Switching domains in tech, especially for a senior engineer aiming for rapid impact and advancement, involves strategic learning and networking, adapting to new cultural norms, and leveraging your existing skills in new ways.
There are a few areas that you should focus on, and if you have a 30-60-90 day plan, that will help you stay focused and make tangible progress towards your goals. One more thing to add: have you thought about how you will measure your success? This is a very crucial step so you can have a start and end point of your ramping up and onboarding.
Here are a few tips to consider:
- Focused Learning: Prioritize learning the most relevant concepts, tools, and frameworks that are critical for your role at Meta. Online courses, bootcamps, and internal knowledge sharing groups could be quite effective. Read code, then wrote code, experiment.
- Project-based Learning: Engage in hands-on projects that are similar to your work at Meta. This will help you apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios, enhancing your learning.
- Mentorship: Seek out mentors within Meta who are experienced in ML. They can provide guidance, feedback, and insider knowledge that can accelerate your learning curve. Find two mentors, one internal in the team and one external outside of the team. The first will focus mostly on onboarding, tech and projects, and the other will focus on career growth.
- Identify Transferable Skills: Lean in your soft skills. Skills like problem-solving, project management, and effective communication are highly transferable. Reflect on how your past experiences can benefit your current role.
- Apply Your Domain Knowledge: Even if the domain is different, your experience in networking could provide unique insights into how ML algorithms can be optimized for better performance or innovative uses within Meta’s infrastructure.
- Build a Network: Connect with other teams and individuals within Meta who work on or are interested in ML. This can provide opportunities to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects, further enriching your experience and exposure.
- Feedback Loops: Establish regular feedback sessions with your peers and manager. This will help you understand how well you’re adapting and where you can improve, both technically and culturally.
