Here's how you can impress employers and get promoted as a software engineer.

Impress your Employer in an interview: Demonstrate multiple methods for problem-solving, such as sorting algorithms for different data sizes, and explore further iterations. Initiate your uniqueness with priorities: Understand the business model to identify key project or company priorities. This allows you to engage early with leadership and address/tackle challenges where your unique skillset can make a difference!

Mastery comes through practice. So practice writing code, debugging, testing, and refactoring, and review your peer's code. Sometimes, I pick codes from public repositories and review them. Review your own code, but after a three-month or six-month period, a good engineer learns from different sources; The better way to gain experience and mastery is by practising, so participate in internal hackathon challenges. Help others, teach them, as a teacher you demonstrate your understanding on those design and programing concepts.

Mi experiencia se ha fortalecido trabajando en proyectos críticos donde la velocidad y la eficiencia son imperativas, como sistemas de bancos de alta frecuencia y plataformas de procesamiento de grandes volúmenes de datos. En cada uno de estos contextos, he aplicado métodos rigurosos de análisis y prueba para identificar cuellos de botella y aplicar soluciones que marquen la diferencia.

As a DevOps engineer, from my perspective, after learning the basics, go for advanced skills and build projects. Master tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and Ansible, and get proficient in cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP. Dive into CI/CD pipelines and automation. Show initiative by tackling complex projects that require these skills, demonstrating your ability to learn and effectively apply new technologies.

Pick up small work other than your assigned projects and work on some organizational internal small work—help automate some repetitive tasks. Aim to write clean code and documentation, help others pick up your work and continue on top of it. Set your bar high and standards high - for writing quality code. Review and simplify existing complex code base, which helps in long-run maintenance. During the early days of my career, I picked work to automate workflows, deployments, and testing. I even wrote Excel VBA scripts. Demonstrate that you are eager to learn, love complex problems and challenges and showcase that your coding skills help simplify tasks and reduce toil.

As a DevOps engineer, building projects is crucial to showcasing your skills. Start by contributing to open-source projects or developing your own infrastructure solutions. This not only demonstrates your technical abilities but also your problem-solving skills and dedication. Having a portfolio of completed projects, like automated CI/CD pipelines or scalable cloud deployments, provides concrete evidence of your capabilities and potential for growth within a company.

Being an active listener is a great way to engage with your team. When we listen attentively and respectfully, this will set the stage for good communication as each team member will be more willing to share and collaborate.

We often learn from our peers, who are great motivators and inspire us to write simple and maintainable code bases. Therefore, when given the opportunity, we should help others in code reviews, voluntarily join other code reviews, and demonstrate that we add value through our work and by helping junior team members learn and learn from seniors. It's important for engineers to be open to criticism and feedback. Good engineers learn from their code, and great engineers learn from others. Pair programming and joining any other initiatives to team up with other team members from your team or other teams will demonstrate that you are easy to work with and add significant value to your team and others.

Just last sprint, we were working on this new feature with a bunch of functionalities. The code was solid, but when it hit our deployment pipeline, things went sideways. Turns out, there were some compatibility issues between the new code and an existing library the devs weren't aware of. Now, if we hadn't been chatting regularly and sharing updates, this could have turned into a finger-pointing mess. But because we had open communication, I was able to jump in with the devs and troubleshoot. We figured out the conflict together, made a quick fix, and got the feature deployed smoothly. It was a great example of how good communication and collaboration can save the day.

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, I've realized that staying updated is essential. That's why I actively engage in continuous learning by keeping up with the latest industry trends, attending workshops, and obtaining certifications. This commitment reflects my personal passion for learning and my eagerness to take on more complex challenges. I've found that this proactive approach not only enhances my knowledge but also fuels my curiosity and keeps me motivated. By continuously seeking growth, I feel more confident and excited about the future, knowing that I am well-prepared to tackle whatever comes next.

Our space is fast-paced; here are some tips from my experience: 1. Do not limit your learning just 9-5 work time, when opportunity provided, be open to learn from other sources. 2. Follow and learn other experienced programmers / engineers from open source community or other communities. Follow them and read their blogs. 3. Subscribe to other tech blogs of organizations like Netflix, Meta, and Microsoft. Amazing individuals put so much out there for people like us to read, learn, and grow. 4. Set time aside each for learning new concepts. This could be from LinkedIn Learning, YT, Udemy, or other learning platforms. Invest time and sometimes money to join courses or certifications.

You must understand what you are paid for. It’s not for the hours you spend on the computer, the lines of code you write, or the tickets you mark as complete. What are the things that make you valuable within your team? It’s probably because you understand the company's business and can provide better perspectives than your peers. You are probably great at communicating risks or translating technical challenges and requirements into plain language that makes sense to non-technical people. There needs to be something beyond the “hard skills” required for the job that makes you stand out for promotion.

Being able to communicate the value of your work is key to getting noticed. When you finish a project or reach a milestone, make sure to explain how it benefits the team or company. Use simple, non-technical language so everyone can understand the impact of what you've done. By clearly conveying the importance of your contributions, you make it easier for your employer to see your value and consider you for advancement.

Engineers often face this challenge: They cannot quantify and communicate the value of their work in non-technical terms. However, you can overcome this by practice and experience, so be patient and do not rush. Watch other experienced Engineers and architects and see how they approach this bit. How do they articulate value? Do not just focus on your work and impact on the small scale; broaden your perspective and see how your work impacts the broader ecosystem. What business tangible benefit does it yield? If you are stuck, bounce ideas with your peers and work together.

Please take a look for help and feedback. If you are committed to your growth, then be open to feedback. Sometimes solicited or unsolicited - it does not matter. Refrain from discounting and rejecting the feedback; you do not need to act on all the input, but generally, it is good. It may help you to gain different angles and perspectives and learn new ways. So be open. When the opportunity arises, please ask for support and help and seek guidance. For example, when someone says you need to improve your communication and asks for help and guidance, can you join Toastmasters? Can you ask the person providing the feedback to review your blogs or documentation? Feedback loops are essential for the code we write and for us.

Talk to your manager about the key responsibilities of the desired role and look for opportunities to demonstrate your abilities. Be clear about your desire for promotion and work with your manager to establish a realistic timeline. It is difficult for anyone to argue against promoting someone who has already shown they can perform well in a role.