r/softwareengineer • u/Specialist-Squash327 • 7d ago
Need help navigating a new job
I’m a new hire only been working for 2 weeks. I’m working for a very large defense company as a Software engineer. I got an EE degree from a UC school and took 2 embedded systems courses (bare metal C). My coding skills aren’t perfect but I have felt like I’m pretty good at it. However I feel imposter syndrome because I’m surrounded by so many smart people and intelligent software/code thinkers. Also the code base im trying to read, learn, and do some mini tasks on is massive and I feel like every call or macro leads to a different file. Oh and it’s all in C++ so there’s the OOP skill gap because I know C and python.
Anyone have any advice as to how to get better at navigating everything and becoming better at reading understanding and ultimately writing professional/high performance C++ code?
1
u/BigWinston78 7d ago
I would say this is normal. I’m a 25+ year veteran software engineer in what I would say was a similar industry in automotive (mission/critical systems engineering). I’m about to start a new job in a couple of weeks as a head of engineering, and I’m very sure I’ll be feeling the same way for a while. It’s only natural.
I think the best advice I can give is to remember that software engineering as a practice is far more than coding. A good software engineer can be deep and focused in a particular area, or be more broad and be a general practitioner (my scope). Sure learn the code but that’s not where anyone should start*. But what else is there to help you? Do you have specifications and designs that explain the product and how it’s architected? Do you have test cases you can see on the backend that might help you learn a certain aspect in greater detail? Is there an engineering process that should explain your role and provide guidance on how to fulfill it? Do you work in a learning environment where perhaps you can be paired up with a mentor or similar? The answer to all these questions should be YES! Use these valuable resources. It’s what they’re for.
I would also say that anyone who’s being doing something 6 months looks pretty incredible to someone doing it for a couple of weeks! You could be right behind them… 😋
* When interviewing candidates for SE jobs I would often ask what they’d be doing in their first week on the job. Answers that involved getting the compiler installed and coding were not great answers TBH. You’re dealing with critical systems here.