Career Advice About Capital One

I get a lot of JIRA tickets for bugs where it's not clear what the fix should be. How can I find the problem area and relevant code faster with these issues?

I think I'm a good generalist with technical breadth and got I ask appropriate questions to learn a new stack. I think I lack in technical depth. Either I haven't had opportunities to develop meaningful technical depth or I haven't known how to leverage those opportunities.

A perceived limitation is I tend to associate these opportunities only with refactoring, which needs buy-in from business, but maybe there's more I don't see. My experience has been business only wants to spend the type of work that applies to covering 80% of the needs and the rest tend to be edge cases that don't get much review during initial design & implementation.

An idea I've considered is deliberately practicing DSA interview questions with the intent to identify concepts that may carry over to other implementations. How feasible does this seem?

Given this industry, switching is always somewhere in my mind. How can I figure out if it makes sense to pursue that or stay? When it comes to staying, how do I know if my current team is conducive to my overall growth and goals going forward?

Hi everyone,

I’m a mid-level engineer with 2 years of experience working in a DevOps/Infrastructure role. While I haven’t had as much hands-on coding experience, I’ve had some exposure to microservices and am actively working on sharpening my software engineering skills. Currently, I’m preparing for interviews to break into FAANG or other Big Tech companies, but I’m also exploring opportunities at Series A/B startups and wondering which path might better align with my long-term career goals.

Specifically, I’d love to hear your thoughts on:

• Skill Development: Would a startup provide a faster learning curve and more hands-on opportunities compared to a structured role at FAANG? Or would Big Tech offer better resources, mentorship, and exposure to large-scale systems?
• Career Growth: How do employers perceive experience gained at startups versus FAANG when switching roles in the future? Is one path more advantageous than the other for moving into leadership positions or more technical roles down the line?
• Tradeoffs: What are the main downsides of working at a startup (e.g., workload, instability, limited mentorship) compared to FAANG (e.g., specialization, slower growth)?
• Evaluating Startups: If considering a startup, what criteria would you use to evaluate whether it’s a good opportunity (e.g., team, funding, market potential, culture)? How do you identify startups that offer the best environment for growth and learning?
• Personal Experiences: If you’ve worked in either environment, how did it shape your career trajectory?

I’m trying to balance the potential for accelerated learning and impact at a startup with the stability, brand recognition, and structured career growth offered by FAANG. Any insights, advice, or personal stories would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

I tend to give everything my all, which is what I did back in school. I overdid it back then, so I needed a long break afterwards. I want to make sure I don't make the same mistake with my career - What can I do to prevent burnout while still achieving lots of impact and growth?

I've heard this advice a lot, and I would like to get more clarity on what that concretely means. In particular, what does a junior engineer being proactive look like? Can someone provide examples?