What Senior Engineers from Top Tech Companies Have to Say

TLDRWe interviewed senior engineers from top tech companies, including Slack, Qualcomm, Meta, Facebook, and more, to gain insights into their roles and advice for success. Key skills include learning from existing solutions, efficient log analysis, aligning outcomes with stakeholders, building connections, and impactful work. Communication, understanding business impact, and pursuing impact are crucial skills at higher levels. Longevity at a company and navigating organizations of scale are also important for career growth.

Key insights

🔍Learning from existing solutions and solving common problems are important skills for new engineers.

🤝Building connections with colleagues across teams can provide access to valuable knowledge and deeper expertise.

📈Efficient log analysis is crucial for identifying and resolving issues in complex systems.

🌟Aligning outcomes and risks with stakeholders is essential for project success.

💼Choosing impactful work and understanding its business impact are important skills at higher levels.

Q&A

What is the most important skill for a new engineer?

—Learning from existing solutions and solving common problems in the codebase.

How can new engineers build connections?

—By reaching out to colleagues in different teams and learning from their expertise.

What is the key skill for efficient log analysis?

—The ability to parse and extract information from log files to debug and identify issues.

What is important for project success at higher levels?

—Aligning outcomes and risks with stakeholders and choosing impactful work.

What is the benefit of longevity at a company?

—Gaining deep knowledge of the company and its systems, as well as building trust and relationships.

Timestamped Summary

00:00Interviewed senior engineers from top tech companies.

01:30Important skills for new engineers are learning from existing solutions and building connections.

03:45Efficient log analysis is crucial for identifying and resolving issues.

05:15Aligning outcomes and risks with stakeholders is important for project success.

07:30Choosing impactful work and understanding its business impact are key at higher levels.

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