My Early Software Engineering Career Success Plan
I joined Meta’s Rotational Engineering program in May of 2021. Although the program is set up for one full year, I graduated early, receiving a permanent software engineering offer after just one rotation. I wrote an internal wiki sharing my observations about how to succeed within the program, and I’m reposting it with some edits here because I think the general concepts are applicable to any early career software engineer.
State Your Intentions Early
If you wish to get promoted quickly, you should state this intention in one of your first 1:1s with your manager. They will adjust their expectations of you accordingly. If you wait too long to bring this up, it’s possible that the projects they planned for you won’t get you to the next level in your desired timeframe. For example, you’ll likely need to take on the leadership role in a small to medium sized project to advance from a junior to a mid-level engineer.
Don’t Work Overtime
Don’t work more than 40 hours each week. While I understand that some companies pride themselves on having the best engineers in the industry, do not trick…
