What If I Can't Handle The Pressure?

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[@ALifeEngineered]

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[@dennis567]

Do you consider yourself a "software engineer" when move fast and break things is a norm in Amazon?

[@kresnofatihimani5073]

question, are your answers scripted? because it's really well thought out even though you appear like you're just thinking out loud

[@acelaox6836]

0:48 | I'm in uni and I've been offered a really demanding (but rewarding job. I'm afraid I will crumble under the pressure. What would your advice be? 2:17 | I have two interviews at Amazon, both times got no feedback other than being encouraged to apply again in a year, is there a reason why they don't give me some tangible feedback? Thanks! 3:37 | What steps can we take to make better career decisions as an intern or entry level SWE? 5:09 | When are you writing a book? 5:44 | What are your thoughts on ChatGPT? 6:38 | What if I'm happy with my L5 money? 7:39 | How did you get to PE in 15 years? How do you know if there's scope in your team/org for those higher levels? 9:19 | What advice do you have for onboarding as a senior software engineer vs a junior engineer? What are things you should do differently and the different expectations?

[@roywastaken]

this video came at a perfect time!

[@Neonb88]

That's what she said

[@sto3359]

I have ASD and the mental pressure is all too real! When I was a junior I was eager to please and I burnt out several times, but now that I am a senior I set my own pace which aligns with expected deliverables.

[@zb2747]

The pressure never ends I’ve just learned that through it all you just gotta focus on ‘getting things done’ and executing/providing solutions vs identifying an array of problems Take care everyone and I wish you Godspeed on your dev/engineer journey because it truly never ends just like life

[@lsworldtraveler590]

From John McEnroe's speech from Stanford, view the pressure to be a privilege to have. It is a privilege that you have this pressure/ opportunity and someone else would gladly take this opportunity. I thought that was an interesting take

[@cherryfuchs]

Hey, I noticed the sound might be slightly off in this video; perhaps the bass is a bit too elevated? I'm not entirely sure. Nevertheless, your content remains deeply informative as always. I often jot down your ideas in my journal. Thank you for being such an inspiration!

[@RedBeardedRabbit]

Big understatement - the bass is overwhelmingly boosted.

[@royk.9347]

Hey Steve, it's pretty insane that we get to enjoy Q&As from a principal engineer. Thanks for doing this!

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

Yes it's so helpful. My dad is at his level and won't help me with transitioning to tech so it's like if he'd be more helpful and with the odd joke sprinkled in! 😂

[@kingkaixyz]

Steve, the pressure / doubt of promoting has been growing on me over time. But this video really helped me feel more at ease and recalibrated. I always appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge and perspective with us.

[@cayenne767]

Uncle Meta, I love your videos! I wish you were teaching us that stuff in College! “How do you deal with the following situation: Your company went through a recent merge. 80% Of the Junior developers in your team were laid off. You survived the cut due to beating your KPI’S and high performance and we’re sent to a new team, with members from the another merged company. You like everyone in your team, and things are great, but you feel super sad about your co-workers who were laid off, and you’re having a hard time concentrating at work, not being able to perform at your best with this new team, and are worried that you might be included in the next round of layoffs (in case there’s another one)?”

[@aldrinseanpereira140]

i lost it (with happiness of course) when i saw my question in here. thank you so much Steve!

[@mohaktrivedi9591]

Thank you so much Steve! This is such an insightful video, and totally logical, no motivational BS. Thank you very much!

[@Doggodoggodoggodoggo]

I didn’t realise this would be a Q&A because the title is a bit misleading. I’m glad I watched it! Maybe you could add Q&A to the title for the next video 🙏. Thanks for the great video!

[@fallencheeto4762]

Literally good advice, thanks for the awesome video!

[@jhors7777]

Thank you Steve for posting this helpful video!

[@MrTruskawa]

I really like your pragmatic and stoic approach. I have several questions to you: 1. How do you cope with corporate "talking" if you rather be straightforward? I'm just tired of all this artificial "excitement" in every meeting. Saying what I think has sometimes led me to bonus one-on-ones with managers though. 2. What do you think about merges/acquisitions of IT companies? Do you think that working in a company that's being acquired creates some possibilities? Or you'd rather suggest running away? 3. I'm trying to be promoted to staff level. You're supposed to be an exquisite Individual Contributor but with strong team spirit. As I'm very knowledgeable and experienced, I have hard time supporting less experienced teammates. It requires a lot of patience. It's also hard to determine if your coworkers are just dummy and what to expect from them on what level. How do you manage that without hearting anyone feelings? Sometimes I have to explain some concepts several times just to have someone do a relatively easy task in 3 days where I could handle it in an hour. It's just frustrating. Although I get the reasoning behind it, it still is frustrating.

[@gennaro]

Great video!

[@bergulatID94]

Since the title is "... under the pressure ... " I thought the sponsor will be BetterHelp. hahaha. Nice video as always!

[@nafeesbelal6124]

you are awesome - very objective way you deliver the msg

[@xeronatesbad]

Wow was thinking about asking another question then heard you read my username in your video. So unexpected! Thanks for answering and good advice about trying to keep in my future self! Unfortunately I'm starting to doubt myself and don't know how much further I can go. I don't care about programming like I used to and I can see I'm not figuring out system design as well or as quickly as I need to (which is why I clicked on this video about not being able to handle the pressure!). Appreciate your videos and advice as always.

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

I think you might benefit from work specific therapy. Your employer probably has an employee support program! See if they do. Career specific therapy is a Thing! I'm sorry you feel this way it's hard when your own brain fights you...

[@nro337]

Thank you!

[@jongtorralba1599]

Hello, I'm a new subscriber. Loving your videos :)

[@user-pu6qx9eb4r]

From a learning and experience perspective of a 3YOE SWE, what is more worthy: working with a small team on a new product(not startup) day and night, performing all roles of dev, tester, operations, sales, etc. and seeing it fail vs Working on a product which is already popular, has a large customer base and solving their niche problems/gaining depth?

[@canadalove1506]

Thanks for the great content. Most of the content in the internet is geared towards fresh graduates and I see you are the best in explaining things for experienced tech professionals looking to join FAANG. Thank you very much for that. Could you pls post a video of how an SRE interview for L5 or L6 would be. How much of DS and Algorithm questions and how much of system design or any other Topics. Thanks in advance.

[@RohanKumar-vx5sb]

LOVE UR VIDEOS. can you please recommend how to fast track next level as an SDE 2 i feel super stuck and five years into amzn

[@sebastijanp3]

Pressure is interesting problem to have also for senior devs yes. I have a good salary plus RSUs and now I got additional stocks plus a new big bonus starting next year (did they trick me I wonder LOL),...so the money I never got or had or probably will get (unless I go to google/amazon etc.)...BUT...there is trick...so I am asking myself is it worth it. Is it worth to work with super smart individuals, that like to work alone and not create a common team understanding, that cannot explain their solutions since they are extremally complex or since they are not able to articulate them due to their language limits, individuals that only create ultra complex solutions, that do not understand what incremental design/dev is, that do not want to do tdd or want to understand why is it needed when working in a team, that do not care about agile, clean coding, vertical slices, etc.... So now you need to choose, MONEY or pressure-environment where you are stressed and in puzzle/pressure 95% of the time. I am in trouble.

[@VaibhavPatil-rx7pc]

Excellent

[@simpleman9606]

Hi Steve, thanks for sharing all the insights! I've been wondering how to handle a hypothetical situation where I oversold myself in an interview as a solution architecture or product/project manager even though I'm only a mid level engineer. Would you have any thoughts or existing video I may have missed on this?

[@KevinNaughtonJr]

great vid Steve :)

[@Neonb88]

The book question reminds me that I need to take care of all the high priority chores in my life

[@JesseMuniz]

Hello Steve, How do I know when to leave a job that lets me work on projects well above my qualifications? I find there is a lot of advice for bad jobs but what about a good one where you are the only one improving? Context -> 2 YOE self-taught doing a migration from on premise to cloud with 1 other person. Grass is greener syndrome is strong with me wondering if I should take lower pay for opportunities to learn I wouldn't get for years.

[@chaidaro]

How to deal or work with people who like to hide things and even lie just to get what they want?

[@balazsfeher7760]

Hey Steve how's it going? Fun fact: I think the "Our favorite toys" widget at 6:30 was rendered by our service. 😎

[@miguelsaavedrums]

What a nice man

[@CharlesLogstonInTexas]

Tip: read the video description for helpful links.

[@BladeAurora]

how often do you collaborate with other principal engineers?

[@user-gt2qe1vc1m]

How to handle promo rejections? After no promo to IC5, I've quit one company to join FAANG at the same level just to face the same no-go decision after some time. It's mentally breaking to stay at the same level for 6 years

[@kippers12isOG]

Aggressively seek feedback and act on it, even if it seems wrong.

[@roialtembo6278]

uncle steve would you please do a mock interview video and i will be more than excited to be the person your interview whether for a mid-level position or a junior position. i will leave this comment on everyone of your videos so you notice me lolo

[@DysfunctionalSpringbok-jh2os]

Hey Steve. My promo approver is very stingy with promos, having approved a single promo in the three years I've been here (he approves for some 30ish people), and only when the person promoted had another offer that promised them the promo. I like my team/org but can't help but feel as if I was working a dead end job at only L4, and during these three years I've seen my whole team leave for this same reason, tons of scope (we're a tier one service, and it's not unheard of for our director to randomly mention that x project felt like L6 scope and he's proud of us for delivering) for no reward. Do you have any advice for navigating these situations other than leaving? I already tried talking to him and he set some goals for me to get promoted, but when I reached them he moved them saying that he wouldn't know if I *really* reached then until I accomplished this other different set of goals, despite me having multiple L7 positive feedback providers on lock.

[@nameuser5244]

Hey Steve, love your video. My new manager is driving everyone in the team crazy, very demanding in every aspect, he’s destroying the culture of our team. Should I be honest with him or keep my mouth shut, leetcode and gtfo?

[@Fanaro]

2:50 I think it's very impolite and borderline exploitative to not pay for interviewees and not even give feedback. They are also giving up their time.

[@bc4198]

Great googlymoogly 🤯 - excellent advice, exceptional even among your own great content!