Focus On People, Then Product

There was a point in my career where I felt the most lost. Even though the market for Software Engineering opportunities was much brighter than it is today, I was having a hard time finding something I was excited about where I thought I could excel. In addition to that, I didn't have anyone to get some advice from. I can't remember how it works but on Linkedin, there was a sort of mentoring program, you just described your interests and got potential matches of people to talk to (it's been a while, I'm a little fuzzy on the details). I ended up talking to someone who had been in the industry for over 15 years (I think he worked at Google, then Snapchat or the other way around). I wasn't sure which direction to take and, as I was looking at some opportunities, I wasn't particularly excited about any of them.

We chatted a bunch and the one lesson I got from him was to focus on the people you'll work with, that makes a world of difference. He had a very good example, he worked on Ads at Google and while the project/product wasn't the most thrilling, he was surrounded by people he admired that he was very happy to work with. I took that lesson to heart and applied that to any job hunt afterward. I have used this advice as a driving factor for any decision. At one point I had 3 offers on the table, I got the chance to meet everyone and I considered four aspects: the people, the career opportunities, the product potential/direction, and the compensation. In that order.

I want to say that 2 out of 3 were startups. One of them stressed me out the moment I entered the office, just looking around at people's faces and their anxiety was not a great selling point. On the other hand, the manager was great, and the projects they had lined up were pretty novel in the industry. Another one had tremendous growth and was profitable within a year, there were no career opportunities and they just needed another strong developer. While I liked the other devs, the founders looked like they didn't care much since this project was part of a larger "portfolio". The last company I interviewed for just clicked immediately, from the manager to my potential coworkers; it's hard to explain but it just felt right. They also happened to have an interesting project, so I was in a pickle for a moment. I ended up going with them because of the advice I was given a while before. They seemed to care at a human level and were focused on solving problems together.

I stand by that advice, and it's something I share with as many people as I can. You should keep in mind that just because you found the right people, it doesn't mean you don't have to focus on the product. Being surrounded by a supporting group is essential, and to grow, it helps to embrace and understand the product. There's no way around it: folks who understand the strong and weak parts of the product, who care about its evolution, and who focus on how to make an impact, often have the strongest career growth. This is nothing new, but early on, I stopped at "find good people" and didn't think about what came after that. So to you I say, find the right people to work with, focus on understanding the product inside out, and finally, find how you can deliver with high impact.

Thoughts

Not sure what prompted this today but I look back at that advice and feel forever grateful. I'm surrounded by great people now at MongoDB, not just coworkers, but folks who want to connect beyond the day-to-day job. This brings me peace because I know that, no matter what, I'll land on my feet with the right group of people. Products come and go; that's normal, but as long as you're in the right crowd you can still grow and be successful. You should spend some time reflecting on why that specific group of people works for you. Sadly, people also come and go, but if you can decode the magic ingredient, you'll know exactly what to look for for the rest of your life. I wrote about Being A Good Interviewer, and you can extract some clues from there on what you should expect. Write down the core values that matter the most to you, then ask questions to learn if the team you could join aligns with those values. This is part of the reason why I'm shocked when candidates have no questions for me; there's so much to learn about a company by asking directly to the interviewers.

Once you're in the right place, if that matters to you, the next step is to understand how to make an impact and then deliver. You don't have to do this in order. At the time of interviewing it's good to understand the strategic direction of the company and what possibilities are there to make an impact. Discuss this with your potential manager and use that to find out if it's a good fit or not.