SleepyBanana

Presently Senior Architect, previously Engineering Manager, 18+ yoe in software engg. AMA

Will entertain only serious questions that respect anonymity. I don’t mind humor, but trolling is strict no no.

Conducted one AMA session last week & was overwhelmed by both number & positive feedback. I might choose to skip any question repeated from last time.

Some things about me

I love to code & go beyond coding
Managed a team of around 20 people before
I love mentoring people
Presently overseeing the architecture and lifecycle of a suite of products

Don’t mind me giving you some useful gyan 😀

18mo ago

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GigglyNarwhal

Stealth18mo

How to FastTrack your career? I'm currently an SDE-2. I feel like I have more expertise and knowledge than most of my peers and even seniors and waiting for a whole year to get promoted sucks. Any advice?

SleepyBanana

Stealth18mo

The feeling is mutual among peers. It does look like we score better than our peers & seniors. But that’s not how career progression is gauged. There are many more factors, some of which aren’t under our control.

Keep working hard on things that are in your control. Develop personal interest in coding, take good things to work. Implement a POC and then speak. Build tools for productively that nobody would expect. Solve a problem that nobody else could solve for a very long time. Do this silently beyond your work time. Keep giving pleasant surprises. Career growth will just be a by-product of all these.

DancingNoodle

Uber18mo

Why do you want to fast track your career? If you’re at one of the right places then you’re earning 50+ lpa as sde 2 and should get close to 1cr once you get promoted…. Why the hurry? There’s more to life

GigglyDonut

Stealth18mo

Im SSE currently. Thinking of becoming EM instead of Architect .
Since you have some both can you tell me how did it feel.

I love problem solving and building and fixing complex things.
I also love helping out others. Have mentored a lot of engineers and students.

SleepyBanana

Stealth18mo

I guess you are spoilt for choice & you might be in a state of limbo.

Gaining experience on various roles always helps. But that solely depends on how you polish your traits over time justifying the roles & responsibility. It’s between ‘jack of all trades master of none’ vs ‘master of one’. Both carry equal value.

At the outset, EM role might look like something exciting, but there’s some chance that you’d realize this is more than what you thought before assuming the role.

In my personal experience, I was probably a good EM but I always wanted to get back to coding because that’s what I enjoyed more. But that doesn’t stop me from mentoring people. I still keep mentoring people and love discussing tech, soft skills, gossip, trends & stuff.

It’s not a necessity to assume an EM role just to inspire people.

GigglyDonut

Stealth18mo

With 18YOE how much is your TC. How about your health ? Eyesight etc ?

DizzyBanana

Stealth18mo

Aren't you the same person who was bashing the entire Software Engineering and SWEs in one of your previous posts.
Now you're saying you love coding and mentoring people. Do you have a split personality?

SleepyBanana

Stealth18mo

I love to criticize. I love to ask tough questions about software engineering.
The reason: I love software engineering.

Intending to fight bad within the system to make something good is not a split personality.

But unfortunately, the dynamics of society is such that people simply make judgements about someone just based on one single opinion. I don’t give a damn because bad actors exist everywhere.

DizzyBanana

Stealth18mo

You said in your previous post that even 12 year olds can make software at high scale. You're either a troll or just trying to seek attention.

Constructive criticism and bashing are two different things.

WobblyBanana

Stealth18mo

How to switch from EM(SDET) to SDM

SleepyBanana

Stealth18mo

What I imagine is this would be analogous to changing from a QA role to Dev role. Changing to SDM role would require you to get acquainted with technologies of software development. Your knowledge about managing Automation suite would carry forward. But you must be well versed with different tech stacks & their application for building different solutions. You must also gain knowledge about dev ops & release.

WobblyBanana

Stealth18mo

Right. Yeah i am trying to learn these things on my own(outside of work) but the transition should be possible right? I dont have to go back the sde -> sde2 route to get there