Advice on Career Advancement
Hi, New to blind, I've really only been reading the posts every now and then from the notifications I get on my phone, but it seems like there's a lot of knowledge available on here and I would like some advice. If there are similar posts/questions as this, I apologize. About me: I live in Northern Virginia, work QA for a company that implements Salesforce. 8 yoe but just over 1 with the current company. Current tc is $105k, which I know is low, but the job provides a great work/life balance of full-time remote working, good PTO which is encouraged to be used, enjoyable teams, and a relatively easy job, which is all good stuff considering my wife and I just had our second child this summer, and I take my competitive golf seriously so it's been a great job to have. I have automation experience with UFT/VBScript, although it's been all manual at my current job. I would've worked to learn Selenium or something else this year but again, with how busy my life was this past year it kept getting pushed down the list of priorities. I have a beginner's-level comprehension of java and ruby, but anything technical I can pick up pretty quickly so I feel like I would have a pretty quick learning curve when it comes to fully learning new frameworks/languages. Anyway, what are some good ideas for me to grow my career next and increase my tc at the same time? Open to any and all suggestions. I guess I've always been a too complacent as far as work goes, focusing more on my life outside of work and not really putting in the extra effort to grow my career. I see everyone here commenting their 150-200k+ tc and it's really made me think about where I need to put my priorities to provide better for my family. I could definitely see myself going the dev route, but also think it would be great to be a TA or SA down the road, and after talking with my company they said can help me get on architect path by placing me in a flex QA/BA role on my next project and growing that way, but I don't know how long that'll take to come to fruition. I guess my question is, if I'm trying to move out of a QA role and grow into a role with more responsibility and more pay, what in your opinion would be a logical move and what would you advise on the steps to take? Sorry for the long post and sorry if this is such a broad, vague question that it's annoying, just hoping someone can take the time and offer some advice. Thanks
Many of the big tech companies don't care about what your experience has been - they just care that you have experience and can pass their interview. So, do the following: 1. Practice a lot of leetcode/cracking the coding interview/elements of programming something (EPI) 2. Practice some System design. Everyone seems to like Grokking the System design interview (I didn't like it but don't have an alternative to suggest) 3. Get referrals to big tech. 4. Pass interview! Don't expect to pass on your first try, and don't be discouraged if you can't pass the hardest ones. Many technical companies interview the same way, so whatever level you end up with this will help. Good luck!
If you live in Virginia and work remotely, 105 sounds great. Don’t compare yourself to everyone here who works in expensive coastal cities where developers are in high demand. If you’re excited to learn more programming, go for it, but otherwise my advice would be to enjoy time with your family and keep coasting.
I'm in a similar situation. Ready to start a family but haven't focused on my career and have a chill job with low pay. Interested to hear the responses.