Often hacker news have articles on how to work in a startup or how to open your own start up. I thought since I currently juggle between amazon and truffle, it would be nice if I write my story on how to excel in big corporations as a developer. This is part I for the fresh out of school graduates who are just going to join companies like amazon, microsoft, google etc.
In part II I'll focus on things that a senior SDE can do to improve his/her standing in his division.
1. Your manager is everything in the initial days
If you have a good manager, you will get promoted faster, you just need to keep up doing good work. Keep pressuring him about what things you need to improve upon. In part II, I'll discuss things that you can do if your manager is quite unhelpful towards you.
2. First impression
Not just for big corporations but your first project can expedite or delay you promotion. Try extra hard to complete the project before the deadline, don't try to over engineer it from the start. The problem in hand is to complete it. Before submitting code reviews, read them on your own and make sure you are doing any silly mistakes.
3. Have regular 1 on 1 with your manager.
1 on 1 is your time to open up to your manager. I am pretty sure every manager has a agenda for his 1 on 1 but below points will get you rolling
- blockers
- vacation
- feedback for you
- feedback for manager
- career growth
- any other point that you want to discuss
4. Get involve in things outside your team.
Talk to the devs outside your team and learn what they are working on. Often times in big corporations, projects spans multiple teams and your knowledge of the other team's system will give you a huge leverage.
5. Occasionally bring some food for your team
A bag of blueberries will do a lot of good to your health and as well as relationship with your team mates. Happy stomach kills most of the animosity.
Well congratulations on your first job and keep things rolling. By the way, if you have joined amazon or microsoft or are new to Seattle, try Truffle and meet some cool people :)
Alternatively, you can reach out to me at nishant@truffle.io for anything Seattle or dating!