Advice for Getting a Career in Engineering
JW Player & Uncubed Host Panel Discussion for Aspiring Software Engineers
By David Feinblum, Kim Hart, and Rohit Srinivas
JW Player — in partnership with Uncubed, US Department of Labor, General Assembly, The Software Guild, and LaGuardia Community College — recently hosted an interactive panel discussion at our NYC headquarters with a cohort of junior front-end developers and Java engineers from underrepresented communities.
Panel moderators Rohit Srinivas and DeQuaina Washington from JW’s Talent Acquisition team introduced the group to company culture and what to expect when pursuing a career in tech, including important skills for applicants and common challenges faced by underrepresented groups. Panelists Dan Ferrer, Kim Hart, David Feinblum, and Alex Halter (all software engineers of varying disciplines) shared stories and advice from their own journeys.
Key takeaways:
- Hone core programming skills and stay up-to-date on industry trends by seeking out relevant podcasts, programming books, blogs, and meetups
- Look for a role at a company with a strong product and engineering team that will foster your growth
- Approach technical interviews with a collaborative spirit. Be ready to talk through your thought process, ask questions, and demonstrate that you can problem-solve on the fly, even if you don’t know the answer to a question
- Stay motivated throughout your interviewing process even in the face of failure. Losing any single opportunity does not signify your worth as a developer
- Contribute to open source projects to become more comfortable working on large, remote teams. Seeing other codebases also increases your code literacy
- Bolster your portfolio with side projects that showcase your curiosity and initiative to learn new tech
- Reach out to your network and make use of your existing connections, especially if you’re transitioning from another industry
- Get active on platforms like Stack Overflow, Reddit, Slack and Github to connect with peers and potential mentors
The impact of this event was overwhelmingly positive, and many students stuck around post-discussion to network and seek out mentorship opportunities with our panelists. Our engineering team looks forward to a continued partnership with Uncubed as we aim to increase access to education and career coaching for all groups in the tech community.
