Episode 28

How To Be An Ace Big-Tech Software Developer - w/ Hemant

Oct 9, 202401:00:33On YouTube too
How To Be An Ace Big-Tech Software Developer - w/ Hemant thumbnail

In this episode, featured not-expert is Hemant Pandey. Hemant is a Sr software engineer at Meta and has extensive experience as a SWE in companies like Salesforce, SAP, Tesla and Amazon.

First moves to steal

  • Be An Ace Big-Tech Software Developer - w/ Hemant
  • We go over a day in the life at Meta, Hemant’s career journey that saw him make timely jumps to bigger and better opportunities, tech stacks used at big tech, how to break into software development as a beginner, qualities of 10x engineers and many other fascinating topics.
  • Resources: Sr Engineer Resources - https://github.com/hemantpandey17/top-resources-to-be-a-senior-engineerHemant - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemant-pandey/ Timestamps: (00:00) Background + Intro(02:26) Day in the life as a Meta SWE(05:12) Transition from engineer to senior engineer(09:42) Educational background and journey to Meta(18:53) Tech stacks used at top companies(22:53) Tech/behavioral interviews and how to LeetCode?(26:36) Importance of "clear communication" in interviews(28:57) Breaking into SDE as a beginner (Masters or Bachelors)(33:04) Qualities of 10x engineers(38:47) Starting a tech newsletter(45:29) Impact of generative AI and how Meta uses it(51:47) Regulating Gen-Z users on Meta products(55:36) On being an Indian SWE in the valley(56:54) Advice for folks in the current market(59:01) Outro + Gratitude
  • so I joined Tesla and then after four or 5 months they announced layoffs in which I was impacted you'll want to do...
  • create the Maximum Impact but you later realize that you just cannot create all the impact all by yourself you know for...

Transcript-backed moments

A few lines worth stealing before you hand over the full hour.

Open on YouTube
00:00:02

so I joined Tesla and then after four or 5 months they announced layoffs in which I was impacted you'll want to do everything by yourself you want to create the Maximum Impact but you later

00:00:08

create the Maximum Impact but you later realize that you just cannot create all the impact all by yourself you know for more in the sense that there's so much money out in there in the market right

00:00:16

money out in there in the market right so at least one should try can you walk so at least one should try can you walk me through the tool stack that you were using at each of these companies I've

00:00:22

using at each of these companies I've written a newsletter and also there's aab repository I maintain in which I keep updating the resources I've been using flead Code now has more than 3,000

00:00:30

using flead Code now has more than 3,000 problems and you cannot just do all while I come from that world in a lot of while I come from that world in a lot of ways because I've been away from it for

Show notes

In this episode, featured not-expert is Hemant Pandey. Hemant is a Sr software engineer at Meta and has extensive experience as a SWE in companies like Salesforce, SAP, Tesla and Amazon.

We go over a day in the life at Meta, Hemant’s career journey that saw him make timely jumps to bigger and better opportunities, tech stacks used at big tech, how to break into software development as a beginner, qualities of 10x engineers and many other fascinating topics. We also discuss what current students in BTech and/or Masters degrees can do to find employment (yes, simply solving LeetCode problems is not enough) and the fascinating work Hemant does with teen regulatory aspects at Meta.

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Resources:


Sr Engineer Resources - https://github.com/hemantpandey17/top-resources-to-be-a-senior-engineerHemant - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemant-pandey/


Timestamps:


(00:00) Background + Intro(02:26) Day in the life as a Meta SWE(05:12) Transition from engineer to senior engineer(09:42) Educational background and journey to Meta(18:53) Tech stacks used at top companies(22:53) Tech/behavioral interviews and how to LeetCode?(26:36) Importance of "clear communication" in interviews(28:57) Breaking into SDE as a beginner (Masters or Bachelors)(33:04) Qualities of 10x engineers(38:47) Starting a tech newsletter(45:29) Impact of generative AI and how Meta uses it(51:47) Regulating Gen-Z users on Meta products(55:36) On being an Indian SWE in the valley(56:54) Advice for folks in the current market(59:01) Outro + Gratitude