What will be the career advice you will give to a software engineer?

           If you are a software engineer working in a big company I guess this is not the right place to be specially if you are starting your career. Being in a big company would let you see only small part of the project iceberg. Processes, methods, way of coding and everything is already set and you must follow instructions. You would be only another human machine inside the army.

           This is why I do recommend starting your career in a small company (50 to 200 people), this way you would be able to get larger picture of what is happening inside the projects and potentially participate in some other activities such as sales, presales, demos, poc, etc. This is very important because you would have different experience than being a developer or a simple manager.

          The most important thing is to put you hands on everything, try to be active and dedicated and focus on your strong points rather than thinking about your weakness. Don't forget that relations and politics are very important so don't be very dedicated and forget about them.

 

Advice will vary whether the goal is to keep your job or to excel. To excel:

1. If you don't live in a decent tech town you may need to choose between moving or settling in your career goals.
2. There is no success without other people. Treat coworkers with respect and ask appropriate questions. Go to team events.
3. Teamwork is crucial. Write your code like the person maintaining it is an ax murderer. Share your knowledge and document.
4. Ask for help as soon as you need it, but no sooner.
5. Spend time learning on your own time. Read about and/or experiment with technologies tangential or completely different from what you do at your job.
6. In the early years you should change jobs/teams/roles every few years. You should know no more than 70-80% of the technologies used in your new position so you can add to your knowledge and your resume.
7. Be technologically agnostic. Use the right tool, software, or programming language for the task at hand. Be willing to get out of your comfort zone.
8. Learn more than one operating system. Don't fear the Linux command line, for it is powerful and wise.

Lastly, consider that there are jobs out there where working only 40 hours a week is expected and even encouraged. Unless you're getting a huge check (Wall Street), equity at a startup, or will have a great company name on your resume (Facebook, etc), it won't be worth the burnout in the long run.