Best of Blind: July 2023
Welcome to the Best of Blind, a carefully curated collection of posts that embody the best of the community and its positive spirit. Whether it’s a heartening success story, an encouraging comment, or a discussion thread filled with valuable insights and career advice, we want to showcase the incredible ways the Blind community supports and uplifts one another.
Check out the Best of Blind, featuring posts from July 2023. This month we focused on helpful advice backed by the experience of our community of verified professionals.
How to become a senior/staff software engineer?
A former Amazon professional says they have the “worst” imposter syndrome. After five years as a software engineer, the professional called on his more senior peers to offer some advice about how to move up the career ladder and become a senior software engineer or staff software engineer.
One commenter from PayPal replied: “It doesn’t go away when you become [a] senior [or] staff [engineer]. There will always be someone ‘smarter’ than you.”
Don’t miss the advice from the senior developers, which ranges from how to get a promotion faster to making a visible impact at work.
Laid off. Finally got some offers. AMA.
Six months after getting laid off from Google, this Blind community member bounced back and earned six job offers. Some of the advice they shared:
- Always Leetcode.
- Know your resume and be able to speak to details and data.
- Research the company and industry beforehand.
- Get enough sleep, and eat healthy.
The former Google professional also provided an in-depth guide to tech interviews in another post: Mid/Senior Software Engineer Interview – Prep Anecdote.
Years of working at Meta. Giving some advice for the hiring stage.
An experienced Meta veteran shares what they have learned from years at the company. Fortunately for us, the Metamate’s lessons can be applied at nearly any company.
Some highlights include:
- Remember that you will be treated as a resource.
- Choose your teams carefully based on their past work and potential for promotion.
- Don’t rely solely on your manager for career development.
I stopped saving money
Finally, our last lesson this month comes from a community member who experienced a close medical call that made them adjust their life priorities.
The professional decided to stop chasing a high net worth and start spending their money on things and experiences they can enjoy today. Perhaps it’s a lesson that we could all use.