10 steps in the career of a software engineer: From SDE-1 to Principal Engineer

Рет қаралды 83,882

Күн бұрын

In this video, Gaurav Sen discusses the different levels of software engineering positions and their expectations, from software engineer to distinguished engineer.
He explains the skills and experience needed to move up the career ladder and the responsibilities of each position. He also mentions how companies have different structures and hierarchies and the different considerations that come into play when promoting employees within the same company or hiring new ones from outside.
The entry-level position is SDE-1, which requires good coding skills and the ability to implement design patterns and make API calls.
The SDE-II position requires 2-6 years of experience and a deep understanding of the system, tradeoffs, business requirements, features, and interactions with other systems.
The Senior Software Engineer position requires interaction with other teams, setting design and code quality standards, and mentoring young engineers. This position can represent the team and make optimal decisions for the overall system. The levels of compensation vary from organization to organization.
Finally, he talks about how distinguished engineers are responsible for creating solutions that benefit not just their company but the industry or the world.
00:00 Intro
00:17 Takeaways
00:49 3. SDE-I responsibilities
01:31 2. SDE Interns
02:11 4. SDE-II responsibilities
04:05 5. SDE-III Senior Software Engineer
05:56 6. Staff Engineer or Tech Lead
06:47 Engineering Managers?
07:18 Example Staff Engineer Project
08:18 7. Senior Staff or Architect
09:52 Required Years of Experience
11:20 8. Principal Engineer
12:27 9. Distinguished Engineer
13:57 10. Engineering Fellow
14:25 Example Projects
15:29 Some Star Engineers
15:52 Likelihood of progression
16:07 Thank you!
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#Engineering #Career #Promotions

Пікірлер: 122

@maurocerbai7930 Жыл бұрын

Waiting for EM-1 path 😉

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Like this comment to keep it on top!

@anishjain1941 Жыл бұрын

@@gkcs Please add EM as well as PM path. I got to see some people from engineering also move directly to PM path. Would like to know the differences and their work.

@ssuriyaprakash1 Жыл бұрын

yeah also discuss path for operational or support roles.

@timepass6935 8 ай бұрын

What is EM

@ungarbagebin Жыл бұрын

Thanks for making this video. It provided some much needed clarity about career progression as a software engineer. I am currently an SDE1 and often feel the impostor syndrome but this provides me a good sense of direction about what should I improve in my work to get promoted.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@markm4642 Жыл бұрын

Extremely useful content. 20+ years, mountain climbing has begun

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Summit Everest, you'll make it!

@marcelo-ramos Жыл бұрын

Great video! I think it would have been good to clarify that the ladder shown is just an example, since the actual career ladder will vary drastically depending on the company (maybe it got lost in the edit.) For example, when I was a Staff Software Engineer at IBM, it only meant I had been at the company for maybe 3 to 8 years, since it's just the second engineering level (band 7 overall). Another example is the position I have now as Principal Software Development Engineer at Oracle, which is just the 4th level in the career ladder, which is still a world away from what other companies call "Principal".

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

That's right, thank you for sharing your experience!

@rahulgarai4822 Жыл бұрын

Need more videos regarding these types.... amazing content 👍

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@brainwizard8915 10 ай бұрын

very informative video, gives a lot of insight in SDE progresssion

@MuhammadOvi Жыл бұрын

Great video, Gaurav! Your explanation is very helpful for understanding career progression in the industry. Keep making such amazing videos for us 😉

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you, I will!

@vishirox69 Жыл бұрын

Best example of Distinguished Engineer is the legendary Ken Thompson, who create C alongside Dennis Ritchie. He is currently L9 at google and is instrumental in developing Go Lang

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Awesome profile :D

@sahilsingh2606 Жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot Gaurav for sharing this.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Glad it was useful!

@ash4733 Жыл бұрын

The quality of his all videos are 🔥

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@arpitbhardwaj2715 Жыл бұрын

Hi Gaurav, amazing video. Can you also make a video about your career progression with years and what you did to get there?

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion :D

@rahul_spawar Жыл бұрын

very motivational and informative video, As a SDE 1 or 1.5 🤣, I lost some interest in the carrier path because of all AI enhancement and AI replacing SDE jobs and all. But this again lit some fire, Thanks a lot ❤

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Best of luck!

@111000dj Жыл бұрын

Hats off bro... That was really insightful

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@niveditaprity Жыл бұрын

Thank You Gaurav for your amazing content

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thanks Nivi!

@vijaysaichowdary 7 күн бұрын

HI, Gaurav Sen, I have subscribed to This is my first video from your channel. I really fell in love with your content and explanation. I am an SDE-2 and working hard for SDE-3. video made to focus more on the product eng and Technical solutions. Thanks a lot.

@gkcs 7 күн бұрын

Thanks Vijay!

@chrisyoung9742 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, very helpful!

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

You're welcome!

@fahaduddin2666 Жыл бұрын

Hi, amazing video. Can you also share some tips to progress from one level to another like SDE II -> SDE III

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

For every promotion, you need to perform at the level you want to go to. For example, to go to SDE-3, you must perform as an SDE-3 for 6 months (take responsibility for the team coding standards, manage peripheral system dependencies, etc...)

@akashvardhan6189 Жыл бұрын

Top notch content.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@GoutamReddydazz Жыл бұрын

Thanks man..❤❤❤❤❤

@venkatesansharankumar5341 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing.👍.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you too!

@kzmOP Жыл бұрын

Thanks for info.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Always welcome!

@surendradas8174 Жыл бұрын

There is one interesting level addition to all these. Its called architect.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

The architect is usually L7, also known as senior staff engineer.

@ayushdubey9618 Жыл бұрын

Thanks Gaurav you always comes up with unique videos, I have some doubts for example for sde2 of some product based or startup might be working on design pattern and microservices architectural patterns but that is not the same case with person working for service based organisations so how to match that level , how would I work on that design patterns and others things that you mentioned since that thing I am not using.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

There are a few options: 1. Look for opportunities at work (discuss with your manager and other teams). 2. Switch to jobs which have such work. 3. Open source.

@parasrajput6839 Жыл бұрын

Hi, i am a 12 year experienced professional working on Microsoft technologies in a service based company. Is it possible to switch to DSA and get jobs in a product based company and do recruiting companies prefer such transitions?

@doobleshoodle Жыл бұрын

Hey @Gaurav, can you share a pic or the PDF of the board for future reference?

@allwin. Жыл бұрын

How to become Salesforce Developer to entry level SDE roles , please guide me

@cripz4203 Жыл бұрын

In the company I work, small but quite well known service-based global company, difference between SDE-intern, I, II are very very less. The work is similar, the only difference being the speed at which you work or productive outputs. Also, the promotions are way too fast, i.e, SDE-I in 1 year is promoted to SDE-II and same is the case for promotion of SDE-II to SDE-III. I heard somewhere that it is bad for higher levels having lower experience in an org. What do you feel?

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

High levels for low experience is an indicator of an exceptional performer, or incorrect leveling.

@vishalgarg8541 Жыл бұрын

What’s the experience required from SDE -3 ?

@vnarayan100 Жыл бұрын

At lot of big companies, I don’t see senior staff level, usually I see staff and then principal, have you observed this as well?

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

I haven't seen that, is there a company you can point me to?

@excitingmonkey3970 Жыл бұрын

Btw Sanjay and Jeff dean did map reduce . It’s right to mention both . Btw Jeff’s a distinguished engineer too.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Yes he also jointly built page rank.

@deepika3389 Жыл бұрын

You share very rich content 👍 Also please make PM path too

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@mjj3tube Жыл бұрын

It would be Great you could do a career path for Test Automation gaurav.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

It is the same for all IC roles 😁

@jhonsen9842 Жыл бұрын

Great Content But how can you forget Jeff Dean as L10 Most celebrated Engineer at Google.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

I missed him, sorry :)

@sams6454 Жыл бұрын

None of the senior staff engineers I know are going to be writing a custom network protocol. Seems a bit ambitious to me?

@RaviPrakash-qj2lz Жыл бұрын

Hi Gaurav! Awesome video. It provides good clarity on responsibilities at each level. But one thing which I felt missing is what responsibilities will be dropped when being promoted compared to past designations. e.g. L7 engineer might not be performing management responsibilities what he/she used to do as SDE-III

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thanks Ravi! That's a very good question! What you should or shouldn't delegate is a tricky question. I'll create a video on this too :D

@markm4642 Жыл бұрын

Wonder what the path is for data scientist

@theSDE2 Жыл бұрын

why not increase the production quality of the videos now? That will make the viewing experience even better to watch

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Hey Pushkar, could you please explain what you mean by that?

@VanshikaChowdhary-ys9gt Жыл бұрын

Hi, I am currently SDE1 and thinking of management roles. Is it possible to get into management role without mba, how many of years of experience is needed on a minimum.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

You need about 8 years of experience, at minimum, before you are considered for a management role as an SE.

@monikapant3365 Жыл бұрын

but usually in service based what happen is, whatever your designation is you work as a developer in most of the cases. I am not sure how one can make it happen to take responsibility as per their designation, it is difficult in service. sector. Everything you do is according to the client needs. And once you try to switch, you need to prepare things according to your experience along with your tech expertise, does not matter what you are gonna do after joining the organisation

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

I am not well versed with the service sector. Thank you for sharing your experience 😁

@sampreeth6575 Жыл бұрын

I do agree with your comment. I am currently in a service based company. What I feel designation is just given based on the number of years of experience. Work content remains the same irrespective of designation. I have personally seen associate engineers, senior engineers, leads do the same work unlike product based companies where entry level (SDE1) does coding mainly and SDE2 focuses more on system design,distributed systems and building large scale systems. So in product companies there is clearly a difference in work based on designation!!

@sampreeth6575 Жыл бұрын

Also in service based companies you are randomly tagged to any project irrespective of your branch, expertise. It's all random over there and the common thing they say is based on requirements and availability you are assigned to so and so project and they try to convince saying even this field is good you need to know everything!!

@ankitpunia4722 Жыл бұрын

What about Architect and Sr. Architect?

@architjain5108 Жыл бұрын

Product manager path?

@ankk98 Жыл бұрын

Software world will change fast. We can't think of decades of careers.

@OKBYE0 5 ай бұрын

even i feel same .. can u say what will be the focus industry in future

@AshishKumar-kv4hr Жыл бұрын

What would be the level of an architect?

@nihshrey Жыл бұрын

Dig it

@iwoz Жыл бұрын

I am a network engineer with 13 years of experience and is a CCIE in routing and switching from 2009. I ve been coding Python, and JS for last 7 years and have build network monitoring system for my organization. If I switch career to full time software engineer role where in this career ladder should I aim for. Thanks

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

I would think you are heading for a senior software engineer role.

@iwoz Жыл бұрын

@@gkcs thanks. Any skill sets you recommend me to concentrate on to?

@sparshpriyadarshi Жыл бұрын

Hey Gaurav I'd say for roles at the higher ups try and invite someone with that first hand experience for a chat too. Because many young engineers here should probably realize how an example career path and scope of responsibilities and impact is not the end-all-be-all template.

@techknowledgebase4504 Жыл бұрын

What about Architect path. After SDE3 or 4

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

The architect would be a senior staff engineer.

@shreyashachoudhary480 Жыл бұрын

Are SDE different from frontend 😅 Throughout video you assumed sde as backend dev

@areebwadood6273 Жыл бұрын

Gaurav be like - " You may become principal engineer soon" Me who is eagerly wanting to get promoted to SDE-2

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

All in good time 😁

@mohitpatel1641 Жыл бұрын

Amazing video, just one suggestion improve the thumbnail of the videos.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip. What would you prefer?

@mohitpatel1641 Жыл бұрын

Take some predefined templates and edit accordingly.

@aishwaryshukla8880 Жыл бұрын

EM path please! Also does doing MBA after few years of being SDE help for EM path? If not then why do some people do MBA after SDE

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

I think it does help. It helps see the big picture better.

@aishwaryshukla8880 Жыл бұрын

@@gkcs Thanks for replying!

@s1ddh-rth Жыл бұрын

"Shut up and do DSA" - GKCS. Got me good 😂😂

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

"Also, buy my interview course" :p

@s1ddh-rth Жыл бұрын

@@gkcs will do soon enough!

@akshay-kumar-007 Жыл бұрын

Is Director of Engineering same as Distinguished engineer?

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

They are usually at the same level of a principle engineer.

@akshay-kumar-007 Жыл бұрын

@@gkcs Strange, in my current org(a mid-size startup), there are 3 principle engineers, 1 associate director of engineering, 1 director of engineering, 1 VP of Engineering(not filled currently) and then CTO.

@solomoon4784 Жыл бұрын

The predictability of even the best path is tragic.

@saranemohan Жыл бұрын

May I know the position of software architect/ solution architect.

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

It would be at L7, also known as senior software engineer.

@vnarayan100 Жыл бұрын

L7 is actually staff or senior staff engineer correct?

@mridulchaudhary8545 Жыл бұрын

Please shed some light on topic how AI might affect engineering industry in coming 5-10 years.

@celticspyd5887 5 ай бұрын

bharath who became principal engineer in microsoft in 9 year

@kunalsharmain Жыл бұрын

I think it is not fixed based on experience. Sometime based on pay scale companies provide the similar position but work might be different. Like you are as tech lead but working as SDE2. That happened a lot in covid times and even before too

@gkcs Жыл бұрын

It depends on the size of the company and the funds too, yes.