To get a return offer, my manager said I'd be evaluated for my ability to work independently. I guess the only way to strengthen that is to build on my fundamentals and programming ability. Since job security is already very dicey, I'm going to start with Leetcoding too. Is there anything else I should look into that would me achieve these goals? My role is mainly a java back-end software dev. Is there also a tool that can assess my current abilities and gaps I need to address?
#SWE Fundamentals?
near pebble
stone gull
The best way to assess that is going to be to look at how you handle things in your job
Your manager is the best person to help with that, especially since they'll be part of the offer process. (I'm assuming this is for an internship.) Instead of waiting until the end of the quarter to find out, ask them to keep this as a recurring topic for your 1:1s. And as you go through things, ask for specific feedback: "Are there any improvements I could make in how I handled X thing this last week?"
Their job isn't to find flaws and mark you down, it's to help you grow into a productive member of the team. So make use of them for that
near pebble
Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I'll definitely ask in my next upcoming 1:1s w/ manager, and mentors as well. It seems like they carry a good amount of weight during evaluation, since they told me to work on learning fundamentals and independence too. Role is actually apprenticeship; it's pretty much a longer internship.
stone gull
To prepare, and without knowing you or your company (so again, advice from them will be better), usually spinning up to productivity for very junior engineers in my experience the problems are:
- learning how to make decisions with the context of the business
- knowing when to ask for help
- gaining enough context of all the different systems at this company
None of those are really programming fundamentals, but really more software engineering fundamentals - the reason people struggle with them is because they're almost entirely uneducated on those subjects and so they're starting from scratch and having to learn it all on the job
I haven't gotten through all of this yet, but what I have is good (albeit brief): https://letterstoanewdeveloper.com/the-book/ There's a good chance you can even reimburse it through work
polar wyvern
@near pebble do you know the tech stack and the type of work you’ll be doing?
If the goal is to be able to work independently, I don’t think leetcode is the best bet
near pebble
I haven't gotten through all of this yet, but what I have is good (albeit brief)...
Thanks for the tips and the book! Yeah knowing when to ask for help will be tricky for me. This kind of goes with working independently. I'm not supposed to get spoonfed info and soak up other people's time. I was told I should always look up documentation first and ask to clarify doubts rather than asking how things work