7 Tips To Get Ahead of 99% of Software Engineers
One of WhatApp’s founding engineers and multi-millionaire engineers teaches us how to excel in your career and get ahead of 99% of other engineers.
Hey friends – Caleb here 👋
This week, I’m interviewing Jean Lee, Founder of Exaltitude, and one of WhatsApp’s first engineers.
If you aren’t familiar, WhatsApp was an incredibly successful startup, and was eventually acquired by Facebook/Meta for $19 billion. Yes, billion dollars. 💰🤯
She has tons of helpful content on her Exaltitude YouTube channel for growing in your career, and standing out as an engineer.
She's also excited to launch her 7th cohort based course, revamped with a new twist titled "Software Engineering Careers in the Age of AI."
Today she shares 7 tips for engineers who are looking to stand out and grow in their career. Let’s dive in 👇🏼
1/ Step out of your comfort zone
Jean:
Joining WhatsApp as the 19th engineer required me to step out of my comfort zone. It was a field completely new to me. Mobile messaging apps were still a novelty in North America, and I had just begun using a smartphone for the first time. (I've never been an early adopter.) I knew nothing about Android or iOS development.
Leaving behind the familiar to join an unknown startup at a young age, with no safety net, felt like a significant risk.
Oftentimes in order to have big success, you have to step out of your comfort zone. For me, the potential learning/growth/upside was worth the risk.
These days, Silicon Valley really offers a wealth of opportunities.
If you are seeking a high-paying tech job, or want to find ground-breaking opportunities, this is where you need to be. It was where I found my success, and I believe you can too.
Caleb:
Many new graduates immediately try to join Google, Apple, Meta, etc, but for Jean, this isn’t always what she recommends.
The important thing to do is to: “Find where the magic is happening and then go join in.”
It may be at a small startup, or a new innovative company that’s not as well known yet.
“Opportunities are not just going to fall into your lap. You need to be in the right place at the right time. Surround yourself with the right people, and the chances of your success/luck go way higher.” – Jean Lee
2/ Embrace continuous learning
Staying ahead of the curve involves a lot more than staying ahead of the tech curve and embracing challenges. It requires us to embrace continual learning and growth.
Jean:
When I started at WhatsApp, I was on my own to teach myself new languages and skills. Smartphones weren't around when I was studying Computer Science in school.
In tech things often change very quickly… (Github copilot anyone?). As engineers we are going to encounter new challenges we’ve never even heard of or thought about.
What’s more important than knowing a specific language, is knowing how to learn things.
Caleb:
I totally agree! In fact, I’ve shared earlier about a 4 step proven framework for learning, as well as how to quickly learn and level up in your career. Feel free to read and bookmark those articles if they are helpful.
Learning how to think through, break down, and solve complex problems for your users is more important than the language you choose. The best engineers create massive value wherever they go, regardless of the language/tools they use.
3/ Be more than just a coder
Jean:
Being a programmer and knowing how to code is just the starting point. Being able to communicate and work well with others is really important to your success as an engineer.
At most companies it’s impossible to know what everyone else is working on. If you want to be recognized for your contributions and wins at your company you need to be able to talk about them in a way that other people will care about.
As you progress in your career, your raw coding skills become less and less important. What becomes more impactful and important in your career growth is your ability to expand your influence, and make sure that your work and the value you create is visible to others.
Caleb:
Many folks may feel weird about this, like you are bragging… but what I’ve found is that if you truly are doing great work, others will want to know about it.
And one of the most important things to do is record your wins, and quantify them in terms others can understand. You can start by asking yourself a few questions:
Why are we building what we are building?
What problem does it solve for our users?
How much support time did this save our team?
How much new revenue did this feature drive for the business?
If you can quantify your projects in how it impacted the business and the customer, you will really stand out to senior engineering and business leaders.
Pro-tip: If you want to go deep on strategies for building a successful career – Jean has an upcoming course called: “Software Engineering Careers in the Age of AI." In this course, you'll gain insights beyond technical skills to analyze key competencies and plan your next career moves. Join her to shape your engineering career with fulfillment and success.
As a special offer, Jean is offering a 10% discount for those who sign up here.
4/ Develop a strong work ethic
Jean:
Developing a strong work ethic and embracing discipline is like a secret code to getting ahead of others.
I don’t really believe in the idea of achieving a perfect work/life balance. There will be times when you work a lot extra, and there will be times where you scale back a bit and work less.
In the early years it’s important to really put in the work to get good at what you do, and your effort and work will compound over time – things will become easier for you over time. 🚀
Caleb:
That rings true for me in my journey.
Last year when I first started building a following on Linkedin, I was spending hrs and hrs a day writing really thoughtful comments on posts, and writing my own posts.
I was writing a minimum of 20 really thoughtful multi-paragraph sized comments (without ai), to add to the conversation and interact with followers to grow relationships, help others, and work on my writing skills.
Now that I’ve grown to 30k+ followers, I still put in a lot of work… but there are weeks when I can step back a little for a break and my following will still grow.
Sometimes there’s a need to put in over and above for a set period while you really focus on growth, and then you can scale back once you hit that next level.
In my experience, the most important thing is to be consistent. Consistently learning beats sporadic hustling.
5/ Reject the fear of failure and learn from your mistakes
Jean:
Many engineers are attracted to math because it offers definitive solutions to problems, making it straightforward and unambiguous.
However, software engineering it’s less like math than we often think. There are so many ways to solve complex problems, and we can go back and forth on them for days, weeks or years.
Sometimes we choose a way that’s not the most optimal, or seems like a temporary fix, and that’s ok.
The important thing is not to be right all the time.
The important thing is to take those learnings and better yourself for the future.
One of those times for me was joining an early stage startup as an intern.
The company was a YouTube competitor and didn’t do well in the long run. So in one sense it was a failure to invest my time working there.
However, it taught me something important – I wanted to join a more stable company, with more mentorship.
Later on I went to work for IBM to join a company that offered more stability. I found the mentorship that I wanted, but started to feel like a cog in a massive machine.
This was another “mistake” or a “lesson” that eventually led me to join WhatsApp.
WhatsApp provided the balance to dive in 100% where I could have autonomy, stability, and could clearly see the impact of my work, rather than just being 1 of 20,000 engineers.
Caleb:
Wow, I love that. Life is not always a straight line of growth. Your “mistakes” ultimately led to your breakthrough!
6/ Set your own path
Caleb:
The tech industry is constantly changing. The trends are constantly changing…
Mobile apps, Crypto, now ai…
Top leaders like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, and Jean all encourage engineers to follow their own path.
Sometimes your passions will line up with a trend, and sometimes they won’t.
Jean:
What’s more important than following trends is to follow your path, and your passions and interests. In the long run, this will lead to better success and growth in your career.
Whenever someone asks me for advice on their career, I will ask them back: “What are your goals, and what is your long-term North Star?”
Your vision and goals should drive your career, more than just what's popular today.
7/ Build a network
Jean:
Life is not just about your career and individual milestones.
For me, my community and relationships that are rooted in mutual care and respect are a safety net when times are challenging, and a source of joy in better times of life.
I encourage others to develop a deep network of friends and community that can support you, and offer mentorship, collaboration, and even inspiration.
For me, giving back to the tech community through my YouTube channel, and coaching through Exaltitude is part of how I support others and build a community for myself.
Caleb:
I totally agree. Building a network and a community have been so key to my success at many different points in my career.
But also for me, the term “networking” feels too corporatey, or salesy…
What I’ve learned is that “good networking” really just boils down to meeting other humans doing interesting work.
Here is what not to do: ❌
Linkedin message: ”Hey I’m so impressed by your content. I’d love to help you even more, I provide x/y/z services to amazing outstanding engineering leaders like yourself. Click here to book an appointment with me.”
This is cold selling, not networking.
Networking is just making friends with interesting people without necessarily looking for an immediate return on that relationship. Build genuine relationships.
Over time those relationships will be beneficial for you – bringing job opportunities, ideas, support, friendship, etc.
It’s more about being humans, doing interesting things together, rather than selling to each other at every turn.
If you enjoyed this article, I’d highly encourage you to check out more of Jean’s content on her Youtube, website, Linkedin, or X (Twitter).
Here are a few of my favorites:
2024 guide to goals for Software engineers by Jean, and
Well, that’s all for this week. Was this helpful?
Which tip stood out to you the most? I’d love to hear from you in the comments 🙋♀️🙋♂️
Until next week 👇🏼
Catch me daily on LinkedIn where I talk about everything software engineering, startups, and growing in your engineering soft skills.
– Caleb
P.S. I just launched a paid newsletter option that include access to my entire archive of posts, a monthly paid-subscriber deep-dive post, and access to our new monthly book club – which starts tonight! (more details here) 📚 – I’d love to see you there if you’d find that valuable!
Thanks, Caleb for the great interview! I loved our conversation.
Also, please connect with me on LinkedIn if you have any questions or just want to stay connected https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanklee/
A ton of great lessons here, Caleb and Jean.
My favorites are 2 and 5. Continues growth + removing the fear of failure. Learn from your mistakes.
We have to accept that there will always be room for growth. As soon as you lose that, you stagnate, stop improving, and avoid seeking feedback.
Always keep growing