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

Hey y'all!

I've been interviewing for a startup. I'm in the reference check step. This was supposed to be the last step before getting an offer, but they wanted to interview me again to (paraphrasing) dive deeper into topics they hadn't had the chance to ask before.

This feels odd to me; from previous experiences, the reference check is the final step before getting an offer. They also said this in my email after passing the "final interview": they needed to do a reference check before extending an offer.

Question:

• Do you consider this to be a red flag from them?
• Should I be worried?
• Would it be okay to ask upfront what's concerning and take it from there?
• Is this common? This is the first time this has happened to me (I've had 5+ jobs).

Thanks!

Hey there!

I am trying to decide between joining a big tech company and a high growth startup.

The team and work at the big tech company seems amazing, its the domain that i am really interested in. The team is growing and hence there seems to be quite a bit of work. But its the company thats well known for its work life balance (read laidback culture) so creating impact might take time. I think i will have to invest at least 4-5 years to create meaningful impact and to see growth in my career.

The team and work at the startup is in the field of Devex, I don't get to code much, but i would be involved in solving their CI pipeline issues and improve the developer experience. I might also get to do other related things in the Infrastructure domain. This sounds exciting since it's a startup and there would be so many challenges to solve. I wouldn't be so excited by this domain outside of a startup since there are so many external tools that bigger companies use to solve Devex problems.

By going with the big company, i am securing my domain, my brand and my stability as a good hire in the market. However, i might not grow too much as an engineer. I have a lot of time in my hands and i dont mind working in pressured environments (not too toxic of course) and have a lot of ownership so the environment might get boring for me. But i will have a secure future for sure.

By going with the startup, i might end up having fun and creating a lot of impact and experience growth as an engineer but end up with a confused/unclear domain and might end up as a non favourable candidate to big companies once i am out of it due to my experience here.

They are both paying me almost an equal amount and the small difference doesn't really matter to me at this stage.

Would love to know your opinions on what i should choose and why.

It's been a while since I actually was in college and had to remember all the basic fundamental stuff like Big O and every algorithm, leetcode question abstractions etc. (I'm very very rusty).

What is more important to talk about / be most prepared for when interviews asking technical questions during tech screeners regarding Big O Notation? Will we be expected to memorize both runtime and memory for each data structure, algorithm, and design pattern

For example, will I have to whiteboard in pseudocode with a whiteboard marker, show how an infinite loop would function, report the runtime (example Bubblesort, runtime: average O(n^2) worse: O(n^2) and memory: O(1), and need to memorize concept like this? And is this most important to know than writing out the code in a code editor with test cases?

Many people have been interviewing differently during the pandemic in lieu of coming in-person so have had to use leetcode, things like Code Signal and actual IDEs more than before with coming in-person with a physical whiteboard to write pseudocode on. Are we expected to do both (write pseudocode on a physical whiteboard with a whiteboard marker on a particular algorithm in-person and also answer a leetcode question remotely as a part of a screener before that) or is it in the reverse order? Do we typically have to write out pseudocode on a whiteboard after passing a leetcode question as a screener then do systems design afterward? What's the typical sequence for technical interviews for FAANGMULA companies?

I recently moved and didn't realize how bad the cellphone coverage is with my carrier. During a screening call with a recruiter from Meta, the connection was poor, and he couldn't understand me well. English isn't my native language, so I think the bad connection made it worse. He asked to reschedule, and I requested that he call me on a different phone with a better carrier. I sent this request via email, but now I'm worried about how this might affect my chances. Do you think I'll get a reschedule or be rejected because of this issue?

What are the best resources (if any exist) that serve neurodivergent and ADHD tech professionals with technical interview prep?

I’m finding resources very scant and I totally bomber my DSA interview years ago leading to lots of shame I’ve had to overcome and now going back into interviewing rounds which make me anxious so looking for more general help as I also learned only in the last 6 years I also have dyscalculia (dyslexia with numbers) even though I love math (geometry, statistics - anything related to machine learning and computer graphics has always been my fav). I hate standardized tests and get super anxious under time pressure for interviews with abstract questions that aren’t practical and often times get asked in such a way that I will solve the question in reverse and give the inverse answer. I’ve worked really hard to overcome this in my work the last 8-9 years, which I’ve been fine at, but when it comes to interviews I completely crumble.

I also ask this since even though English is my first language (born and raised in Silicon Valley), coming from working class communities of color, standardized testing has been the bane of my existence (even with almost perfect GPA), I crumble when it comes to these tests and find them very biased and feel the same experience for me when it comes to DSA, where I find a lot of bias in how the question is asked, and it’ll be so confusing to me that I’ll end up responding in the reverse. I also in the past was a professional writer (usually obsess about grammar), so I don't think the issue is me not having a grasp of the language, something just isn't clicking for me with DSA, where I've often thrived instead on take home projects, or for some interviews where they lock you in a room for a few hours and tell you to build a project, or have you work on the job.

I’m trying to also figure out if I need to ask the interview more subquestions to makes sure I’m understanding the question correctly so I can respond appropriately.

Any help is appreciated.

Across 2-3 different slacks I saw positions targeted at women where the pay was something like $150K for these qualifications: 7+ years experience with a Master's to work on GenAI...and I'm like, why are we underpaying women software engineers WAY below market rate? The excuse I heard from one woman founder that posted this on Slack was that they didn't have the money as an early stage startup (understandable it usually is lower than FAANGMULA but this is pretty atrocious), and then another said they were a non-profit. But in general I'm worried that the pay bands for a lot of women engineers I am seeing job postings where the ranges are NOT where they should be and on the extreme low end by 30-50% lower.

Is it really that common that this market sucks so bad that women are taking less than half of a salary that was made in 2019 because "the market sucks right now and layoffs suck?" Meanwhile I can see in my feed complaints from non-technical staff at (former "writers" at Airbnb that they only made $500K a year annually and left last year to found their own consultancy to make even more than that).

What is up with this, why are the pay bands for women that much lower? And overall some people have commented pay bands in general are that much lower and that people are only taking HALF the salaries just to keep healthcare because they don't want to get a retail job or something or sell their plasma (yes all true stories I've heard from people ranging from a PhD (in Physics) who took two years to become an iOS developer that worked at a car wash for 2 years and other recruiters laid off at FAANGMULA that sold their plasma to survive).

This makes me angry and what is wrong with the world? Is this for real the market that we are in?

Should we be applying to roles that don't even list paybands or salary only to find out that we think we should be making like 300K with 8+ years experience or something like at an L4 or L5, only to find out we should be paid like a college junior (BS)?

I’ve noticed a trend where many companies in Europe and the US are outsourcing software engineering roles to countries like India to reduce costs. While this makes business sense, it also poses a risk for engineers like me. I’m concerned about being replaced by outsourced counterparts who earn significantly less but have similar expertise.

I’d love to hear your insights on how to mitigate this risk. What strategies can I employ to stay competitive and valuable in this changing landscape? How can I ensure that my skills and contributions stand out even when competing against engineers with lower salaries?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

How can an aspiring senior engineer, who excels at managing their own well-defined tasks, improve their skills in breaking down and delegating tasks effectively to junior team members? Additionally, what strategies can help in writing clear acceptance criteria when fleshing out tasks to ensure clarity and accessibility?

I am in a situation where the hiring manager of a position I interviewed for knows my current manager. This connection made my manager aware that I had applied for a role.

Unfortunately I did not get the role. This is making my situation with my manager awkward. How do I deal with this?

I was recently promoted to Senior Software Engineer and am new to mentoring. I've been coaching a mentee who tends to jump into coding without fully considering the trade-offs of his approaches. Despite my instructions to align with me on a planning document before starting, he began working immediately after sending it, without waiting for my approval. He often focuses narrowly on solving problems, missing the broader implications and potential risks, which can lead to inefficient efforts and time wasted chasing incorrect solutions. He is energetic and quick to code, but this sometimes leads to tunnel vision.

In mentoring him, I've employed a Socratic method to prompt deeper thinking about his strategies, but he struggles with creative critical thinking and often reverts to the initial problem or gets bogged down in details instead of evaluating the overall correctness of his approach. I think part of the issue is that I'm not directing his energy efficiently. Perhaps instead of asking him to get alignment with me first, I should give him a clearly defined problem where he understands the steps and approach, while I ask him to come up with solutions for other issues. This would allow him to have a pipeline of tasks he can switch between while waiting for asynchronous feedback from me.

To improve his critical thinking, I've tried encouraging him to brainstorm more about the potential consequences and risks of his approaches. However, he often misses the mark with his strategy—it's not completely wrong, but he doesn't consider the long-term implications, focusing instead on quick fixes. I wonder if I should meet him where he is, doing more of the strategic thinking myself and providing him with the steps and approach so he can focus on execution, which he is motivated by. Alternatively, there may be room for him to develop better brainstorming skills, and I may need to adjust my expectations and provide more targeted guidance to help him think more broadly about the problems he tackles.

I am frequently being told be senior software engineer/technical women that they think I am outrageous for saying I don't prefer to take a role that pays entry level in this market (which I know sucks), as any other AI/ML engineer I know would take opt out of roles at tech companies (FAANGMULA, startups or non-profits) where there expected comp was that of a college intern in undergrad CS (yes I've seen these roles on a number of women in tech Slacks and found it especially disturbing. The mods and recruiters that manage those Slacks just say "we can't control the market, but no job is worse than a job." The counterpoint is there is a database of salary transparency showing women getting paid at parity (and underpaid) across the board for technical positions and non-technical positions in tech (and other industries), and I am surrounded by people that tell me I am getting underpaid (everyone who is not a woman). For women, I got attacked when I mentioned that this is a pay equity gap and most women I know have a range of at least $100/hr or $180-200K for a senior SWE position in AI (given 8-10 years experience BS/BA or MS or not). I was also told by one person that it was impossible to find a staff position making more than $250K and I'm like uhhmmm I've seen EVERY counter argument to this - what gives?

Question: How can people from historically disadvantaged communities who tend to get paid less negotiate for higher salaries BY targeting companies that pay a higher pay band (not companies with a lower one)? How can they create leverage what they have gotten paid (for example, I have consulting / contract made 4x my original rate in the past, which when I did the math is is comparable to an L6/L7/E6/E7).

I find myself completely perplexed when people tell me they're stuck at a level and then saying a lot of negative things that signal to me they're in the far lowest of the payband/percentile and everyone else I should be listening to is at the highest end of the payband/percentile of a posted salary range (most people who I actually listen to and make sense)?

I have applied for a few positions that sometimes I get an email saying they filled the position (but the position still remains on their website).

What's the best way to make sure this is fresh (so we avoid wasting time on jobs that have already been filled)?

I’m onboarding to a new role where I will report directly to a Director. Does this change normal onboarding advice?

I've been interviewed both for contractor and full time senior software engineer roles at Meta and Apple (by 3rd party recruiters), I have friends at both companies and prefer to interview with recruiters/hiring directors that are native to the company (as opposed to 3rd party). How long does it take to convert from contract to full time?

For Meta, they told me it would take 2 years (which I thought was long since even other entry level programs I heard there would take 1.5 years - 18 months to convert). Most other places other friends get hired full time right away with stock options. I'm easing my way in contracting after leaving my previous company burned out, so don't mind, but waiting 2 years sounds pretty long and I think starting full-time (FT) right away is the better call, but not sure what the standard practice is for FAANGMULA companies.

I'd like to get advice on how to build a full CI/CD system: we use github actions. Are there any engineering courses you recommend on this topic? My team in frontend just started writing unittests and there are some unittests in BE repo too.

How often do Engineering Managers (EMs) and Technical Product/Program Managers (TPMs) go from this role back to a senior IC software engineering role?

I've seen this happen before at companies like Meta, but seems far more rare (tends to be more senior level folks)? Is it more common that folks go from IC to EM?

I had a non-technical (non STEM) bachelor’s degree and this counts against me more than anything. Note, I did not do a bootcamp (I wasn't like a chef who never wrote in an IDE or command line). I was able to program and script already since I had been doing so since I was a kid, I opted out of computer science as a major thinking I would fail out of it since I wasn't great at math.

• Background: Later in life, I completed several certificates in my specific domain (not 4 year degrees but enough to satisfy a good year or two very deep in the subject matter, it was in AI, deep learning in 2017-2018 and have been taking classes all the way to current). I took continuing education later in life, but this was not the same as bootcamp grads I find who had entirely different careers who never were exposed to an IDE or terminal, (I still feel there is much bias against me even though I had been scripting and programming since the 90s in my childhood and tween years and in the 2000s had a different career until 2014 and have been working in the industry for about 9-10 years now).
• I find that many applying positions in FAANGMULA I am cut out of lack of a 4 year degree in computer science and while I didn’t do a bootcamp, I don’t like the word “self-taught,” as there’s a lot of stigma that comes with that.
• Question: What other terms can I use besides the word “self-taught” that proves my competency, knowledge, skills, abilities and education? I don't know that I really fall into that category, it sounds like people who never took a course at all or something...?
  • ATS and other online resume services with AI just tell me that writing even 2 other courses outsides of my bachelor’s degree with a single bullet on what I studied (that is often a keyword in job descriptions) is too much information.
• Question: What can I say in an interview about my education and experience combined, without feeling like I’ll completely get dinged and passed over completely for another candidate, that for lack of their more senior/mature experience gets the job just because they are fresh out of college with a degree in CS?

Agile heavy team, team is 75% data scientists / product analysts.

As an engineer, I find myself often pulled into meetings that are categorized as a “team” meeting but end up being mostly discussions about business logic and how to do things (rather than the engineering implementation of the solution). Is it reasonable to expect engineers to attend all meetings and contribute to business logic discussions? It’s almost like the solution has not been decided yet, and I’m watching a PowerPoint with graphs and spreadsheets and 2 or 3 people going back and forth about a specific topic that I don’t have any opinion on because it’s very business oriented.

The other engineer isn’t even attending these meetings because time zone does not overlap.

I feel like this is so not worth my time. Especially if I’m not involved with the specific product they are discussing. (the team supports several products)

Are there any AI tools or other resources that can provide feedback on systems design answers to specific questions specifically for infra, cloud and devops projects?

I'm currently considering switching jobs. My goal is to grow to staff eventually. Because staff-level engineers are required to have a deep understanding of the business and create scope based on business goals, having a good understanding of the industry seems to be a good skill to have.

All of my experience is in e-commerce. I have owned products that range from consumer-facing to the internal admin and management side. Therefore if I continue with the e-commerce industry, I will be able to take advantage of my existing experience. One company I can think of would be a good fit is Instacart. However, I believe coming up with creative business ideas and having the focus to dive deeper into the business require curiosity and interest. I've never had an interest in e-commerce and I also came to find the e-commerce industry not exciting. I also have concerns that e-commerce tech companies usually only can provide opportunities and compensation on the lower end of the spectrum, due to the nature of the industry still relying on the unit economy of physical goods, and is usually subject to lower margins. But on the flip side, I also understand that interest sometimes comes after you are good at something, so maybe my existing knowledge will help me to be good at coming up with business ideas, and I could grow interest from there.

Alternatively, the industry I'm interested in the most is fintech. I am into finance, for example, I once built a budgeting tool (similar to Mint) over a weekend for my personal use. However, I've also heard fintech can be pretty tedious. Fintech companies usually integrate with banks, and banks have generally older tech. Outside of finance, I cannot think of any industry I'm particularly interested in. However, I have a general interest in working for tech companies where the product is the software, not using software to sell something physical.

May I get some advice on how I should go about considering the industry as part of my job search journey?

Over the course of the past few years, a lot of us have noticed an increase in outsourcing to lower cost of living countries. There are a few countries that fit this description, but India clearly stands above the rest. I hold no judgments on our fellow engineers in different countries, and want to focus on how to adapt to the reality we’re in.

From my limited perspective, this phenomenon is not new, with anecdotes going as far back as mid 2000s. However, it seems that the past few years of US layoffs combined with aggressive hiring overseas is becoming obvious if not outright publicly announced. And although Generative AI has created a lot of fear of potential future impact, outsourcing doesn’t seem to get the appropriate attention it deserves relative to the real current impact. The impact is especially felt in the U.S. where there is not a long term social safety net and everything from healthcare to retirement is tied to a job.

So how might we mitigate the chances of being impacted by outsourcing?

I can see at least three strategies, but would need the crowdsourced brainstorming of the Taro community to dig deep:

1. Improving yourself as an individual outside of your company, which may involve switching specialty.
2. Protecting your current job by delivering even more value.
3. Navigating the software industry with the goal of joining a company that doesn’t have plans of outsourcing anytime soon.

I don’t want to limit the boundary of thinking with the aforementioned list, but rather wanted to provide a conversation starter.

This is certainly a national issue for the companies shipping jobs out, but given that location is at the heart of this topic, I would be curious to hear additional thoughts that are specific to major cities like New York and Bay Area here in the U.S.

I'm a senior software engineer in big tech and onboarded into my company and role as a team lead for the past 6 months.

The project is almost complete, but work is not technically interesting and does not fit into my long term career goals.

My manager is getting promoted as director to another org, and I wish to join him. He said he fought hard to bring me along with him, but my current director would not allow it due to product/engineering resourcing requirements.

I expressed to my manager this was extremely disappointing news, and it's hard to see a future on this project/org. He said to talk to my director and we can follow up afterwards, because he didn't know just how much I wanted out.

I can't leave the company due to the current job market, my short tenure and golden handcuffs. But I'm afraid if I keep chugging along, I'm just going to burn out.

Any advice is much deeply appreciated.

They say that you should add value to people in your network before asking them for a favour. I have networked aggressively past 6 months over coffee chats, meetups, training programs and conferences. The only value I have been able to add is exchange my ideas and thoughts. I have 2 questions:

1. What other type of value can I add in this market when people are not really looking to hire?
2. At what point do I ask for a favour which is a referral to a job position?

I got an invited to a round-table lunch where there will be execs in my field.

How do I make sure I can turn this into a fruitful and effective networking opportunity?

What kind of questions should I craft to ask at the round-table lunch?