Imposter syndrome refers to the mental feeling of feeling incompetent or unqualified for your job. Even though you may be meeting or exceeding your job expectations, you still feel like you are an “imposter” compared to your coworker peers. Many job roles and industries can invoke imposter syndrome, and it is especially prevalent in the tech industry when you hear about large scale projects, famous companies, and highly qualified people which don’t seem like yourself. ...
FAANG refers to big tech companies that are high growth, working on trendy services across different industries, pay well, and have a large market cap or potential. The acronym originally stood for the companies Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, although the actual companies have changed over time (today, tech giants like Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and SpaceX may be considered in this category). A career in FAANG is often the dream of software engineers for a variety of reasons, but there are both merits and drawbacks to such a life. ...
The career level in the software engineering industry represents a promotion level where one has no expectation to promote further and can comfortably remain put. At most engineering companies, this level is called “Senior Software Engineer” and follows after Junior and Mid-level promotions. The career level marks the end of the typical software engineer career ladder. Reaching this level feels very personally rewarding and fulfilling. Starting at junior engineer level, promotion to this level typically takes years and may not be a linear path. In some sense, promotion to the career level means you’ve “made it” and have proven yourself worthy of being a competent, independent engineer. It’s like a graduation, where your diploma is the status of the career level title, representing your personal accomplishments and skills built throughout the promotion journey. ...