Ask Experienced Devs Weekly Thread: A weekly thread for inexperienced developers to ask experienced ones

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Riotdiet@reddit

I’ve received messages from three different recruiters now on LinkedIn asking if I would be interested in a Director position (Director of Software Engineering/Engineering). They don’t seem like spam as they are familiar with my current company, role, and industry. I’m currently staff software engineer and have only had this role for about a year now.

I’m not in a management position, I don’t have any engineers under me. I’m the tech lead for a product that brings in a couple million dollars per year in revenue and except the algorithm development (CV engineers do this) and some of the core infrastructure (company-wide managed by a separate team), I am the sole person running this. So data engineering, MLOps, etc. I contribute to writing proposals for gov contracts and tracking costs. I’m also in charge of planning for my product including existing and future potential projects/contracts.

I give that background because I’m curious if I’m anywhere close to qualified for a director position. For anyone in that role, what are the qualifications you need? Would this be a huge jump from my current role or am I over thinking it?

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reboog711@reddit

They don’t seem like spam as they are familiar with my current company, role, and industry.

Are you sure these aren't AI generated based on your linked in profile?

Depending on the company structure, I think director is a common next step over Staff / Principal. Especially when companies do not offer a higher career ladder for ICs.

At my employer, a director is someone who manages senior managers, and senior managers manage managers. And managers manage ICs. A Director is overseeing a ton of teams that probably have some related theme. They are setting high level OKRs, and dealing with budgets.

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WhiskyStandard@reddit

Sounds fishy to me.

But to answer your question about the director role: checkout Camille Fournier’s “The Manager’s Path”. It gives good descriptions of every level from junior dev to CTO and will probably help you figure out if you’re ready and if it’s something you want to do.

But, having been an EM and a Staff Eng and worked closely with some good directors, I wouldn’t jump to that without having some team level people management first.

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MiraLumen@reddit

It is 100% scam. Director roles are rarely advertised and hired "Just some random guy", it is always, always somebody who is well known by other directors in the company. Even job positions over 100k (UK) is not posted for outer world (or even is posted - it's only formality, they already know who will be hired) - it is always networking

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Riotdiet@reddit

I’m not really sure what the scam would be.. they list the company name and their info. On one of the roles (small startup) I can see the CEO who reached out to me listed on their website.

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MiraLumen@reddit

Oh, man, it can be anything from "put deposit to enter site for interview" or "buy our product to know it better before interview", or at the worse scenario they will hire as director and then put all responsibility for [criminal spent money] or whatever. Directors has legal responsibility for the company, so if for example there was not tax paid - you will be responsible even if you knew nothing about taxes. Or if there was some illegal actions - director is responsible as well

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Riotdiet@reddit

Interesting, didn’t think about that. Thanks for context.

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Vetches1@reddit

Sanity check: What's the consensus on companies whose sole offering / profit center is an AI-based product (e.g., AI agents, AI HR, AI payroll, etc.)? Not using AI, but, from the outside, at least, just bundling a service with AI. Are they to be avoided much like crypto / web3 / trend-following companies, under the premise that the bottom might fall out for the AI side of the industry?

They offer good perks like remote and compensation, but I do worry that because they're effectively just AI wrappers with niche twists that they might not all be solvent, and thus should be avoided when applying.

For reference, this is the first time I've casually looked for a job in a fair few years, and prior to that, it seemed like the last "wave" was crypto and web3. Is this just the next wave that's borne out of the latest tech trend, or could these companies realistically all stick around (my gut says not)? Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

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WhiskyStandard@reddit

The most successful one was Cursor. Then Anthropic jacked up their prices and released a competing product. r/Cursor was wall to wall complaints about rate limits last time I checked.

The model providers are not serious about providing a platform (defined as when the total value of the businesses you support exceeds the value you capture) because they haven’t figured out how to be sustainable themselves. They will keep canibalizing their biggest customers.

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Vetches1@reddit

Thank you so much for the reply! That lined up with what I had in mid, albeit my opinion was much less nuanced and up-to-date, hah. The fact that these LLM-offering companies haven't yet found a sustainable model is the real kicker here, I think, since it means if they can't prop themselves up, these "AI" wrapper companies are goners too. So it sounds like the only companies worth pursuing safely are ones that use LLMs but don't (re-)build their entire business around it.

I do have one question for you, if you don't mind, given your deep understanding! While it's safe to say that these wrapper companies are off the table, what about LLM aggregators, like Poe from Quora, where the product is the unification / centralization of the available models into one location? I've read that they can do so by getting discounts from Anthropic et al., but I'm wondering if they're effectively at the same level of mercy as these wrapper companies, since if the model companies jack up the prices, it'll just eat into profits on the aggregators' front since they have to jack up the subscription prices or the like. Or if they may be "safer" comparatively on account of having a relationship with these model-offering companies as evident by the discounts they get (as compared to some random "AI HR" company which could just be using a regular subscription without a discount).

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rahulrao1313@reddit

Hi,
I just got my first real job offer (AI/ML role), and I start in about a week. I should be super happy, but honestly, I’m mostly nervous/anxious. I keep wondering if I’m even good enough, if I’ll mess things up, or if I’ll fall behind everyone else. I’ve studied a lot, done projects, and know the fundamentals… but this is my first time in a proper engineering environment. I want to make sure I start strong, learn fast, and become genuinely valuable, not just “the new guy trying to survive.” For anyone who’s been through this transition, what advice would you give to someone starting their first job in tech? What do you wish you knew in your first 3–6 months? How did you overcome imposter syndrome? What habits helped you upskill quickly and not stagnate? Any red flags or mistakes to avoid early on?

Would love any tips. Technical, mindset, or just real-world things nobody tells you before starting. Thanks in advance to whoever replies. I really want to make the most of this opportunity and build a strong foundation for my career.

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WhiskyStandard@reddit

Whenever Imposter Syndrome got me down, I’d read this: https://theonion.com/report-today-the-day-they-find-out-you-re-a-fraud-1819576095/ If a bunch of writers who don’t know me can so perfectly describe what I was feeling, then it must be pretty common.

“The First 90 Days” is a pretty good book for changing positions (although maybe more about moving into managing a new team IIRC). The biggest thing I’d take from it is to get clear expectations from your manager.

My hack for getting up to speed on a codebase and finding a quick win is to run the most important workloads through a profiler. You’ll see the most important modules, might be able to make out layers, and if you’re lucky there will be a low hanging 5-10% optimization in there that you can fix as a quick win.

Also, source code analysis tools can reveal what’s been the most troublesome code and maybe some patterns around collaboration. I used Code Maat last time I did this. See the author’s books for more techniques.

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snorktacular@reddit

There's lots of good general advice out there, but here's what I'd recommend, assuming you're someone with a certain level of discipline:

Allow yourself at least a month or two to just getting used to the role. You will be learning a ton and way too tired to try to cram any more into your brain.
Don't neglect the basics. Sleep, nutrition, exercise. Figure out a routine asap if you're routine-oriented, or other strategies to maintain consistency if you're not. From day one—seriously, don't let this get away from you. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Absolutely prioritize sleep, cooking, and the gym over learning outside of work. Being alert and healthy will make you way more effective at upskilling at work, reducing or eliminating the need to dedicate time after hours.
On that note: as much as possible, try to learn at work instead of after hours. By that I mean, pick learning goals for things you're already working on, and then you'll meet those goals as part of your regular work. As you gain experience, you'll be able to pick/create tasks and projects that enable learning the topics you care about. (The extreme of this is an anti-pattern called "resume-driven development", but you probably don't have to worry about that early on.)
You are here to make friends, or at least be friendly. Having a good attitude and being likeable has had a way bigger impact on my career success than any amount of time spent learning after hours. Not in a try-hard way, but in a "we're all in this together" way, just being human. Becoming work-friends with peers (similar to making friends with classmates) will make everything more pleasant, and having people you feel safe admitting ignorance to will save you a ton of time instead of spinning your wheels on tasks. Being easy to talk to makes senior people want to mentor you, speeding up your skill development. This is how people end up with a solid network without really trying.
Re: imposter syndrome, mentally prepare yourself for feeling dumb or ignorant, especially for the first 3-6 months. Have strategies in place to redirect self-critical thought patterns toward something more productive instead of getting stuck in a mental loop of negativity. You may be used to being relatively smart, and you may have staked some of your self-image on that. You don't have to be super self-deprecating or anything, but get comfortable with admitting you don't know something. In fact, you'll often be the least knowledgeable person in the room. As long as you're easy to work with and you maintain a sense of curiosity and humility, people will be happy to meet you halfway.
Have strategies in place to avoid asking the same question multiple times: notes, search tools, etc. Get comfortable navigating your company's internal knowledge base, digging into code and docs, searching Slack history. You don't need to be perfect about this, but answering your own questions saves time. When you can't find an answer and you have to ask someone, (briefly) show that you did your homework. People appreciate when you put in the effort, and it can help them provide a better answer.
If you do find yourself needing to learn outside of work, set aside a certain number of hours per week for upskilling. Maybe an hour a day, or maybe a couple 2-3 hour sessions per week. Have a specific, scoped learning goal in mind. While you're working toward that goal, treat it like the gym. Consistency is key.

Congrats and best of luck.

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the-spaceman-420@reddit

Hey everyone, an old colleague at a startup asked me if I was willing to work with him as a co-lead, as they are trying to replace their current one.

The old dev was good but he was also suffering from what I can only describe as a “superman” complex.

I have looked at the code base and it’s a bit of a mess. Apparently he would change architecture / tech stack without talking it over with the team and then leave everyone scrambling.

I’m wondering if I take this job. How can I make sure I don’t repeat his mistakes?

Although the team is small (10 devs), I’ve only ever led very small teams (like 3 devs max) so I’m feeling a bit out of my depth.

I would really appreciate any guidance from someone more experienced. Thanks!

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MiraLumen@reddit

Don't rush for bright new technologies and solutions - use well known, reliable, where you can find all answers on stackoverflow and find developers in no time. Do less experimenting, ask advice where possible, consider different situations.

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CurrencyMedium8502@reddit

have a design question i'm struggling with the best way to handle.

saving data in db, right now its all plaintext. but now, sometimes, it will be encrypted. have to look up in a secondary table to see if it should be encrypted or not before reading or saving. where im stuck is, should i save the encrypted data in the same fields, or create new fields for encrypted data. that way, when reading it back, i'll automatically know its encrypted without the 2nd lookup. but this seems kind of janky. im not sure if theres any other patterns that make sense

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flowering_sun_star@reddit

My instinct would be to go for a new field, to avoid unneeded joins. Then your service that pulls from the database to present it for use would combine the two fields, doing decryption as required.

BUT while I don't know (or particularly care) about your specific domain or problem, when dealing with security you almost always want to be prioritising the security over efficiency. And you need to be thinking very carefully about that security. So whatever you decide to do, you should be running the approach by someone in your org.

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CurrencyMedium8502@reddit

thanks, yea i was worried a bit about impacting performance but framing it this way makes good sense

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SeriousDabbler@reddit

I tend to try to avoid having data of different types in the same field. We had a recent one at work where the developer had been asked to separate two field types but didn't and there were overlaps in the data that meant telling them apart was difficult

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CurrencyMedium8502@reddit

thanks. that was my initial gut feeling, but for whatever reason it felt off. the other suggestion of an encryption type column isn't terrible, its about the same amount of work as this one but this one seems more robust

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Prod_Is_For_Testing@reddit

I would use one data field with another column (or table) for encryption type. You should fetch both pieces of data in one operation. Your data client should transparently decrypt the result so you don’t have to decrypt repeatedly