HOW OLD ARE YOU?!

[@shishirbiyyala]

Bunch of people that look like they're 40 but are actually 25.. and a bunch of people that are 25, that look like they're actually 40" -- that's the same thing, Steve 😅(I get what you meant tho)

[@Phonoodles408]

It’s all an illusion

[@ALifeEngineered]

Of course the question about how I speak so well is chopped up to bits in the edit. Sigh. Also, I'm an idiot, ""people that look like they're 40 that are actually 25, and a bunch of people that are 25, look like they're actually 40" 🤦If you have questions please leave them in the comments section below and I'll answer them in the next episode! Continue the conversation on my Discord server - discord.gg/HFVMbQgRJJ

[@CommunityTheatre]

Thumbnail game incredible. Thanks for making some of the best software engineering content on KZbin

[@siruitao]

This man is great

[@SDFC]

Thanks a ton for making these videos, Steve! 🙏 I’m actually a former Amazonian, and one of the things that I miss most about working at Amazon is the access that I had to senior and principal engineers while starting out my career, so I greatly appreciate these videos 😁

[@Neonb88]

It's pretty amazing we get to hear directly from him for free, grateful for KZbin and the internet, such a gift

[@stirfriedmushupork]

Just found this channel, you’re the tech lead this platform needs!

[@Max-wk7cg]

Great video. I agree that programmers should not worry too much about working at places where they feel like they're changing the world. However I think that if you keep building on your skills and aim that learning towards your dream mission you will eventually get there. I believe getting there is the secret to not dreading Mondays.

[@justmo8523]

Glad to see your channel growing, keep the hard work and great advice!

[@tHebUm18]

What are your thoughts on terminal career level for most SWEs? Is never moving beyond senior SWE ideal for compensation relative to work/responsibility if you don't care about corporate ladder climbing? Nearing 6 years into my career--worked hard initially and learned lots, got promoted to senior level quick by company standards (4 years vs 6-8 usually), became fairly burned out/unhappy with my company during COVID, got a new job as a senior SWE doing essentially the same thing (for nearly double the pay with much better surrounding team/processes/etc.). Probably still generally feeling burned out, but could see happily coasting along where I'm at now making ~$130k with minimal stress (good for my market, 100% remote role) and not really pushing for more. Thanks for making the best SWE career advice content on YT!

[@Neonb88]

Might I gently recommend talking to friends / a professional about these feelings? I also like Tony Robbins for helping get yourself out of a funk For what it's worth, your situation is very impressive to me and I don't think this hedonic treadmill kind of thinking is helping you feel as grateful and/or proud as you deserve to :) I sympathize and empathize though, man. Hope you feel less burnt out

[@svddwd]

Nice. I am 43 and still mid level IC. Started coding at 25. Grew up in India without much exposure. Now I feel bit relieved.

[@_jmeg_3436]

I know three guys who pivoted around your current age. Never too late, man.

[@nothingtoseehere93]

I just wanted to say that thumbnail is amazing

[@Neonb88]

He does good work

[@thomastianklotze3181]

What’s your advice for junior engineers who might be worried about asking too many “dumb” questions or making mistakes or bugs while finishing tasks? Great video as always!

[@syllogism5843]

There's no such thing as a dumb question, but try to remember (or write down) previous answers so you don't have to ask a second time :) code reviews will help with mistakes and bugs

[@yagonagos]

TWO 525 floppy disk drives? livin laaarge

[@Neonb88]

Lol

[@leetcoderafeeq2641]

Laughed out loud at the thumbnail 🤣

[@wangfred]

One of my friends just got software engineer offers from Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Google, he is 57! I am 53, looking to follow his steps! My memory might not be as sharp as young guys, but my experiences, logical thinking, the ability to understand new things, ability to visualize things, the ability to use overall abilities to achieve the goals are growing bigger and bigger.

[@PS-ej2xn]

When did he start in software development?!

[@wangfred]

@@PS-ej2xn 20+ years.

[@skyhappy]

@@wangfred dude you left out the most important info A 53 old is wayyy too old to start a career like programming

[@wangfred]

@@skyhappy yeah, I agree fresh start is hard. Sorry about the missing information.

[@eugenezh9524]

As I understand, one of the expectations for L7 Principal Engineers is to "influence" teams of people. It's not the same as "managing" because these people don't report to you. Would you be able to share how you picked up those skills or recommend books or courses to help learn them?

[@stanchan]

No, it’s not illegal to ask why why you left your previous job or want to leave. I was in job interviews with that question. It is illegal to asked questions that are related to a protected class, like age.

[@vektorlau]

Can you go through your liquor collection and how you developed your alcohol palette?

[@bobby9568]

Every time he got fired he got one for free

[@recursion.]

@@bobby9568 jealous much?

[@zb2747]

By far the best thumbnail I’ve seen 👌🏽🔥

[@recursion.]

Genuinely liked a video in a long time.

[@davy__gravy]

Great high quality comment ! Thanks 👌

[@go556]

Thank you so much for those videos, Steve! A coworker recently recommends your channel to me and I have been binge watching it!!! So i got two questions, one about your channel: will you put all your videos in playlists?The other about career: if I don't think I can ever become a tech guru, and I also don't want to be a manager, is there a third career path as I move forward? Thanks again! I look forward to your next video!

[@tqw1423]

Thanks for the great content again Steve. I agree comparison is thief of joy but it's kind of hard to not care about it at all, especially for folks raised up in the environment where there are so many people fighting for very limited resources. Even in this industry, I believe there are performance reviews going on every year to get rid of low performers. Honestly, I hope that I can get career advices from this channel that keep me competent and survive longer.

[@crystalnelson314]

I have lived in WA, CA and get asked why I quit regularly. Not sure if legal, but I wouldn't be surprised as these kinds of places frequently broke other laws.

[@TheJanitor214]

Question, You mention a lot that your and L7 Principle Engineer but also that you've got 16 years experience at Amazon. What do you think about moving companies to move up in the ranks as far as pay and position, as well as compared to leveling up within FANG companies? Personally working in Animation and Gaming, I found it easier to move to new companies to get a pay increase or move up in position than stay at the same company. Granted, I am talking about mostly companies with 20-100 employees and not ones on the level of any FANG ones. Though Amazon and the like have dabbled in gaming so its a possibility. Meta has also been scooping up a lot of game devs and studios.

[@richard_kypri]

Comparing a midlevel job of a senior software engineer vs a senior product manager, it seems like the PM have better career prospects and regarded of higher value within organizations. Engineering tends to have slower career progression, more mentally draining down the road, and generally more challenging. If someone have the right people skills, what would be your take on the switch from engineering to product management?

[@tuams]

Thank you for suggesting good practices!

[@michaelfekadu6116]

Here's a question for the next office hour: As an Amazon (or any big tech) software engineer, what are you allowed to code on your own time and still call it "your code" instead of "Big Tech Corp's code" ? I would like to contribute to open source with my personal GitHub account, but that question of ownership worries me .... maybe I should find and actually read that NDA I signed forever ago?

[@omother942]

On the "Why did you quit your last job" question - for me, any interview I've ever had they've asked "Why are you looking to move company" so while its not exactly the same - it isn't far off either.

[@aayanchakravorty7732]

Yep, it is fair to expect questions along these lines. It is possible to get ahead of this question by addressing it in your introduction/"tell me about yourself" section of the interview. One good way to talk about past positions is to focus on the favorite part of that position, the insight that you gained from it, and the transition that you made/are making as a result (F.I.T. framework).

[@richardmccrae-lauba3578]

Can you please do a video on conducting interviews? Basically, advice for new team leads interviewing others for the first time. Thanks!

[@FarukhKhalilov]

Great video. Thanks for inspiring. I'm not sure if it is possible, can you please go over your studio setup and gear you use (behind the scene) ? Thanks in advance.

[@Drety6]

My lead likes to compare a lot, am glad to hear other's perspectives because it isn't clear to me

[@mangos1346]

I got asked why I left my previous job in pretty much all the interviews I attended

[@Zarifzar4]

I am in a dilemma of sorts. I majored in EE but I'm doing software right out of school with about 5 months of experience. During my internships, I always flip flopped between hardware and software engineering and I ended up liking both. I am having a hard time deciding between the two and I fall in to the "grass is greener on the other side" dilemma. I am not sure where I'm going to end up since I love honing both my EE and CS skills. I guess my questions is, should I pick one over the other, to special and get promoted faster in my career?

[@rattletrapfox1001]

Go Software. Many more opportunities. Plus a machine can eventually perform your task. Instead write the software for the machine to perform your tasks.

[@aliencommander]

Thank you! Question, how do I avoid getting assigned low impact / visibility work? Nick

[@hsoloman]

The usual solution is to execute really well on the low impact/visibility work and ask for better assignments.

[@aliencommander]

@@hsoloman Certainly done the first, I suppose I could work better at asking for the big projects.

[@Neonb88]

You could also hop jobs. I found a new gig during the recession, can 100% confirm it's possible

[@bwandesky]

Hi Steve, My first language was also GW BASIC. I remember skipping line numbers so that I had room for debugging or writing more lines I'm future. Now I'm learning hack, currently working at the place you share your name with, if you know what I mean.

[@trendy2826]

2:30 🤩 Go diplomatic!

[@arcasoy]

Great video. From personal experience, talking into a camera is much easier than talking to people in person, not sure why. Would love tips if you have any

[@0oShwavyo0]

When are we gonna hear the sick beats you’re making with the set up in the background? Or are we?

[@pranavjain451]

Love your content, appreciate your honesty and humble nature

[@rliu]

Hey Steve, great content! I'm wondering what are some websites you follow to stay up to date with latest tech treads? Also can you please recommend some more tech books that helped with your career over the years (in addition to the 3 mentioned)? Keep up the fantastic work!!

[@athotagunateja6023]

I really wanna know how a day in your life looks like. why don't you do a day in my life video, showing us your cars, home, office, office friends, office food, etc. we are interested in whatever you wanna show that is happening in your life. just wanna know how you live your life Thank you.

[@Neonb88]

I would also be curious to meet your dog and/or family if you're comfortable with that, Steve

[@gautam-narula]

Did you ever consider leaving Amazon to join a startup as an early employee or found a startup of your own? Or was the steady (and big) paycheck of a FAANG too good to turn down, especially as you climbed to senior and beyond?

[@arcariusmexen1104]

This is a good question. Thanks for asking.

[@captainchau55]

Hey Meta, As a junior developer I am struggling to find out which questions I ask are just me being new to the environment and learning the codebase vs me just being a new developer. Is there a way to differentiate the two? I am trying to limit the amount of silly questions I ask, thanks for making these!

[@melski9205]

I respect your statements on making the change in the world you want but disagree that its a lower priority. Everyone sets their own way in life. I've made a difference to many Australians in my IT career. It's underpaid and often boring at times too, but you do get to go home having done something for every Australian. It's not going to be at a FAANG company unfortunately, and it's probably going to be underpaid; but the jobs are out there. It's a lot more stressful at times but looking back its something that makes me happy with the career I choose. Go out there and get it; there's also stuff you can do at night too...

[@FoodieSF]

What do you do with workers that don’t come in to work (do personal things at work and denies it) and if you manage them, who do you address it with them and what do you do if they don’t stop and upper management doesn’t do anything about it?

[@NPCdot]

Hi, I'm wondering how you would advice going about improving technical skills specifically while within the amazon eco system. I can imagine it being hard to level up your actual coding ability if you're constantly bogged down with sprint work and ops. ( I know it's pretty general question sorry)

[@danny_p466]

How do you feel about working in a company that provides poor working conditions for their warehouse workers? (no offence here, just curious about your view on this)

[@konga8165]

What languages do you use at Amazon?

[@ss4adam]

"I've seen a bunch of people that look like they're 40 that are actually 25, and a bunch of people that are 25 that look like they're 40."- I see what you did there...

[@bigbob2364]

can you make a vidoe on common misconceptions people have about earning high salary?

[@vipinthomaskc]

Incredible insights.. how do you keep yourself updated with different technologies?

[@andrewpagan]

My brother from another mother. A+++

[@tomasbruckner]

Thanks for the videos! I wanted to ask about your tech setup for your youtube videos. What kind of hardware and software are you using?

[@goliathI3]

During your time at Amazon have you seen other engineers outpace your own career progression to Principal? If so, what did they do to set themselves apart from your own career progression.

[@nathaniellaw3296]

As an L7 (I think PE is L7 iirc) do you report to an SDM still? How does it get decided what you work on or do you come up with projects on your own?

[@bianchialex]

What do you think is the best type of company to start a software engineering career in. Big tech? Startups? Mid size recent IPO?

[@mcluvin8521]

Do you get burnt out? Have you ever thought of leaving the corporate world and work for yourself and become your own boss? If so what’s holding you back?

[@adaeinthelife]

This thumbnail is 🔥

[@ampersignia]

Great thumbnail and title, I cackled

[@collegegirl2004]

What’s your advise on getting projects that will move a mid engineer to senior? I’m feeling stuck

[@joshyboyrules]

Hey Steve, thanks for the great content. Curious, what's your youtube CPM rate?

[@bedtime_RL]

Hi meta, what will be your suggestion for a person working as technical support role in aviation industry and want to switch to IT world? I was working very hard to almost land a job but the hiring freeze hits.😂

[@EpicMicky300]

Hey uncle Steve, question on resume writuing? What have you found to be an effective way to describe the work on your resume that somehow shows your're a team player and not just riding on other's coattails? If I built the entire first half of an ETL pipeline, should I stress that it was integrated with another piece built by a different team? Thanks.

[@cleanfrank]

I love the thumbnail. Made me laugh

[@dfreshness2006]

can you play us some tunes on the turntables behind you?

[@wilsonpe]

I am curious if you are a registered Professional Engineer? Has this ever caught on in software engineering? I would think that it would / should in areas of public safety, like autonomous vehicles and other human safety areas of software development. I work in power systems engineering / consulting, and licensure is a big deal in that area, particularly if you want to perform work for public utilities and publicly present yourself as an "Engineer" for hire; curious if it has gained traction in software engineering.

[@nealmenon8555]

What kind of company would you advise to go after a couple years at a faang right out of college? What's the next step?

[@caprisun35]

What made you decide to stay a software engineer compared to going the solutions architect route?

[@mikestaszel]

Why haven't you gone down the people management career track?

[@a55tech]

I see a lot of programmers want to be Product Manager. Had you also considered this route at some point and why remain a coder?

[@bobby9568]

Do you think AI will replace HR (fingers crossed)?

[@anthonybrigante9087]

How do you recommend requesting your current employer to match a new offer from a competitor?

[@andrewbarrett9927]

Where can I find software projects to work on with others that will boost my resume?

[@rocknroll7967]

How to learn system design?

[@robh2284]

Could you share your thoughts on how to balance your personal career ambitions versus the risk of failing and/or triggering the Peter Principle?

[@jamieg1802]

age by health or years?

[@abysswatcher4907]

Do you think AI will replace SDE one day? If so, what's your estimation for the date?

[@wicket4969]

about Tree fiddy

[@anksos]

Thumbnail works ;)

[@qwoijzacxoi]

42 years old

[@abubakarm94]

What’s the biggest sacrifice you feel you’ve made to reach your level of success?

[@tinaa3459]

you look great!

[@dinoscheidt]

40 years in human years or programmer years 🤔 like someone who installed vim yesterday jk

[@alexmngn]

Why don't you drink those bottles in your background? :)

[@JeffChentingwei628]

4:49

[@crystalnelson314]

For change the world guy- he probably makes enough money to start his own nonprofit and change the world on the side.

[@polyspastos]

those that are 25 but actually look 40 are called programmers

[@polarbear986]

omg you look very very young like 35 max

[@anokhkishore]

A bunch of people who look like 40 but they are 25 AND A bunch of people who are 25 but look like they are 40 He's only insulting younger people who look old .. lol How many of you actually caught this ?

[@evilzzzability]

Lol coding isn't like playing professional Football. You are never "too old" to get better at using your brain.

[@aleksandarrusinov9974]

you are forty but look like 21.

[@markpepperl344]

Second

[@ryoji_matsuoka_singapore]

Join toastmasters for free public speaking coaching...

[@figsy69]

love your content, never imagined u were over 35 haha