Too late to turn things around?

Question

I’ve been in the software industry for 9+ years, but I’m currently struggling with a lack of confidence and feeling like I haven’t grown as much as I should have. Here’s some context:

The first 3 years of my career had a solid trajectory, where I got good at lower-level design and was very confident about my work. Then, I got an easy opportunity at banking firm which I joined solely for a salary bump. My career stagnated from here. The work was quite relaxed, and during the 5 years I spent there (coinciding with COVID), I learned closed to nothing (literally just spring boot). I realized this too late and dedicated the last year there to learning DSA and system design (coming from non IT background, I had to start from scratch).

I had always feared interviews, as I hadn’t given many. I eventually got an offer from a FAANG company, but only on a contract role (interviews are much easier for contract role). The salary bump was great, so I took it without much thought and stopped applying elsewhere. Unfortunately, after joining, I realized that working on contract wasn’t ideal, and I spent another ~2 years without significant learning.

After preparing for 6 months, I landed a full-time Senior Software Engineer role at another FAANG company with an amazing salary bump. I joined recently, but I’m now overwhelmed with imposter syndrome. Despite having almost 10 years of experience, I feel like I’ve only really grown for about 4 of those years. I also cleared the interview on my first attempt, which makes me worry it was a fluke.

Now that I’m in the company, I see even junior engineers (with 4-5 years of experience) having far more knowledge and expertise than I do. I’m struggling with low confidence and feel like I’ve lost the spark for IT that I had in the early years of my career.

How do I overcome this situation? I made some terrible choices in my career and I want to get my career back on track, but I feel like an imposter. I worry that I’m too far behind for someone with my experience, and it might be too late to turn things around.

eightysixer · Accepted Answer

So, you've successfully passed not one but two FAANG interviews, which definitionally most engineers fail? I don't think these interviews are perfect but I think you're selling yourself short.

You don't suck. Definitionally you are working with a lot of very smart people - you can be a top 25% or even top 10% talent, but if you compare yourself to top 1% talent you'll feel small. Stop doing that, it's a fool's errand.

Anyway it's very common to come into a new environment and feel stupid, because you need to learn "how things are done around here." Engineers cost more than what they deliver the first year or two in a role. Stay humble, focus on applying your craft to the new environment, and remember that you probably have a lot of practical experience, wisdom, and judgement that juniors don't.

Too late to turn things around?

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