Currently QA in automation at Apple. I have an SDE1 offer from amazon and im planning on jumping in a few months. Depending on the team, idk if I will stay there for more than 2-3 years. Ideally, I'd like to land E4/L4 or an equivalent level at FB/G or a startup after I leave. I kinda half assed my way through college, and dont have much personal development to show for it. No specialization, in depth knowledge of any language/stack, and only meh at algorithms despite having around 350 LC. What are some good generalist skillsets to pick up and ways to improve my skills as a programmer? I'm planning on slowly reviewing my old coursework and projects to freshen up on concepts, but I have no idea on where to start in terms of developing practical skills (other than more LC). I want to maximize my chances ar career progression since I've been winging it hard for the last 4 years of my life and feel as if I've been left behind by my peers. Any advice helps, I have about 2 hours each day to devote to self improvement studies, if that matters. I'm tired of being a 0.5X-er. TC 180k, <1 YOE
First of all congrats Drop that QA in the past ASAP I did the same move after getting my bachelors but to a startup - it was the smartest thing I ever did My main advice - find the niche you love (hopefully a popular one but ain’t that important as some people think) and make sure you go deep into understanding what you are doing. How the libraries work , how the build works , how the entire project and dependencies stitch together , how the source control ties to everything , memory management , debugging , performance profiling etc Everybody can use a tool like a dummy and implement an algorithm after precticing - but surprisingly few have the other skills and depth that differentiates a code monkey from a programmer that can lead , show others how it’s done , understand his platform etc. Don’t rest - always be learning and evolving. And most importantly - worry about today - being good at your current (or soon to be current job. What will happen in 2 years? You have time First become a good developer Last thing - soft skills! While this is really something that is hard to pick up - I do find a lot of QA people have them way more than rnd It’s starts with small things - be kind and friendly , share knowledge and ask questions , be positive when at work (it ain’t you’re home or private life. I’m not saying be fake - but make sure you come into the office positive - confrontations andnpjssing contests are a waste of time and being grumpy doesn’t get you anywhere) and from those grow the real soft skills that some people mistake with politics Just an example - left my previous place after I’ve been with them for over 8 years , recently with a gc in hand and just got a performance bonus - theoretically - had every reason to be upset with my timing to leave (also just after I created a new team and vertical to the compny) and yet everybody was happy for me and I still have tons of great friends that said good luck in your next place.
Yep the plan is to dip when I can. My work mostly involves manual testing, test planning, setting up hardware testing clusters, and automation using existing frameworks and tools (with minor maintenance of those tools when it breaks my automation). At first I was okay with the job, but after a few months I felt really stagnated since I wasn't learning very much so I set my foot down and made the decision to move. I did however push back my amazon start date from april to july since the spring/summer is extremely busy and I'm the only person responsible for a certain product on our team atm (i like my team and manager too much to put them through finding my replacement in the busiest time of the year, i don't wanna burn bridges, and my stock vests in may anyways). I've had a lot of trouble finding my niche. I took a wide variety of coursework, from networking to databases to ml/ai to uiux. I might enjoy front end work and uiux because art and graphic design is a hobby of mine, but I've never had real exposure to it. I'm mostly preparing for 2 years in the future because I feel like its the timeline in which i need to put in work to be where i want to be in my life. i have friends at top startups who are doing interesting things every day and i kinda feel like shit when im in those conversations because im not doing much at work and it feels like im feeling left behind. i think im a pretty personable person which should be a good trait, but ive been told i come off as intimidating/hard to approach since im pretty tall and dress kinda weird. i also have trouble with boundaries. its been ok as of now since most of my coworkers are in their twenties, but i have an issue where i get too comfortable with others and cross some lines that other people might not be comfortable with so i've been working on that. hopefully amazon will provide some of the growth im looking for as well.
Readme... I always see Amazon job postings and they usually say Java or C++ in their requirements. You think one can interview with JavaScript?
You’ll be fine, I’m going through a transition myself albeit later in my career. Avoided coding because I sucked at it in school. Spending a ton more time on it the last 3 years, turns out I actually enjoy it. PM me if you want to exchange some strategies.
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