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

What is an effective way to communicate one's achievement at work? For instance, how do you keep track of your progress over the year so that you can share it effectively during a performance review? Or, how do you make sure the team is aware of your contributions?

Hi, I'm about to leave my current job (transitioning from one big tech company to another in a completely different domain). I have a great relationship with my current manager and expect to leave on good terms, planning to give the standard two-week notice. There’s still over a month before my departure, and I’m not currently involved in any high-priority projects, nor do I expect to be in the near future. My schedule is fairly flexible, so I’d like to make the most of this time. How should I best utilize the time before I leave? Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with: Look for some mentees? It could be short sessions or long term. I've been in the company for 3+ years. I think I'm good at talking to people and help others. Have my personal wiki page of tips and tricks. My suggestions on internal communication tools sometimes receive a lot of positive feedback, so it could be a helpful resource. Set up some personal 1-1 session with my teammates. Just to chat. build rapport. Catch up with some college friends who are in the same company but we never really connected Write my work summary and move it to an internal wiki page so if I ever want to return to the company, hiring managers could use it as a reference. Write a journal for myself. It's a wild ride. Any comments, thoughts or suggestions?

I recently designed APIs for a new project. While I am very confident in the design I have developed. But I get some jitters when I plan to do readouts to leadership. Is it because of the questions I would get? is it because I would like dumb? is it because folks would look down upon me? What is it I wonder. Any inputs folks?

I just completed several technical interviews with a company, and the next round will be a behavioral interview with the manager. I’d like to know what questions I should ask to determine if they are a good manager and to spot any potential red flags. Aside from directly asking, what questions can I ask to better understand the manager's management style? Additionally, I hope to work from home 2 to 3 days a week (that company has hybrid work policy). How can I ask about their attitude toward WFH without coming across as not being fully committed to work?

Asking for a friend. What are some good resume review and polish services tailored for Software Engineer roles.

Hello! I am looking to talk to someone who has dabbled in GenAI/Prompt engineering specifically for code migration/tech debt work. Task: migrate from old service APIs to new service APIs. There isn’t exactly one to one mapping between APIs. Avoid deviating from given instructions as bot adds (incorrectly) some code lines or formatting Any advice on prompt writing is appreciated or any learnings so far about what works or doesn’t. I am using Claude 3 Sonnet model wrapped inside tooling for easy usage to run the changes on code repository.

My L7 tech lead has decided to quit. I have a 30 minute 1:1 meeting scheduled with him. I want to maximize this time. Any suggestions for what to ask/discuss during this time? I’ve already asked him to ping my manager with a peer review that can be used during perf. Note: I’m an L4

When someone asks this as the follow up do I just mention how I decomposed the problem, communicated changes and plans proactively, before it turns into a blocker or a nasty surprise at the end? Idk my logic tells me that hitting a date is not at all gonna convince this interviewer? Did I actually deal with so much rework but I still “hit” the deadline? This is especially true as in our team we’d much rather have something take longer but it is done right which is what this platform endorses lol. Our deadlines aren’t fixed deadlines as long as something is scoped clearly.

Most of my work in the last 3 years has been on internal tools. It's not quite infra level and its also not quite business level/product focused stuff. I'm not sure how to quantify impact here.

Problem: Whenever I have a project intro sync with a senior engineer/product manager (Subject matter expert) to gather requirements of a project (say a backend API) - I ask SOME questions and leave the meeting, at the time, feeling satisfied with my understanding of what I need to do and THINK it is clear of what to do. (I usually do not ask clarifications on what I believe are "small details", and leave it to myself to figure out the "small details"). I incorrectly think that asking many questions about "small details" makes me look like an inexperienced/ unreliable engineer. However-down the line during project implementation, a few weeks later, I realize there are a many ambiguous/unclear details that I need to re-ask the subject matter expert. This happens again, and again sometimes - as a few weeks later, I ask MORE questions - that sometimes make me rewrite a lot of my code, and has me chasing my tail/ making me look like an unreliable/slow engineer. When someone asks me "Am I making sense? Is this clear to you?" - I ALWAYS say yes too early, without thinking about edge cases/ unmentioned ambiguous details. (I incorrectly think that saying something is clear to me quickly, makes me seem like a sharp/fast-learning engineer. TLDR: How can I gather ALL requirements upfront at a project launch efficiently? How do I ensure I am 100% clear what/how to implement a project software-wise? (Especially since I have a horribly persistent bad habit of incorrectly saying details are clear to me, almost in a "happy-go lucky" fashion, wanting to seem like a easy-going engineer, that can pick ambiguous problems up quickly, without much explanation) THANK YOU! This has plagued me for my whole career.

If I got referred into Meta by a regular employee (eg someone from the sales team) vs if an engineering leader had put the referral in for me, would there potentially be any difference in outcome? As a referral does not guarantee that someone is able to enter the interview loop. Also, if I m rejected at the resume screening stage, what’s the cooling period like?

Can I strengthen my interview narrative by sharing that my work on a project got my tech lead promoted during the review cycle due to my high quality delivery without handholding? For context if I were to ballpark my company’s title inflation I think this tech leads promotion was the equivalent of a faang mid level to senior. For quote he said “I will continue to oversee day to day dev work like I was doing due to lagging promo” which seems to be team level mentoring. This would be one of the results in the STAR format story on top of the business impact that it delivered when I do a FAANG re-interview.

Hi, I'm currently looking for a new role and would find it helpful if members could share their recent interview timelines with Big Tech or Big Tech-adjacent companies. Given the diverse backgrounds in this community and the anonymity it provides, I believe this information could benefit many who are planning their job search strategies and study schedules. Thanks in advance for your insights! If you are willing, could you please share: Company and level Application type (referral/cold application/other) Application to Recruiter Screen : time in days/weeks Recruiter Screen to Tech Screen : time in days/weeks Tech Screen to Onsite : time in days/weeks Onsite to Offer : time in days/weeks

I am currently learning Machine Learning and AI as they are essential for my ongoing project. I've found these topics particularly challenging to master on my own due to their heavy reliance on mathematics—or at least that's how it seems to me with machine learning. Moreover, I tend to study thoroughly, aiming to understand everything from the basics to advanced concepts before I attempt to develop practical software applications. Could you share any strategies or advice on how to effectively learn and apply new technical knowledge in project settings?

I am new, what are the most effective ways to meet and build relationships with people across different teams in a large company? Any tips or experiences on navigating cross-functional interactions and expanding your internal network?

Hello, One of the developers is leaving my team and the company is planning to handover her work to me in addition to what I have been doing currently. Although I can do that, I also want them to increase my pay. How can I ask for this?

I feel I am okay at coding but not great at it. I’m more of a conceptual person than a 10x coder. I have a decent level of interpersonal communication skills. I do not have a great organizing/planning/execution skills but I feel that might be easier to develop than becoming a 10x coder. But this is not to say that I wish to permanently leave programming. Given all of these, what do you think my personality inclines more towards? Am I better off pursuing the management career path rather than an IC path? Or this is just a temporary phase in everyone’s career and it resolves by itself once you work on something bigger and better? What would be more sustainable in the long run given my personality traits? If you think management is a better path then how do you suggest me to approach this? Eg Any steps that I can follow? Thanks in advance.

Hi Taro Community, I’ve recently embarked on a new role as an SDE-II with a company where I’m currently the only team member based in India, with the rest of my team located in the US. The company has plans to expand the team here in India, which could potentially include hiring someone at a senior level. My current mentor, who is based on the East Coast in the US, has been a great source of guidance and support, despite the limited overlap in our working hours due to the time zone difference. However, I’m concerned about the possibility of being reassigned to a new mentor who might be very new to the codebase and potentially less equipped to provide effective mentorship, simply due to their proximity. In this scenario, how would you suggest I navigate the situation? I value the mentorship I’m currently receiving and am apprehensive about the impact a change might have, especially if the new mentor is still familiarizing themselves with the codebase. Should I express my concerns to my manager now, or wait to see how the team expansion unfolds? Any advice on maintaining the quality of mentorship during this transition period would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your insights.

I just finished the Master DSA Interview Course—fantastic material, thank you! I have three questions: In many problems, if we recognize the right pattern early, our initial code already handles most edge cases. So when a “Strong Yes” solution includes identifying 8+ edge cases, is the goal mainly to communicate to the interviewer that we’ve considered those scenarios (and confirm our code handles them), rather than necessarily rewriting the code to cover each one? Sometimes, a non–strictly worse alternate solution may not exist for a given problem. In those cases, are we expected to justify why no such alternate solution is possible? Or is it uncommon for interviewers to press on that point? I recall doing these types of proofs in university DSA courses, but I’m curious how often that level of justification is actually part of an interview setting. Alex emphasizes the importance of discussing your approach before jumping into code. How detailed should that discussion be? I sometimes find it difficult to clearly articulate a strategy when I haven’t seen the problem before. I might recognize patterns and have a general sense of how to attack it, but summarizing that strategy clearly—while still working through it mentally and continuing to talk—can be challenging. Any advice on how to strike the right balance between clarity and real-time problem solving?

Hi, I’m a Canadian born developer living in Ontario with 5 years of experience across 4 companies. Languages I have worked on: Java Spring, TypeScript, React, and Node. In 2018 I graduated with a 3 year diploma in Computer Science from a college, not a university. I’ve heard this might make it harder to get a U.S. work visa. My dream is to move to the Bay Area, as I often visit my sister that lives in Cupertino. I’m considering studying online at WGU for a CS online degree while working full-time to strengthen my case. What’s the best way to stand out as an engineer so Bay Area companies would be willing to sponsor me? Do I need a 4-year degree, or could I land a role based on experience? How difficult would it be for a company to sponsor a Canadian, do I have to be top 1%?

In my 3rd week at Big Tech, I was over-eager to get my first PR merged (into a particular legacy Airflow repo) so I could complete my first ticket and show some progress. I made probably the most classic rookie-mistake of not properly testing my code in staging, and my code ended up causing a sev that took down Prod for about 30 minutes. Since this was a particular legacy Airflow repo, it wasn't the end of the world since only internal workers were affected, only a small subset of the company, and it happened at night. Still, this was a pretty bad look for me to my manager and I've been working hard since to make a better impression. At my company, for every sev, there's a process to write up a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Doc where you describe the issue, 5-whys for why it happened, the timeline for how it happened, who it affected, and a few other details. There's technically an SLA of 2 weeks set to each RCA, but looking at other RCA docs, I see a lot of them were never actually filled out. From my perspective, the reason for the sev was simple: I didn't adequately test in staging. The oncall guy who helped me navigate the issue encouraged me to not personalize it as much and to think in terms of the process, e.g. testing in staging should have been required or canary testing in prod should have caught and rolled back my code. I have filled out the RCA doc on Confluence and can publish it but am hesitant to do so because I'm concerned about reminding people that I caused the sev. I have 2 concrete questions: Should I publish the RCA? I can prob get away without doing it since it doesn't look like it's enforced. I guess if someone does decide to follow up and sees I haven't filled it out it could be a bad look, but given that it's been over a month since I was supposed to publish it, it doesn't seem likely. If I should publish, should I look to engage with my oncall mentor regarding implementing some of his feedback for making testing in staging required or canary rollbacks? It seems like a lot of work to do (for myself or others) for something that was a "me-error" and people might get annoyed if they now have to test everything in staging when they don't currently have to. It also takes me away from my current tickets (which my manager prob cares more about me completing). Thank you for reading this!

In the course, Alex talked about dealing with mobile distractions and how simply keeping your phone away while working can make a big difference. This tip has been super helpful for me over the past couple of months—thanks, Alex! But now, I’ve noticed I’m getting distracted by my laptop instead. I’ll randomly open YouTube or check the news in the middle of work, and before I know it, time just flies by. I work from home, so it’s easy to lose track. Does anyone have tips or tricks to stay focused and avoid distractions on the laptop? Would love to hear what works for you!

Hi, I'm a backend engineer at a major tech company, currently stationed at an international site. I recently received a green card and have one year to relocate. After a four-year tenure with the company and a two-year break, I've rejoined for the past three months. I'm worried that my short time in the current role might affect my chances for an internal transfer, and that me notifying management on my intentions will cause them to just look for a replacement. What’s the minimum amount of time I should wait before asking for an internal move? I’m thinking about waiting until my first performance review, in a couple of months. Should I wait more? Alternatively, I could apply to other jobs, but I’m not confident in my interviewing skills and find preparing for them to be a hassle, but if I can land something better, and don't have to wait so long, I might do it. Any thoughts or comments would be helpful. How is the job market in the US right now? Thanks

I'm on a 6-month contract with a Big Tech company and am now a little over halfway through the contract. I was hired together with another contractor for the same duration. If only one of us can be re-hired (I don't know), it should (and probably will) be him, since he's done more and better work (he's also more experienced). Should I ask about the possibility of a renewal now? Or should I wait another month or two? My inclination is that I should ask sooner rather than later since there's a decent body of my work for them to judge me on at this point, so not sure how much benefit another month or two would provide. Thanks!