Stage 8 · Lesson 5 of 7
Mentors and your network inside the company
Your manager is not the only person who can help you grow. Find a senior engineer whose work you admire and ask for a short monthly chat; they can become a . Meet your manager's manager now and then in a meeting.
Get to know people in nearby teams through reviews, incidents and shared projects. Different people see different parts of your work. They give different advice and open different doors, and they matter even more if your manager changes.
Bring specific questions so the time is useful to both of you. Mentors outside the company, such as community or alumni mentors, help too.
Common traprelying on a single person for all your feedback and opportunities, and being stuck when they leave.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it
Resources for this stage
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