CodePath EES2024 PLURALSIGHT - Kickstart Your Software Engineering Career

Hi everyone, my name is Josie and I’m the support coordinator with CodePath. Welcome to the breakout session, Kickstart Your Software Engineering Career, hosted by the Pluralist team. We’re excited to have you join us today.

I’ll be introducing our speakers shortly. But first, wanted to share a few reminders. Please utilize the chat to have conversations and share your thoughts during the session.

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And note that the presenters and speakers can see the chat. Our team will be monitoring the chat and questions may be answered live during the session. Following the session, we ask that you complete the brief feedback survey.

Your feedback is very important to us. With the reminders out of the way, I’d like to introduce our speakers today who will be presenting on how to kickstart your software engineering team. Pluralist team, come up on the stage and we welcome you.

We’re so excited to have you. Hi everybody. We’re so happy to be here.

Thank you so much, Josie. We are going to get started with a panel discussion about kickstarting your career in software engineering. So, I’m really excited to introduce two of my colleagues here at Pluralsight.

Let’s go ahead and get started with some introductions. So, can each of you please briefly introduce yourselves and share a little bit about your background and current role with Pluralsight? Emily, let’s start with you.

Yeah, for sure. My name is Emily Brady. I’ve been working at Pluralsight for three years now as a technical recruiter.

I’ve been in the recruiting space since 2019 and have done everything from corporate recruiting, sales, and now I’m in tech. Right now at Pluralsight I specialize in our engineers. So I hire most of our engineers coming into Pluralsight, but I’ve done most things in the tech space.

So awesome. Thanks, Emily. Manolo.

Hey guys. My name is Manolo Martin. I’m a software engineer here at Pluralsight.

I just started actually like four months ago because I just graduated from college at George Mason University in Virginia with a degree in computer science. Yeah, so I’m relatively new to the software engineering scene, but as far as what I do at Pluralsight, I work on the navigation and profile aspects. Awesome.

Congrats, Manolo, on your recent graduation. Super excited to have you here. Okay, let’s dive in with some more questions and get this discussion rolling.

So I’m going to start with a question for you, Manolo. Tell us a little bit about what a typical day looks like for you as a software engineer. Yeah so this is not a typical day I would say but a typical day as a software engineer for me looks like maybe a little bit of code review in the morning you know catching up on some software dev work that we have for our team attending like a standup meeting where we’ll talk about our updates some things we’re struggling on and maybe you know reflect on some of the work that we’ve been doing.

I’ll respond to some customer issues. Maybe in Slack, which is kind of like a Discord for business if you guys haven’t heard of that. And yeah, you know, sometimes our team will get together and collaborate on some issues that we’re having, but I would say that would be a typical day for me.

Yeah, that’s awesome. You’ll you’ll hear this theme throughout. But Pluralsight is very collaborative.

And so like Manolo’s answer kind of reflected, it’s very much working with teams and collaborative environment, which is really awesome to hear. Okay, Emily, I’m going to pass it over to you for this next question. So, as a technical recruiter, what are some of the key things that you tend to look for in candidates for those early career or more entry-level positions?

Yeah, great question. I look for candidates who obviously have a base education and some sort of internship experience really helps. That just shows how they’ve worked in that collaborative environment you were just talking about.

I also look for how deep their technical skills go, what languages, frameworks, databases they’ve worked with. So I think it’s really helpful when early career candidates have technical projects or boot camp experiences on their resume. That kind of just helps me dive deeper into the extent of their knowledge.

Yeah, that’s great to hear because I know trying to get a early career first job out of college can sometimes be hard because you don’t have years of experience to put on. So I it’s good to hear that technical recruiters look for things like projects. So for students who are doing classwork, internships in the industry, all of those things I think can be really valuable as you’re setting up your resume for your first steps into the industry.

Okay, awesome. Thanks for sharing both. So Manolo, this one is back to you.

So, with you recently graduating, and I think a lot of the folks on this call can probably relate, being in college or maybe freshly graduated earlier in their career, transitioning from academia to industry can be challenging. So, what were some of the key adjustments you had to make when starting your software engineering career? Yeah.

Well, one thing I can definitely say is waking up earlier. In college, my schedule is very spontaneous. I got work done randomly.

I wouldn’t say I’m the most organized person, but here I I wanted to be on a set schedule, you know, get myself in order so I could make my team meetings. So, waking up earlier is one of those things. Communicating daily with my team, I would say, is another one.

In college, I had some collaborative work, but, it wasn’t, you know, a daily thing. And so getting used to collaborating with team members is definitely something that I had to get used to. Also the work is different.

The work that you do in school is you know not the necessarily the same as industry work. It’s mostly getting basic concepts together. Maybe you do some projects that are similar to industry but actually being in industry is like a lot different.

And you can use more tools because I know you’re not allowed to use or at least I wasn’t allowed to use like AI in school. And you know also one of the other important things that I’m managing is just pursuing growth without necessarily like a set direction because in school you kind of have like a set path of things you want to learn. Maybe you can like diverge off of that a little bit but growth is important outside of college as well.

And you know, choosing things that I want to still learn, has been, you know, an adjustment I’ve had to make. Yeah, I love that answer, Manolo. I think even just like the basic structure of your day in college versus your day in a full-time corporate job is totally different.

So thanks for sharing that. Okay. This next one I’m going to ask both of you.

I think it’ll be interesting to hear from different perspectives from the recruiting side and from someone in a technical role. Kind of the balance between technical versus soft skills. So, how important do you believe technical skills are for early career engineers and then what about soft skills like communication and teamwork?

Emily, let’s start with you on that one. Yeah, I I think both are very important skills to have. Obviously, the more technical skills the better.

Even if you aren’t experts in everything, just having that familiarity is really helpful. But soft skills definitely important too. So I speak with engineers daily and can tell you the importance of those soft skills.

Like you mentioned earlier there’s a lot of cross collaboration within our teams within engineering with you know project excuse me product or customer service. You are working within a team that might be doing more pair programming or projects. So just having those soft skills to communicate across the board and get things done is super important.

Yeah, awesome. Thanks for sharing, Emily. What about you, Manolo?

What do you think about that balance? Yeah, I would say technical skills are definitely really good to have. They’re definitely good for getting your foot in the door.

But I wouldn’t say that they’re the end- all beall. I think one of the most important things to have is just a willingness to learn because a lot of the things you’ll learn on the job. So having that is, I would say, more important than, you know, just straight up technical skills.

And as far as soft skills, I would argue that they’re just as important, if not even more. Because as an engineer, you’re going to have to talk to a lot of people like Emily said. And you know, it’s really good to have those good communication skills to tell people what you need and, you know, ask them what they need and actually receive it.

In addition, you know, if we’re weighing technical skills and soft skills, I think that people would rather work with somebody that’s really good at communicating and is very friendly rather than somebody that knows everything about tech, and is terrible at communicating. And in addition, soft skills can translate not just in the workplace, but you can use them in everyday life. So, I would say that, you know, you definitely shouldn’t neglect your soft skills.

And yeah, I love that. I think that’s such a valuable answer. Obviously, I think the baseline technical skills trying to get into a role are going to be important, but like Manilo said, just the willingness to learn goes so far.

And at Pluralsight, I think we’ll talk about this a little bit later, but the continued learning piece for those of you who aren’t familiar with Pluralsight, we are a learning company, so we provide courses within tech. So not only for our customers, but our employees. So for folks who are coming in we encourage everyone to continue their technical learning through our own platform.

But it’s hard to work with a team like Manola said if you can’t communicate well. So I think that’s that’s huge. So thank you for sharing.

Okay Emily this one is more for you and Manola if you have anything to add on it we’d love to hear it as well. But Emily can you share a little bit about what a typical interview or hiring process looks like? And just any advice that you would give someone who’s preparing for an interview as a software engineer?

Yeah, interview process. I think typically you talk with a recruiter at first. You kind of go over the logistics, make sure you’re in the right tech stack for the position.

And then after that, you get more into technical assessments with the team. So, a lot of times, our teams have either a take-home assessment or a live, assessment that they go over within that tech stack. That’s usually, I would say, the make or break interview is just doing that live or at home with the team.

And then after that, usually we just have one-on-one conversations with your potential hiring manager and make a decision after that. That’s awesome. Emily, do you mind if I ask a follow-up?

What would you say is the best advice you’d give for someone who is trying to prepare like what type of questions might they want to prepare? I know having examples for like what’s your greatest strength, what’s your greatest weakness or some general tips, but is there anything you would share for someone going in who maybe doesn’t have a ton of experience in a corporate interview? Yeah.

I would say ask questions I guess ask questions to the recruiter. Most of our technical recruiters over here go deep into what that technical assessment is like. So ask as many questions as you need with that recruiter, even jump on an extra call with them.

Usually we go over prep as well. So, if you’re feeling nervous or don’t really know what to expect, I would definitely reach out and ask those questions. Yeah, I think that’s great advice and I think it’s a good point to make that when you’re working with a company in the interview process, your recruiter wants you to succeed and they’re on your team.

So ask what questions you need. If there’s anything unclear, your recruiter is there to help. So great point, Emily.

The next question, Manolo, I want to dive in a little bit more. So for context for the group here, we have a summer internship here at Pluralsight. Manolo actually joined as a summer intern while he was still in school and then received a full-time offer to return as a software engineer.

So, Manolo, tell us a little bit about your experience starting in the internship program and then joining full-time. How did that experience interning help you prepare for your full-time role? Yeah.

I would say I had a pretty good experience interning here at Pluralsight. I would say as an intern that I wasn’t really treated as an intern, if that makes sense. I was completely integrated within the team.

I took on tasks that, you know, like senior developers would take on. I mean, I wouldn’t have the most like as much efficiency as them, but, you know, I was able to ask questions and pretend that, you know, I was working in a full-time role, because I had basically all the responsibilities. So, I would say that that was a great experience for me.

And in addition, that experience just let me know, what it was like to work at a work at Pluralsight. And that doesn’t necessarily like sound, I guess important potentially, but, you know, I think understanding the company that you’re working for and our culture is really important in addition to the work. Because it will let you know whether or not you really want to work there.

I would say like my team definitely made a difference for me and wanting to come back and the work that I wanted to do made a difference. So, yeah, I would definitely pay attention to those things rather than, you know, just maybe like if the pay is good because it’s really important to love where you work. And also I think my internship experience prepared me for my full-time role because when I came back I already had most of the context I needed to hit the ground running.

And even if that I didn’t want to come back to Pluralsight, I think that I gained like valuable experience that would have helped me in like another role. I love that. I think that’s a great testament to the importance of internships just in general to get hands-on experience and kind of get a taste for that career path when you’re early on before really committing to a long-term path in that.

And I also loved what you said about feeling out the company. I think a lot of times there’s a lot of emphasis when students are completing internships. You know, obviously you want to perform well and you want to hopefully get an offer to return back for the company, but it’s just as important for you to evaluate how you feel about the company and the fit that from your side.

So, it’s it’s a two-way street when you’re doing an internship and I think that’s a really good reminder for students to kind of think about how they like the company and how they’d fit in with that company as well. So, thank you for sharing. Okay, this next question I’m going to ask both of you.

Let’s start with Emily on this one. It’s about professional development. So what resources do you recommend for engineers early career anyone who’s kind of looking to continue their professional development?

Are there any specific courses, books or platforms that you find valuable? Yeah, obviously there are plenty of courses on Pluralsight. A little biased there, but there’s also a bunch of other learning platforms as well as just the internet that you can find helpful skills to develop.

I would say just try to keep up to date with the constant evolving technical world in any way that you can. Some books I’ve heard about, I haven’t read them personally, but I’ve heard a lot about Martin Fowler’s Refactoring and I think he does have a blog as well that a lot of my engineers follow. So, I would definitely check that out.

Thanks, Emily. Manolo, what about you? Any specific tools that you would recommend?

Yeah, I mean, there is a lot of great tools out there to help you learn. Pluralsight being one of them, you know, platforms that will teach you the skills that you want to learn. Books as well.

I’m not going to lie, I’m not really a reader. I’m more of like, a video watching guy. Or I mean I’ll read but it’s mostly when I’m looking for something specific.

But one of the things I think that have been the best resource at least for me is actually people. People have told me you know what to learn, where to learn it. And that has really helped me in terms of like my professional growth because I will be talking to people that are where I want to be.

And you know, following their same footsteps, is a really great thing to help you get there. And you know, they give you the unwritten rules of the industry, you know, and maybe even unwritten rules of learning. And I think that’s really helped me in my career.

Yeah, I love that. And I think that goes back to the whole communication piece, like just being willing to ask questions. I think that a lot of the people on this call would be surprised to hear how willing tech leaders and industry leaders are to help and support and foster younger talent, earlier talent and grow that.

So, don’t ever be afraid to ask once you, you know, get into an internship or even just through college. I think starting those conversations and like Manolo said, finding those people who are in roles or positions that you aspire to be in and learning from them is huge. Thanks, Manolo.

Okay, this next one I’m also going to start with Manolo here and then Emily if you have anything to add we’d love to hear it. And it kind of ties into what we were just talking about mentorship and networking. So Manolo, how has mentorship played a role in your career development?

Any advice that you have for emerging engineers looking to establish meaningful connections within the industry? Yeah I guess like I said mentorship has definitely played a big role. You know just telling me what to learn you know taking shortcuts that you know would help me propel myself farther faster you know not learning lessons the hard way you know I would definitely say that that has definitely helped me and in terms of you know looking for mentorship I guess you know when I typically think of mentorship I think of somebody dedicated you know to help you to you know listen to the problems that you’re having like maybe like on a scheduled basis but mentorship doesn’t have to be like that.

Technically you know this event is a form of mentorship in a way. So just talking to anyone that you think you can learn something from will you know be good in terms of looking for a mentor. You know and I would say that if you are looking for somebody dedicated that you know I think it’s really good to attend events get in those same spaces with people that are where you want to be and try and talk to them about their experience.

Don’t talk to people as if you’re looking for something because you won’t come across as genuine. You know just try and talk to people see what you can learn from them and you know if the connection is genuine then you know it will continue and you’ll have some form of mentorship there and yeah I would definitely say just talking to people is the easiest way to find mentorship I love that Manolo and the emphasis on just genuine sense of curiosity I think is huge in efforts to build authentic connections and relationships versus just trying to find a job. Emily, anything that you wanted to add on mentorship and networking?

Yeah, I 100% agree with Manolo. Go to those conferences, talk with the speakers. Don’t just go from session to session.

And also speak with your peers in your classes. I get a lot of referrals from existing engineers on our team. So just form those connections.

The more people you know, the easier it will be to find and land a job as well. So, yeah, great advice, Emily. Thank you both.

Okay, next question is about remote work and collaboration. I think a lot of companies including Pluralsight have adopted this remote culture. And so a lot of us are working across different time zones and with different teams using tools like Zoom and Slack.

So Emily, let’s start with you. Remote work has become more common. So, how would you recommend that early career professionals effectively collaborate and communicate in distributed teams?

Yeah. So this position at Pluralsight was actually my first job that I took completely remote and I was definitely worried about how that would affect my relationships with my team members. But I’ve learned that there are many ways to stay connected.

Obviously, there’s constant communication over avenues like Slack and whatnot. But I would encourage face- to-face Zoom. Lots of our teams, like I mentioned earlier, do pair programming and work together on different projects.

So, having that one-on-one time with your teammates will definitely strengthen that relationship. I’ve gotten to know many people over the years and build connections through these opportunities. And also, just at least our people team puts a lot of work into virtual events that are really fun.

So, that’s another easy place to meet people and converse with people outside of your regular space. So, yeah. Yeah, I love that.

Emily, what about you, Manolo? Any thoughts on the remote piece? Yeah, remote work can definitely be different from the office.

Actually, I both of my positions that I’ve had before have been fully remote and the first time me actually going to the office was last week. So you know that was definitely an experience but I would say that you know having communication with your team can vary from team to team. You know what works for you may not work for other teams but I would say for me culture is something that really helps me have effective communication.

You know having relationships with my team members you know not just jumping into you know work meetings without talking to them you know asking them how their week is gone you know really working on those relationships has helped me not feel like I guess a burden in a way when I need to ask for help sometimes it can be hard asking for help because you feel like you’re taking somebody out of their you know work zone But I feel that it’s easier for me to do that when I’ve built those relationships and I feel like it’s more of like, you know, a friendly reaching out. So yeah, I would say for me at least, the culture really helps for me to build effective communication. And in addition, just don’t not being afraid to communicate.

You know, know what you need from your team or maybe other people. And also don’t be afraid to ask questions when you don’t understand what people need. Just not asking those questions can dole the communication and it only gets worse if you know you’re not talking.

So definitely ask those questions. I think that’s great. Yeah, I think intentionally trying to avoid siloing yourself is really big, especially in a remote environment and all of those casual interactions that you might have in an office setting.

If you’re working in a remote role, you just have to be more intentional about it, right? Like building fun activities, doing an icebreaker at the beginning of your team meeting, or you know, like Manolo said, he got to come out to the office and meet his team in person. So, I know a lot of companies who care a lot about their culture will foster events like that to bring people together.

So thanks both for that insight. Okay, next question is around choosing a path. So I know a lot of folks who are maybe studying computer science or thinking about going into this field, there’s a whole lot of options and it’s kind of daunting to figure out what path like front end, back end.

So Manolo, let’s start with you. Do you have any insight or advice when it comes to deciding a specialization or even just starting to think about that? Yeah.

I guess the best metric to use when deciding like what you want to do in the industry is like how much you like it. And the only way to know how much you like it is if you get exposure. I would say while you know you’re still in school or if you’re not in school, if you have like an internship or a job, like talk to other people that are doing different things.

You know, if you’re a front-end engineer and you’re you know, specialty is mostly in frontend, go talk to some people that do backend. You know, maybe you don’t know about data science because you primarily focus on, you know, backend engineering. Go talk to those people.

You know, you want to get into, you know, AI, go talk to those people like and maybe see what you can work on with them. You know, like people are usually willing to talk about what they work on and, you know, I’m sure that they would be happy to have help on the things that they are working on and that’s one of the best ways to get exposure especially if it’s in a professional environment and that experience will help you decide what you actually want to do. Absolutely.

I love that. Yeah, just like try different things. I think it’s really easy to feel like once you start something, you have to just keep with that path.

And not only in software engineering, but like any field at all. But it’s never that it’s never the case that you have to keep doing what you started doing. So, like Manilo said, try different things, get exposure, see what you like.

Emily, anything to add on that one? No, I think he covered it all. Amazing.

Okay, so next question is kind of higher level future outlook. So obviously the field of tech is rapidly changing. Where do you see the field of software engineering heading in the next few years and what do you think some are some of the skills and qualities will be particularly important for emerging engineers to succeed?

Emily, let’s start with you. Yeah, everything I’ve heard this year has been about AI. Like I said, I’m no software engineer, but I would say over the next couple of years, just learn to adapt to that constant change.

I think if you want a predictable work life, tech is probably not the space for you. But if you thrive with learning different things and like to participate in different projects and just being that lifelong learner, then obviously this will be a fun and everchanging career. But yeah, I think with the future like where it’s going, I think the engineers that learn how to stay valuable the tech industry in these changing times are going to be the ones that are most successful.

Yeah, absolutely. I agree with that, Emily. What about you, Manolo?

Yeah. I definitely agree that AI has been a pretty big buzz in the software engineering space. People say that, you know, it’s going to take our jobs and all that, but I definitely think software engineers are still going to be needed for a long time.

You know, AI isn’t great at everything, but I will say that software engineers that know about AI and know how to use AI will definitely be better off than the software engineers that don’t. So, if we’re talking about adapting to change, learn a little bit about AI and learn how you can leverage it yourself. So yeah I would definitely say that if you want to succeed as an engineer you need to be paying attention to the things that other people are paying attention to in the industry.

I know some pretty big things right now are just cloud and AI and you know if you’re in a certain space maybe you know like front end or backend like pay attention to you know what front end and backend engineers are using and in addition you know take a look at you know some job applications you know some recent job applications see what they’re asking for and see if you can you know get those skills because that is probably the best way to adapt you know seeing what people want. If you have what people want, then you’re going to succeed. Yeah, that’s great advice.

I think just like being aware of what’s going on in the industry is a huge first step and then figuring out from there like what do you want to pursue? What what skills do you want to gain? But I love the advice about like checking out job postings even if it’s not something that you’re actively pursuing, but just kind of to get a gauge on what’s the industry looking like?

What are what are hiring managers looking for in these roles? So you can kind of stay on track with changes and adapt. Okay, couple more questions here for the both of you and then we should have some time to take some questions from the audience.

So for both of you, let’s start with Manolo. What advice do you have for early career professionals who are looking for engineering opportunities? Are there any specific things to be looking for in a company or role like technologies or pair programming or professional development?

Anything that you look for or that you would recommend to kind of keep an eye out for? Minnola, let’s start with you. Yeah.

Just as far as advice for young professionals, I think the best thing you can get is experience. And I know that it can be hard to get experience without experience. But you know, the best way to get in that door I would say is internships.

If you can get an internship, that would be really good for professional experience. And then, you know, you can kind of talk to people, talk to other interns, talk to people that have been in the industry and, you know, see maybe what, your next move should be. You know if you can’t get an internship I would say take a look at those job applications like I said you know and look at the skills they’re asking for and try and do some projects you know talk to your peers that are also trying to get internships maybe try and collaborate there is open-source projects that you can also contribute to I know that people like to see that on the resume and then you know that will just really help you get an internship because early career full-time time roles I know are hard to get into, but I know that the internship to full-time role pipeline is a lot easier.

So, if you can try and get in there, it will be you’ll be a lot more successful. That’s great advice. Manolo, anything to add on that one, Emily?

I think I would just add networking. I know we’ve said that a lot, but I would say that’s besides internships. If you network, you can honestly land a job easier.

The market is going to go up and down like it’s been doing for the past couple of years and there’s just really no predicting it. So, the more people you have in your corner, the more eyes you have looking out for you and that have your back and will help you land that job as well. Yeah, for sure.

Referrals definitely go a long way. I love this discussion because we’re getting such unique perspectives from both of you. I think they’re both so valuable coming from the recruiting and hiring side and then coming from an early career software engineer who has gone through an internship and started in a technical role.

So, thank you both so much for participating in this. One final question and I know you’ve shared this throughout the whole session, but is there any final advice or final thoughts you’d like to leave with the audience in terms of starting their career in tech? Manolo, let’s start with you.

Yeah, I’ll try and keep it quick because, I know that, there might be like a Q&A session at the end of this, but I would just say stay learning. Network, make sure you’re talking to people. That will make a huge difference in your career.

Get some more exposure into the industry. And don’t sell yourself short when applying to roles. Or just in general, confidence makes a big difference on how you show up in interviews, just in life in general.

So, you know, be humble, but don’t sell yourself short at the same time. I love that. Emily, what about you?

Yeah. I would just say challenge yourself. Do the things that you’re nervous about or scared and read books and invest in yourself and continue to learn.

I think that’s just the overall message. So, thank you both so much. I think this has been really valuable.

I’ve learned a lot. I really hope that the audience here has taken some value from your insights. Definitely feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

I help manage our internship program. So, before we dive into Q&A, I think Josie’s going to come back on stage, but just for some context for everyone because I’ve seen a couple questions. Pluralsight does host a summer internship program.

Will start recruiting towards the end of the year or around January. So keep an eye out for postings on our career site for that. We generally look to hire a lot of tech roles.

But we do hire throughout the whole company just depending on headcount and where teams need interns. So historically we have had a lot of software engineers like Manolo went through that program. So connect with me.

And we will definitely be sharing those opportunities. But I think with that we are good to shift over to a more casual Q&A with the audience. So Josie, I’ll hand it back over to you.

All right. Wow, it was such great to get all three perspectives. I loved it.

Really awesome. Okay, we have a lot of questions, so I’m going to start at the top. What advice do you have for the recent grad who has no internship opportunities to land a role at a company like Pluralsight?

So, anybody can take a question? Anybody? Yeah, I guess I’ll go first.

I would say that no internship, after, you know, college isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You still have a lot of time. So, I would just say, like I said, you know, collaborate with people, work on some projects, you know, build up your resume, and I would say go attend events.

Going to conventions. I know they might be like a little bit expensive, but they’re a great way to get on-site interviews and maybe be able to get a role just from that. And yeah, I would just say your network can really really help you get those internships.

So, talk to people that are hiring, you know, reach out to recruiters and don’t ask them, you know, what jobs they have because you should just look on the website. Figure out what job you want to apply for and say that you want to apply to this. And then, you know, maybe ask for some help with that role.

You know, it’s best to do your research first before reaching out. So, I think that’s really great advice. Manolo Emily, did you have anything on that one?

No. I just networking. Referrals are where I get most of my candidates, especially for interns. So network like Manilo said.

Yeah. And I think just one thing to emphasize that Manolo said is I know it’s tricky to land an internship. And so I understand the the struggle to sometimes find just your foot in the door there, but I think anything that you can add to a portfolio that actually shows your skills and shows your work.

So even if it’s just like personal fun projects on the side or things that you’ve done in school in a way that you can demonstrate and show to the recruiter. But yeah, I think we’re ready for the next one, Josie. All right.

How do you balance your current job responsibilities, staying up todate with new tech and personal commitments? I love this question. I can add a little bit and then Manolo and Emily would love to hear your thoughts, too.

I think a lot of it comes down to the company culture of where you’re working. And so, that’s part of why I think it’s so important if you’re in an internship or just in an interview process, really evaluating what the company values. Like Pluralsight for example, we have dedicated professional development time.

So we have time set aside in our day-to-day work to go and learn and continue growth in our role or whatever is interesting in that path. So I think finding a place that really values growth and learning is important and just overall work life balance. And I think you know that just comes down to having conversations with your leader and making sure that you’re prioritizing what needs to be prioritized and striking a good balance.

And if you’re not bringing that up and and raising it to your leader and saying, "Hey, I don’t think this is a sustainable balance." Like, "Let’s talk about this and let’s see what works for the team and for me so I can meet my own personal needs." Because at the end of the day, if you aren’t able to take care of your own life outside of work, you’re not going to be showing up as the best person you can at work, and that’s not good for you, and it’s not good for the team. And so yeah, I think it comes down to a lot of things, but just really prioritizing that as a value in your own life and in your job search. Manolo Emily, anything?

Yeah, I have some I can add to that. As far as, you know, managing job responsibilities and staying up to date with new tech, I would say sometimes that can be one and the same thing. You know, killing two birds with one stone.

At work, you are in a sense staying up to date with new tech if you’re in a professional environment because you are, you know, working with new things all the time. I can say that for me I’ve definitely gotten introduced to some new tech just from working on the work that I do here. You know I know that some jobs also offer like opportunities to do like proof of concepts for new ideas.

I know that I was able to do that and that gave me a chance to you know tinker with some new technology and you know stay up to date that way. As far as personal commitments that is where the culture of your job you know kind of comes into play. I know Pluralsight is very very lax.

So you know, if you need some time to get your personal commitments out of the way, I don’t think they’re gonna be upset with you for that. And time management is probably one of the other really important skills that you want to have. So, I don’t know what’s going on in everyone’s life, but you know, really trying to make time for the things in your life will definitely help in that front.

Perfect. Emily, did you want to add anything or you’re good? I’m good.

Okay. Emily, this question is for you anyways. Is there anything you wish students knew about recruiters or interacting with recruiters?

Oh, that’s a good question. Yeah, I think the basic messaging on LinkedIn. Like Manilo said earlier in the discussion.

Don’t just ask what jobs we have. Come in with a specific job application that you are interested in. Obviously have an up-to-date resume.

Make sure it looks good. Make sure, you know, realistically, I think recruiters take less than a minute to look at a resume. So, make sure all your skills are, listed clearly.

Make sure it looks sharp. That goes a long way, trust me. And then as for messaging recruiters, I get a lot of emails as well.

So, I would say probably message on LinkedIn is I guess more I don’t know what the word I’m looking for is emails kind of get lost. So, I would just message over LinkedIn, make those connections. There’s a lot of recruiters at Pluralsight in general.

So, make sure you you are connecting with the right recruiter as well. Yeah, that’s kind of what I have. Good answer.

Okay. How would you recommend approaching leak code questions and prepare? Would you agree that when it comes to tech interviews, you need a lot of work plus a bit of luck?

Yeah, I guess I can take that one. I’m a little familiar with leak code, unfortunately. I wouldn’t say I’m the best at leak code.

I’ve got some friends that are really amazing, but I would say that when approaching LeetCode questions like there is a pattern to them. I know there’s a couple of like spreadsheets that have like all the patterns listed out and like some of the questions that kind of pertain to them. So once you’re great with all those patterns, then a lot of the questions will become easier and you can start recognizing the patterns that you need to use for specific questions.

So, I would take that as like a, you know, easy to medium to hard level. Like try and do certain patterns on easy, then if you’re really confident, then try them on medium, then hard. And it’s going to take a lot of time.

I wouldn’t say leap code is the end- all beall. So, I wouldn’t say, you know, spend all of your life on LeetCode, but I would definitely say that, it can help you in those coding questions. As far as I forget what the other part of the question was.

Oh yeah. Need a lot of work plus a bit of luck. Yeah.

So, I would say you need luck in a lot of things in life. So, I would keep that in the back of your mind, but hard work definitely does pay off. If it doesn’t pay off today, it will definitely pay off later.

So, you know, don’t give up when you feel like your hard work isn’t paying off because it’s only a matter of time. Like, if you, you know, keep on working, eventually somebody will recognize you if you know you’re taking all the advice that we’re giving you today. Yep.

Manola, the next question is for you, too. Can you talk on context of what previous work and efforts you did in full stack development made that made you achieve this role? Yeah.

So I would say luck is a pretty big thing. I’ve actually only had two internships to supplement the work that I did in school. I had like a couple of projects but they were nothing to write home about.

Like I’m not going to lie. I I’m really bad at finishing what I’ve started. But that is why you know networking and you know I would say branding as well.

Kind of plays a role. I wouldn’t say my brand was great either, but people have kind of like reached out to me for certain roles and I’ve gotten really lucky in that sense, but that luck wouldn’t have worked if I didn’t put in the work to, you know, update my LinkedIn or actually some for the internships that I got, I got them through a platform called Intern XL. And that was like a platform that allowed me to you know get you know selections to certain internships and I’m not sure if I would have been able to be successful without that platform.

So I would say I was lucky in that sense because that was recommended to me. But yeah I would say network can sometimes pay off a little bit more than you know hard work with a little bit of luck but I wouldn’t knock off the hard work as well. So, make sure you’re staying up to date with those skills.

Because I still did have to get through interviews. You know, so yeah, definitely stay up on your skills, but also work on your networking. Great advice.

All right, Emily, the next question is for you. What are some indispensable values that you look for in new hires at Pluralsight? Yeah, I think we’ve talked about this a lot, but having those technical skills on top of the soft skills.

So, communication skills, especially with your recruiter, you know, prep for those conversations with the recruiter. Make sure you show up and can communicate well with the recruiter and come with questions as well. And also, I would say do some research on the company for sure.

If you put in the effort, it really shows. All right. When accepting a job offer and given a choice between two tracks you are equally passionate about, for example, cyber security and software engineering, how do you decide which path to pursue?

Well, I guess I’ll take that even though I’m not sure how amazing my answer is going to be, but I’ll say that, you know, when choosing between two things that you like. Maybe you know, it wouldn’t hurt to tell somebody else maybe why you’re considering H2. Maybe doing like a kind of pros and cons list because sometimes you know talking to people will help you decide yourself.

But at the end of the day I can’t necessarily tell you know what direction you can pursue in life or should pursue in life. What I will say is that you know it’s never too late to switch careers. You know if there is something that you feel like oh maybe you know I would have liked this better then go for it like what’s stopping you you know but I would say that before you up and leave your job to you know talk to some people first if the industry’s changed and you know see if you can upskill a little bit before you know diving too deep in I would also sorry I’m just gonna add.

I would also ask about career paths. So, when looking between two different opportunities, I would ask the recruiters about what those career paths are. Make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

And also do some research on the business. Make sure that it’s a good and stable company that you want to obviously grow in. But yeah, that’s my two cents.

Are there any Copath courses that you’ve liked seeing on resumeéumés? Is that a If you have if you have insight, we’d love to hear it. I I will just say not any that I know of specifically, but with our partner Pluralsight and CodePath have a partnership.

I’m sure many of you are aware of it. And so when we see CodePath students applying to Pluralsight, it definitely makes us excited and we are very interested in working with you in ways to recruit you. So I would say generic, yes.

I can’t speak to any specific courses, but I think it always excites us when we see folks coming from CodePath applying. Awesome. Can you share some of the reasons why you chose to join Pluralsight after graduation?

What attracted you most to the company? It’s a pretty good question. You know, I would say that culture is a really big thing.

Pluralsight was a company whose culture I really liked. For one, it’s a learning platform and I’m a new grad, so I still need to learn a lot. And you know, they really care about always learning.

That’s like, you know, one of our culture pillars. So, that was really valuable to me. In addition, I love my team.

You know, I don’t feel like I’m going to meetings is like, oh, I don’t want to go to the meeting. Like, I’m excited to see my team. I’m excited to, you know, hear, you know, how their day has been, their weekend, you know, whatever.

And I don’t really feel like, I’m dreading meetings in that sense because I I know that, you know, I know some people that don’t like meetings. In addition, it’s remote. Which is something I really liked because, you know, I’m allowed to be flexible.

I don’t have to go into the office every day, which I really did like, by the way. So, I think a hybrid, you know, schedule wouldn’t necessarily be, you know, the worst thing. But remote does offer a lot of flexibility, which I like.

I can say like I’m not even home right now, so you know, being able to move around, is definitely nice. So yeah, those are some of the things that made me want to continue with Pluralsight. And yeah, awesome.

So I know we talked about mentorship earlier in the in our talk, but what does mentorship look like as an entrylevel software engineer at? Oh, well, I guess everybody is my mentor in a sense. I’m I’m pretty new, so like I can definitely grab something from everybody on my team.

Everybody is into their own things. You know, we have different roles on the team, so it’s great for exposure, seeing what they’re doing. You know I’m reviewing pull requests from you know DevOps engineers even though I know nothing about DevOps.

So you know I can ask them hey like what’s a career in DevOps like and you know maybe I’ll do a career switch in DevOps like who knows you know so like getting mentors from you know different places has been a really great thing. I will say that I do have a session with somebody who was previously on my team every other week. He’s somebody who, you know, I really connect with and he’s given me a lot of insight, and made me think a lot about, you know, who I am and what I want in my career.

So yeah, like and all of these people have been through the job. So I wouldn’t say I’d have any of this if I didn’t talk to people. So, you know, I think it’s easy to get mentorship or at least easy here just by talking to people just because the culture is so good.

Anybody is willing to help you out and talk to you. Yeah, and I’ll just add to that, Manolo, I love the emphasis on just like authentic relationship building because I think a lot of times those are the most valuable mentors. We also have a couple of formal mentorship programs at Pluralsight, just companywide.

So, one of them is part of the internship program. So, all of our interns get paired up with a mentor for their program. And then one of our ERG’s employee resource groups, women at Pluralsight, they host a companywide mentorship program where if anyone in the whole company is interested, they can submit a request and then they’ll get paired up with somebody else in the company.

So there’s a couple different avenues. I think Manolo had some really great points about specific to his role, things that are providing him growth in different areas that are adjacent to his position. And then there’s also higher level formal mentorship programs that we provide.

Awesome. Love hearing about the collaborative culture at Pluralsight. Can you describe how teams are structured and how collaboration is encouraged there?

I guess I can talk about this a little bit. I would say that I can only really talk about, you know, the, software teams, at least for me. You know, there’s different teams at Pluralsight.

They’re not all tech because you know there’s sales, there’s product you know all that type of stuff. But as far as you know software the software teams go I would say that they’re you know usually structured with a couple engineers that have been around I would say a little bit longer than I have. You know, some senior engineers.

You know, we have, a manager, you know, that kind of helps us, you know, with things. And then, you know, there’s always, you know, the project manager. So yeah, I would say that’s kind of like how the teams are structured.

You know, you have your developers, and then maybe a DevOps engineer to help you out, and then just the product manager, and then the manager. All right, cool. Well, I’m going to say this is going to be the last question.

But we’ve loved having you. What are some of the most insightful questions that you personally have been asked during an interview? Oh, that’s a hard one for me.

I don’t I’m not I don’t recruit actively. I’m more on the program side, but I used to work with the intern recruiting process. And I think for me the questions that really stood out were ones that really displayed that they put a lot of thought into it and they did their research and they and they’re genuine questions and they weren’t just scripted.

I don’t know if I could think of any off the top of my head, but those that come from a place of genuine curiosity. And you could tell that it’s something that they really were thinking about and it wasn’t just like Googled good questions to ask in an interview. So, I think just giving it an honest thought and being genuinely curious about the role and the company will go a really long way.

Agreed. I think that’s huge. Definitely research the company you’re interviewing for.

All right. And with that, we’ve sadly reached the end of our time in this session. And we would like to sincerely thank Sarah, Emily, and Manolo.

You guys are awesome. For the engaging presentation and discussion, please drop your appreciation here in the chat. Then please take a moment to fill out the session survey, a link to which should be popping up on your screen now.

We also encourage you to go visit all of our presenters in the networking lounge, as well as stopping by their virtual booth in the floral site booth is pretty cool. Now to close us out, here’s a brief video from our host Bobby D. Thank you.

Next up, we have network breaks. And remember, here’s a nuggets. Your network is your net worth.

So hopefully you hear that, Jim. But here’s some information I want you all to remember. You can access the network lounge or visit the company’s booths during this break.

This is a great time to connect with companies and each other. So, we encourage you to go visit the spaces and build connections.