Gazmir Mazari

It’s official: landing a software engineering job is tougher now than it was just a few years ago. With many startups shutting down and big companies laying off employees, candidates with 0-5 years of experience are feeling the pinch. What can you do? Shift your storytelling from tools and languages to the impact you've made. Highlight who your users were, how you improved their lives, and any recognition you received. Remember, outcomes matter more than just the technologies you used!

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How do Software Engineers get promoted? Technical ability + soft skills +strategic moves Here's how to stand out 🤝 Master your craft 🔊 Dive deep into your technical skills. Always be learning, whether it's new programming languages, frameworks, or tools. Your commitment to excellence sets you apart. Solve the right problems 🔊 Look for opportunities to solve problems that align with your team's goals and your company's mission. It's not just about fixing bugs; it's about identifying and solving high-impact problems. Communicate with impact 🔊 Whether it's through code comments, documentation, or presentations, your ability to clearly communicate complex ideas is crucial. Remember, your code isn't just for machines; it's for people too. Take initiative 🔊 Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Propose new projects, improvements, or innovations that can drive value for your team and company. Show that you're thinking ahead. Seek feedback 🔊 Regular feedback is your growth catalyst. Embrace constructive criticism and use it to refine your skills and approach. Remember, feedback is a gift that helps you grow. Network internally 🔊 Build relationships outside your immediate team. Understand the broader business context and how your work fits into it. These connections can provide valuable insights and opportunities. Demonstrate leadership 🔊 Leadership isn't just for managers. Mentor juniors, lead by example, and contribute to a positive, inclusive team culture. Show that you're someone others can look up to. Align your goals with your manager's 🔊 Understand your manager's priorities and how you can contribute. Regular check-ins to align your goals can pave a clear path to your promotion. We are djr 🔵 ⚪

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🎯 Hiring managers…have you ever felt overwhelmed opening a new software engineering role? 🤓 Hiring software engineers for your team shouldn't be a headache. My video below reveals the top 3️⃣ struggles I see – and the small, actionable 🎯 adjustments that'll save your team time in the hiring process. 🤝Ready to partner for a smoother search? Watch ⬇️!

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Every time 10x engineers come up I think of the times I was briefly considered a 10x engineer by management. There are times I have come through and apparently pulled a big, complex solution out of thin air. I say "apparently" because that's what they thought. They didn't see the weeks of preparation and teamwork that went into a sudden, surprising outcome for them. They started expecting miracles every other day or week. This leads to burnout on the developer's part. Managers tend to think that the developer is holding back after this. They refuse to acknowledge the silent work and painstaking little habits that lead to large success. This situation never ends well. If you want 10x engineers it's likely you would not know what to look for, nor would you be able to handle them if you happened to stumble into one.

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Hiring engineers isn't just about financial performance.  Stack Overflow listed engineers' most important job factors as:  #1 Languages + frameworks they'd be working with #2 Office environment or company culture #3 Flexible schedule #4 Professional development #5 Remote work options #6 Impact of the work #7 Industry that they'd be working in  #8 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 #9 Specific department or team they'd be working in #10 Diversity of the company Notice financial performance and funding status is all the way down at #8. Engineers are motivated by more than just $$$. Make sure you tell them about all the other good things you offer.

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You want to hire the best developers, right? Collaboration in technical recruiting is a must. Here's why... A-Players attract other A-Players. - Use your team to make referrals - Offer bonuses for successful referrals - Engage with past candidates Having a team that is passionate is crucial. - Work together to find the best candidate - Everyone has a different skill set Collaboration can identify the intangibles. - How well will this person work in a team? - Will they adapt if the scope changes? - What is their communication style? There's strength in numbers. But, you need a great recruitment roadmap to get there. Make sure everyone on your team is working together effectively. And, always be ready to change up your approach.

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Top 3 things I’m hearing software engineers want… (aside from money & flexibility) 🎯𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 & 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 🎯𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬  🎯𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 If you’re hiring for software folks… A good place to start is highlighting these in job specs. Then as part of your interview process. And once they’re in the door. Put it into practice and your retention will improve. Otherwise I might be speaking to them again 😊 Anything I've missed? #softwareengineer #retention #talentacquisition 

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“There’s no jobs for Jr Software Engineers out there!” NOT TRUE…But there are some major issues in today’s hiring market. 1. MISALIGNED FOUNDATIONAL EXPERIENCE: The majority of aspiring SEs are either: Recent CS grads (less hands-on exp); OR, Bootcamp grads (less theory). Meanwhile...Most enterprise companies who hire a ton of SEs are looking for CS grads that ALSO have hands-on experience already. 2. MISALIGNED TECH STACKS: The majority of aspiring SEs are only experienced in NodeJS and/or Python. Meanwhile…Most of the companies who hire a ton of SEs are using Java or C# backends. Companies using NodeJS or Python backends are often smaller and can't hire as many SEs. That’s why our Enterprise Accelerator is making a difference. We identify diverse CS grads who are hungry, and we teach them the hands-on Java skills that companies are using in the real world over 3 months. Best of both worlds 😎 If you're interested in seeing some of this kind of talent--send me a DM and we'll get you connected. Want to join our next Enterprise Accelerator cohort? Stay tuned for the next webinar in early August.

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Yes and No. DevOps was never “supposed to be” its own thing: it was the relationship between (Software) Development and (IT) Operations and an expectation that both groups were responsible for empowering the other and nurturing that relationship. So expecting an engineer to engage in DevOps by working with the Ops team regularly is fair game. However, if you’re using “engineers should do DevOps” as an excuse not to have an Ops team (or even if you have a DevOps team as an excuse not to have an Ops team), either you’re missing some things (ie. Ops) or your “DevOps” people ARE your Ops team.

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Jr. Devs, When you are sitting in that interview chair trying not to say the wrong thing and trying to remember all the stuff you’ve been told about how to interview well, don’t forget this one thing that should give you at least a little more confidence. You're not the only one being interviewed. You may think… duh, there are tons of candidates for this job. However, that’s not what I’m talking about. You are interviewing the company. Most Jr. Devs don’t think like this because, frankly, most Jr. Devs are just trying to get a job and they often don’t care or don’t consider the company or the culture they end up in. I’ve spent a lot of time on the DevMentorDave YouTube channel recently talking about mentoring and the need for it in our organizations. But that’s only one part of finding the right fit. The company is looking for candidates they think will fit what they need. Notice I said, ‘NEED”. They don’t just hire because it’s fun (it’s not). They need someone and you need to make sure they are a good fit for YOU before accepting an offer or before leaving the interview. Don’t just ask questions you found on a website or were given by a recruiter. Think about what matters to you as an employee and as an individual and ask questions that will impact how you work and impact your success and future. That level of confidence and interaction in the interview may just set you apart from the pack, even if your dev skills are the same as all the other candidates. #juniordeveloper #mentoring #interview 

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Developers, always prioritize companies who choose two-way interviews. Interviews should feel like a conversation, not an interrogation. And your opportunity to ask questions shouldn’t be limited to the last 5-10 minutes. So, next time you head into an interview, make sure you uncover: 🗣️ What the team’s current priorities are and how they anticipate you’ll contribute to their short- and long-term goals. 🗣️ What challenges the team are currently facing, and how they’re approaching them. 🗣️ Which development practices the team currently follow, how collaborative they are, and how they approach short- and long-term projects. 🗣️ How often the team releases new features, what their pace of development is, and how quickly you’ll see your work in production. 🗣️ How the team handles bugs and production incidents (which gives you a great insight into their culture). Don’t be afraid to integrate questions into your answers to initiate conversation with the interviewer. It may feel unnatural at first, but it’ll show them that you’re confident, engaged, and are just as interested in learning about them as they are about you! #DeveloperOpportunities #DeveloperJobs #Mobileeveloper #InterviewTips

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Developers, always prioritize companies who choose two-way interviews. Interviews should feel like a conversation, not an interrogation. And your opportunity to ask questions shouldn’t be limited to the last 5-10 minutes. So, next time you head into an interview, make sure you uncover: 🗣️ What the team’s current priorities are and how they anticipate you’ll contribute to their short- and long-term goals. 🗣️ What challenges the team are currently facing, and how they’re approaching them. 🗣️ Which development practices the team currently follow, how collaborative they are, and how they approach short- and long-term projects. 🗣️ How often the team releases new features, what their pace of development is, and how quickly you’ll see your work in production. 🗣️ How the team handles bugs and production incidents (which gives you a great insight into their culture). Don’t be afraid to integrate questions into your answers to initiate conversation with the interviewer. It may feel unnatural at first, but it’ll show them that you’re confident, engaged, and are just as interested in learning about them as they are about you! #DeveloperOpportunities #DeveloperJobs #Mobileeveloper #InterviewTips

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Developers – good luck getting promoted if you: - build features that don’t relate to any OKRs, - write documentation for internal tools that no one uses, - spend resources optimizing a system without any traffic, or - refactor working code because it’s not written in your preferred style. Prioritization of effort is the highest leverage skill you can learn as a SWE. Your company doesn’t care if that shiny new tech stack is trendy. Only whether it will help you solve real problems for your customers. What good is fashioning a bigger mainsail if you’re headed off course because of a broken wheel?

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If you're not a software engineer, keep scrolling. I've been an engineer my entire career and have led engineers for 9+ years. I love this profession. But there's one mistake I see mid-level engineers make too often: Not being clear about the value they're providing. There are 4 areas in which engineers provide value: Technology, Product, Process, and People. But no one gets to Product, Process, or People without mastering Technology. And I'm here to tell you there is a lot of value in the technical understanding. Don't try to scale the ranks before you build depth there. We’re engineers. No matter your title, you need to be comfortable building software. Ideally, you should love it. When you’re progressing through your career, it’s exciting to get tapped on the shoulder to lead a product, overhaul a DevOps process, or manage people. And when you get these opportunities, take them. But make sure you stay close to the engineering part of the process. Because as soon as your coding capabilities start to dwindle, you lose value. That sword needs to stay sharp. A principal engineer who is either a) not interested in being hands-on or b) no longer capable of being hands-on, can’t succeed in leading a team. Today I’m a CTO. But if my team needs me to write code, I’m there in a heartbeat. So my advice to younger engineers is: Stay close to the tech. It makes you better at Product, Process, and People. If you’re an engineer reading this, know that I appreciate you. This isn’t an easy job, and I respect you for doing it. P.S. In the spirit of this post, here's a photo of me with much longer hair from *slightly* earlier in my career.

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SWE Industry: Never manipulate strings in Prod if it can be avoided, and if seen in a PR by a staff/principal engineer would immediately be rejected Job Market: Manipulate these strings in weird ways on this assessment so you can get this job... Wild, if you are interviewing software engineers, give them real world problems to solve, not some arbitrary random string manipulation that we would never do in production. You're likely missing out on a lot of talented people.

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Software developers How do you make yourself recession proof? ----------- 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧 The corporate tiktok I sweat imma be making videos up in this b.... real soon But jokes aside, take your linkedin seriously 1. Clear profile pic 2. Clean banner photo can describe your tech stack and experience 3. Concise and descriptive about me section telling people you're a senior react developer ain't gonna cut it 4. Featured This section is awesome for you to put your work up for the world (recruiters and employers) to see 4.1 Have your github linked with your public projects 4.2 Write an interesting and informative post on linkedin, pin it to featured 4.3 Have a website and a CV, pin it to featured and keep it updated 5. Experience Bullet point list of what you've done at each employer, what you were responsible for, the size of your team, some major accomplishments ----------- Now that you have done all that You are actually ready to use linkedin 1. get your cellphone and record yourself breaking it down - shake what your mama gave ya Just kidding - don't do that, linkedin isnt ready for that just yet, but you never know 1. (again, but for real this time) Network Connect with other developers - in industries you want to work in - in companies you want to work for - in technologies that you have experience in - in geographies you'd like to work in - in geographies you can work in Connect with CEOs, CTOs, CPOs and Founders - copy paste previous bullet points here Connect with Recruiters, Heads of People and Chief People Officers - copy paste previous bullet points here 2. get your cellphone and record yourself breaking it down - shake what your mama gave ya Just kidding - still, dont do that 2. (again, but for real for real) Engage, DM and Build Rapport Slide into DMs Comment on their posts Ask interesting questions 3. Content - Write posts - Write articles - Share posts with your thoughts - Share articles with your opinions -------- You Are Welcome ------ Share this post - cause you know its good P.S if all else fails - get your cellphone and record yourself breaking it down - shake what your mama gave ya P.S.S im for real this time

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Five of the worst software engineers I ever worked with had this one common trait 👇👇👇 Disclosure: if you have this trait, you can work out of it. Over the last five years, I have worked with some tremendous engineers. But nothing leaves a lasting memory like someone you hope you will never have to work with again. I always have been a huge advocate of the right tool for the right job. With these five people, it was the tool they preferred for the job, whether it was right or not. - They were not willing to try something new. - They were not willing to explore other options. - There was no persuading them. 'Strong opinions loosely held' - never forget. We, as software engineers are problem solvers, not code monkeys. Since you are here, check out the link to the Developer Careers Academy in the comments, where you can network with like-minded engineers and build your career the right way.

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Junior Software Engineers—are you ready for the new way that companies are looking to hire in 2025? This weeks videos is all about how coding hiring will evolve as AI continues to improve.

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"I don't like leetcode style interviews!" See I wasn't making it up! Kurtis Nusbaum tells us more about why engineers don't like leetcode and the types of interviews that lead to a more enjoyable and effective interviewing experience.

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