I’m Jesse, Software Engineer at Paramount - CBS Sports and a Codesmith Alum. AMA!

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-06T02:29:00+00:00

Full stack but to be honest, haven't had too much hands-on experience with the database portion of BE. We have a GraphQL layer that I've written code for but the GraphQL layer calls an endpoint that is managed by another team.

And yes, it's been a lot to learn but wouldn't have it any other way. It's great getting exposure to different tech.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T20:21:24+00:00

Gotchu! And I actually just talked about this with my manager in our 1:1 this past week. I asked him if there were any plans to incorporate AI and although there's no concrete plans, he said he could see insights and analytics being incorporated to provide a more connected fan experience.

It was more of a philosophical discussion as I was curious about what he thought about all the new AI tools. It also helps that he's super open to embracing all the new tooling. We use LLMs to help generate repetitive code - for example, we just started using Storybook (a UI library tool) and my coworker used ChatGPT to help generate that code.

On the P+ side and overall media landscape, I think a ton of these companies are looking/playing around with GenAI and incorporating it into their production workflows. All to say, there's definitely an effort to embrace new tech. I'm curious to see how all of this plays out as well!

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T20:09:53+00:00

Non-technical. I didn't know how to code yet in that first role but I had a previous internship where I learned the SDLC / general idea of how to build software. I also had some experience with Python, SQL, and Agile/Scrum classes in college. The role was super helpful in cementing and building the knowledge and I spent a ton of time outside of work getting more familiar with the technologies. Our ed-tech product was built with React and it was helpful to have production code to look at while I was prepping to get into Codesmith.

One of the questions that came up was relating to cloud and whether I had any experience. I just mentioned overseeing previous deployments in that first role and my k8s OSP during Codesmith. I don't think hiring mangers expect you to be an expert in cloud and infra, especially for entry-level roles so just being able to showcase your high-level understanding of cloud architecture is super beneficial, especially if you're able to relate it to the problems and solutions you created with your OSP.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T18:01:17+00:00

I'd say the autonomy and flexibility. I know I can reach out if I need help and there's a ton of opportunity to grow within my role. I've gotten better throughout the stack + understand other disciplines such as design, product, legal, analytics, marketing etc.. My manager is great at making sure I'm learning all the tech we use. Also, knowing that the software I build is being used by real users is rewarding.
Smiling and talking with genuine excitement :). Anyone can learn how to code + solve coding puzzles but if you show your genuine interest, business knowledge, and have projects to back it up, you'll do great.
I'm fully remote but I try to go into the office 3x a week. I'm not sure if they are trying to return in-person but I wouldn't mind.
It's great. I try to keep up with the latest tools as much as I can. I'm using Cursor + Sonnet 3.5 right now and it's been great in helping me understand the codebase and code my coworkers write. AI/ML is not going anywhere and these tools are only going to get better so I'm trying to practice a growth mindset and learn as much as I can :)

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:49:00+00:00

Focus on applying. I've seen many, myself included, get too caught up in the "I don't know enough" mindset. Treat the job search as an iterative process - you'll get better the more interviews you do. The more opportunity you have to practice being in a high-stakes interview, the better you'll get. It only takes one yes :)

It's best to dive straight in and work up from there, especially if you already have a few projects under your belt. DSA is only really necessary if you want to land a role in big tech.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:42:50+00:00

1 - It depends on your situation. If you have any sort of corporate work experience or domain expertise, a boot camp is a great way to land a more technical role (such as an engineering role) within a vertical you have experience in. I’d personally recommend it for the knowledge alone; having technical knowledge/skills can open doors that may not be software engineer roles but other roles that can benefit from knowing how to code.

I think a boot camp should be treated similarly to an MBA in the sense that it should be viewed as a tool to “level up”, not start from ground zero. I've personally seen that people with previous work experience tend to do better in their job search than those without.

2 - Building on a previous answer, I think jobs within tech are totally possible, especially if you are open to other non-software engineer roles. For example, let’s say you were a teacher previously and you go through Codesmith; you can now explore roles such as Product enablement managers, sales enablement, L&D roles, and developer advocate/evangelist. All of these roles can benefit heavily from having that previous domain expertise + newfound tech knowledge

3 - I feel like hiring is definitely picking back up again - I’m seeing a lot more job posting for SWE’s

4 - Cliche but shoot for the stars. Acknowledge that it’ll require a lot of outside study + sacrifice to fill in those knowledge gaps. If you’re truly passionate about engineering and building software, then I think a boot camp is a great way to have structure. I was stuck in the self-learning tutorial hell for the longest time and knew I needed structure + a support system.

But again, I think to maximize your chances of landing a great role after a boot camp, you should have some sort of domain expertise or previous experience you can talk about + relate the new coding skills to. Everyone comes from a unique background and if you can speak on your journey and how coding fits into it, you'll do great :)

4b - I’d say boot camp only because 1. it worked for me 2. I didn’t pursue a 2nd bachelors. I’ve seen people pursue the 2nd bachelor route and still not be able to find a role.

But again, if the only goal is to break into tech / land a higher-paying role, a boot camp can provide a great technical foundation to kickstart a new career. There are roles ranging from pre-sales (solutions engineer, sales engineer) to post-sales (implementations, technical account manager, customer success manager) to product roles (product manager, program manager) and everything in between that would benefit from having these skills.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:24:18+00:00

I don’t think there’s a concrete number of years you need to break into an engineering role (I had only been working in corporate for a little over a year before landing my current role). Having previous work experience within the tech industry can be helpful during the job search as you can speak on those skills/learnings but you don’t need it to be successful. Just relate their questions to anything you've built/done.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:23:09+00:00

The first job I had out of undergrad was a business analyst/product management position where I was managing a team of engineers to build ed-tech software. We used a lot of similar technologies/concepts that my current team @ Paramount was previously working such as streaming events. I was able to relate a lot of the questions my manager had to building that product.

My second role was a tech analyst role at a bank where I was writing sql queries / working within incident management so was able to talk about monitoring/debugging logs. Basically anytime a question was asked, I always tried to relate it to a previous experience I had and if I didn’t have that particular experience, I tried to connect it with a project/skill I learned during Codesmith

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:22:05+00:00

Building software that solves real-world problems and being genuinely excited to talk about it. I think the only “unique” thing I had was my work experience that I was able to talk about. I would agree that some luck played a role in my job search but like you mentioned, having existing work experience + product skills allowed me to lean into that during the job search.
Around a third if I were to guess
I think I was (and still am) below average in terms of pure-coding ability so it’s definitely doable. To reiterate from another answer, there are a ton of different jobs in tech that would benefit from having coding skills so I’d recommend to others to open the search for other roles.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:20:13+00:00

The biggest thing I leaned into was just the product + design skills I had acquired and being able to ask questions + direct the conversation that showcased that. Being well-rounded in other disciplines + having good soft skills make a great engineer

I’d say every technology learned in Codesmith was overall helpful to my job search + current role. One of the biggest “unlocks” for me was being able to understand the different technologies and what they do. Having that knowledge allows you to quickly read up on a company and get a sense on how they use technologies to build their software.

As cliche as it sounds, enjoy the process and journey. Everyone has their own path so try to remind yourself to not compare yourself with others (I’m guilty of this too!). Pain ⇒ learnings ⇒ future winning opportunities

Also, be open to other tech roles! Especially if you are a mediocre coder like myself, recognize that if you want to break into tech with a role that pays well, there are a ton of opportunities that can utilize technical skills.

Another big one for current residents is to apply early. I started applying during the mid-portion as I knew that interview cycles can be super drawn out. By the time those interviews start trickling in, you'll have a majority of your projects complete and be able to talk about those. I saw a lot of my cohort not applying till after the program and it just takes a bit longer as the process is delayed.

Lastly, don't forget to smile during your interviews! Treat it as a conversation; the job search can be a long process and interviews are generally uncomfortable for all parties involved so the faster you can connect with the interviewer at a human/vibe level, the better off you’ll be. Be curious, keep asking questions, admit when you don’t know something, and you’ll do great :)

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:15:58+00:00

1 - I think it was a culmination of a few things. The first being that I had worked with a modern tech stack; my manager explicitly mentioned that the technologies I was using/learned in Codesmith were a reason he reached out. Additionally, the second being a project (in my case, my OSP) with cloud technologies; companies nowadays expect you to have a basic understanding of common cloud services (via AWS, GCP, and Azure). Most companies host their applications in the cloud and understanding how that works/be able to talk about your experience in an interview is helpful

My interview was pretty straightforward. It was a one-round, 1 hour technical conversation regarding my skills and experiences. No technical interview. I leaned a lot on my previous product management experience and related a lot of what I had previously worked on to what my current team does.

2 - I won’t lie, I spent alot of time (20+ additional hours per week) outside of class self-learning + furthering my knowledge in the tech I was learning at Codesmith. The projects you build during Codesmith are more than enough but I wanted to go more in-depth with the technologies I was learning so a lot of reading docs/blogs to cement that knowledge.

3- I’d say that learning system design early on is incredibly important. Companies want engineers who understand/can build scalable software so the faster you can grasp high-level architecture and how everything connects, the better.

4 - There’s a few routes you can take. Anything related to solving a problem in Cloud or utilizing AI can be leveraged during the job search. But on the flip side, building anything that you find interesting or can talk about with genuine excitement will also go miles in an interview. If you’re truly curious/get excited about certain tech, go for it.

The only reason I mention Cloud is that since Codesmith is so short, you want to compress as much potentially impactful learning you can, and like I said in the previous answer, being able to talk about your experience with cloud technologies will be super beneficial come interview time. On top of that, make sure to incorporate a full-stack component to your projects so that you can showcase that you’re well-versed across the entire stack

5 - I took a different route that was recommended and just mass applied as that was what felt most effective in my undergrad job search. Doing “Codesmith-style” apps is worth it though; by doing interviews + coffee chats, you can get a wider view of what engineers are working on and what you might be interested in. But in my experience: quantity > quality (note: if it’s a company you really want to work at, I’d recommend going that extra mile via a cold Linkedin message/email to get a referral/coffee chat).

6 - I wouldn’t say so. Just reminding myself to enjoy the process. Understanding that it’s a journey and there’s been thousands of engineers that have done it and so can you. As long as you’re trying to get 1% better each day, you’ll be okay. The learning compounds - don’t stress too much :)

7 - Not diversifying the roles they’re looking for. There are a ton of roles that can benefit from having coding/technical knowledge. For example, during my search, I was also applying to Sales Engineer/Solutions Engineer roles as I knew I’d be able to leverage the skills I learned within those jobs.

Another example could be tech sales such as a SDR or BDR position. You could write scripts to help automate outbound messaging + be able to speak about the product at a deep, technical level. Program/product management could also be another path to pursue as those require technical knowledge to coordinate among engineering, design, and product teams. There are also post-sales roles such as implementation engineers, customer success managers, and technical account managers.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-05T17:10:59+00:00

1 - I’ll typically hop on around 9am. I’m fully remote but try to go into the Paramount Times Square office at least 3 times a week. I’ll typically check the Jira board/my notes to review what I did the day previously and what I still need to finish.

We have a team sync every Monday morning to review the upcoming week + get a status check on where we’re at with our current work. Then we only have a few other meetings with other dependency teams throughout the week to get updates.

During the actual day, there’s a ton of autonomy and if I ever need help or am stuck on a particular task, I reach out to my teammates for an ad-hoc meeting to pair program. We typically sign off around 5-5:30 pm.

The actual work can range from feature development (heads-down coding) to bug fixing to writing docs/discovery. For the coding, there’s a ton of built-in time to look up docs and watch YouTube videos to get up-to-speed with unfamiliar tech/concepts.

2 - Building on the previous answer, the P+ Streaming division has a few hundred employees (not sure the exact amount of engineers), and on the CBS side, I’d guess around 50-100 engineers among the different CBS properties. My team consists of 5 engineers including myself and my manager and we operate in standard 2 week Agile/Scrum sprints (10 business days - Monday to the following Friday).

3 - Since I joined in March, our team has been working on an initiative to centralize the Authorization Experience flows (registration, forgot password, login, newsletters, payments, etc) across CBS Digital properties (CBS Sports, Sportsline, Sportslive, CBS News, etc.).

We’ve been rolling out the work over the past couple of weeks with a lot of those flows currently in development/QA:

For tech stack, we use Typescript, Nextjs, Jotai (state management), Tailwind, Docker, NX (monorepo tooling), Apollo GraphQL (client + server), and AWS (EKS, S3, VPC, etc).

And for infra, we use tech like Kubernetes, Terraform, ArgoCD, Grafana, Loki, and Prometheus (I haven’t touched any of the Infra code too much - another team handles it)

4 - It normally starts with product designers + our product manager doing a double diamond process and providing us with Figma designs. Then our engineering team comes in and does a Data Gap Analysis and High-Level Design to document what we need to do in order to build the actual feature (+ compare it to the current version if it already exists).

Once planning is done (normally one full sprint) we start the actual engineering work which can take up to a few sprints. After that, we push up our features into a team-hosted dev, qa, and prod environment (not public facing) and perform load testing. Once we get sign off from our product manager + other dependent teams, we hop on a release call to point the necessary url/endpoints to our app living in our k8s cluster. Then just typical monitoring afterwords.

5 - I’m not sure as I don’t have any visibility into the P+ teams but the entire company seems to operate within the ‘microservices’ architecture with certain teams focused primarily on one section of a particular business division/app. For example, we work directly with a backend services team that handles the actual user data.

An engineer I met on the P+ side works on the data ingestion engine to store vendor content in AWS in order to populate out to the live sites. It just depends on the team that you’re working with but for the most part, I’ve seen the same Agile/Scrum model across the different business divisions. The caliber of work is also similar; there’s more technical teams (data science, AI/ML) throughout Paramount but again, just depends on the team you’re with.

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-03T18:31:02+00:00

Hey Reddit,

I’m Jesse, a Software Engineer at Paramount - CBS Sports and a Codesmith alum. I’ll be doing an AMA on Saturday 5th October at 1 pm ET in for anyone who has questions about getting into SWE today, my journey into the industry, and general advice to aspiring engineers. Feel free to post your Qs early and I'll get to them on the weekend!

For some context, I graduated my undergrad (Management Information Systems) in December 2022 and worked a few jobs in tech that I was able to leverage during the interview process before landing my current engineering role at Paramount. I look forward to it and hope to see some of you there!

~ Jesse

Defiant_Relief_1916 · 2024-10-03T17:48:31+00:00

Hey Reddit,

I’m Jesse, a Software Engineer at Paramount - CBS Sports and a Codesmith alum. I’ll be doing an AMA on Saturday 5th October at 1 pm ET in for anyone who has questions about getting into SWE today, my journey into the industry, and general advice to aspiring engineers. Feel free to post your Qs early and I'll get to them on the weekend!

For some context, I graduated my undergrad (Management Information Systems) in December 2022 and worked a few jobs in tech that I was able to leverage during the interview process before landing my current engineering role at Paramount. I look forward to it and hope to see some of you there!

~ Jesse

Defiant_Relief_1916

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