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Career resources for those in tech
November 13th, 2022 · 5 min read
MacBook Pro showing programming language
Navigating your career is hard (photo by Emile Perron via Unsplash)

An Index for all

Last updated: 4th Jul 2023 - Added Hiring Lab by Indeed

Change log located at the bottom of the post.

For many people in tech, keeping up your knowledge about the industry can be hard. Whether that be finding your next Job, keeping up in the industry or just understanding what it means to be a software engineer.

In light of this, and a few people pointing out to me that there isn't really a congregated place for one to look for information, I've decided to take a crack at collating the sources that I (and others) use to stay informed.

Naturally, this list is one that will continue to be updated. I welcome any and all suggestions so feel free to let me know of some either in the comments, or by contacting me here!

How to use this index

As all things should be in life, you should not take these sources as the rule. It is up to you to do your due diligence and formulate your own opinions.

The majority of these sources are focused on Software Engineering but should be applicable to most careers within tech and Computer Science.
Personally, these sources have helped me to form many of my perceptions, which are always challenged and changing, in hopes of providing the most clarity that I can get when tackling a topic.

Take everything with a grain of salt and remember, you can only know as much as you're willing to dive into.

Without further ado, here we go!

Community Forums

  • Reddit - The treasure trove for anecdotes
    • r/CS Career Questions (Reddit)
      • One of the largest congregations of like minded software engineers. A good source of anecdotal information and references.
      • Each region/continent usually has their own smaller "CS Career Questions" sub-reddit (i.e OCE, DevelEire) where you can find more specialized information
    • r/Leetcode
      • A mostly useful source for Leetcode anecdotes and information
      • Includes insights into interviews, Leetcode questions and how to prepare for technical interviews
    • r/CsMajors
      • A sub-reddit for undergraduates/recent graduates studying Computer Science
      • A good source of anecdotal information relative to an early career Software Engineer
  • Blind - TC or GTFO
    • A polarizing (even extreme) forum where driven engineers come to discuss everything (and anything) there is about tech and pay
    • Users can sign up with their work email to identify which company they currently work at (I don't recommend this!)
    • A good source for how the most driven and high performing engineers are doing (mostly monetarily) with many reference points for Job Offers with compensation

Interviewing

Technical Practice

  • Leetcode - The monolith
    • A website used to learn and refine and study coding techniques
    • What every and all engineers gravitate to and use to prepare for interviews
    • You can check out my experience with Leetcode here too!
    • Most if not all other sources will refer to Leetcode when covering Technical Interviews
    • Blind-75: A curated list of Leetcode problems that touches a good portion of the topics covered in Technical Interviews
    • Leetcode Interview experience forums provide many sources of information too!
  • Neetcode.io
    • A curated list of coding problems and courses used to study for Technical interviews
    • Includes courses and questions on system design, algorithms, data structures, etc...
    • Can be used to track progress and topics already covered in your interview preparation
  • Interview.io - Anonymous mock interviews
    • "Anonymous mock interviews with engineers from Amazon, Google, Facebook, and other top companies"
    • Practice makes perfect!
  • System design primer
    • Practice questions for getting better at system design
  • Sean Prashad's Leetcode Patterns
    • A massive database on all the patterns that you can be tested on in a coding interview

Authors

Industry Knowledge

Salaries and company information

Proceed with caution and be very aware of selection bias! Usually people who are proud of their salaries will be more open to sharing.

  • Levels.fyi
  • Glassdoor
    • Crowd-sourced data on all salaries by role
    • Most things are locked behind you having to create your own account and submit your own contribution (every 12 months)
    • Provides user reviews on all things about a company
      • How it is to work there?
      • Interview reviews and difficulty
  • r/Cs Career Questions Salary Sharing
    • User sourced contributions
    • Usually split by region/continent/country
    • New reports are created in intervals and dissected by career stage (early, mid-level, experienced) as well as cost of living
  • Hiring Lab by Indeed
    • Statistics and trends about hiring and job postings
    • Broken down by location/country, industry and practice

The scoop

All sources that will help you keep up to date with what's actually going on

  • LinkedIn - More than a social media hub
    • Possibly the largest social collection of professionals in the world
    • Can be used as an index to find information about companies and individuals
    • Used to find and apply to jobs as well!
  • Layoffs.fyi
    • A site that congregates all information about the layoffs that are occurring in the tech industry
    • Provides data about the impact of said layoffs including
      • The number of total layoffs by company
      • Spreadsheets containing information on the individuals who have been let go and how to get in touch
  • Google Quoted Searches
    • This most likely is the most important source of information for me
    • Google allows you to "quote" search phrases to ensure that results include the quote
    • Combined with the ability to select the domain with site:example.com, it makes it so easy for anyone to find anything that they need

Youtubers

Open source knowledge

  • Tania Rascia
    • A great inspiration for why I created my website!
    • Writes about random stuff about tech
    • Their entire site is open source!
  • Kent C. Dodds
    • "Helping people make the world a better place through quality software"
    • Another open source site!

Change log

  • 4th Jul 2023 - Added Hiring Lab by Indeed
  • 18th Nov 2022 - Added more Youtubers
  • 14th Nov 2022 - Initial Post

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