0:00: 💡 To get ahead as a software engineer, thrive in ambiguity and take initiative. 2:39: 👩💻 Software engineers find and solve high-yield problems by exploring the code base and communicating with team members. 4:42: 🔑 To become an expert in a particular area, spend more time on it, learn as much as possible, and become the go-to person for that area. 6:58: 🔑 Collect feedback, prioritize improvements, and avoid over-engineering. 9:44: 👥 Top software engineers become successful by emulating the habits and behaviors of superstar engineers and seeking mentorship from them. Recap by Tammy AI
"exploring the code base and communicating with team members" - yeah more often than not, team members don't like talking about the code base so good luck with that one.
I feel the need to say something especially for the secret #2 and 3# You should understand that being the top 1% engineer in your company could get you nothing, worse than that, working more than needed can stuck your pay raises and make them think that you underperform when you just collapse from the tiredness of overworking. This may be a good mean of progressing in a big company like this youtuber seems to work. But you have to ask yourself first, if I am the top 1% engineer in this company what will I obtain ? Many really good engineers are stuck in shitty companies, with terrible pay, they really work their ass off but they will never have the same pay as the guy that know how to sell himself. The goal is not to be a company slave with many knowledge, for every hour and overtime hour invested in a company you should have a value in return, if not just resign or do the minimum work needed. This "slave" mentality in #2 and #3 secrets, can have a serious backlash in your career, and moreover it can ruin the job market for others engineers that have good work ethics.
Over 20 years in, you are spot on except for one thing... not everyone is cut out for these levels to come easy even after years at it. "Some people listen, while very few can hear 🙉"
Or the even more common ultimatum: one listens, one hears, one cannot for the life of them apply the hearing in any tangible, effective, or meaningful way without constant attempts. There is so many types of intelligence, some more impactful on work acceleration and comprehension in general. Some like: Speaking & Thoughtful communication IQ; Task & Application IQ, Creative Output IQ, Meeting Demands IQ; Well-rounded IQ; Fire Extinguishing High Stress IQ; Team Communication IQ; Above Decent at most, excellent at nothing IQ (CEOs); etc. Some have a few. Some have one. Some have many. Some are constantly trying to get better at each, but simply cannot
As a staff software engineer I can vouch that the video is accurate. About the goal itself though, idk if this is different for others, but after reaching this point - I am not sure if I would recommend it as a blanket goal to go for. Having already done what the video recommends and more, now being in this position, it's just endless hassle. Almost all the work is now only difficult problems, but the pay is maybe 30% better than a mid level engineer. I am not entirely convinced the mental energy consumed and stress is worth it. I don't know how else others have done it, but for me I have had years when I worked around 310-320 days. I am not even sure if it's possible if you have kids or time consuming hobbies, but then again maybe I overdid it a bit and it's not really necessary.
lately ive been studying about growing business and entrepreneurship, and its quite surprising how it all align with this points. apparently the key of success is to solve problem for other people, the bigger the problem the more the reward
This all applies well to data engineering and cloud engineering. I'm wondering if I get good enough at solution architecture I can focus on these skill and pay less attention to coding. Also sounds like this works best at large companies and startups. If you are fighting fires at a small company with tons of tech debt, can't do any of this stuff. Secret #0: work on teams that allow you to have impact.
I hear that. I know from experience that some companies are so restrictive in what they'll let you do that it's pretty much impossible to make a real impact
@@mangalegends The absolute worse for me was working in a shadow IT team at SunTrust (now Truist). We had limited access to data and anything we created could only be shared by email and sharedrive. My manager gave me a book on UML to help me with my job.
Good video and points. Domain knowledge is a phrase I didn't here but is what a lot of this boils down to. Know the business and the processes. The code is only a reflection of these, so go to the source and speak to the rest of the business and customers.
Damn, you learned more in 3 years than what I learned in 10years. 😅 meaty stuff. Wish more channels are like this instead of trying to teach a form of JavaScript
I expected this to go the l33t code route, but was pleasantly surprised. I agree with all of these; and for the folks not doing the first few items, it can be hard to work with them.
Great video man. Also, from one linty man to another, lint rollers are good thing to have around the house, specially for dark colored clothing. Looking forward to the next one man.
Thanks Namanh, Along my path I have shifted my focus to many other areas beyond what I initially thought it meant to be an engineer. You articulate it so well, it’s not only about the code, it’s all about the problem we solve and the bigger picture!
I don't mean to be rude, but do you think that since you've left Bolt and are not currently working at a company, there might come a point when you run out of content to discuss? My hypothesis is that if you were to stay in a Software Engineering role, you would continue learning and have more topics to cover. However, it's worth noting that new viewers will always discover your videos, so you probably don't have to worry too much about this.
This has been the recent trend. Software engineers leaving their jobs to make content seeing others have done it. You don’t have to actually learn all the hard stuff. Just tell and inspire other engineers to do the hard stuff. There will always be a market for this. Especially since so many people are trying to enter the industry.
I still enjoy your videos and consider them worth watching from the beginning till the end (even though I treat YT as a time waster platform :)) Great job Namanh!
User: "People are saying the system crashes or gets slow when they are remoted into it. Can you fix it?" Me: Does nothing, then waits 5 minutes. "Hey I made some changes can you have them reconnect and see if they're still getting the same issue?" User: "Hey it works great now, thank you so much!" If you can't pull this off, you're not a top 1%.
The sound of the music is loud and annoying and distracts you from understanding the advice. I ask you to lower the volume or remove the music next time.
Most devs I worked with they all had to go solve all the unknowns. - stories - tasks - spikes Mid to high devs they ask thought about money aspect and running a lean set of services.
Thanks. That was insightful and encouraging. I definitely feel good about some of the things I'm doing. There are always opportunities to find problems and solve them, especially when you are familiar with the codebase.
I am not even a real coder but holy crap everything you said is applicable to anyone in working in the IT field Its the qualities of higher level thinking, people skills and leadership skills will make you stand out anywhere.
Loved this video but I have one question/comment. In order to excel and be come the 1%, doesn’t your company have to value all those things you list as well? I’ve been on so many interviews where they just to know if I have experience in “x” algorithm or “y” platform and could care less. Thoughts?
Very good list. But I wonder, how do you follow that path without being employed at a big company? As a freelance engineer - still the profession of the best engineer - you are paid by the hours and hardly invited to business meeting (although we offer to participate for free). So often we are called when the wrong decisions have already been made, then we deliver and then they want to bound us for eternity and then we move on because their offer is abysmal.
Sorry to say but you shouldn't "talk for hours and then write code" You should talk and write and talk and write and do a balance of both that shifts as the project goes forward. All that said; the rest of the video is solid.
Firstly i appreciate the advice in this video. I guess in the context of the SWE job this a great approach but in terms of learning and productivity isn't build fast and break things a better approach?
It's alright. Honestly glad to see how much effort is put into the videos and how they get better each time. Good work does not like to be rushed and I completely understand it 🙌🏻
I'm captivated by every word. I recently read a similar book, and I was captivated by every word. "Mastering AWS: A Software Engineers Guide" by Nathan Vale
This sounds more like a startup/tech company thing, where I work we have an architect and senior dev design and we just code, and its all salesforce so all the more boring and mindnumbing :s As much as I want to do a project from ground up myself, not gonna happen at a non-tech company.
So far I've only heard this coming from "engineers" that are not even able to engineer without constant hand-holding - same people racking up huge costs & tech debt with the mantra "if it works, it works".
By this definition, I am a software engineering god. Now I just have to get the rest of the universe to accept that fact and pay me billions of dollars.
let's be better friends, for behind-the-scenes, q/a, and stories, follow me @ instagram.com/namanhkapur/
This should be a series. A lot of us really know this but it's SO easy to lose sight of it all.
Well put.
and it doesn't even work 😂
0:00: 💡 To get ahead as a software engineer, thrive in ambiguity and take initiative.
2:39: 👩💻 Software engineers find and solve high-yield problems by exploring the code base and communicating with team members.
4:42: 🔑 To become an expert in a particular area, spend more time on it, learn as much as possible, and become the go-to person for that area.
6:58: 🔑 Collect feedback, prioritize improvements, and avoid over-engineering.
9:44: 👥 Top software engineers become successful by emulating the habits and behaviors of superstar engineers and seeking mentorship from them.
Recap by Tammy AI
"exploring the code base and communicating with team members" - yeah more often than not, team members don't like talking about the code base so good luck with that one.
One hell of a video mate, I'm 5 years in and I think you hit the nail on the head in all your points.
congrats on your career so far!!
~25 years of experience here, and this was an EXCELLENT video.
I feel the need to say something especially for the secret #2 and 3#
You should understand that being the top 1% engineer in your company could get you nothing, worse than that, working more than needed can stuck your pay raises and make them think that you underperform when you just collapse from the tiredness of overworking.
This may be a good mean of progressing in a big company like this youtuber seems to work.
But you have to ask yourself first, if I am the top 1% engineer in this company what will I obtain ?
Many really good engineers are stuck in shitty companies, with terrible pay, they really work their ass off but they will never have the same pay as the guy that know how to sell himself.
The goal is not to be a company slave with many knowledge, for every hour and overtime hour invested in a company you should have a value in return, if not just resign or do the minimum work needed.
This "slave" mentality in #2 and #3 secrets, can have a serious backlash in your career, and moreover it can ruin the job market for others engineers that have good work ethics.
Over 20 years in, you are spot on except for one thing... not everyone is cut out for these levels to come easy even after years at it. "Some people listen, while very few can hear 🙉"
Or the even more common ultimatum: one listens, one hears, one cannot for the life of them apply the hearing in any tangible, effective, or meaningful way without constant attempts. There is so many types of intelligence, some more impactful on work acceleration and comprehension in general. Some like: Speaking & Thoughtful communication IQ; Task & Application IQ, Creative Output IQ, Meeting Demands IQ; Well-rounded IQ; Fire Extinguishing High Stress IQ; Team Communication IQ; Above Decent at most, excellent at nothing IQ (CEOs); etc. Some have a few. Some have one. Some have many. Some are constantly trying to get better at each, but simply cannot
As a staff software engineer I can vouch that the video is accurate. About the goal itself though, idk if this is different for others, but after reaching this point - I am not sure if I would recommend it as a blanket goal to go for. Having already done what the video recommends and more, now being in this position, it's just endless hassle. Almost all the work is now only difficult problems, but the pay is maybe 30% better than a mid level engineer. I am not entirely convinced the mental energy consumed and stress is worth it.
I don't know how else others have done it, but for me I have had years when I worked around 310-320 days. I am not even sure if it's possible if you have kids or time consuming hobbies, but then again maybe I overdid it a bit and it's not really necessary.
lately ive been studying about growing business and entrepreneurship, and its quite surprising how it all align with this points. apparently the key of success is to solve problem for other people, the bigger the problem the more the reward
Why did the Jetbrains guy yell at you lol?
Yeah 😂 why? 😅
He was still using Net Beans I guess.
How can she slap 😝
does he really need a reason 😅
Because he was not good in Vim or emac
I came in expecting a cliche video and impressed. This is definitely a must watch for every software engineer!!
Same here
This all applies well to data engineering and cloud engineering. I'm wondering if I get good enough at solution architecture I can focus on these skill and pay less attention to coding.
Also sounds like this works best at large companies and startups. If you are fighting fires at a small company with tons of tech debt, can't do any of this stuff. Secret #0: work on teams that allow you to have impact.
I hear that. I know from experience that some companies are so restrictive in what they'll let you do that it's pretty much impossible to make a real impact
@@mangalegends The absolute worse for me was working in a shadow IT team at SunTrust (now Truist).
We had limited access to data and anything we created could only be shared by email and sharedrive.
My manager gave me a book on UML to help me with my job.
THIS is the type of content swe’s need. Great vid!
🙏
This is scores ahead of most yt code videos! Bravo, Sir. Bravo.
Good video and points.
Domain knowledge is a phrase I didn't here but is what a lot of this boils down to. Know the business and the processes. The code is only a reflection of these, so go to the source and speak to the rest of the business and customers.
Well, this was an inspirational way to start my day. Taking out any reference to engineering, I think these are great tips for any field.
Started my day with this video too, and it was indeed a nice positive beginning to a day.
So much of this advice applies to a lot of different technology roles. This is great, thank you
This also applies to other roles not just software engineers. Nice job.
The music is distracting
Excellent video, I'm a staff engineer and this is exactly what I look for in good engineers.
It’s what you look for in junior engineers. Those same behaviors don’t translate to staff+ roles.
Damn, you learned more in 3 years than what I learned in 10years. 😅 meaty stuff. Wish more channels are like this instead of trying to teach a form of JavaScript
more value in the first 1 minute than most youtube videos!
this will get you to the top 1% overworked engineers super quick congrats
Exactly 😂. Just more tasks.
I expected this to go the l33t code route, but was pleasantly surprised. I agree with all of these; and for the folks not doing the first few items, it can be hard to work with them.
Even the majority of Google employees never really bother with leetcode, just find your niche and be good at it.
i probably drifted of in middle but all i underestand could be sumed up in a single word which is be " proactive " correct me if im wrong
Thanks! One of the most valuable videos I've watched for Software Engineering.
Great video! Full good information, entertaining and straight facts no bs. Keep it up!
Well produced video with actually useful and good advice. What more can you expect from this guy 😤
my guy 🫡
Yay! 🙂 I matched several traits according your pov. I think that In am in a good direction of ideas and goals.
Great video man. Also, from one linty man to another, lint rollers are good thing to have around the house, specially for dark colored clothing. Looking forward to the next one man.
Amazing Speech TY!
Thank you for the insightful tips on getting ahead in software engineering-truly valuable advice! 🙌
quality video, Namanh - trying to be less dependent on Jira tickets myself and getting ambiguous problems solved every day
Clarity driven videos like these are always gonna inspire us on this topic. Absolutely no nonsense. Much much appreciated Namanh!
always!
Thanks Namanh,
Along my path I have shifted my focus to many other areas beyond what I initially thought it meant to be an engineer.
You articulate it so well, it’s not only about the code, it’s all about the problem we solve and the bigger picture!
its all nonsense lol
applicable to any field really.
great vid
100% agree with the ambiguity state
I don't mean to be rude, but do you think that since you've left Bolt and are not currently working at a company, there might come a point when you run out of content to discuss? My hypothesis is that if you were to stay in a Software Engineering role, you would continue learning and have more topics to cover.
However, it's worth noting that new viewers will always discover your videos, so you probably don't have to worry too much about this.
Agreed
This has been the recent trend. Software engineers leaving their jobs to make content seeing others have done it. You don’t have to actually learn all the hard stuff. Just tell and inspire other engineers to do the hard stuff. There will always be a market for this. Especially since so many people are trying to enter the industry.
@@colinb8332damm I would rather do this
Spot on Namanh!! Really great video!
I still enjoy your videos and consider them worth watching from the beginning till the end (even though I treat YT as a time waster platform :)) Great job Namanh!
Liked because you used the word "ick" haha love it
User: "People are saying the system crashes or gets slow when they are remoted into it. Can you fix it?"
Me: Does nothing, then waits 5 minutes. "Hey I made some changes can you have them reconnect and see if they're still getting the same issue?"
User: "Hey it works great now, thank you so much!"
If you can't pull this off, you're not a top 1%.
SUCH A GOOD VIDEO! Now pls do one for product management
This was great! Can you make a similar one geared towards freelance work?
The sound of the music is loud and annoying and distracts you from understanding the advice. I ask you to lower the volume or remove the music next time.
Most devs I worked with they all had to go solve all the unknowns.
- stories
- tasks
- spikes
Mid to high devs they ask thought about money aspect and running a lean set of services.
"a word I learned quite recently.." 😂😂 this has me on the floor! I'm subscribing!
Great set of advices. I wish someone told me these a decade back when I started as a Software Engineer.
4:44 best JS lib ever right there
Good advice man…definitely need to keep the customer in mind
So true!! Thank you for this!
Thanks. That was insightful and encouraging. I definitely feel good about some of the things I'm doing. There are always opportunities to find problems and solve them, especially when you are familiar with the codebase.
THATS WHY HES THE GOAT, THE GOATT
i just wanna be like @nang
Thank you!!
Stop making videos like this bro, you're increasing my competition
Also, can you talk about what happened with JetBrains guy?
good idea! will try
I, too, am curious about what happened with the JetBrains guy.
Learning python and this is helping me stay focused!
I am not even a real coder but holy crap everything you said is applicable to anyone in working in the IT field
Its the qualities of higher level thinking, people skills and leadership skills will make you stand out anywhere.
Thank you for the pieces of advice!
That was a great video. Great work.
great advice. this could be applied to all professions and crafts 👏🏿
Well spoken!
Thank you for sharing this. It is really insightful
Tell you what, the most important thing is money. If you can make money for me with the product, then I don't care others.
This applies to any discipline, career, field - You want to be a better DOCTOR - watch this.
Thanks for the guidance. let’s be the 1% engineers
👊
thing is customers tend to not know shit they actually need or want
i just started programming doing some really basic programs , If i get really good perhaps i can work in the field by 2026.
Loved this video but I have one question/comment. In order to excel and be come the 1%, doesn’t your company have to value all those things you list as well? I’ve been on so many interviews where they just to know if I have experience in “x” algorithm or “y” platform and could care less. Thoughts?
It frustrates me at times because then it becomes like fulfilling someone's fantasy and not the correct decision or discussion backed by data
how do you know what it takes to get ahead of 99% software engineers?
Very good list. But I wonder, how do you follow that path without being employed at a big company? As a freelance engineer - still the profession of the best engineer - you are paid by the hours and hardly invited to business meeting (although we offer to participate for free). So often we are called when the wrong decisions have already been made, then we deliver and then they want to bound us for eternity and then we move on because their offer is abysmal.
Sorry to say but you shouldn't "talk for hours and then write code" You should talk and write and talk and write and do a balance of both that shifts as the project goes forward.
All that said; the rest of the video is solid.
Firstly i appreciate the advice in this video. I guess in the context of the SWE job this a great approach but in terms of learning and productivity isn't build fast and break things a better approach?
that’s probably the best approach, it was facebook’s motto for a long time
thing is: can we take advice from one that is not X how to become X? I don't really think so
Great video with some really helpful tips 😃
New video! Let's goo! Already started to worry what happened to "New tech videos every week".
so many videos ready to go, but ran into issues with publishing, flame me in the comments if it’s not one video every week from now on
It's alright. Honestly glad to see how much effort is put into the videos and how they get better each time. Good work does not like to be rushed and I completely understand it 🙌🏻
Video excelente Namanh!
wow actually amazing advice, thank you
thanks for watching!
It's easy! Learn to communicate instead of only writing code and you'll be ahead of maaany
Thanks brother!
Very good, thank you!
i don't think everyone's mind works on similar ways,so if u want get better at programing makes ur own strategy and way of working
☮
I'm captivated by every word. I recently read a similar book, and I was captivated by every word. "Mastering AWS: A Software Engineers Guide" by Nathan Vale
Hello everyone, can you suggest top engineers to follow?
Damn this is the best video yet 🎉
Probably the best video
I am glad I found you.
thanks for being here :)
Thank you!
good shit!
Inspiring content 👌
😤
Great video! 👍🏾
thanks!!
This sounds more like a startup/tech company thing, where I work we have an architect and senior dev design and we just code, and its all salesforce so all the more boring and mindnumbing :s As much as I want to do a project from ground up myself, not gonna happen at a non-tech company.
Neatly summarized my observations during my first year at Amazon. Didn't even realize some of them until you have explained. Thanks !
Excellent
Sorry, you are really saying that strong coding *foundations* are not necessary for a top software engineering person?
Where did he say that?
@@wafercrackerjack8808:22
Thrive in ambiguity, on the other hand if a problem is vague then the criteria will be too. Which one is it
Love your content, but to rate someone’s ability based on how little instruction they need is bordering toxic and is anti agility.
Everything can be done by engineers even sales. Fire the PM, EM and LT
So far I've only heard this coming from "engineers" that are not even able to engineer without constant hand-holding - same people racking up huge costs & tech debt with the mantra "if it works, it works".
As an owner of a startup, this is actually really good advice.
By this definition, I am a software engineering god. Now I just have to get the rest of the universe to accept that fact and pay me billions of dollars.
Most important secret: sicp