I'm currently an Engineering Manager and Technical Lead at a mid-size Asset Management firm in New York. I THOUGHT I was a pretty good engineer and knew a ton of stuff but then realized how large a gap I have in terms of knowledge relative to engineers outside of Wall St. I'm at a place in my career where I can keep ddoing what I'm doing but not be fulfilled or level myself up to take on a new challenge. I've decided on the later and I'm using this repo as a way to track what I'm planing to do, the resources I've used and my experience going through it.
How to Job Hunt (When You’re Already Exhausted) This article summed up where I was pretty nicely, below are my own personal findings/write-up/self-examination.
Why: I want to be an engineering manager for a small but growing starup because I want to
- Break out of my comfort zone so that I can challenge myself and grow
- Be able to contribute to a growing team and see my contributions make an immediate impact
- Learn how to be a better servant and leader for a team so that I can take those lessons and apply them when I launch a side project
Why now:
- I'm not aligned with leadership and the strategy at hand
- I do not feel like my ideas and contributions really make a differnce any longer
- I'm tired of applying myself and feeling like it's not moving the needle
I really enjoy the people I work with (minus a few exceptions) and I truly care for my team and my customers. Being able to help them grow and earn victories always makes me feel great. Even when we don't get a "win", I love learning from the exercise but I would like to be surrounded with more people that want to learn and grow and help one another.
When I can find a place that I can fully align with, and totally buy in to the mission statement, the personnel and the tech, then I will feel like a new person ready to start a great new journey while knowing it will be difficult, that tough choices will have to be made but as long as we're fulfilling the mission then it will be worth it. I will also be a better engineer as I go through this process and I will learn from all the people I am exposed to during this time.
Daily Plan
- (If Applicable) Send follow up emails/messages
- Go through at least 1 FB or LeetCode Challenge
- Go through https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/tech-lead-interview-questions and https://www.linkedin.com/interview-prep/assessments/urn:li:fs_assessment:(1,a)/question/urn:li:fs_assessmentQuestion:(10011,aq11)/ - get your answers together
- Go through 1 chapter of the book that you're focused on for System Design
Weekly Plan
- Review process and progress
- Scan LinkedIn for new opportunities
- Set plan/schedule for the week
"what if you changed that perspective to finding success in each failure? Every interview, every meeting, is practice for the right job. When you’re rejected from a job you really want, it feels like a lost opportunity. But what if you changed the narrative in your brain to genuinely believe it wasn’t the right opportunity?
Prepare how you’ll work through rejection in advance. For example, give yourself a maximum of one day to mourn the loss, determine what you learned from the experience, then own that it wasn’t the right role for you. "