Am I Falling Behind All Of The Other Software Engineers?

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Hey folks, we're going to the experienced dev subreddit. This Redditor was wondering uh about I guess they framed it like recovering from complacency and uh their bit of background here is that they're in their 30s and so they've been in the industry for about 10 years or so and um I guess never really thought too much about this but you know thought they were going about things normally as a developer. kind of progressing normally, you know, not necessarily behind or ahead, just everything's pretty pretty average, I guess. And um I think they realized that when they tried going for an interview that they had this sort of feeling or realization or whatever it is that they might uh they might be very far behind.

which is interesting because when they talk about, you know, they kind of briefly touch on some of the things they've been working on, but like it's not like uh this Redditor was writing it from a perspective of like I'm discovering AI for the first time or or something like that. They talked about like using LLM, you know, integrating LLMs into things. So that's not even it's not even that it's not what I would say is the more common typical thing going on right now which is how do I catch up with AI? Um, to me this is a little bit different because what they were describing is that some of the steps in the interview process were making them feel like wait a second like am I kind of like immediate imposttor syndrome and uh you know one of the things they touched on in particular was around uh sort of the system design type questions and interviews.

So, I thought this would be an interesting one to talk through because I think there's a handful of different angles that I could blab about and hopefully hopefully at least one of them comes through and it's a an interesting I don't know like thought experiment for you uh listening or watching. So, on uh the first part I guess around interviews specifically, right? So, I've done a bunch of videos on on your sort of stereotypical interview format for software developers. I I realize that uh this is of course big tech ccentric, but a lot of places do mirror this kind of thing. It's really just around um how how extreme it gets, I guess. So the three general types of things that you cover in interviews for big tech and then related would be um sort of like a lead code style programming question round or rounds system design or system design like multiple rounds.

Um we are doing the equivalent of like talking about the major components of uh distributed systems and then uh behavioral interview questions and depending on your level um sort of the focus of these uh changes or the the level of scrutiny will change um and even I've said this in other videos too right like as a software engineering manager uh I'm I'm not immune to these either it's just that the amount of focus shifts, right? Like there's a lot there's less focus for me on the coding rounds, but um the only like I've been certainly rejected from interviews as an engineering manager and the uh it's never been because of behavioral interviews. It's always been uh because of coding uh and a couple of times from system design questions and uh the the feedback for me is always oh like you're not technical enough as an engineering manager which is uh you know there's a lot to unpack there.

So I can absolutely relate to uh people kind of going through interviews and then kind of having like a bit of imposttor syndrome kind of response to it. So I don't know all the interview rounds that this person went through but one of the ones that they called out was really around uh system design. And they were even saying like hey like you know system design they think that it can be interesting kind of fun but they were saying it feels like in these interviews it seems like the only thing that's uh accepted is is perfect which I think is interesting because I I do I do kind of share this uh opinion and I share this opinion not only as someone who has gone into interview as a candidate but also as someone who has been in interview loops as an interviewer listening to the feedback of other people.

And so I've talked about this before, but it's not even just like the system design part, but even not only the system design part, but I've seen this especially with like uh these lead code style programming interview questions where I'll hear uh you know different different people in these interview loops talking about their feedback for the candidate when we're coming together afterwards. and basically framing it like, well, yeah, they they did they made it through like a bunch of it or they got to an answer, but like they couldn't figure out, you know, the optimal solution. So, like it's going to be a no from me. It's like, man, what do you mean? What do you mean someone didn't find the trick in your question and therefore that's going to be the thing that that gates ultimately if they're going to be a good software engineer to uh to work with us?

Like it's just kind of insane to me. But yeah, I think the this person's experience around like it seems like you know perfect is the only is the only acceptable thing and it's like it does really feel that way. And to me, that's uh that's unrealistic. I don't even know how you how you measure perfect in an interview if uh if we don't even have perfect in in practice. This person's tailgating me like crazy. Why are you doing that? Very odd. Um and I I think wanted to, you know, kind of share like this uh this this lived experience or perspective that I I have that mirrors what this person has because I think it's it's not uncommon and it kind of leads into the next part which is around interviewing in general is like a it's a skill right and like I don't I

don't interview often so my interviewing skills are not good and I'm not saying that because uh I'm like I don't know trying to talk down about myself and be like, "Oh, I'm just such a bad interviewer." Like, no, it's not a it's not a skill that I practice. So, it's not it's just not something that I am currently good at. I do think that if I dedicated a lot of time to practicing lead code style questions and practice popular system design interview questions, um that I would be significantly better. But a lot of the time I don't find that these things match up to to reality of like what we're doing on the job. system design is more um I don't know like more lined up with reality I would say but uh you know folks have heard me say this a million times like

the lead code style stuff just simply is not so it is a skill to practice and I think that it's uh it's easy for for this person for others for you uh you know to to get down on yourself if you know, either if you have a bad interview or you're feeling like the expectations of the interview are just like not what you're um not what you were expecting if it's not something that you're doing often. There's, you know, ways of there's almost like expectations of interviewers that you're answering things in certain ways that you need to be able to get to. Uh, what are some good examples? Like in system design questions, uh, for example, one of the expectations is like they have not given you all of the information. And I remember uh whatever it was like just over 5 years ago now, 6 years ago when I was prepping to interview in for big tech for the first time cuz I hadn't interviewed in almost a decade.

Uh and I remember being like, okay, like time to time to start learning and practicing. And I remember doing my homework on it and being like, wait, so for these these types of questions, they don't give you all the information. And I'm like, why would why would they have these trick questions? Like, isn't that terrible? Why is that the industry standard? And um the more that I was like looking into it, the more I realized, no, it's not. The intention is not to trick you, but I feel like for anyone who hasn't done homework on it and homework on these styles of interviews, like it would absolutely feel like a trick, but the intention is that they want to make sure that you're asking questions about the system you're going to design so that you understand functional and non-functional requirements before diving into I'm just going to go build it.

It's just like a lot of the time it's like the the unspoken thing for system design questions for behavioral interview questions, right? I think a lot of the time, especially for software engineers, it's um the question that's being asked or that they're curious about is kind of like layered inside of the question that you're getting, right? because a lot of the time it's something along the lines of tell me about a time when you worked on a project uh and whatever and the the default mode that a lot of us fall into is explaining the technical details because we're software engineers right like it's a technical role we're technical people let's talk about the technical things I need to show you that I am an intelligent technical person But sorry, I'm just going quiet cuz there's a lot more water on the road here out of nowhere.

Okay, I think we're good. But the the thing with these behavioral interview questions is not it's not supposed to be the technical part. That's what the other rounds are for. That's what the other interview questions are for. This is about how you behave in these situations based on prior experiences and and communicating that. So interviewing itself is a skill and I I'll say it again, right? If if you are not practiced at interviewing and you go to interview and you have an experience that's not uh positive, it doesn't mean that you're that you're dumb. It doesn't mean that like you know you are behind like this person's saying um it's just it could 100% be attribute could be 100% attributed to just being out of practice for for interviewing. And so then yeah maybe maybe from the perspective of being able to interview and go between companies you are behind.

But for me personally, I I would much rather build up the experience of, you know, the things I need to be doing on the job versus being a really solid interviewer. Personally, I would love to have both. Of course, I'd love to have both, but I'd much rather kind of know in my heart that, you know, I I'm absolutely capable of building software, building systems, and in my case for managing and leading teams rather than being just a very skilled interviewer. Oh god, we're hydroplaning. We're good. This part of the highway is pretty bad. It's uh it rains a ton in Washington, so it always amazes me that like there could be some parts of highways that are just so horrible for water. Give me one sec. I got to do a couple more lane changes. And I just want to pay attention. There we go.

Yeah, for as much rain as we get here, it's not even raining hard, but some some parts of the road get just ridiculous. Um, so yeah, I think when I when I'm thinking about what this person wrote in this Reddit post, like I can absolutely understand this uh this perspective that they have, right, where it's like, oh god, am I behind? But honestly, I think uh I think with interviews, we get a a skewed kind of perspective of this. Um, and the imposttor gender will kick in. With that said though, um, and I only got a few minutes left here before I'm at CrossFit. But with that said, I think the this concept that they're bringing up of like, am I behind, right? I think, like I was saying at the beginning of this video, especially with everything going on with AI, I think this is a very common thing that a lot of people are going to be experiencing, even outside of what this person said specifically for interviews.

And so I I just want to say to folks that I I I don't I don't think it's an unfair or like a wrong feeling to have um when you're feeling like you're behind, right? I don't I don't I don't want people to feel that way, of course, cuz that's a terrible feeling. But I I don't blame people for that, right? There's a lot of pressure. There's always been a lot of pressure in in software engineering for this kind of thing, but I think especially now there's a pressure for it. So when I hear people say this kind of thing, I don't I don't blame them for feeling that way. And then the thought that I have or if I have when I have conversations with people about this, it's like look, this is this this type of thing is not new in software engineering to have a feeling like this and especially at different stages of your career.

And I I think that it's important to listen to that, but not blindly, right? It's not that when you have that inkling that all of a sudden you're like, "Well, then I must be behind. Oh my god, everything's terrible. I'm going to I'm never going to get ahead and whatever." It's I think it's a bit of a signal for you. And I think you just need to try to interpret the signal. So in this person's case, when I'm interpreting the signal on their behalf, I'm like, I think this is primarily just uh you know, interview skill and experience. That's all. Uh at least on the surface. For other people, it might be that when they're they're having this sort of imposttor syndrome feeling or uh I'm falling behind and not going to catch up because they're looking at industry trends and going, I think that I need to be part of that.

And again, I don't think that it's wrong to feel that way. I'm not saying that it's always the solution to everything, but I don't think it's a wrong feeling. So, if you have that feeling, like what is that signal telling you? You're probably feeling uncomfortable about not knowing or not practicing or not having uh you know, comparative experience to others. Okay. So, like if that's a if that's the signal you're getting, like what is what's your interpretation? Like what what could you do about that? What what does it mean? Right? And I I think that it's important that we take opportunities like this as much as possible at different parts of our career to be able to do this kind of reflection. And I I know that when I say this kind of stuff, it sounds like maybe a little woo woo or like uh easier said than done just to let me let me just go reflect.

But I think when you have awareness of it, it's not that you catch it every time the signal is there. It's just that the more awareness you have, the more opportunity there is to uh you know catch yourself in these moments and go, "Yeah, okay. you know, maybe after lunch today, I'm going to sit down and maybe give this some more thought and see like what it means for me. And in some cases, like I've had people, especially uh more recently, talking about AI and how they're they are feeling behind in their career and if they don't do something different, it's going to, you know, be impactful in their career. and they've kind of sat down and done the analysis for themselves and they've said, "Yeah, I think I think I need to move more in this direction, right? I think it's a lot more common with AI and having impact like this, but it's not new.

It's not specific to AI." So, those are my thoughts. I'm just getting to CrossFit here. Lots of parking today. Hell yeah, we did it. And it's bench press day at CrossFit, which doesn't happen because CrossFit people don't bench press. I like to bench press. So, hope that was helpful in some way. If you got questions, comments, leave them below. And uh, of course, if you want to submit something anonymously, go to codecute.com. And I will see you in the next one. Take care.