Junior Engineer Career Development Videos, Forum, and Q&A

Episode 3

I reneged the 6 month contract role at Amazon for the 12 month contract role at Meta before I started at Amazon. Then I wrote a big and honest apology to the person at Amazon that helped me get the role.

• Plot twist ... after I started at Meta ... hold on to your seats ... the staffing agency said that they made a mistake and the role at Meta is actually 6 months. They told me and some others to deal with it.

I have a chance to return to Amazon for a 6 month contract role. The same person that helped me get the contract before is offering to help me again. Hope to have him as a manager one day :).

I mainly want to take it because:

1. Amazon is onsite in a different city and that could help with some mental health problems I am dealing with. Meta is WFH. I was willing to deal with it because of the contract length.
2. I have a better chance to find a team at Amazon to hire me since I already have 2 YOE there and while working in office I can make a lot of connections to teams that could hire me.
3. Probably a better chance to extend the contract at Amazon. It's a much more important project and people have already had their contracts extended. This doesn't seem to be the case for this Meta team.
4. Amazon is actually paying me more if you take into account taxes, but that's not a concern anymore. Just saying because Meta usually pays more.

I am considering staying at Meta because it's only 6 months and instead of hopping around for contract roles, I should look for a full time role. My mental health has gotten really bad though, and I am not motivated to apply or work anymore. The environment change could help a lot.

I used to think Amazon treats employees poorly. Amazon is heaven compared to this :(. It's unreal how badly these companies are treating me.

Hi!

I had mic issues in the OH and couldn't ask live. How would you recommend I prepare for System Design interview questions, especially since I feel my experience at my previous company didn't prepare me well for these?

I have 2.5 years of experience at a big tech company and was recently laid off. Ideally, I’m aiming for an ~L4 level position as I was L3 in my past role and was nearing promotion. I’m getting more interviews at start-ups now, and they typically focus on system design rather than leetcode questions. At my past company, the tools were so powerful that I didn’t get the same breadth of experience a new grad might get at a smaller company. For example, I never touched or thought about our database or considered scalability for our services. In hindsight, I should have taken the initiative to find projects outside of my team with more scope, but now I know better!

My current plan is to read "System Design Interview" by Alex Xu and go through the Taro System Design Masterclass. Do you have any feedback on this plan? I recently had my first system design interviews and have more coming up. I want to prepare as best as I can with the time I have. I’ve accepted that I may not excel at first, but any feedback to improve my preparation plan and mindset would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I just had an amazon behavioral interview. I'm a new grad SWE and interviewing for a non technical customer success role.

The interview was 3 behavioral questions. I tried to use STAR as much as possible but the interview was really like 15 ish minutes for the 3 behavioral questions. The interviewer did not follow up for 2/3 questions. At the end I asked 3 questions. total time was 20 minutes. Is it a red flag that my interview was only 20 minutes?

I think I was able to answer the behavioral questions and I mentioned the impact of my work/results at the end though I will admit I didn't go into super depth on the results part and focused more on the actions I think. This was my first real behavioral interview as well.

I graduated college in 2022 with a degree in Political Science and am currently working at a minor cloud provider in a sales role. I primarily sell the LLM platform and Cloud Software.

I have realized that my goal is to transition to a technical role, and have spent the last few months recruiting both internally and externally. I also think I might be interested in trying out AI research and going for a PhD/Research scientist role if I really like it. I completed a few Statistics/ML courses in undergrad and have most math prerequisites (Calculus, Linear Algebra). I also have been completing CS courses at online universities at night (Data Structures & Algorithms, will start Discrete Math shortly).

I do have Data Science and Python skills from coursework and assisting the Sales Engineering org with technical projects, but I admit that I am not a SWE and my entire job is not focused on coding. I also lack technical depth outside of the Data Science/ML domain.

Unfortunately, I interviewed with about 5/6 companies and it failed to prove fruitful. I haven’t been able to pass technical interviews externally. When I interviewed for internal switches, I wasn’t selected due to lack of development experience.

I wanted to get opinions on how a second bachelor’s degree would be perceived in the industry? My mother is an employee of an Ivy League University, where I have the option to take classes part or full time this Fall semester. I could have a Bachelor’s in CS by the end of the Spring/Summer 2025, and a masters by Dec 2025 or May 2026 depending on how many credits I take each semester/if I take summers off for internships. The bachelor’s and half the master's would be completely paid for by tuition benefits.

I wanted to ask about recruiting for either SWE/ML/Research internships at FAANG/other tech companies. Would this be viewed as cheating since I already have work experience? I would be enrolled full time in a CS program, but I want to ensure that I am not violating any rules.

I see the pros as being able to more easily transition into technical roles and get more time to prepare for interviews without having to stress about my normal job. I would also compete with students for entry level internships instead of experienced hires. I could also try AI research and see if I’m really interested in an AI PhD. I see the main cons as losing out on salary, and the job market potentially still being bad when I get out.

1. I'm not sure what theyre actually trying to ask here
2. I feel like as a new grad i just do what im told haha. I almost always trust my seniors instincts and judgement over mine. If I suggest something and its wrong I admit it and rectify it but I dont have a good response. My mistakes are usually pretty small and can be easily corrected i.e. there's no million dollar losses happening. I havent taken down prod or have any interesting stories about mistakes

I was asked that in an interview and I was stumped. I used the advice in the behavioral course to say like yeah usually before making huge decisions I always get others inputs on things so I've never made a huge mistake with severe consequences.

Thanks a lot for the great content, Alex and Rahul! Your courses to understand the expectations of various levels is really helpful.

AI is continuously increasing the productivity of software developers. AI can now write test cases, automatically fill the code given just high-level description, automatically write a summary in the PRs, add comments to the code, etc. This increases the code quality as well.

So, will the current L4 role be the expectation out of an entry-level programmer in the upcoming years? Also, due to AI, do you think the demand for non-AI software developers will keep decreasing over the years, and the job market might move towards other fields such as space engineering, robotics, nanotechnology, dna editing, etc.?

As the supply of engineers is increasing with fresh grads coming out every year, and the demand is decreasing due to increasing layoffs, do you expect the trend of reduction in software salaries continuing over the long-term? Or are you expecting a recovery in demand and salaries for software developers?

I'm curious since you now have the opportunity to design and interview candidates as you see fit, how would you design the interview for your next hire?

How many rounds?

Any takehomes?

how would you source your candidates?

what are things you would do to avoid doing the terrible interview practices companies usually do?

How would you interview a candidate for a backend role vs a frontend role?

Hi Taro. I have two offers for contract roles through agencies.

First I got a 6 month role at Amazon. I previously worked at Amazon for a couple of years before I got laid off. I signed the offer.

Then I got a 12 month contract role at Meta. I decided that I would renege on Amazon and take Meta because it is longer. So I signed for Meta.

Meta starts in a month and Amazon starts in a week. There is a chance that after reneging Amazon, I could lose Meta. Meta can rescind the offer for example. How should I handle this situation while minimizing damage to my reputation at Amazon because I may return there one day for a full time role?

I am planning to ask Meta if I can start earlier, but I doubt it will be possible.

Thanks

Hi all. I am considering starting my own development consulting company in Jordan. People are well educated there but wages are low. You can hire great engineers there for the same that a restaurant worker gets paid in California. I don't have any problem finding and hiring good developers because I know the language and I have family there. I can find developers that are fluent in English but it's harder.

I am not sure how to start getting contracts in the U.S. I see that iOS and Android development are popular so I was considering to specialize in iOS development.

I only have about 2 YOE in the U.S. at FAANG so I could also run into a problem where I am not experienced enough to lead a team or company.

Legal stuff in Jordan is no problem. I have a relative that's a lawyer in Jordan and he explained what I need to do.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

This is a follow up to

I decided to keep both roles open for as long as possible, so both are open right now. Meta postponed once and will now start in 3 weeks. Amazon postponed multiple times but it seems that they will finally send the laptop this week. I am expected to start at Amazon on Monday. There is a 2 weeks gap between Amazon's start date and Meta's start date.

I don't want to burn the bridge too much with Amazon but I have a large resume gap and I can't afford to lose both roles. So far, I don't see any reason that Meta would rescind the offer, but in this environment anything can happen.

When should I tell Amazon that I am taking a different role? I am leaning towards doing it this week, but I am scared to do it before Meta is 100% secure. Honestly, I can't afford anymore resume gap.

I'm an earlier-in-career software engineer, and I work in an extremely busy startup on a small team (<10 engineers). I do a lot of things, including:

1. Manual QA - I test every build and find a lot of crazy bugs.
2. Release/deployment - I make sure the apps go out well and am looking into CI/CD.
3. Development - I work wherever I can to fill in the gaps and am happy to pick up any ticket.

However, at the end of the day, tickets need to get done and I've had some trouble with that. How can I get better at this? Do I just need to "put in the reps" when it comes to coding?

I was going to ask what is the best way to approach recruiters from each company and what type of questions would you ask? Also what type of conversations would you try to have with the recruiter as well? Overall I was really looking to know how to get the most value out of a career fair as I can.

Today I fumbled a technical interview.

I was told by the company I interned at previously to apply for a job posting. The person who knew the role is my manager from my internship there. That same manager I knew in there is now one position under the CTO. He told me it was a role that uses Spring Boot, Docker, and GraphQL. He said there’s a big effort to get GraphQL into the company’s architecture. It said “5+ years experience”, and didn't mention GraphQL, so I didn’t take it seriously. After I applied, the posting disappeared. My manager said the job posting I applied for was “probably just one of those ghost postings”. I had the behavioral where I spoke with the manager: I aced that. Today was the technical. The recruiter I was talking to was telling me this was an interview where I could show off projects, so I took the “prep some projects” approach. Did 3 projects. One using mern and GraphQL, one using typescript and express with rest architecture, and one using spring boot.  So I do that. I also prepped a Google doc with a list of common interview questions for all that I’m expecting. 

When I get into the interview, I get asked about my prior role. They said that showing projects wouldn’t be necessary: and that GraphQL wasn’t in the role. The first 20 minutes went well. I was asked about API stuff. I hear them say “good” sometimes, so I know something is right. Then I start getting asked simple questions I didn’t think to prep for. One was literally “what’s the difference between JDK and JRE”, and I knew what JDK was, but not JRE, and the difference between @override and @overload. I was then asked what Node is, so I tell them it’s a runtime environment (idk how I didn’t piece together what JRE was at this point), but I made a mistake because I should of delved into themes that made node.js incredible, like its event loop. Although I knew the basics of a microservice, it was only the basics. The interviewers were kind, and told me that although I articulated myself well, they’re looking for someone who knew more about microservices, and can code right now.

Luckily, the company told me prior to this that even if this doesn’t work out, they’d still want to hire me. There'll be another chance, but I realized I need mock interview help. I know I’ll need to review the Taro course on getting into and succeeding in interviews, but I also want to find people to do mock interviews with. How can I do that with Taro?

Thanks,

~Evan

I am moving teams for the first time in my three-year long career and the team I am moving to is full of very experienced folks(15-20) with the least experienced person with 10 YoE. Some of these folks have also been in the same team for years. I will be new in the team as well as tech stack.

How do I create impact, learn from these people, be able to create my own identity and not be shrugged off as a "junior engineer" who is not given important tasks?

Any additional tips on how can I leverage this move as a fresh start? Like relationship with manager, team and my attitude towards the work?

Hello, Taro community,

Hope everyone is well! I have been working at a mid-size company as a backend SWE for a little more than 2 years post-grad. I graduated with a BS in CogSci with a specialization in ML and a minor in computer science. My company has announced layoffs for Q4, so I want to prepare myself for starting the job hunt. My current goals are to build 1 or 2 side projects, as my resume seems a little sparse with 1 post-grad experience and 1 internship where I don't remember much from the actual project tech-wise. I will also be working on my resume and technical interview prep. In the current market conditions, would my education be a hindrance and would it be better to go for an MSCS as a non-CS degree holder? I understand the skills are most important, but I am worried about getting past the ATS for most jobs. I do see most job postings require a degree in engineering or equivalent experience, but the equivalent experience is expected to be quite high now.

I am currently an entry level engineer at a big tech company and started 3 months ago. I am looking to move to a company with more fast paced work and a better engineering culture after a year. Right now, the market seems tough for junior level engineers. What advice would you give towards landing new opportunities in this position? 

Hey guys, I'm really interested in this company and think I am a good fit. I have a friend who is at the tail end of the interview loop and may get an offer. If he gets an offer, he'll be able to refer me in. Should I wait for the outcome of his interview or should I just apply anyway (without a referral?)

I'm pretty junior (1-2 YOE) so the market has been tough for me, especially without referrals. Not sure if taking a chance at applying without a referral will reduce my chances.

Hi everyone. I posted a couple of weeks ago about a job interview I had with the company that laid me off. As a follow up to that post, the interview consisted of a manager, a senior software engineer, and a mid level software engineer. The senior and mid level devs played front end cop/back end cop with me, and then proceeded to ask behavioral questions towards the end. We all had a lot of fun, we laughed together sometimes, we kept smiling at one another, it was a really good interview. And I got every question thrown at me correct. I came up with a couple answers where I admit I had a textbook-esque response, but many more that was based on my experience. It was one of those interviews where you had a feeling that you just knew you got it.

Given the interview prep course here, I knew to tone down my expectations from an "I know darn well I got that" to "I think I got it". As the week progressed, I started to get a feeling that I didn't get it. Well, that feeling was right. And it wasn't anything to do with the interview itself. Apparently, there was gonna be a new manager for the role, and from what I was told, "the new manager is repurposing the requisition".

I can't believe it. I nailed the interview on the head, and I still got screwed out of the job. I left them on a high note, but I'm still so furious. Whatever happens, I know for a fact that I have it in me to crush an interview, but I don't deserve to still have to interview, and still be jobless: I feel entitled to the role! I proved that I deserve to work, both to myself AND them. The best I can hope for is the possibility they'll remember I'm a great candidate for a mid level role in the future, but that company is only going to be the place I fall back on if I don't have anything else in the future.

I don't think I have a proper word for the sheer frustration I feel. The same company that laid me off, played me AGAIN. I know not to trust this company, but I thought this would at least end in a job offer. Not that some random manager thought the role I applied to wasn't gonna be good for business.

How do I deal with this feeling?

In a recent behavioral mock interview, I was asked the question "Tell me about a time you motivated a colleague in your team."

From my understanding, the question's focus appears to be on teamwork and collaboration.

A story I had was when a colleague in my team was struggling to meet deadlines for a group project and complete his work due to him having multiple upcoming exams in a short timespan.

• I proactively approached the colleague for a 1:1 conversation to listen to their concerns and empathized with his struggles, understanding how tough it was for him to balance multiple priorities.
• I then suggested to collaborate on the project and offered to help him with some of his tasks so he could focus on the ones most important for the project.
•  After communicating with the team, I assigned him the task of identifying and fixing a tricky bug in our system, as debugging was one of his key strengths, and this allowed him to focus on what he did best. 
• My colleague became more motivated to contribute to the project by working on a task tailored to their strengths. This approach not only helped the project stay on schedule, but also reduced their stress and boosted overall morale and team productivity.

Do you think this answer is on the right track? I would gladly appreciate any thoughts or feedback on this answer.

Big thanks for reading through all of this - I know it is a very long post and I really appreciate your time!

Hi! Will the recording for the chapter 9 of the Taro Book Club: Designing Data Intensive Applications - Chapter 9 (Consistency & Consensus) be available? Thanks!

I joined less than a year ago out of college, and so far I've been able to learn things decently well, accordingly to what others on my team have told me.

So, there's an internal feedback mechanism in my team, and everyone has asked me for feedback. From where I'm at right now, everyone else in the team (they're all more senior than me by at least 4 years at Amazon) seems really knowledgeable, talented and does their work well.

How do I think about feedback I can give them as a (relative) noob?

Hey folks, have a question to those who know or have used Pramp before:

I was exploring the platform and it said that if you get a membership - they have a priority job referral feature. Has anyone tried this before? Is their membership ($134/year) worth it?

Thanks much! Appreciate all kinds of advice

I'm a recent college graduate who started my first job a couple of months ago. Recently, Amazon reached out to me for an interview, and I decided to go through the process to explore my options. I'm fortunate to have received an offer from Amazon, but now I find myself in a predicament.

Work at my current company (paypal) has been going well so far, there are parts that definitely could be better but overall the project I got has a high scope (working with more cross-functional teams and leaders) and allows me to sometimes present to people at a much higher level than I am at.

The offer from Amazon comes with a slightly higher salary. However, compensation isn't the primary factor for me in making this decision. My main goal is to become a better engineer by gaining access to strong mentorship, engaging in challenging projects, and building a strong portfolio early in my career.

Eventually, I do see myself leaving my current position for a reputable, faster paced startup or a large company that is known for excellent mentorship and the development of young engineers. While I'm uncertain if Amazon itself meets these specific criteria based on conversations I've had with recent graduates working there, Amazon's strong brand name and its engineering opportunities could potentially lead to more opportunities aligned with my goals.

Would love feedback on this decision and let me know if some parts need more info.

I have 4 weeks before I begin as an entry level engineer in a popular big tech company in their cloud offering division. I wanted to get at least 3 actionable steps on how to set myself up for success in my new role both in tech and in relationships.

Please also discuss any common anti patterns I need to be aware of.

I'll be using a new technology (cloud) and my first step was to buy relevant books. But I realized that it's inefficient and took up an online course to build a small project. Just want to hear how you would approach your month before the job.