3 Career Killers for Software Engineers (from a Principal at Amazon)

Here are three pieces of advice that would have fast forwarded my career and made me a richer person.

My content will always be free of charge but if you'd like to support the channel, I'd be honored if you supported me on Patreon.

BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
This book transformed m y life when I read it for the first time nearly 10 years ago. It's still guides the way I think about self-development today.

The most important currency you have is your undivided attention. This book shows you exactly how to spend this currency in a manner that will lead to head-turning accomplishment.

SYSTEM DESIGN
Currently the best reference contemporary for system design.

For interviews, the best references are System Design Interview and System Design Interview Volume 2 by Alex Xu.

00:00 Intro
00:57 Get Your Money Right
03:13 Preferring Output Over Impact
05:15 Not Thinking Clearly About Staying or Leaving Your Team
08:57 Conclusion

I get a kick-back for the affiliate links above. The opinions expressed in this video are my own. I do not speak for Amazon.

[ALifeEngineered]

FYI, projected retirement numbers assume a 9% YoY growth, the average since 2006.

[its.juhnny]

Wow you really are like the opposite of tech lead, well done

[jeremytan]

1. Getting your money right:
This includes saving.
You could also put those savings in the market, and sticking it through up or down and seeing what it amounts to later. (Time passes really quickly)

2. Preferring output over impact:
Finding task that differentiate yourself.
Finding a meaningful refactor that prevents future bugs is better than routinely integrating package updates.
Great to have a nose for outsized impact.

3. Not thinking clearly about staying or leaving your team:
Sure, that hop could increase your compensation but you could be leaving a good team and moving to something worse.
If you're in a bad environment, don't believe promises but watch the management's actions to see if they're actually dealing with the root problem.
Ultimately, if you're in a good spot, don't throw it all away. You'll only recognize your golden ages from hindsight.

[AsianVideoGamer]

My biggest mistake in my career is never letting my manager know I wanted a promotion. Don't wait years to "get ready" just ask your manager what you need to do early to get the next position.

[scottfranco]

Just a short story to address your last point. I worked for a company that shall remain nameless. They were failing. The CEO skipped the country because it had been discovered he was embezzling. They laid off half the company. We got written up in the press, and one writer said, and I quote "clearly the only workers remaining there are stupid and cannot find other work". I was one of the few people actually working there. Others were playing board games on the whiteboards. This was after the 2008 downturn, so jobs were not easy to find. So I left to take a contract. I would not say my career tanked, but those were some bad years and some stretches of unemployment.

The company? They got bought by a very good company, and people I know there went on to work for years there productively. The moral of the story is that what seems to be black and white, sometimes isn't.

[williamseipp]

really love the mature way of looking at things.

a consistent thing I've read on Reddit is the need for software engineers to understand relationships, office politics, etc. Soft skills.

The way you present the case for making yourself a priority in a positive way shows experience in the industry. Looking forward to future content

[ginalee]

I'm not even in software engineering but this was just so useful in general! Thanks for your honest and upfront thoughts from your own personal experience - will bear this in mind for the future when I'm thinking about switching jobs 🤗

[kuantumdot]

Point 2 is spot on! Couldn’t agree more! I’m no Software Engineer. I worked with them. A few years back, there was a “golden” opportunity to demonstrate a full-system demo to SVP and CEO. But I needed helps from SWE. To my surprise, I literally walked to each and every SWE desk my buildings, asked for help, promised that this would be super high impact if succeeding. “Nah man, I gotta do code review, bug fix, commit, etc etc” I sent email to different SWE groups, tried my best to sell the high impact opportunity. No response.

[yumingzai]

1. Start investing early (time in market > timing market)
2. Look for impact, not productivity = find teams that can be impactful, where other people can see you
3. Know when to leave a team

[humansoftech]

As a non-engineer I've been really appreciating your videos- they apply to most roles. Cheers!

[jgdovin]

Senior engineer laid off last week. Loving your videos as I prepare for a lead roll. Keep up the great work!

[Dodgerific]

I'm a mechanical engineer but I still found your advice useful. Thank you.

[the_real_cookiez]

I don't know if you covered this topic yet, but I think something I struggle with is words. To form clear and concise words in speaking. Coding is half the battle. Being able to communicate your thoughts to the targeted audience is just, if not, more important I feel like. Thank you!

[matthewschrader]

I never comment on YouTube but thank you for bringing your professionalism and knowledge out into the public for others education and growth. I'm sure youre very busy but if somehow you could upload more frequently I and everyone else would eternally appreciate it. I found your channel today and have already gone through every video

[isaacdouglas]

I'm starting as an SDE I at Amazon in a month and I just found your channel while looking for advice and I love the content. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Steve!

[theugobosschannel]

I’m a 12-year Software Engineer myself and the most important thing you mentioned was the Toxic Environment situation.

[RahulPandeyrkp]

Woot thanks for the shoutout Steve! Would love to hop on a call 😇

[CloudXIl]

Wow. I’m actually a trainee and my job at the moment was migrating bower to npm. I don’t think that’s a bad position atm as it was a good learning experience. But I’ll make sure to take note for when it becomes my main task later in the future

[siriso]

Excellent information. We realized late that we were in a excellent team.
You are in a good team when you are making impact otherwise you need to go.
Why? Because if you are not making a impact that means that you are losing your previous knowldge, your are not getting new knowledge or challenge. I had a co-worker that mentioned to me that he felt like a robot pressing a button. I understant what he meant. Thats means you are wasting your professional career.

[KS-dfcp]

I, unfortunately, check all the boxes in the current situation. Just committed to leetcode! People like you are true mentors providing directions pro bono. Thank you for putting this together.