Mid-level Engineer Career Development Videos, Forum, and Q&A

Currently, I have interviewed many companies and got many offers. However, I am struggling on what company/team to choose to maximize my potential impact and career growth in the future? What questions do I need to ask so that I will know better which team/company is best fit for me?

Hello. During our daily standup, whenever anyone on my team asks the lead/manager questions they don't know or calls them out on something the lead/manager understood incorrectly, the lead/manager always brings up old tasks. For example: Teammate: Did you mean x instead of y? Lead: Oh, I'm not sure. It's been a long time since I've worked on that. Lead: Btw, how is task x from 3 weeks ago doing? Teammate: Some updates. Lead: What about task y from 2 weeks ago? It feels like a way to keep us in check i.e., I am more on top of things than you are, or a form of micromanaging, or a defense mechanism, but I can't pinpoint it. The lead's reasoning behind bringing up old tasks is to "make sure they don't fall between the cracks." Has anyone else experienced this? Am I reading into this too much? I tend to read into things too much...

Based on resume course, you have some rough benchmarks for expected career progression paces. For example you said a mid level engineer at 8 yoe is too slow. Would it be possible to give some industry averages that highlight if you’re moving slower than average or faster than average? Like green is faster than average yellow is average and red is slower? These can be super rough and while you did bring this up the purpose is to get a health check if we’re staying at our level too long. Idea is it’s good to know if we’re getting too comfortable. For more context I know some companies tend to reject candidates if they have not gotten promoted on time so these numbers will help us manage our careers effectively to ensure this doesn’t happen

I've been working at a AI startup for around 4 months now, it ran out of money and cannot pay salaries anymore. I feel it's a pity the tool we build can do some amazing things, new customer onboarded and other customer uses it daily. Also our teamwork is in flow, we can do a ton of work in short time. The company hasn't secured new funding and there's a breakup happening with previous investor. Creating a new company.. Previous company was in Europe now the new company is a US entity From the lead I hear that there's much interest in funding us, but we need a cap table and to be US entity, which just happened. But they've already been looking for funding for over 1 month and haven't gotten the required funding. This is my first startup and not sure what this means, It would be a pity if we dissolved now, cause team is great, there's some user traction, and our product are becoming pretty awesome.

It seems to me that Meta has SWEs drive a lot of product decisions but I've always heard Product is better for high growth and the famous examples of Sundar and Satya

I lead a team of five engineers. During sprint planning sessions, I collaborate with the team to create tasks aligned with our goals. Although the initial sprints were challenging, I now have a better grasp of the team's velocity. In the past, I frequently found myself directly involved in their tasks, providing boilerplates, due to their struggles with meeting the acceptance criteria. I am seeking strategies to maintain our pace without the need for constant updates or taking on the tasks myself, aiming to achieve our desired goals. Our team is newly formed, and we will soon be involving consultants, whom the organization views simply as resources. However, understanding their skill set and velocity poses a significant challenge.

In my 1:1 my manager praised me for not getting upset or defensive when a senior engineer managed to convince me and my manager to change which interfaces we are to read from for the project I am working on. To be clear this is a 2 month project on a microservice with a lot of data translation requirements. He liked that I just kept a unfazed appearance and refactored the code in 2 hours. I even shared that as a win to him :). But I’m confused why I’m getting praised. It feels like I’m getting praised for breathing. I’m a mid level engineer by self assessment so lmk if I’m not realizing some nuance here. To be clear the technical proficiency is not what I’m concerned about. I’m just more confused about what’s so important about that behavior I got praised for.

Reading is generally a far more effective+faster medium to learn from. You can skim, revisit it, take notes, summarize with AI, learn on the go Curious why Taro courses have no video medium

I feel like we are saying in interviews, resume, and performance review the best practice is to include business impact numbers. However, for lower levels (junior and mid), if impact doesn't matter, and execution is 100% of your value, shouldn't I just be focusing my resume and behavioral interview on how effective of an engineer I am and include metrics to track how good I am? For example: I have this story that has a lot of great execution wins: I reduced testing thrash by 90% by creating a data mapping document, scheduling and leading a sync meeting of the data mapping document with my PM, and using it to craft my unit tests. For context there are 5 message types that can come from at least 6 different places that need to be translated, correlated, and routed properly. This was measured by the results of the first test in staging that went through for my project.

Context: My company is experiencing a lot of uncertainty, which has led me to start interviewing now. I joined my company as a mid-level MLE and stayed mid-level for almost two years. Now, I've got close to six years of work experience. I'm behind in my career, but I should be at a senior level now. While working here, I found it very difficult to grow and learn. There was a significant language barrier, and I eventually lost the confidence and drive to work harder. Throughout my time, I received an M rating for all cycles. ### Issues: I should interview at a senior level right now. Previously, I have received offers from a few FAANG-level companies at mid-level. But I have some limiting beliefs that I struggle with: I haven't grown enough in the past two years to qualify for the senior level. ML System Design for the senior level is going to be much more challenging since I didn't work on complex projects or understand systems at that level at my company For most projects at my current company, I worked on superficial tasks instead of thoroughly learning the details of each project. So, if I am questioned about that, they find out, which makes me very hesitant and lacking in confidence. I could read up on all of the above and improve as much as I can. However, it's hard to find senior-level ML System Design courses. ### Questions: My question is how I can overcome my limiting beliefs, gain self-confidence, and move forward with the interview with a more positive mindset?

Hi Taro Community, I've recently embarked on a new journey where I'm currently the sole team member based outside the US. The team here in India is still in the process of being established. My mentor, recognizing my unique position, has assigned me some smaller, initial tasks to get started. However, I'm aware that the project I'm ultimately supposed to contribute to is still in its nascent stages, with the codebase likely not fully available/developed yet. This situation leads me to a couple of questions: How can I proactively learn about and understand the codebase more closely aligned with my future work, especially when it might not be fully available or developed at this stage? How will working on these initial, potentially unrelated tasks benefit me in the long run, especially if they don't directly tie into the main project I'll be working on? I'm keen to make the most out of this initial phase and ensure a smooth transition into my core project once it's fully underway. Any insights, experiences, or advice on how to navigate this scenario would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to your valuable suggestions.

Hello! I'm watching Alex's DSA course and I'm very eager to start my DSA prep journey! Now, I know we have a great 10h long course on DSA here on Taro. But how do we consume a 10h long course effectively? I'm following NeetCode 150 list, as I find it to be carefully curated and allows me to (similar in college), focus on one subject per week or two, before moving on to the next topic. In my experience, if you spend time reading up on a subject, it is lost time if you don't apply it immediately. Should I first watch it once end-to-end so I learn how to navigate the course? And then I just use the course as a dictionary when I need to brush up on a concept? Everyone consumes information differently of course, but do anyone have any suggestions on how to get the most out of longer content?

Hi, I have joined Goldman Sachs recently (4 months back) and almost close to deliver my first major project (end of week). My main work is in creating data pipelines or using in house sql tools to gather data in various lakes and warehouse for other tools to use them. The Tech part of the whole firm seems super unorganised (they never use agile or change management in past 6 years for tracking work) having so many in house legacy tools, never having generic view of the problem to create generic solution and half the time doing manual reconciliation or data search for expected data fields with super high learning curve. I feel I should go for switch. What are some of the points I should use to analyse the team and the firm for switching so early? My team is supportive to help me but they are always under pump. In my last company, we were about to be laid off, so I didn't need to evaluate company for switch.

I am an E4 Machine Learning Engineer working with a (traditional) Software Engineering Tech Lead who lacks a strong understanding of Machine Learning. This gap makes it challenging for him to communicate clearly the needed technical requirements, set a clear direction for my projects, and maintain consistent priorities, which often shift unexpectedly. As a result, I frequently feel unclear about my deliverables for this half-year and worry that this lack of clarity might negatively impact my performance review. Do you have any advice or suggestions on how I can navigate this situation?

Hi, As a mid-level software engineer, I've been serving a prominent semiconductor industry as a contractor for almost two years. I was initially promised a permanent position, but I was recently informed by my Team Lead that they wouldn't be able to convert my contract into a full-time role. Given the recent upheavals in our Software Department, this doesn't come as a complete surprise. Anticipating this situation, I have been honing my Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) skills since the start of the year. Now, I'm in the process of exploring full-time opportunities in fields like Embedded Software Development and Robotics Software Development. However, as an immigrant without a green card, I'm facing certain visa restrictions, which I understand could complicate the job search process. At this point, I am feeling slightly overwhelmed and could use some assistance in navigating this transition. I greatly appreciate any advice you can provide.

I work as a contractor for a big fintech in the USA. This fintech does not allow contractors to lead new feature development regardless of seniority (not explicitly, FTEs have separate sprint planning and meetings). We (contractors) only work on research tickets and bugs. This is frustrating. Should I change company?

I am currently in a toxic org. Typical signs including people "kill themselves over work", try to compete on the same projects, product directions keep changing every quarter or so, and managers have little empathy and set unrealistic deadlines, too much thrash, etc. There are some turnovers recently in my org too. However, there are indeed a lot of benefits of staying in my current company -- tech stack is modern, I got to work on AI/ML, pay and benefits are good, colleagues are indeed very talented, company has a good reputation, etc. So if I want to keep in the same team in the same company (let's just assume for my situation, switching team isn't viable), any good tips on how I thrive? In my team, I truly witnessed a 10x engineer (they are L5), and they made massive contributions to the team, including both daily technical discussions and high-quality code. Although somewhat burnt out, they are enjoying themselves in daily work too. I guess I can learn a lot from them. Moreover, sometimes when some co-worker takes a leave (like parental leave) or leaves the company, I can usually fill the void in projects, etc. And maybe step in management if there is some opening.. (which is my long-term career goal) But other than those points above, any other tips on how I thrive better? Thanks!

I took 3 weeks' leave to avoid PIP (didnt ended in pip but manager told to have biweekly 1 on 1s but its just a say) from the current org. I can't work in my current org it's so toxic and stressful. I am not able to study and work in my current org tried that for the last 6 months but was not consistent I got calls from 9 companies where I went on full rounds, and got rejected in all Feeling disheartened after seeing the results. joining this company, I am not able to crack interviews after joining this current org I learned nothing from this current org. I only survived here I accept that I should have done some work also, but I kept it to a minimum work requirement. I am planning to quit. I have some backup and my wife is also working but I fear that after quitting it should not take too much time to get another job exp: 6yrs Tech stack: Frontend.

How can I avoid being assigned a manager who is managing people for the first time? This happened to me and my colleagues multiple times and it was always extremely stressful and unpleasant to work with someone who is managing people for the first time. I know this would never happen to a staff engineer or a tech lead, but I'm mid-level. Should I ask to move to another team? What reason should I give for wanting to switch teams?

There's so many teams to choose from - It can be overwhelming. However, in a company as large as Meta, I'm sure there's huge variance among teams. How can I find one that works for me, particularly when it comes to find E5 scope for promotion?

I passed the mid-level SWE interview at another big tech company and now in the talking to a few prospective teams and salary negotiation. What kinds of questions can I ask to make sure I'm joining the right team. For me that would be growing into a senior engineer in the team. I also want to join an org that would be most likely to avoid a layoff. This includes scouting for red flags too like micro-manager behavior etc.

I don't feel like I've grown as an engineer lately and it feels like I lack cool stories for promotion packages and behavioral interviews. I came to the conclusion that I don't get to work on projects with big enough scope. The last time I worked on something that made me feel like I was growing was a whole year ago. There was another good but slightly less significant task 5 months ago, but I had to come up with it myself out of boredom (all the other alternative projects/tasks felt weak by all 6 axes of scope from Alex's "Nail your promotion course"). I'm unsure, if in my teams we actually don't get meaningful work, if the issue is with my frame of mind, I just have not been bold enough to volunteer for exciting work. But I'm sure that it's worth bringing up with my manager. The only reason I hesitate to do it, is that I just got transferred to this team and assigned to my new manager one month ago. I feel like it may be too early for this kind of conversations, as I have not established myself enough. What do you guys think?

I often spend up to 20 minutes carefully crafting replies to ensure they’re clear and effective, which is very long imo Even though I’ve even received compliments from a director for handling cross-functional misunderstandings. I know my messages hit the mark, but I’m looking for ways to speed up my replies and messaging in group chats without losing clarity. I’m curious if anyone has tips, tricks, or frameworks to make the process more efficient. How do you all manage to be both clear and quick in your communications? Any best practices or advice would be awesome

i am thinking this is the path for software engineer: junior -> mid level -> senior -> staff -> principal. where does tech lead fit into this path? is tech lead an optional path on the way to rising up to principal? i would think tech lead needs to manage people and would be less hands on? thanks.