Stage 8 of 8 · 7 lessons · ~2 weeks
Your first year plan
Agree goals with your manager, read your career ladder, earn more responsibility, have your first pay conversation with evidence and decide calmly whether to stay or move.
Start: Setting goals with your managerLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
Do this
- Agree three or four written goals with your manager and review them every month or two.
- Read your level and the next one on the career ladder and mark where you have evidence.
- Ask for one specific, slightly bigger piece of work with a plan for support.
- Raise pay a month or two before the review cycle, with evidence and market data.
- Find one mentor inside the company and book a monthly chat.
- Write down what would make you stay or leave before any decision to move.
- Write a one-page look back at your first anniversary and share it with your manager.
Start with· follow one of these
- GitHub repoFreePath to Senior Engineer Handbook
Jordan Cutler · Intermediate
A free, practical guide to growing from junior through mid-level, with the habits reviewers look for
- BookPaidThe Software Engineer's Guidebook
Gergely Orosz · Intermediate · About $30 to $40 depending on format
Gergely Orosz on the early career years: reviews, promotions, pay and switching jobs
Keep handy
Also worth your time
- Soft Skills EngineeringGo deeper
A free podcast answering listener questions about exactly these first-job dilemmas
Before moving on: Three or four written goals agreed with your manager, a marked-up copy of your level and the next one on the career ladder, one request for more responsibility made, and a one-page first-year look back.
Ask for the bigger task once you are reliable on the small ones, not before. Bring the work log to every pay conversation. And do not jump at month four because the work is boring; the second half of the first year is usually where it gets interesting. If the salary is late or the place is unsafe, though, leave.