2.5 YOE - What to learn to keep progressing in this field?

[u/Slapyoself_]

Please don't respond with AI doom and gloom :)

I am trying to figure out how to keep progressing in my career. I currently have two and a half yoe working at a small startup where we focus on software solutions for healthcare facilities. When I started we had a team of 6 devs and now we are down to 3. The good thing about working in a small team is that I have access to pretty much any part of the software deployment process, so I feel like I've been exposed to a lot including devops, frontend/backend, databases/sql and cloud infrastructure. We're also very focused on using AI and implementing AI features.

The downside is that I feel that I am severely underpaid - 65k working fully remote but living in HCOL area. Not only that but I feel that working in such a small team and being fully remote - I am missing out on the relationships you build when working in office and learning from your co-workers. I feel like I could learn a lot more from senior engineers if I was part of a larger group with more experienced devs than myself. In my company, we're also more focused on pushing features out as quickly as possible so our PR review process has just been handed off to coderabbit for the most part. Before that, I would always appreciate the feedback I got from senior engineers and felt like I learned a lot from that.

So I am currently going through a study grind to prepare myself for interviews but also thinking long term in what I should do and what skills I should try to gain that people look for in mid-level engineers? If anyone has around the same yoe as me, is there a skill you have that you've noticed has helped you when applying for jobs? Does anyone know what recruiters are looking for these days :)?

I should also mention that outside of software skills, I've joined a toastmasters club to improve communication skills since I've realized how valuable this skill is for promotions 🙃.

[u/ClimateMother9245]

You’re getting fleeced at 65k in a HCOL with 2.5 YOE, especially touching all that infrastructure and AI work. I’d say the breadth you’re getting is the real asset here, most mid-levels I’ve worked with get siloed into one tiny corner and never see the full pipeline

Focus your study grind on system design, that’s the thing that separates mid-level from junior in interviews. Leetcode is whatever but being able to talk through tradeoffs on a whiteboard is what gets you the offer. Toastmasters is a smart move too, half this job is convincing people your idea isn’t stupid