Mid-level Engineer Career Development Videos, Forum, and Q&A

Suppose you are a manager and have 15 direct reports. 7 of them are pretty strong mid level engineers and are all looking for senior promotions. Realistically, promoting even 5 of them within a year would result in too many senior engineers on the team. Additionally, there are organizational concerns about having too many senior engineers on one team. How would you handle this situation to maintain balance?

I have an interview coming up. It comes with a engineering process interview, which is Q&A to learn about your approach to common situations that occur as an engineer, followed by a values and leadership interview, which is about problem solving and team interaction.

How can i prepare for the engineering process interview? Can I interpret it as behavioural interview or more on technical Q&A? But I see some overlapping with the values and leadership interview so im a bit confused.

I am working in a product, it has been 4 years, started from level 59. Now I am at level 61 for 1 year now. I am reporting to the same manager in these 4 years. I am not excited in the current team and want some change but these factor is holding me:

Pros:

1. The product team is expanding, this time they have taken work from US and hiring in India.
2. They are promising for new challenges this year with the product with AI features.
3. Last year, this product was having visibility from CVP, now they are claiming it will be having visibility from EVP.

Cons:

1. Last year, the head of UX left the team to join outside firm and recently the head of PM has taken internal transfer.
2. Overall team culture score(known as Thriving Score) is lower than the average score of Microsoft.
3. To be honest, I don't use this product in my day-to-day life, neither my friend does, even my team mates doesn't use. But it has good number of downloads.
4. WLB is sometimes worse for a specific period.

Note: Not considering switching to other company as stocks are doubling every year here.

Should I switch in-org or outside org or switch to other company?

Hello, I’ve been going for senior level positions even though I was mid level at my previous FAANG company. Before FAANG I was senior level at a startup so I think I can handle senior again. But when a recruiter asks what level I was previously, should I tell them or should I be vague somehow like when they ask for what compensation I’m looking for?

How to enjoy sitting long hours while learning a new thing for several weeks or months by skipping regular recreational activities or hobbies for relaxation and cutting down family time? any resources or success stories? this is required when you want to learn something new or change domains

I'm currently studying for software engineering interviews, but I'm having a hard time deciding how to divide up my time between doing LC problems and going over system design concepts. It can feel overwhelming since both categories have so much to cover. I also have a family, so most of my studying gets done after my kid goes to sleep at around 7 PM. Since my team is in the west coast and I'm in the east coast, I do get some extra time in the morning to work out at the gym and go through some LC problems. I'm currently going through Neetcode's course as a refresher. For those of you who have aced your interviews, how did you divide up your time on different topics? Did you mostly spend your time on LeetCode? I'd be happy to hear any recommendations.

My main goal: I want to be interview-ready no matter what. I currently work at a big tech company and I've been there for 4 years now, but I haven't seen much growth and now I'm seeing that I could have negotiated more when I first got my offer. I was asked 2 LC-type problems, and I feel I got lucky with them because I hadn't extensively gone through all the different patterns and data structures. It was my first time getting RSUs and I wish I had known more about negotiation tactics as well. I feel that if I be ready for interviews, I can apply and definitely increase my comp by a lot. The motivation is for me to overcome the fear of DS&A problems and not stop myself from applying to positions just because I'd be asked LC-type questions. I also know that I can double my comp with the right negotiation tactics and with my years of experience.

Can someone help me with a roadmap to switch to AI/ML engineer . As in what should I learn and upskill upon .. to get a role at some of the top companies in this domain

Thanks In Advance

I'm updating my resume and I want to know if I should put the name of the clients I worked for as a contractor or only the consulting company?

I have worked with 3 clients inside this company and the projects were very different between each one.

I lied in the standup. I said that I completed a task but I didn't. I was not even close to complete that task.

After they ask me for a demo within 1 hour and then I had to say I was having some issues with the project and the meeting should be cancelled.

How screwed I am?
I feel I lost the trust of my team in my work. How can I recover from this situation?