I’ve been with T-Mobile for about a year as a entry level software engineer. I don’t think I got to learn that much new stuff and feel like there is no growth here. Is it because it is a telecom company or is it to do with the team? If it is to do with industry, is it FANNG the only path to grow and learn? #careergrowth #tmobile #swe YOE 1 TC 108k
There are a lot of teams in T-Mobile who works on exciting stuff and technologies. I have learnt a lot in just a year. I agree with Sprout Social, challenging projects and people you can learn from are more important than company name. However I feel that T-Mobile's developer culture is lagging behind in a lot of terms compared to FAANG.
T-Mobile Do you mind I ask your YOE? Have you worked at FAANG before? I agree on your last sentence, even though I don’t have experience in FAANG...
I have 4 YOE. No I haven't worked at FAANG but I know a lot of people who work at Big Tech companies
If you are expecting people to hand you projects so you can learn from it then it’s not going to happen. You will have to go network with people in other teams and develop your own path. There are plenty of resources available to learn and grow.
I see your point. Just comparing to my FAANG friends who get assigned tons of works and projects, I feel it is different in here. One big difference is that, no one is reviewing my code and my manager is not from software background.
Their business model doesn’t, or is unable to, support a software based mantra. They have to optimize earnings based on hardware solutions - that’s very hard to do in a company like TMobile that specializes in hw/sw based solutions. HW based solutions take up the majority share of the money so why would money be allocated to the software side of things. Likely why your manager doesn’t care as long as you have followed his deliverable that his team writes code. Look at what the company makes/sells and what goes into making it happen. Often it’s straightforward to realize what is the driving mantra at the company - another reason to network, you learn from conversations. Is it hardware Intel, software like salesforce, both because they sell a service like Tmobile or something entirely different like financials.
Move under TMO engineering group as it will give you interesting opportunities to learn.
engineering group? Never heard of that. Gonna search resources for internal transfer. I saw other posts saying it is not easy to do internal transfer?
Look up posts and ask the hitting manager directly - perhaps request up a 1 on 1. Figure out the company norms on how to do about doing this - your mgr and team mates might not be the appropriate ones to ask - I’m unaware if you’re early in career or not.
Entry level SE with 1 YOE getting 108K? I'm seriously being shafted HARD here, I see. 😣😡
I think it is a standard pkg for associate sde... at least from people that I know
From what I’ve learned on a strategy team at AT&T...telecommunications is basically utility like gas or electric or water. It’s a slow moving industry that has staying power, job security, and a lot of “business as usual” people without experience in tech. The name of the game is network reliability and security, not fast-moving change. Our country’s cellphone networks are a national security issue. Maybe you can work with that and learn something. Or maybe T-Mobile is a dead end.
Are you working on challenging projects and people you can learn from? Company name isn't the primary reason.
True. But in telecom from what I’ve seen the focus is not about software quality...
It is important but it's still not the main focus in many different businesses. You may experience the same at a small company trying to get features out as quick as possible. If that's important to you a team or product where accuracy is the goal may be more aligned with yourself. Really depends though.