An 11 YoE, ex-AWS engineer's advice for early career SWEs

Matthew Shea, a Principal Engineer at Teamworks on the Smartabase product, shares his insights on finding a first software engineering job, asking good questions, and navigating different company sizes. He emphasizes that while technical skills are important, people skills are equally crucial in software development. Matthew's own experience includes working in IT Operations before transitioning to software development, which helped him develop a strong perspective on building good software. He recommends being intentional about what can be learned from each job and advises early career software engineers to ask good questions, including framing their queries to include information about what they've already done. Matthew also stresses the importance of personal relationships in finding meaningful work, highlighting that referrals and networking are key to landing a job at a tech company. He notes that working for a large company can offer stability but may divorce one from the industry's reality, while smaller companies provide an opportunity to make a significant impact.