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Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

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Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#111

Post by laboratorymice »

throw3823423 wrote: post #59
giantg2 wrote: post #26

The real lesson is to join a company poised for rapid growth (bonus points if it turns into a mainstream name like Facebook) and getting lucky as they expand. Try that at a mature company and you'll get nowhere. Do it at the small companies that never blow up and you'll get nowhere. Even if you're in the right company at the right time, there's a good chance someone else will be given the opportunity over you.

There's a little more to it: Make sure your manager, and maybe even your manager's manager, likes you. If your manager doesn't like you, change teams. If your manager's manager doesn't like your manager, you should also change teams. The unfortunate reality of those high growth orgs is precisely that the growth leads to a lot of new managers, and as we all probably know by now, a new manager is a bad manager. Since t…

This would be good advice, if not for the fact that that approach essentially means you become just another politician. Being _aware_ of office politics is important; _focusing_ on it means you're a politician. Just focus on doing the best job you can, and if that's not what's rewarded at your place of work, leave.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#112

Post by wyclif »

h1n99 wrote: post #36
scsilver wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you like another mentee?

I think I’m actually a pretty bad mentor! I can’t really do the career or manager interaction stuff well because I don’t care about it personally and I don’t have any problems myself with my manager being incompetent or changing all the times. I think that’s correlated with my somewhat unintentional success, but “have a better manager” or “don’t get reorged by directors playing game of thrones” isn’t actionable advic…

You should put your email in your profile.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#114

Post by 2-718-281-828 »

braza wrote: post #110

I really distaste those articles because it most of the time generalize based on exception cases. Not all companies have the resources and/or opportunities like Stripe and Facebook. Coming from the SME/laggard industries those posts sound completely out of touch with the reality of a lot of SWEs that are not in this demographic pool. One of the biggest disappointments with the SWE was the fact that when I started my…

that matches also my experience. then again I have always been a part of the problem. I'm like an amoebae without a functioning membrane. I find myself in a sick (intentionally avoiding the term "toxic". "sick" like in "sick system".) environment, then I will turn sick and act sick as well. I partake for a while until one morning I look into the mirror and don't like the person I see there anymore and I either just quit or develop a sort of burn out depression first - or favorably both. it would be easy for me to react cynical towards people like the author who manage to play the game but I acknowledge that at the end of the day she's just living her life and probably has a more healthy and happy mind then me - good for her - me otoh, I increasingly just seek healing which I certainly won't find in any kind of fast paced company.

why do I even write this? well, I think articles like this will make everybody compare one's life with that of the fortunate lady who wrote it. for some this is more of a technical exercise collecting ideas and strategies. for people like me it just brings home the realization that I can't do this anymore, if I ever could. don't want to do this anymore, if I ever wanted. but sort of have to keep going. so, a little bit of a depressing realization over all.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#115

Post by intothemild »

ditonal wrote: post #68
cebert wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to be concerned about age discrimination or assumptions based on your career trajectory at some point if you stay in a lower level IC position. If you’re in your mid forties, still “just” a software engineer, and interviewing for new positions, this will catch up with you. How do you explain having 15-20 years experience as a software developer with no career progression?

First, moving from an engineering role to a management role is not "career progression", it's a lateral career switch. Secondly, you don't have to explain anything. Smart hiring managers will understand that you focused your career mastering a craft and that you're still working on that craft you mastered. As for the dumb hiring managers, it's best if you can avoid working for them. One thing you'll learn as you get…

This.

I'm an EM, and going from an IC to a TL or EM isn't a career progression. It's a career change.

I've known some amazing ICs with terrible managerial skills, they are adept at what they do, but they lack the skills needed to handle people, or to constantly context shift all day, every day.

Now what happens when you suddenly get that IC into a managerial role, and force them to context shift, or manage people's needs, and balance the team dynamics?

They quit, or others under then quit. Perhaps both.

I very much dislike this article for two reasons;

1. She outlines EM as part of a career progression that ICs go on. 2. She was part of two absolute rocketships and didn't realise the reasons she got where she was is at least partially because of that.

Any EM should be aware that not everyone can do their job.. and any EM should be part of a hiring process and keenly know that when you see a FAANG on someone's resume, people tend to have a bias either for or against it. Usually for.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#116

Post by Xcelerate »

itscodingtime wrote: post #88

Threads like this are not good for my mental health. I’m a public sector software engineer for the US government in the DMV. I have eights years in and I’m barely making 6 six figures. I’m considering getting out but it won’t be easy. It’s a weird feeling that at 31 I feel like I already screwed up career and income wise. Is there any chance I could make 200k plus before 40 ? I have a coworker that believes we are pa…

If this is something that’s really getting to you, you should move to the Bay Area, at least for a few years. Your “luck” will skyrocket. The opportunities in tech just aren’t present in other cities in the way they are in the Bay Area. I say this as someone who moved there from a mid-sized city and now moved back to that mid-sized city, taking my Bay Area job with me. The primary difference I’ve noticed between FANG employees (having been one) and public sector employees is not talent but rather that the former are willing to move across the country or world for better opportunities, whereas the latter are not.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#118

Post by InCacheOnly »

fhd2 wrote: post #95
bojo wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have kids, develop increasingly esoteric personal hobbies, get into fitness/longevity This is the route I've taken and my mental health is much better for it. I still wonder what I'm missing out on had I stayed on the treadmill, even now, but I keep telling myself the life balance far outweighs the work balance.

From what I've seen, amassing riches is either a weird game to people, the means to a lifestyle they truly crave (status, luxury, ...), or an unhealthy obsession with security (both for themselves and their offspring). I was, maybe still am, in the last bucket. But I'm starting to realise that security is a quite mythical thing - you can always think of more risks and counter measures, at least at the point I got to.…

I've had a very similar realisation recently. A lot of what I spent the last 5 years doing has largely been to reach a state of security where I feel I 'no longer need to worry'.

Due to a death in the family, an unfounded health scare and a rather paranoid money scare it's been made quite clear that this utopia of 'secure' does not exist no matter what I do.

It has lead to a reduction in stress in some ways since the pressure to maintain everything and keep it safe is less if 100% confidence can never be reached so chasing it is pointless.

I don't know if you've had a similar experience but I'm currently at the stage of re-evaluating what I value since if some things (like wealth and health) are unavoidably temporary then the sacrifices I'm willing to make to maintain them are less than if they were assured or permanant.

I'd be curious to know how this has effected your outlook on life as I'm just starting with this now and it has certainly left me a bit lost. Although I don't think that's a bad thing.

Sorry for the slight ramble, just been very much on my mind at them moment.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#119

Post by izacus »

ditonal wrote: post #68
cebert wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to be concerned about age discrimination or assumptions based on your career trajectory at some point if you stay in a lower level IC position. If you’re in your mid forties, still “just” a software engineer, and interviewing for new positions, this will catch up with you. How do you explain having 15-20 years experience as a software developer with no career progression?

First, moving from an engineering role to a management role is not "career progression", it's a lateral career switch. Secondly, you don't have to explain anything. Smart hiring managers will understand that you focused your career mastering a craft and that you're still working on that craft you mastered. As for the dumb hiring managers, it's best if you can avoid working for them. One thing you'll learn as you get…

> First, moving from an engineering role to a management role is not "career progression", it's a lateral career switch.

That's a cool sentiment, but it's not what hiring managers and many many other managers think. They'll just flag you as "something wrong with that guy if hes not managing by now" and you're still out of job.

Re: Engineer’s guide to career growth: Advice from my time at Stripe and Facebook

#120

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

giantg2 wrote: post #26

The real lesson is to join a company poised for rapid growth (bonus points if it turns into a mainstream name like Facebook) and getting lucky as they expand. Try that at a mature company and you'll get nowhere. Do it at the small companies that never blow up and you'll get nowhere. Even if you're in the right company at the right time, there's a good chance someone else will be given the opportunity over you.

> The real lesson is to join a company poised for rapid growth

The best advice for success is always to get lucky.

The second best advice is to work smart / have good ethic.

The third is to work hard.

Unfortunately, most people think if they just work hard enough, they will succeed. And in many cases, it doesn't matter how hard you work, you're not getting anywhere.

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