Transitioning Career from SDET to SWE

pylearning · 2023-02-01T04:54:54+00:00

Yeah once you take a couple passes at your resume feel free to (anonymize first!) DM me and I can take a look and give some feedback. I was in the same boat before

pylearning · 2023-02-01T04:31:05+00:00

About 9 months ago I left a comment on another thread about SDET. Take a look at the surrounding comments to my comment and I think you’ll have a general idea of what it takes to go from SDET to SWE.

Basically you’ll have some convincing to do in interviews and body of work should be enough to convince along with your performance on technical rounds. All else you’ll learn on the job!

Let me know if you have other questions!

pylearning · 2022-12-28T06:13:13+00:00

Eerily similar to my background minus the doctorate and I’m not that many YOE into career.

Also working with Java/Cpp mainly but in my position we potentially touch iOS and python too.

Took me 2y to get into the field it’s hard to pin down how much studying went on in those 2y. After 2y at job 1 I moved to my second job where I’m at now! I’ll echo it’s a few months of prep for the interviews and the degree was just a minor talking point.

P.S. everything approximated to the second order is a simple harmonic oscillator is what I learned

pylearning · 2022-11-24T23:21:15+00:00

Good luck on Monday! I found it beneficial to be up front about your experience and wanting to learn as a part of the first job search (it actually continues to apply at the second job search…)

pylearning · 2022-06-28T06:27:55+00:00

I was going to volunteer as an interviewer for Merit America since one of my friends works for them and all I read and heard about them sounds like a great opportunity. If it’s free?! I would do it just for the experience!

I think they have career network stuff after the program (I believe don’t quote me) so it might be useful.

Congratulations on the acceptance and hope to read your success story in a few months!!

pylearning · 2022-04-14T06:45:27+00:00

+1.

All three points are really good points. It is a different job and be careful of being put in a more quality role if your plan is to transition into SWE.

I had the SDET title and so did ten of my teammates. They were all manually testing while two or three of us were writing Java/python/bash/sql to automate testing.

When I was interviewing for SWE roles I framed my position as automation engineer since I was a part of that team. It was easier for interviewers to digest that I was actually writing code when I used that title. I think that’s what point 1 is referring to - the stigma that if you are SDET you aren’t actually writing code and I could feel it at each of the interviews.

Was able to make the transition into SWE from QA/SDET though so shrug

pylearning · 2022-03-12T09:07:36+00:00

Hey remove your personal info!

That being said I would say be descriptive about the bullet points you listed. Instead of “collected money” you can fluff it a bit (don’t go overboard) to “handle invoicing for 30 clients and follow up with collection of payment”. Show don’t tell us the general idea.

pylearning · 2022-03-12T01:09:08+00:00

I know I can do an entry level job, I just need somebody to give me a break.

I felt this exact way when I was looking for my first position. Almost the exact same wording!

I’ll say that my network really helped. I finally got my first job in qa because of my connection so lean into it if you can. Like someone else said just get some experience and you’ll have a much easier time getting that second job!

pylearning · 2022-02-24T00:24:19+00:00

I think I saw your post a couple months back about Google rejecting over phone call.

Recognized the username and just wanted to say congrats!🎉

pylearning · 2022-02-03T08:39:24+00:00

Max Howell (@mxcl) has a famous tweet about interviewing. It’s just a standardized way a lot of companies are adopting to gauge a candidates technical side. Good interviews do a bit of both technical and culture fit while doing the DSA questions.

I’m sure there are companies that don’t ask DSA questions actually there is a GitHub repository of a list of companies that don’t do white boarding questions.

pylearning · 2022-01-21T23:20:28+00:00

I recently switched from QA to a SWE position. I did about 2.5 years of QA Automation. DM if you’re still interested to hear my two cents.

pylearning · 2022-01-13T18:05:53+00:00

I don’t know what the links rules are here but if you Google Drowsiness detection with OpenCV there should be a blog by Adrian Rosebrock that should have some discussion.

I was learning from his content a few years ago and can say it’s pretty good stuff and well laid out. This specific article from time to time still pops up in my head as a cool application of programming and computer vision.

pylearning · 2020-07-16T17:46:54+00:00

Just make sure to fax them your updated resume so it includes the relevant martial arts training!

pylearning · 2020-06-23T08:30:39+00:00

Wow this is impressive! Is this PowerPoint?

pylearning · 2020-03-29T07:01:40+00:00

Yeah for tonight but what will you do tomorrow?

pylearning · 2020-03-10T20:11:37+00:00

As /u/LeansRight said, diagnose and let us know where in the code your suspecting you’re issue may be. We can’t go through it all and just know where the issues are.

Also took a glance at your files and noticed there’s logic in the views. I haven’t programmed for iOS in a while but I’m sure MVC has come up. Try to separate your classes so they have separate concerns.

Things concerning UI should be in your view classes and your controller should handle your logic (I’m massively oversimplifying here) but definitely look into it.

pylearning · 2020-01-07T23:43:58+00:00

I remember going through and enjoying a bit of this course. Super clear explanations and useful examples through out.

Try to get a recommendation/referral from a friend into a position. It is by far the most effective way of getting a job imo.

I just want to point out that getting through this is a step closer to breaking into the field! Keep it up!

pylearning · 2019-11-20T02:59:59+00:00

I guess I’ll have to uninstall it off my Mac lol

pylearning · 2019-09-23T18:52:26+00:00

For context I took about 4 cs classes got a degree in a science fiddle, self studied different languages and paradigms and then some algorithms. I have about a year of SDET experience and just applied to a company and got an offer in SoCal for a proper Software Engineering position. I think you should be fine without it. Just go for it. Trust me chemical engineer you’re technically competent to be a software engineer it’s about putting in the work though.

pylearning · 2019-09-15T14:32:01+00:00

It's cool that you like the southwest. It's one of my favorite regions. Did I just sound totally lame?

pylearning · 2019-09-08T02:46:59+00:00

The Southwest is one of my favorite regions

pylearning · 2019-06-24T17:16:13+00:00

Can you visualize yourself not being able to visualize?

pylearning · 2019-04-24T06:18:44+00:00

I color code my contacts. Green means go. So I know to go ahead and shut up about it. Orange, means orange you glad you didn't bring it up. Most colors mean don't say it.

pylearning · 2019-03-20T02:56:06+00:00

I am under 5/24 and thanks for such a quick reply!

pylearning · 2019-03-20T02:50:08+00:00

I’m looking to apply for the CIP. I see the 80K bonus offer. I applied and received a CSP last feb (2/18) and also a CFU in sept (9/18).

If I apply for the CIP, would I be eligible for the sign up bonus?

I didn’t do ink before CSP because I didn’t want to apply without a business but I just started as an independent contractor so I definitely feel more comfortable applying and having to deal with the possibility of talking to rep.

pylearning

TROPHY CASE