Danny Brito

"I don't like leetcode style interviews!" See I wasn't making it up! Kurtis Nusbaum tells us more about why engineers don't like leetcode and the types of interviews that lead to a more enjoyable and effective interviewing experience.

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Top 3 things I’m hearing software engineers want… (aside from money & flexibility) 🎯𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 & 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 🎯𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬  🎯𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 If you’re hiring for software folks… A good place to start is highlighting these in job specs. Then as part of your interview process. And once they’re in the door. Put it into practice and your retention will improve. Otherwise I might be speaking to them again 😊 Anything I've missed? #softwareengineer #retention #talentacquisition 

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How do Software Engineers get promoted? Technical ability + soft skills +strategic moves Here's how to stand out 🤝 Master your craft 🔊 Dive deep into your technical skills. Always be learning, whether it's new programming languages, frameworks, or tools. Your commitment to excellence sets you apart. Solve the right problems 🔊 Look for opportunities to solve problems that align with your team's goals and your company's mission. It's not just about fixing bugs; it's about identifying and solving high-impact problems. Communicate with impact 🔊 Whether it's through code comments, documentation, or presentations, your ability to clearly communicate complex ideas is crucial. Remember, your code isn't just for machines; it's for people too. Take initiative 🔊 Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Propose new projects, improvements, or innovations that can drive value for your team and company. Show that you're thinking ahead. Seek feedback 🔊 Regular feedback is your growth catalyst. Embrace constructive criticism and use it to refine your skills and approach. Remember, feedback is a gift that helps you grow. Network internally 🔊 Build relationships outside your immediate team. Understand the broader business context and how your work fits into it. These connections can provide valuable insights and opportunities. Demonstrate leadership 🔊 Leadership isn't just for managers. Mentor juniors, lead by example, and contribute to a positive, inclusive team culture. Show that you're someone others can look up to. Align your goals with your manager's 🔊 Understand your manager's priorities and how you can contribute. Regular check-ins to align your goals can pave a clear path to your promotion. We are djr 🔵 ⚪

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🔹 Why is LinkedIn Important for Programmers? LinkedIn is a unique platform that can greatly influence your career in the programming world. Regardless of your experience level, it connects you with new opportunities and like-minded professionals. 👉 How LinkedIn Can Support Your Growth: 1️⃣ A Complete Profile is Your First Step to Success Filling out your profile with accurate information about your education, skills, and experience is essential. Your profile is often your first impression on potential employers, so make it clean, complete, and professional. 2️⃣ Post Regularly to Highlight Your Skills Share updates on your projects, new technologies you’re learning, and your experiences in programming. Consistent posting helps you stay visible to HR professionals and industry leaders. Remember, it’s never too late to learn something new, and LinkedIn is a great way to explore opportunities. Share your experiences-how has LinkedIn helped you? #LinkedInTips #CareerGrowth #ProgrammingLife #DeveloperJourney #TechCareers #JobSearch #Networking #TechIndustry #LinkedInSuccess #SoftwareEngineer

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From "tunnel rat" to senior engineer with FAANG on the resume - a TL;DR of my salary journey in tech: 2005-2015: Worked for the MTA in NYC as a Track Worker. I was literally swinging hammers on the rails, laying down tracks. 2015: Attended General Assembly, a 3-month bootcamp, and learned how to code. Quickly resonated with Front End development. Was the 1st in my class to get a job offer and by the summer I was working at Accenture. This represented an $11k raise from the MTA. 2016: Gave myself a $22k raise and accepted a job at L2 Inc. My first startup! I learned React here as well. Good times. 2017: Gave myself a $24k raise and accepted a job at Transfix. To this day, this was one my my favorite companies to work for. This was a hard company to leave, but I was early in my career making up for lost time in the tunnels. I also spit a verse over a dope beat as my farewell email and sent it to the whole company. 2018: Gave myself a $48k raise - welcome to Bloomberg! At this point I thought I plateaued. I was now making more than 2.5x what I was at Transit. Talk about a life change! God is good. I had no plans of leaving until drastic internal changes happened. 2019-2021: Took a 3k base pay cut but... joined Meta and give myself a significant overall raise due to those sweet, sweet RSUs. God, is this real?! Some of the best working experiences I've ever had. What a ride. 2021-2023: Base pay bump of 30k - now I'm at Coinbase. And still, those sweet, sweet RSUs. Liquid cash is always the best! This would be the company that made me realize I had the "golden handcuffs" on. It's SO hard to walk away from RSUs, but my family would ultimately help me realize there's more to life than money. 2023 - present: 30k base pay bump as I joined the good ship Docker, Inc. Pretty much at the top level (financially) of being a senior engineer but the golden handcuffs are finally off. Join me and 🌻 Anna Miller this Thursday as we continue our conversations about my career journey. The whole point is to give people insight and encouragement on theirs. 🫡

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✅𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐀𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 👩‍💻 During my FAANG interview, I learned an invaluable lesson that completely changed how I approach technical challenges—I wasn’t asking enough clarifying questions.💯 📍Here’s what happened: In one of the technical rounds, I was given a problem that appeared straightforward. Feeling confident, I started coding immediately without taking the time to fully grasp the requirements. Halfway through, I realized my solution wasn’t working as expected. It turned out I had misunderstood a key aspect of the problem. Thankfully, the interviewers were supportive. They encouraged me to pause, ask thoughtful questions, and reevaluate my approach. With their guidance, I restructured my solution and was able to recover.💯 This experience taught me that technical interviews at companies like FAANG aren’t just about solving problems. They’re about 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦 under pressure. 📍Here’s my advice for anyone preparing for a tech interview: 👉 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲: Take your time to ask clarifying questions upfront. It saves you from unnecessary confusion and ensures you’re solving the right problem. 👉 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: Talk through your logic and approach. It helps the interviewer see how you think and gives them a chance to guide you if needed. 👉 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬: Mock interviews are invaluable for building confidence, improving communication, and learning to ask the right questions under pressure. If you’re looking to elevate your interview preparation, Learnbay offers tailored resources to help you succeed. With their specialized programs, you’ll get: ✔️ 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 covering DSA, System Design, and Software Development. ✔️ 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲-𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 to sharpen your practical skills. ✔️ 𝐌𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 to help you stand out. 🔗Learn from experts who’ve successfully made it to top companies like Amazon, Microsoft etc: https://bit.ly/41Yjc7S Let’s ace that next interview together! 🚀

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What’s the quickest way to go from '404 Not Found' to '200 OK'? 🤨 📚 Enroll in online courses 👉 They’ll have you navigating code errors faster than ChatGPT gives you solutions #IYKYK #softwareengineering #coding #programming #techhumor - - - If you liked this post, 🤝 Follow Kelvin Gandhi ♻️ Please reshare if you relate to this post.

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Great interview between Brian Jenney and Vanessa V. with a lot of great nuggets! Some of my favorite tidbits: - If you're an introvert, you can pick and choose the people you WANT to talk to (which could make all the difference in networking!) - Find the learning tools that work for the way YOU learn (Thanks for the Scrimba rec!) - Finding a junior role is not about a specific skill or language or tool but rather your personality and aptitude (can they see working with you? can they see you GROWING?) There are no hacks or secret passwords to getting a job in tech: sometimes it's just consistently showing up, learning new skills, and getting experience (wherever and however you can 😎 ) If you want to listen, I'll put the Spotify link in the comments but highly recommend checking these peeps out!

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Something’s you may not know about coding: 1. It’s one of the the fastest growing fields second only to medical. 2. Entry-level developers move up faster than most entry-level positions. Some in as little as 6 months! 3. Coding isn’t just for software developers. Managers need these skills as well to optimize workflow for teams and business intelligence. 4. Remote and hybrid opportunities are abundant. 5. Absolutely no degree required to get started.

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Your interview technique is trash here’s why you’re failing every time Most software engineers think interviews are about showing off perfect solutions. Wrong. Nobody cares if you can spit out the right answer. They care about how you think. The problem-solving process is the real deal, not your final code. You crush the coding question but walk out wondering why the interviewer looked bored. Spoiler: they weren’t impressed by your silent genius act. Fix it before your next interview: a) Narrate your thought process like you're explaining it to a junior dev. b) Embrace wrong turns and dead ends, they’re proof you think critically. c) Collaborate with the interviewer. Ask clarifying questions and discuss trade-offs. Google gets it. Research shows engineers who explain their reasoning perform way better in interviews than those who chase perfection. And yet, most of you still think your flawless solution will save you. Hint: It won’t. The next time you walk into an interview, ditch the silence. Engage. Prove you can solve real-world problems, not just toy algorithms. This isn't just advice. It’s your wake-up call. Start showcasing your brain or keep failing. Your choice. #TechHiring #SoftwareEngineering #ProblemSolving #CodingInterviews #CareerGrowth

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The coolest benefit of being a SWE is Flexibility Most days, you are not tied to a 9-5 - Don’t want to work now ? Take rest and do it later - You plan your day, week and half and dictate on your own terms - You can literally work from anywhere where there is internet Very few professions in the world allow this level of flexibility. #softwareengineering

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It’s official: landing a software engineering job is tougher now than it was just a few years ago. With many startups shutting down and big companies laying off employees, candidates with 0-5 years of experience are feeling the pinch. What can you do? Shift your storytelling from tools and languages to the impact you've made. Highlight who your users were, how you improved their lives, and any recognition you received. Remember, outcomes matter more than just the technologies you used!

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Landing offers from 6 companies back-to-back felt surreal, but the real work happened long before the first interview. Preparation was my superpower. 3 of these companies, well known for their notoriously tough interview processes, tested my limits. I made mistakes, but I recovered each time, thanks to the confidence and speed I gained during my prep. During my Google interview I was able to stop half-way in and code up an entirely different solution because I realized I missed an edge case that broke my first approach. At Uber I had run into a hard to catch bug that I was able to resolve with systematic debugging. Each of these moments felt like pressure tests I was ready for because I had done a bunch of mocks that got my nerves down and greatly increased my problem solving speed. My Amazon leadership principles interviewer jokingly commented how I'm supposed to take longer to answer the questions 🤣 . Mock interviews are an important step in interview prep that a lot of people skip. Practice is paramount because the interview environment isn't the same as on the job. Individuals fully qualified to do the work can easily bomb out of not having the right expectations of the interview format. Mocks provide a controlled environment to simulate the pressure and pacing of a real interview, allowing you to identify and work on areas where you might struggle, be it communication, problem-solving speed, or managing nerves. Interviews are an imperfect attempt to understand your fit for a role. It requires things like explaining your thought process as you type out the code, something you never do at work and can cause anxiety. The mental overhead can also trip you up. It's kind of wild how you can be the one who successfully led and delivered an impactful project,  yet struggle to communicate the details in a way the interview can evaluate under the interview rubric. The biggest benefit of mocks is that unlike real interviews, they can give you direct and actionable feedback. Karat is giving out free mock interviews to members of the Brilliant Black Minds program and helping to connect you to top tech companies that are hiring. This is a great opportunity for black software engineers. Highly recommended, its 100% free!

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Junior Software Engineers—are you ready for the new way that companies are looking to hire in 2025? This weeks videos is all about how coding hiring will evolve as AI continues to improve.

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Developers, never forget that interviews should go both ways. Yes, the interviewer is there to learn about you, but you’re also there to learn about them. If you’re interviewing at an early-stage startup (e.g. less than 10 employees), here are three things you might want to find out during the first stage: 🗣️ Where are they currently at with app development, and how do they envision plans to change as the business grows? 🗣️ When resources and budgets are limited, where does app development fit into their priorities, and how would your role be impacted? 🗣️ What challenges have they faced (or anticipate to face) in development so far, and how do they expect to overcome them? Sometimes, interviews can seem one-sided, but don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions. It’ll show the interviewer that you’re engaged, interested, confident, and can use your initiative. (Plus, if they don’t encourage you to ask questions, it’s probably a red flag!) #DeveloperOpportunities #DeveloperJobs #MobileDeveloper #InterviewTips

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One thing I love about the swe career path is how straightforward it is. There are clear steps to land high paying jobs at top companies like Meta. As a converse example, I think becoming a movie producer would be pretty cool, but I have no idea what that career path looks like. But for software engineering, resources are readily available, and the requirements are fairly well documented. - Learn to code. (Most all universities have a CS program and you can also learn everything on YouTube.) - Work on side projects. (There are ton of examples on GitHub and tutorials on YouTube.) - LeetCode. (On YouTube there are walkthroughs for how to solve almost every LeetCode problem.) - Network. (There are tons of software engineers out there at a ton of cool companies. And many of them are junior engineers who just went through recruiting themselves and are happy to help.) To be clear, I’m not saying it’s an easy path, but I do think it is a relatively straightforward path. What am I missing? #swe #coding

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