad right now, I'm planning to work hard and complete every objective there is on the PIP document. What do you think about this? I am on stem opt visa and might have 3-5 months to find another gig that's all.

I recently joined a Big Tech company. My assigned mentor is helpful when I have questions, and is also friendly. However, apart from asking questions when I get stuck, I'm not sure how to best use their time so I can onboard and grow effectively. Does anyone have some suggestions and insight on this? I've considered asking them to explain how some parts of the codebase work when I have issues, but it feels like unless I work on those parts of the codebase, I will forget what I learn. The domain and codebase is large so this feels low-ROI, especially since I am not working on some of these pieces.

Right now, I'm on the test side in my company, writing some automated tests but doing a lot of manual tests as well. I would like to transition to software engineering, but I'm not entirely clear on my path there. There has been precedent of making that transition within my company, but I don't have any hard commitments there on allowing me to do the same. Any advice on how I can plan out this switch?

Hi All, I have a situation, can you help me on how you'd navigate it? I have a potential project idea that has staff level scope. There's a pain point across our company and this project would help the entire company. I want to lead this project because it'd be a tremendous opportunity for my growth. Given that I'm mid-level and lack of experience leading projects, I fear ownership of the project will be given to someone else to lead if I speak on it. This project shouldn’t be done in silo, this project needs to be part of the engineering priority because it will span across multiple teams. Can you help me navigate how to maintain ownership/lead this project?

One common complaint I get from my friends to who I pitch Taro is why they should trust a company that is "Selling shovels during a gold rush". I personally believe there is a ton of value in joining Taro but I can see their perspective since not every coaching/mentorship service has their clients' best interests in mind. This question is more for Alex and Rahul but others are free to chime in. What is your response to this?

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. In general, I think my manager & mentor is an incredible engineer & empathetic person open to feedback/trying new things. He’s personable, highly knowledgable, is available to answer my questions, & answers all my noobie questions. While I love these aspects, I do feel he is a bit reactive as a manager. When I asked him if he wanted to be my mentor, he agreed but I think he interprets it as being available to answering more of my questions. I don't think he is used to being a mentor or a manager and would like to see a more proactive effort from his side to help me level up as a engineer (right now I am mostly bringing up the ideas for 1:1 meetings, and creating a growth plan, etc). So how do I help him?

I'm just curious about people's opinions from a tech perspective Does this impact current tiktok employees? Can this affect their RSU/equity? Any other thoughts are also welcome!

Hi Taro. I got laid off in April from AWS. I interned at NASA JPL and I am considering going back fulltime and continuing to apply to tech companies. I don't have an offer but I am hopeful I would be able to connect with a team since I interned there one year and have 1.5 YOE at AWS. I have some concerns about joining JPL, because they are prototype and research focused. They don't have many production systems or serve customer traffic. They also operate mostly in small and independent groups so the engineering standards can differ a lot. The research group I interned at had poor engineering and code quality compared to AWS. The engineering environment is different than corporate. Some technologies and experiences missing at JPL that are common in tech are pipelines (CI/CD), TPS, tickets, oncall, debugging large and distributed systems, customer traffic, metrics, operational reviews. JPL pays poorly and has slow growth. You can be there 10 years and make less than an SDE-1 in FAANG. I don't have any visa issues. Finances are not a problem. Currently I have very low expenses and good savings because I didn't RTO and I am living with my parents. I have 1.5 YOE at AWS and 3 years of internships before that. I see the market picking up so I am tempted to keep trying for a tech company. Another thing to consider is that there is a lot of inertia when you join a job. I will have little time to look for other jobs in the first few months because I will be busy onboarding. I will also have less time to look for jobs and study for interviews. Please give advice :)

I'm going to join Meta as a new grad SWE in early June. I would be TNTE (too new to evaluate = automatic meets all) for the July PSC. However, I would be evaluated in January's full-year PSC. How exactly would this work? I would have ~6mo of work done by Jan. Would I be pitted against other E3s in my org who have been working since Jan 2025? Or would they also consider my tenure at the company?

An exception is if you talk to them such as asking a question. Sometimes I get a connection request from someone with no message that can lead into a conversation. What is the value in connecting with someone I will never talk to?

I don't have a CS degree but I am working as a junior engineer. I am currently in the process of learning software engineering concepts and building foundational knowledge of systems (haven't really gotten into it but that's my next plan). With the whole AI frenzy going on, my attention keeps diverting from one area of focus to another. It's hard to prioritize the things that I want to learn, and I am getting quite overwhelmed. Why? Because I've 1 year of experience and as a result of this constant flip flopping, I don't think I have really gained foundational knowledge of a certain topic which is appalling. I failed out of my computer science program at university for this exact reason - did way too many hackathons at the cost of gaining a foundational understanding of topics. I want to do things right this time and not fall for the same trap where I sacrifice becoming good foundationally. Has anyone faced this issue before? Looking for some advice on how to manage expectations and learning to grow as a developer.

Hey Taro members, Since in most companies, I believe the 1:1 with Managers is biweekly or weekly I was thinking about what to communicate in every meeting. At times, I run out of things to discuss. We cover topics related to how tasks are going, feedback if any, and after that, there's not really anything else. Given the fact these meetings are recurring, I want the communication to be more natural. Any advice for that since I do realize the importance of 1:1's and would like to make the most of it? Also, any other topics besides the ones mentioned above that should be discussed in 1:1 something I can initiate a discussion about as an Entry Level Engineer and make the most out of these 1:1s? Thanks.

I just joined a new company (7 months of industry experience) and I want to make sure I can come in quickly and make an impact. More specifically, I want to become a quality contributor to the team as soon as I can.

When I was young, I was taught that I shouldn't be too helpful or transparent with my friends/classmates/coworkers because I would be "helping my competition" or attract jealousy from others. For as long as I can remember people would Hide their grades or what universities they were applying to Hide what companies they were interviewing for Hide their compensation Not help others with homework/work projects/preparing for interviews I get the impression that Alex and Rahul are pretty transparent people, so I wonder why. It's certainly different from what I have seen in my life.

As I read through some of the technical design docs / OKRs on the team, I've noticed some fellow engineers put out some really thoughtful comments (especially the more senior folks), however coming up with such feedback observations is not always super intuitive. As a new-hire junior, I'm looking to build up this skill of conducting an effective design / OKR review. What do you usually look for / pinpoint when reviewing a design doc or OKR for a new project? How can I still provide good feedback despite not having the same level of exposure / experience?

I'm relatively new to software so would love to understand more here. In particular, what does it look like at Big Tech compared to other companies? My goal is to eventually transition into a Big Tech company - Do you always need to work 60+ hours a week to do well there?