Ask HN: Career advice for more established Bay Area companies

#1

Post by rocket_woman » Sun, May 07, 2017, 7:26 PM UTC

I just accepted an offer from one of the large established Bay Area companies (think Facebook / Google / Apple), and I'd like to ask HN to share some advice for career progression in these companies.

I'm interested in hearing more about specific cultural aspects of working at these companies (feel free to give company or team specific advice), what kinds of work they actually value, what you wish you'd have known when you joined etc.

My personal goals are split more or less evenly between doing interesting work, good pay and low risk. I have 3-5 years of software engineering experience.

Re: Ask HN: Career advice for more established Bay Area companies

#2

Post by sjg007 » Sun, May 07, 2017, 7:58 PM UTC

What's your goal? You mention low risk and career progression. Does that mean developing into a senior engineer or a techinal lead.. or management? At the extreme end the C level may require an MBA which is certainly not low risk and requires generally leaving one place for another.

You will find all sorts of politics at play. From the cooperative to competitive. It could be at the layer above you or with your peers.

Low risk is really a market condition and doesn't last or necessarily exist.

Your job is to help your boss succeed. Sounds trite but it is what it is. As your boss gains respect for your work you will in turn find respect from higher ups and be given more responsibility. Your boss's job is to help you succeed and make his boss look good.

So be realiable, do good work, don't create more problems than you solve. Look for opportunities to help your team/project. That's it.

Re: Ask HN: Career advice for more established Bay Area companies

#3

Post by rocket_woman » Sun, May 07, 2017, 8:16 PM UTC

sjg007 wrote: post #2

What's your goal? You mention low risk and career progression. Does that mean developing into a senior engineer or a techinal lead.. or management? At the extreme end the C level may require an MBA which is certainly not low risk and requires generally leaving one place for another. You will find all sorts of politics at play. From the cooperative to competitive. It could be at the layer above you or with your peers.…

> Does that mean developing into a senior engineer or a techinal lead.. or management?

Yes. :)

At this point I don't know if I'll do well in a management role or not, I still need some time to decide.

> You will find all sorts of politics at play. From the cooperative to competitive. It could be at the layer above you or with your peers.

Can you give some examples? What sort of things do I need to be cognizant of?