I have been working at my new company for 2.5 months now, I am currently in my 10th week. I came from a systems software job and I am doing backend work. It is an entry level position. My manager rips me apart in code reviews, which is a good thing. But I am majorly fucking up everywhere. I feel incompetent, all my coworkers so are much smarter, even the others who have joined after me know what they are doing. I generally enjoy writing software and do it as a hobby. I know I can code coming from systems software background. I just feel completely out of my element joining a different software industry and going into pure software. I studied leetcode and system design and passed the interview I’ve been assigned tasks and a good portion of them my boss or the senior members on the team had to step in to put out the fires that I could not finish coding correctly given we have deadlines at end of Q2. I ask for help and guidance, but seems like at my new company I am expected to figure it out on my own and the entire big codebase with it. I am failing very hard and wonder if I made a mistake moving into pure software even if I got a big boost in TC. After this week is over, I’m going on a month long unpaid vacation with my wife to Europe. I have a feeling I will be fired when I get back. I don’t know who to turn to or what to do so I am posting on blind for advice. I just feel like I made a tremendous mistake trying this new field out as failing hard despite the TC boost YOE:6 TC:155K
Yep, sounds like you’re gonna get shitcanned. Good news is that it’s survivable. Get a gameplan together. You’ll be fine.
Do I put this experience on my resume? Coming from systems software, I wanted more TC. Could I leverage this experience at my current company before getting fired?
Honestly I wouldn’t, anything less than 6 months isn’t mentionable. You could if you’re willing to roll the dice and say they happened to reorg right when you got there. Might work.
Think about it this way - in a team where you’re the shittiest programmer you get a lot of opportunity to improve yourself by code reviews and hand holding. Depending on the company and the role (senior and more) beyond a point they would start expecting you to pick things up and atleast not repeat the same mistake twice. Being new to the field you would also need to spend some additional time to improve the skills in the area you currently are working. And yeah vacation at this time is definitely a bad idea! TC is not everything, improve your skills and TC would start taking care of itself beyond a point!
Have been doing coursera, udemy courses to try and learn the basics. They are using Golang. But even then basics are basics. Jumping from the basics to production level code is different. I booked this vacation long back, couldn’t get refunds so I am going
Talk to your manager. If things aren't looking good then you might as well not come back at the end of the month, and knowing this beforehand will put yourself in a much better psychological place so you don't have to worry. if your manager is willing to invest in getting you to improve then you'll just have to work hard and put your trust in the team.
I am planning on speaking with him this coming Friday, before I leave. I’ve had imposter syndrome... or guess I really am an imposter. But I’ve had the fear of getting fired since day 1 due to my background.
Have you had a frank convo with your manager about this? If so what was their response?
Not yet. Will this Friday
Care to share the company? May want to steer clear of them.
Wow you got some balls to go to vacation under the circumstances. I applaud your millennialness
I was unable to get a refund. Did not want to waste money but feel as if I made a mistake.
I think you need to prioritize. Whether it’s work or a few hundred bucks and good time with wife etc. I feel that wife will understand and not give you hard time if you decide it’s work that is important. I know I’d pick work over vacation but it’s just me growing up seeing what poverty does to spirit
Looks like Amazon
Managers doing code review?? No way it's Amazon.
Everyone thinks they can be a software engineer. Not everyone can be successful at everything. People also think the big money is only in writing software. That’s just not true either. Learn as much as you can while you’re there, make a game plan, figure out what you’re good at that is more than just a hobby.
Being completely honest. I can succeed in systems software. But the TC is not good there. I am not the best engineer out there and I know that. I believe I am average at the end of the day. I do enjoy software and solving challenges but I feel completely out of my element. It’s honestly making me depressed. I thought I could take this challenge head on, but it’s completely kicking my ass
One good thing is that you are honest about the situation and can read it quite well as you described. Like others said talking to your manager and improving your skills are a good way to go.
To make you feel better, I got 200 PR comments on my first PR request. It’s in Golang as well. I think you would be better than me 🙂
Was that at Cisco? Did you come from a different software background? I honestly think you are doing better than I am if you finished the tasks. I couldn’t do them without help
I did work in Golang for a year but we never followed any coding standards in my old company. over here standards were little high and I was ripped apart in PR. As someone said below pair programming helped me a lot in learning golang. If that’s not an option you have to do it hard way. Do you work in micro services development?
Yeah apply for jobs