The presentation is focused on the career development for people in involved in tech industry, targets software engineers specifically but is helpful for any other discipline. Topics include: - Manager - Organization - Team - Projects - Career Strategies

1. THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR
CAREER
Andrei Rubaniuk, Software Engineer
Presented at Seattle Code Camp 2014

2. Little about me
 Andrei Rubaniuk, software engineer
 Currently at Microsoft
 Previously Conax/Secustream, HiQ/MobilEyes, Paragon Software
 Some of the products I helped ship:

3. The elements of your career
 The Manager
 The Team
 The Org
 Things that matter much less than you think
 Q&A

4. The Manager
 People usually don’t quit their jobs, they quit their managers
 Signs of a good boss:
 Hires strong team
 Usually not a micromanager
 Protects his people
 Shields from randomizations, unnecessary meetings, etc.
 Trustworthy
 No surprises
 Lets you do what you’re hired to do: design & implement software

5. The Manager
 Interviewing your future boss
 If you can, do 10-15 informational interviews before the interview
loop
 Managers have more experience interviewing than you, bridge the
gap
 Ask his/her current and former reports what they think about him/her
 Patron/Protégé and mentors
 Ideally your manager hires, guides and mentors you
 Sometimes it could be a dotted line, i.e. you don’t report to the hiring
manager
 You should have multiple mentors

6. Mentors and protégés

7. Mentors and protégés

8. The Team
 Ideally you want to be interviewed by the team
 Don’t forget to interview prospective coworkers!
 Team culture matters
 Interpersonal dynamics matter
 Politics matter!
 Always be the worst player on the team of rock-stars
 Otherwise how can you learn?
 At some point you will need to mentor junior people too!

9. The Org
“Get on a rocket ship. When companies are growing quickly and
they are having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves.
And when companies aren’t growing quickly or their missions
don’t matter as much, that’s when stagnation and politics come
in. If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat.
Just get on.” Eric Schmidt

10. The Org (continued)
 Unfortunately most companies aren’t rocket ships
 In many cases it’s a matter of luck and a lot of people who joined
Next Big Think will tell you that
 However, there are a lot of people who joined/started multiple very
successful companies
 Risk/return
 Dilemma: stay at Big Corp with cu$hy job or join/start a startup
 Company culture matters
 Culture enables certain people to succeed
 After switching companies former rock-stars may become regular
players

11. The Org (continued)
 Some indicators of a great org:
 Low attrition
 People usually move on to much better opportunities
 Technical core
 Individual contributors who stayed there long time
 Great technical management you can trust
 Ideally former engineers
 Being with the team long time and aren’t giving up their babies
 Clear impact & goals
 Constant flow of new features & projects
 All engineers are busy with new projects but also support legacy products

12. Growing within the Org and beyond
 Standard career flow:
 Build trust with your lead/manager
 Build trust with your team mates
 Continue taking on more responsibility and increasing your impact
 Simultaneously keep growing as a developer
 In tech usually you have 2 tracks:
 Individual contributor (IC)
 Developer >Senior Developer >Architect > CTO
 Lead/Manager
 Other options:
 Consulting
 Entrepreneur
 Media likes folks like Zuck
 Average age of first-time entrepreneur in the US is 40 (think Tony Fadell of Nest)

13. Things that matter much less than you
think
 Technology
 Hire for the company, not for the skill or technology knowledge
 However, you can get lucky and join Next Big Thing as a Ruby developer
 In 5 years technologies will be different
 Product
 It helps when the product is great, but it’s not a must
 You don’t want to be working on zombie-product either!

14. Career strategies
 Ship it and move one
 Switching orgs/jobs after each successful lunch
 Make sure each move is a vertical one or has a potential
 "Law Firm Partner" strategy
 Instead of leaving for 10-20% raise after 2-4 years you stay 10-15 years with the company until you're
the only one who understands what's going on
 Unlike conservative law firms tech is risky and moves on quickly
 "Ride the technological wave" strategy
 Somewhat risky since you don't know if technology will become successful
 But never coast!
 Industry Expert
 Get interested in some area - you don't even need to work for somebody
 Require patience but proven strategy

15. Staying relevant
 Never stop learning!
 Degrees, certificates open previously closed doors
 New technologies keep you interested in the field
 Network
 Very important, especially when the Tech Bubble pops
 Relationships matter
 GitHub, side projects, open source
 Nothing can substitute fundamental knowledge
 Algorithms and data structures!

16. Conclusion
 Accept that the world is a chaotic and random place
 In many situation you have very little control
 Career is the journey, not the destination
 Never, never, never give up!

17. Q&A

18. Contact me!
 E-mail: rubaniuk@gmail.com
 Blog: www.rubaniuk.com
 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rubaniuk

19. P.S.
Why you will fail to have a great career

20. P.P.S.
 https://www.youtube.com/v/cf4veA65G-k?start=10&end=19