The document discusses different career paths for software engineers, including individual contributor roles focused on hands-on coding and engineering management roles focused on overseeing people and processes. It notes that individual contributor roles involve more than just writing code, including activities like mentorship, requirements analysis, and cross-functional collaboration. The document also provides details about the focus at GS Lab on early-stage startups and product development companies, emphasizing technological depth, problem solving, out-of-the-box thinking, and breadth/depth of skills.

1. Architect Track
SAMEER MAHAJAN

2. 23 Alternative Software Career Paths

3. Types of Software Engineer Jobs
 Full-stack engineer
 Back-end engineer
 Front-end engineer / UI / UX
 QA : manual, automation
 Support Engineer
 Machine learning engineer, Data Engineer
 Data scientist
 Mobile developer

4. Two Main Trajectories
 Individual Contributor (IC)
 Hands on
 Writing code
 Try out things
 Technical skills
 Engineering Management
 Oversee
 Managing people and processes
 Soft skills: communication, conflict management, leadership

5. Functional Overlap for IC
Myth: Content stuck in IDE all day
 Mentorship
 Design consensus
 Vision and Strategy buy-in
 Requirement analysis
 Converting business requirements into technical specifications
 Estimation
 Decision Making
 Cross functional collaboration

6. GS Lab Focus
 Service company
 Working with product development companies
 Early startups / startup like environments
 Ambiguous and changing requirements
 Technology
 Customer relationship
 Addressing end user’s pain points
 Customer delight

7. Digging Deeper
 Technological depth
 Problem solving and troubleshooting
 Out of the box thinking
 Uniqueness – patents
 Multiple projects, customers, engagements
 Operating simultaneously at different levels
 Breadth across components, technologies
 Depth of enhancing code / re architecting component at the same time

8. Key qualities
 Go getter
 Getting things done
 Complete all around understanding
 Curiosity about how things work – under the hood
 Keen interest in fundamentals
 Deep understanding of end user impact