2023 has been the year of patience and persistence for me.
I moved from the payment teams to the growth team at the end of 2022, and my manager and I discussed that she would want to promote me to a senior position by the end of 2023. The company had a couple of layoffs in 2023, and during that time, I felt very uncertain about the future of the company and my career.
Persistency helped me through those uncertain times, and I was promoted by Q4.
This year has been a roller coaster for software engineers, and through a tough time, I learned and grew so much as a software engineer.
I am sharing a wrap-up on 2023, where I share the greatest learnings from my career journey to help you with yours.
Tips on Being a Good Product Engineer
A good product engineer understands the feature's goal and finds a way to minimize the scope to reach that goal.
When I moved over to the growth team, one of the first feedbacks was to be more product-focused.
What is product-focused? From a payment space with success metrics about system reliability and increasing authorization rate, being in the growth team feels like putting fish in a distilled water tank. You still understand the rules of the game, but the success metrics of becoming a great growth engineer vary.
Engineers in growth are engineers who deeply understand the product and the customer, and sometimes, they have to play the role of a product manager.
One tip to becoming a good product engineer is to cut scope effectively.
As my manager always says, "There is always a way to make it to the deadline, either by decreasing the scope of your system or changing the rule around the asks of the product."
Takeaway
If you want to be more product-focused, think about the goal of the product requirement and work backward from that product requirement to find the minimum amount of effort to accomplish that goal. Remember to accomplish that goal, not that feature requirement.
Reorg and Layoff CAN be an Opportunity
Layoff and reorg are bad signs for the company and the public, but they may be good for your career if you want to move up.
2023 has been a rough year for tech. Numerous layoffs in the industry cause all software engineers, including myself, to be uncertain about their careers and future.
So far this year, my company has undergone two rounds of layoffs, reducing about 30% of its workforce each time. During the first round, my manager was affected, and many of my colleagues were let go. During the second round of layoffs, the company cut even deeper and let go another 30% of the workforce. Fortunately, I was not impacted by either of these incidents.
Since most of the team was off, software engineers weren't let go and were compelled to step up and execute the residual tasks of the rest of the engineers, which is conducive to making that engineer more impactful.
In my scenario, with less engineers in the team, I am becoming the tech lead of a big feature.
My work hours have increased since I now oversee and am the sole point of contact for products, engineers, and managers on that feature. This perpetuated an increase in impact, which led to a promotion this year.
Takeaway
Turning an adversary into an opportunity is a mindset shift. You can see such incidents as trust is broken like a scattered mirror, or you can see such incidents as an opportunity to take over the important role that you always wanted.
Adopt Long Term Thinking By Focusing on Your Input
I used to focus too much on external outcomes such as promotions or raises, but I failed to oversee the effort of the input that would lead to the desired results.
Focusing on the input metrics, such as learning and honing my fundamentals, has helped me immensely in the success of my project execution.
Being patient and taking the time to learn every aspect of a role is crucial for long-term success.
As a product engineer, it is important to understand that even if a new feature has the potential to be lucrative and impactful, it is crucial to communicate to the product team to slow down and address any technical debt before proceeding. Many product engineers do not prioritize technical debt because it is not considered in the success metrics. However, if the team ignores technical debt and only focuses on new features that generate business revenue, it can lead to low morale, longer development hours, and a piling up of technical debt. It is up to the engineers to initiate conversations with the product and business teams and explain the benefits of reducing technical debt.
It's important to shift your focus toward what you have learned and what skills you want to develop instead of just thinking about the actions you need to take to get promoted. This mindset will prevent you from feeling regretful and resentful if you don't get promoted. Instead, focus on the aspects you can control, such as learning and developing new skills that will make you a better engineer and increase your chances of promotion.
Takeaway
To achieve long-term success, it's important to be patient. Many engineers have a specific timeline for reaching senior or staff positions. However, if they cannot keep up with the demands of these roles, achieving these positions may not be advantageous for them within their desired timeframe.
Our career is an endless game; we win not through speed but distance. If you want to go far, you must understand delayed gratification and patiently wait for the right moment to jump.
What's Next For 2024?
My focus next year will be on a software engineering career and providing more articles regarding communication and product skills required for an individual contributor to propel and be invaluable. In addition, the path to senior will be the newsletter in which I share my findings and tips about becoming a great product engineer.
My goal for next year:
Being more product-minded means understanding metrics and equipping oneself to make informed product decisions.
Developing great communication skillset to build relationships with stakeholders and orchestrate product initiation
Gain Deeper DevOps technology to be able to iterate and troubleshoot problems independently
P.S. I will also start posting summary or teaser on X (Twitter) regarding my journey on:
Developing a great Communication Skills
Developing more Product Sense
Becoming a Resilient Engineer
I hope you are as excited as I am about next year and what is yet to come. Enjoy your Christmas and holiday break. I'll see you next year!