Stage 2 · Lesson 3 of 8
Finding unowned problems
are the pain everyone feels and nobody is responsible for. Think of (tests that pass or fail at random), slow builds, a manual release step, noisy alerts, or a service nobody wants to touch. They are the best openings for a mid-level engineer.
The need is obvious and nobody else is competing for them. Fixing one also shows exactly the and a senior role asks for. Listen for what people complain about in and retros (the team's regular look back at what went well and badly). Also look at what wakes people up when they are on call.
Common trappicking one quietly and working on it as a side project. Agree with your manager that you own it, so it counts and you get the time.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come with the full roadmap. Unlock
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- BookFreeSoftware Engineering at Google
Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright · Intermediate
The chapters on testing, CI and large-scale changes: fixing problems at team scale
- BookPaidThe Pragmatic Programmer
Hunt and Thomas · Intermediate · About $45
Automation, broken windows and orthogonality: the habits behind leverage