Ksenia Jane King

"How do I get my first job in DE or DS?" I feel horrible when I tell this to people. But look, the market is just really bad for junior engineers and scientists. There are a lot of startups right now and startups need people who can come in and build stuff. It sucks, but junior engineers take additional handholding before they can become independent, which (a) means you're not getting as much work per dollar for the salary you give to a junior, and (b) senior engineers are made temporarily less productive because they need to slow down to mentor juniors I'm not saying this is right or good. But this statement is generally true: the less onboarding you need, the more options you have in where you can work. --- The "bright" side is that in the tech space, you can manufacture your own experience without needing to get a job: building personal projects--ideally 1-2 super deep ones. If you have a family, specifically kids... I don't know. I'm pro family and I believe you're doing something amazing. Similar statement if you're struggling with health issues. The market only cares about output. I think what we're seeing is there are few "true entrylevel jobs". So if you can "make yourself into a mid-level or senior engineer" on your own time, you're suddenly in a new category of applicants and (in my experience) will find that there ARE jobs to be found. There is a simple formula for getting a job in software and DS: Inputs: Pre-onboard yourself. By getting experience and learning. By doing personal projects. And be decent at Leetcode. Outputs: The output is higher *likelihood* of getting accepted and having more options. People who keep the formula going long enough get jobs. But many stop because life pulls them away. Honestly, this outcome is totally fine--especially if they learned they don't find joy in SWE/DS. I'm just here to say that if you STAY and do the formula, it will happen. No guarantees on time, but for reference, I'd bet that a reasonable time frame to expect success is <2 years--potentially much faster or slower depending on your rate of investment. --- I don't have the time I once did to mentor 1:1, but: I'm willing to make Udemy course free for you. It teaches the basics of SWE principles, which are core for both DS- and DE-bound people. It covers the first skills you'd need before you can bring Python to production in any field: git, VS Code, GitHub, CI/CD, packaging, testing, etc. If you're at a point in your life where you can watch 27 hours of videos and another 27 following along with the exercises, I'll gladly send you a code to make it free. Comment or DM and tell me a bit about your situation and I'll send you a link. Happy to accept referrals if you know someone who this would be good for, but I'd like them to message me themselves to indicate that they want this.

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Did you know there are no "roles" (SDE, SDET, TPM, …) when you get to L8 IC (Senior Principal) at Amazon? It’s one of Amazon’s peculiarities. [Side note: in general, Amazon SDEs tend to be "jack of all trades" where we pragmatically do whatever is necessary to make our organization successful at that given moment (within reason). In fact, I believe being well-rounded and able and willing to wear a number of hats is one of the things that makes me valuable to an employer. We don’t over-index on "that’s not part of my role doc." Other companies where I worked (eg Google) have very clear swimming lanes and people stick to them pretty religiously, eg. "oh no I don’t talk to customers, I’m an SDE and talking to customers is for TPMs." Whereas at Amazon I never once had a manager tell me, "what you did (although impactful, important and necessary) was not really your job." ] My little side note about this critical piece of amazon culture explains why as you get to L8 the concept of a "role" no longer really makes sense. The boundaries between roles get fuzzier and fuzzier as you go from Senior Engineer (L6) to Principal Engineer (L7), and they become unimportant when you get to L8. We’re all just “Senior Principals” - whether you came via the SDE path, the TPM path, or in my snowflake case, the SDET path. In fact I think most L8s are snowflakes in that their path to L8 was unique and the value they bring to the company is also unique. In phonetool (our amazon directory) you can have whatever unofficial title you want (also within reason...), so I chose to keep the "SDET" title to reflect my background and passion for testing, engineering and operational excellence, and developer tools. I also hope that by keeping the title, others in my (old?) role can see that SDETs at Amazon do not have a "ceiling" in their career. And lastly, it's a fun conversational piece ("you're an L8 SDET???") (The image here is "Peccy" - a beloved little icon that has represented Amazon's Peculiar Ways for years) [Edit: Strictly speaking there are a few L8 IC roles that do have a different job code, like PMT or Scientist - but I think we generally view all L8 ICs in the same lens]

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As a Principal Engineer, I mentor many talented engineers who are new to senior level or have been seniors for a while but are still exploring what that means. They all seek similar guidance on what comes next. I've distilled the key advice I share into this blog post to help you navigate your next steps and continue excelling in your tech career. https://lnkd.in/g8S8r66b

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Check out this treasure trove of resources By Arvind Telharkar! Perfect for leveling up skills.

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🌟 TailorMed Interview Insight 🌟 In software development interviews, one of my favorite follow-up questions after a candidate explains some tech magic is, "How does X happen?". If your answer is, "The IDE/Tech-Stack/Whatever does it for me," that’s not what I'm looking for. I want to hear an in-depth solution, to see how you can break down the problem, and understand the process. Even if you don't know the answer, trying and giving it an in-depth thought will help me understand your thought process better. Hint: I don't always know the answer myself! Think critically, analyze, and explain step-by-step. This demonstrates your deep understanding and problem-solving skills, which are crucial for any developer. #TechInterview #SoftwareDevelopment #ProblemSolving #DeepThinking #CareerTips #SoftwareEngineering

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From what I've seen in software engineering careers: 1. Write code 2. Lead architecture decisions (write less code) 3. Manage (write no code) Why do so many SWEs think success means not writing code anymore? Management is a completely different skill set. Don’t turn your best software engineer into your worst manager. #SoftwareEngineering • #CareerPath • #TechLife ♻ Repost if you found this valuable

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For the aspiring software engineers out there (assuming that profession still exists :), this article provides some great insights into how to think about a typical coding interview problem. https://lnkd.in/eB_Zw2D7

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Love this diagram from Alex Ewerlöf. Simple and insightful. I like to explain the Senior Engineer -> Staff Engineer transition as scaling. Up to Senior Engineer, it's a vertical scaling, you invest in your personal skills. Staff and above is a horizontal scaling, you invest in those around you: your team, org, and mentees. And as with scaling vertically, every next increment of your personal growth gets asymptotically harder and more expensive. While growing others unlock a real productivity multiplier. Read his whole post from Alex: https://lnkd.in/gZcUnUjp

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🌟 Why Every Entry-Level Software Engineer Needs a Mentor 🌟 Starting a career in software engineering can be both exciting and overwhelming. The rapid pace of technological advancements, the vast array of tools and languages, and the pressure to deliver quality code can make the journey daunting. This is where having a mentor can make all the difference. 1. Accelerate Learning and Skill Development 🚀 A mentor can significantly accelerate your learning curve. Instead of spending countless hours trying to figure things out on your own, a mentor provides guidance on best practices, shares valuable resources, and helps you navigate complex concepts more efficiently. Their experience allows them to identify gaps in your knowledge and offer targeted advice that speeds up your development as a software engineer. 2. Gain Insights into Industry Practices 🛠️ Mentors bring industry experience that textbooks and online courses often don’t cover. They can introduce you to real-world practices, coding standards, and the nuances of software development that aren’t always evident in theory. This exposure helps you understand how to apply your skills in a professional setting, preparing you to meet industry expectations with confidence. 3. Receive Constructive Feedback and Support 🤝 One of the most valuable aspects of mentorship is receiving constructive feedback. A mentor can review your code, suggest improvements, and help you refine your problem-solving approach. This feedback is crucial for growth, as it highlights areas where you can improve while reinforcing your strengths. Moreover, a mentor provides moral support, encouraging you through challenges and celebrating your successes. 4. Expand Your Professional Network Mentors often have established networks within the tech industry. By connecting with a mentor, you gain access to their network, which can open doors to new opportunities. Whether it’s learning about job openings, getting introductions to industry professionals, or receiving recommendations, a mentor can help you expand your network and advance your career. 5. Develop Long-Term Career Strategies 🎯 Beyond technical skills, mentors offer guidance on long-term career strategies. They can help you set realistic goals, choose the right projects to work on, and navigate career transitions. Having a mentor means you have someone who understands your aspirations and can provide valuable advice to help you achieve them, ensuring that your career trajectory is both purposeful and fulfilling. In summary, mentorship is a powerful tool for any entry-level software engineer. It not only accelerates your technical growth but also equips you with the insights, feedback, and support needed to thrive in the industry. If you’re just starting out, I highly recommend finding a mentor who can guide you on this journey. #Mentorship #SoftwareEngineering

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I've noticed many people reaching out to me for advice on job search techniques, especially in software engineering. One trend I see is that most job openings are targeting mid-level engineers. I’ll be sharing some insights and tips on navigating this job market soon—stay tuned! #JobSearch #SoftwareEngineering #CareerAdvice #JobMarket #MidLevelEngineers #TechCareers #HiringTrends #Developer

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10 tech roles in big tech that do not require LeetCode 👇🏻 All roles except SDEs (Software Development Engineers). I have not solved a single LeetCode problem. In this post, I'm going to list just 10 roles (frankly there are many more) that does not ask you LeetCode problems in an interview. But over the subsequent posts I will talk about these roles in more details and skills required for clearing the interviews of these roles. The 10 roles: 1. DevOps Engineer 2. Data Scientist / Data Analyst 3. Technical Program Manager 4. Technical Account Manager 5. Product Manager 6. Technical Instructor 7. Technical Curriculum Developer 8. UI/UX Designer 9. Developer Advocate/Evangelist 10. Solutions Architect None of these roles test your ability to solve LeetCode problems during interviews. You severely limit your career opportunities if you think software engineering is the only path to a great tech career. What skills are required for these other roles if not LeetCode or coding? In upcoming posts, I'll dive deep into different roles. I'll compare the skills needed for each role. Next up: DevOps Engineer. 1. What are their job responsibilities? 2. What skills do you need for these roles? 3. How can you prepare to land these roles? Stay tuned for insights on expanding your tech career horizons. --- Consider a repost to help other.

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Over the past few months, I've had the opportunity of chatting with several folks in software engineering from experienced folks to folks just starting software engineering careers or about to take the plunge.  A few common themes kept popping up: 1. The job market's tough for entry-level positions right now. 2. Tech's evolving at high speed, making it hard to build a solid mental model.  Two approaches that helped me:         systems thinking (Thanks Kishore Gopalakrishna for introducing me to this concept at StarTree)         awesome blog (link in comment) for strategy to review systems by Jack Vanlightly 3. The age-old question: should we focus on new tech or fundamentals to prep for the industry? 4. Building a profile is crucial, but which open-source projects should we contribute to? 5. Startup or big tech? That's the million-dollar question! 6. In this AI-driven world, which tech should we prioritize? And why bother with OS or databases anymore? 7. Resume building, job applications, coding interviews, system design - how do we tackle it all? Folks like John Crickett and Kaivalya Apte who are doing an amazing job bringing industry insights to newcomers. I'm also a big fan of Jack Vanlightly and Murat Demirbas (Distributolog) blogs - they have a knack for breaking down complex topics into bite-sized pieces. Thanks to Phil Eaton for inspiring me to step out of my comfort zone and connect with people to share experiences. After these in-person chats, I thought, why not extend this to Google Hangouts? I've set up a calendar https://lnkd.in/g2SRySzE feel free to book a slot if you'd like to connect and swap stories! Looking forward to more great conversations! 🚀💻

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Are you a Software Engineer who is interviewing or thinking of interviewing for a new role soon? I talk to Software Engineers all day in my role as a Technical Recruiter and I wanted to give some tips you may or may not have heard. I have noticed for the most part that technical people are great at explaining the technical work, so these tips are for how you can improve on speaking to your "soft skills" during an interview. Leadership, mentoring, project management, conflict resolution, etc. So here we go: 👉🏼 When it comes to soft skills, think of job levels as spheres of influence, and tailor your answers to the sphere you are interviewing for. Usually entry level or "Dev I" type roles are about owning your desk and your responsibilities. So for this interview it's fine to answer questions in a way that speak to your attitude towards the work, your ability to problem solve and resolve conflict, etc. The "you" stuff. For a senior role, all of the above is important, but it's also about speaking to how you support, influence and improve your team. We want to see you can take lead on a project within your team that is impactful. So if you have any examples to share of having done this, you should be bringing it back to those when possible. For more senior roles than that (this is where company titles get more nuanced so this can be Staff/Lead/Principal, etc.) It's all about cross-functional influence outside of just your team. In these interviews, speak to your experience mapping out a larger, long term project with leadership if that is experience you have. 👉🏼 This also means that if you want to be a senior in the near future, it's important to start asking your current manager for opportunities to lead on a project so you can have experience to speak to. Same goes for the next level, keep throwing your hat in the ring for the larger cross-functional projects so you have solid examples when the time comes. 👉🏼 I honestly don't love this about the corporate world, I find it sort of ableist, but it is the way it is so here goes: The general consensus on "handling the unknown in your role" is basically this: entry level engineers, when unsure of how to act, typically go ask their managers for direction. Seniors get more creative first. Perhaps they look through historical data on the team to see if this issue has come up before and what was done, maybe they created their own work around and then asked for peers to look over their resolution for additional support. Whatever the case, they will have taken actionable steps to resolve before asking their manager and view their manager as a last resort of sorts. And Leads are doing the same except the issues they are working through are usually larger scale so "going to the manager" as a last resort would likely turn into "going to the director" because of the issue's potential impact. I hope this helps! 🤓

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Since I have moved back to supporting Software Engineer hiring, I’ve only had 1 candidate reject an offer. She ended up joining Microsoft anyway on another team that aligned better to her interests. I’m able to keep my acceptance rate high because I’m extremely up front. My process is simple: - what are you unhapppy with at your current employer? what’s got you exploring other options? - I tailor Microsoft’s benefits to each individual. My pitch to someone with kids is very different from someone early career. My pitch to someone who is burnt out is different than someone who is adamant about a Sr title and a promo - I take bets on people who are significantly undervalued in the current market. I know companies that don’t come close and I move forward with people who don’t come from solely top companies - I have no problem hunting for more candidates and openly saying I don’t think I can compete with what you want - I openly tell people we will never revoke an offer if you try to negotiate. Ride out your decision window and TRY! Worst case you can’t and you know you have the best offer Also I think it helps that I’ve been 100% sourcing internally - I focus my reach outs on people who have applied in the last year. I move forward with candidates other recruiters pass up on. I leave 30% of my top of funnel for risky submissions. These are people that I will probably get questioned about in the debrief, but can support why I opted to move forward. They meet the basic qualifications, but will need mentorship. I also target Google, Meta, Amazon etc, but ONLY if they’re actively applying first. This removes the idea that I can’t possibly compete. I know you’re unhappy, curious, looking and that makes the conversations easier. I don’t uproot or relocate people. Relocation comes with a higher chance of a decline. It’s a little more work on the front-end, but it’s pretty pointless to go through the entire interview process and not actually hire a person. I want to hire people that WANT to be at Microsoft, reduce my hrs sourcing, and tell a compelling story while I do it. I think there are different ways to recruit depending on the role and level. For now this is working out well so I’m running with it. KEEP APPLYING seriously you’re helping me out!!!

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So, I have some news to share!! I am now a Headstarter Software Engineering fellow. I will be doing building 5 AI projects in 5 weeks and and as my final project I will {your track ... see image below}. The part I am most excited about this fellowship is I will be able to build my { Choose 5 skills 1) Vision 2) Personal brand 3) Interview prep 4) Network 5) Project 6) Teamwork/collab 7) Deadlines 8) Presentation 9) Feedback 10) How to Sell} I look forward to sharing my progress and technical growth over the next few week.

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Attn Software Engineer job seekers: When someone asks you to explain to them what a deadlock is. There is no need to worry about trying to define it. Simply reply with: “It appears you won’t hire me unless I tell you want a deadlock is. However, I will tell you what a deadlock is after you hire me.” Follow me for my more helpful interview tips.

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Should you invest in a full-time entry-level software engineer or hire a more experienced freelancer? Let’s break down the numbers and see how the choice affects your bottom line, specifically comparing an FTE in NYC with a senior-level freelancer from Remgu. Cost of an Entry-Level Engineer in NYC (FTE) An entry-level engineer with a base salary of $140k doesn’t cost only that much. You’ll need to account for additional expenses like benefits, taxes, and overhead. Base Salary: $140k (median entry-level salary according to Levels.fyi) Benefits (Healthcare, Retirement, etc.): ~30% of salary = $42k Payroll Taxes: ~8.5% of salary = $12k Overhead (Office Space, Equipment, etc.): ~15% of salary = $21k 💰 Total Cost for an Entry-Level Engineer in NYC = $215k/year That’s the actual cost of employing an entry-level engineer when all expenses are included. Cost of a Senior Freelancer at Remgu Now, let’s look at a senior freelancer working at a rate of $75/hour. With freelancers, there’s no need to cover benefits, payroll taxes, or overhead. Here’s the breakdown using 46 weeks a year to factor in 6 weeks off for vacation, holidays, etc: All-in Hourly Rate: $75/hour (includes Remgu’s margin) Annual Hours Worked: 40 hours/week × 46 weeks = 1,840 hours 💰 Total Cost for Senior Freelancer = $75 × 1,840 hours = $138k/year Unlike full-time employees, you’re paying for actual work hours, and there are no additional costs like benefits or payroll taxes. Key Takeaways: 🎯 Experience vs. Cost: For 35% less than the cost of an entry-level engineer, you could hire a senior freelancer with years of experience and specialized skills. 🎯 Flexibility: You’re not tied down to long-term employment contracts, allowing for flexibility in scaling your team based on project needs. And Remgu freelancers seek long-term engagements, eliminating concerns about retention.

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Software engineers who have been working for a few years often ask me “Should I get an advanced degree?” The answer is usually that it depends on their goals. An advanced degree might make sense if your undergraduate degree was not in computer science/information science/software engineering, as was my situation. Or, if you want to pursue academia or research-oriented roles, a PhD will certainly be required. But, if you have a relevant undergraduate degree and have a few years of working in tech as a software engineer under your belt, an advanced degree will likely not help you. And, it may stall your career progress while you study. Another exception might be if you are looking to gain international experience. In that case, an advanced degree in another country can provide that experience as well as an easier onramp to a work permit or skills-based immigration to another region. For me, the decision to pursue a masters degree was because my undergraduate degree was not at all related to the work I was doing. And, I realized that I had been lucky to “break in” to tech during the dotcom boom where I was able to prove my capabilities on the job. I decided a couple years into my first tech job that I would go back to school. The challenge was finding the right program. If you have been following the rest of my story, you know that I was not in a financial situation to step away for a couple of years, so I had to find a program that allowed me to do my degree mostly online. In the end, I decided for an information science masters where I focused on systems design and a series of data structures and algorithms courses from a local community college. I figured that plus my experience would put me in a much better position from a foundational perspective, which I believe it did. It took me about 4 years to complete both courses of work in addition to my full time job and taught me a lot about time management. Did this prepare me sufficiently for whiteboard, Leetcode-style interviews? Nope. I got top marks in all my DSA courses and still struggled with such interviews. I’ve learned subsequently that the elite university CS programs actually have an interview prep course, further stacking the deck against those without “pedigree”. Interview prep would have to be a separate skill developed in addition to education. But, that is another topic for another day.

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