A status update is where you can showcase how well you manage ambiguity and is an important way to build trust with your team — Imagine this — they assign you a task to finish up this sprint. It is a task that requires you to push a new feature within a brand-new architecture you have never touched on. On the first day, you look through all the documentation on the Confluence page to get…

I am launching a newsletter — Path to Senior — to give software engineers more insights on navigating their careers in tech. — How I started my blogging journey? I began writing about my software engineer career in 2019 when I started working at Disney+, the streaming service for Disney, Hulu, and ESPN. I felt like I wasn’t growing the way I wanted to. It was my first time working in a fast-paced, high-tech environment. I was inexperienced with…

Can we deconstruct luck? — “Aren’t you tired of having to think about things to write about every week and ending up not having any huge turnover after being published?” My brother asked me during a dinner one day. “Yeah, I do”, I said. “However, I enjoyed it because it keeps me sharp and up-to-date…

Instead of “How can I do to fit my lifestyle for this job?” ask yourself, “How can this job help me reach my goal?” — It’s no secret that we’re pushed to the limit. We often feel rushed and overwhelmed, so we keep our heads down and focus on the next thing and the next without having a moment to evaluate if the next opportunity we are striving for leads us to our long-term goal. …

The hardest thing about technical documentation is not about the technical aspect. It is how to persuade your audience to choose a certain solution. — One of the hardest parts about designing a spike is not coming up with the solution; it is how to evaluate the best solution. However, I often found it hard to evaluate the best solution because each stakeholder has opinions and needs. How do you devise the best solution for…

Your work environment as a software engineer has the advantage that engineers build stuff there so that you can create targeted, learning-by-doing experiences. — “To become a 10x engineer, you must love learning new things.” I always heard this word when I started my career as a software engineer. All software engineer knows that continuous learning is key to thriving in this career field. However, one questions always arise -

Safe your mental power to solve problems important for your team’s success. — Time is money. This may be an overused phrase, but we’re all trading our most treasured asset — time. Seriously, all software engineers should keep this phrase on their wallpaper- it’s pure gold! Because, dear software engineers, time is your most prized asset, even over your LeetCode problem-solving skills. Joking…

Being second comes with its fair share of advantages, just like in marathon running and business — A recent layoff impacted my direct manager and many of my colleagues in my department. They said they are having a “reorg.” Upper management said they are still very optimistic about the company’s future and have a pivot to focus on another business strategy. …

Sharing Insights on Path-To-Senior Hitting an Important Milestone — Hello, dear readers! This week’s posts will differ from our regular software engineering posts because path-to-senior has reached a big milestone. On October 11th, 2022, I announced on my blog and Medium that I would start a newsletter documenting my journey and giving actionable advice to fellow software engineers. In…