Harshit Jain

🍀 6 months at Google.... Today I have completed 6 months at Google after having joined back in January 27th, 2025. These 6 months have been a rollercoaster of learning, exploration, meeting some exceptionally skilled people, and growth. Summarizing my journey at Google, here's the top 6 learnings for me over the period of the last 6 months... 1️⃣. Imposter Syndrome is real - Working at a place like Google, the talent density is the real deal. With being surrounded by some the smartest folks in the industry and working alongside them, its easy to feel lost and out of place. 2 things kept me going here - a. The support from the team in my rampup. b. The confidence that I've done harder things in the past - this too shall pass. 2️⃣. Ownership matters - At a place like Google, with highly skilled people all around, its kinda obvious that people like to own their work and expect you to do the same. How to own your work end to end, and to deliver it with the highest quality is something I've greatly learnt in the past few months. 3️⃣. Communication >>> Code - At a place, where any code change you make affects billions, communication and alignment regarding the same becomes something of utmost nessecity. Skillful communication within the team, cross teams, and with multiple stakeholders to effectively deliver work is something I've seen matter more than ever here. 4️⃣. Asking for help is a strength - In companies like Google and Microsoft, asking for help is looked on as a strength, not a weakness. The culture fosters that. However, to get help, you've to ask for it. Getting over the thought of judgment, to reach out for help, is a key learning which helped me a lot in the journey. 5️⃣. Make meaningful connections - Walking in any journey, what makes it worthwhile are the friends you make along the way. Making intentional connections, and going out of the way to help others move ahead in their journey, is the way to move ahead in the journey. This is something I also try to incorporate in my Linkedin journey by trying to give back to the community. 6️⃣. You're never too good at something, Keep learning - Tech is a fast moving space. The thought of "I already know enough" becomes obsolete as fast as the tech of today. Its a journey of constant of learning and upskilling. Parallely, make your basics stronger, that's what allows you to keep up the learning pace, with the industry. The last 6 months have been really exciting, fun, full of learnings and challenges all along the way. As its said in Google, being a Noogler is like "trying to drink from a firehose". Really excited for what the next 6 months unfolds. Stay tuned for more such content!!✌🏻🚀

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I am a Software Engineer at Meta with almost 2 decades of experience. Here’re the 5 learnings if you want to grow faster as a SWE: 1. Know the next level before promotion After you are performing well at your current role expectations, start approaching the next level. - Learn from seniors, understand their perspective - Look for areas you can help & can get noticed In short, prove that you deserve the promotion before you ask for it. 2. Become your own user - go on reddit or twitter threads - read through the users feedbacks and conversations - be empathetic & maybe have a conversation with few users This shift helped me move beyond just shipping features to actually improving the experience. 3. Data is your saviour Start diving into logs, events, and exceptions more deeply. - Where are users spending the most time?  - What’s making them drop off? - What are the most common exceptions?  - Which workflows are unintuitive? You can make better engineering decisions if you spend some time consuming the data 4. Every problem is not yours to solve Ask yourself: - Is this issue truly high-impact, or am I just trying to get it off my plate? - Is this a problem I should solve, or is it better to guide someone else to take it on? - Delegating was tough at first. But it’s crucial to identify your problems and delegate rest. The best engineers I’ve worked with aren’t the ones who take on the most work—they’re the ones who ensure the right work gets done by the right people. 5. Be a force multiplier - document more to save others time - build tools and scripts that automate tedious tasks - Guide others to help achieve their goals   Your team will move faster, and you will become more valuable—not just as an engineer but as a force multiplier. => Final Thought: The biggest shifts in my career didn’t come from just writing better code—they came from these small shifts. If you’re looking to grow as an engineer, try incorporating some of these steps into your own journey. Raman Walia

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Dream11 paid its SDE2s ~71 LPA. Overnight, those jobs vanished. With the recent blanket ban on real-money online gaming, thousands of careers in this sector have been disrupted in a single night. The intent of the ban is clear: protect young people from the financial and social risks of betting. That concern is valid. But the industry also created employment, innovation, and tax revenue — and for many professionals, it offered some of the best-paying opportunities in a tough job market. This raises a bigger question: 👉 How do we protect society without wiping out livelihoods overnight? 👉 Could regulation, awareness, and safeguards have been a middle path instead of a complete shutdown? We’ve seen this approach in other industries too: Alcohol → regulated & taxed despite its social costs Cigarettes → heavily taxed though a major health concern Breweries, clubs → still allowed with checks The underlying challenge remains: unemployment. Many of the same young people vulnerable to gambling are also struggling to find stable jobs after investing heavily in education. So while banning may reduce harm in one area, it also leaves another issue unaddressed. Any thoughts?

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💼 Layoffs in Tech: It’s Not (Just) AI. Every second post on my feed today talks about layoffs… and understandably so. So far in 2025, we’ve seen over 130,000 tech jobs lost globally. In India alone, the count has crossed 21,000. A few headlines: • Microsoft – 9,000 roles cut • Intel – 24,000 • TCS – 12,000 And many more across both big names and lesser-known companies. And yet, most of the blame seems to be landing on AI and so-called “vibe coding”. Let’s be clear: AI may be reshaping the industry, but it hasn’t matured enough to replace most developer roles yet. This wave of layoffs isn’t just about AI… it’s about: ✅ Overhiring during COVID ✅ Geopolitical & macroeconomic instability ✅ Bloated CTCs and declining productivity ✅ Skill stagnation in a rapidly evolving tech landscape Yes, AI is a force… but it’s not the reason. The tech bubble is simply correcting itself. And it’s a wake-up call. 🧠 Adaptability and upskilling are the real shields in this climate… not fear of being replaced by a bot.

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❌ Rejected. 🔴 Ignored. ❌ Overlooked. ✅ Until this changed. 📈 Here’s what I did differently (and why it actually worked) 🎓 I’m not from IIT. 🎓 Not from NIT. 🤝 No inside connections. No magic referral email. 🏛️ Just a Tier-3 college guy with a resume, a few side projects, and a lot of doubt. What changed? ✅ It wasn’t luck. ✅ It wasn’t brute force. ✅ It was finally stopping to ask myself: “If I were an interviewer, why would I call me?” 1️⃣ From list → story I stopped dumping buzzwords and started telling what I built, why, and the impact. 🔙 Before: “Built a backend API” 🔜 After: “Built a RESTful API handling ~500K daily requests, reducing response time by ~30%” Not longer. Just clearer. 2️⃣ Structure > scatter Instead of solving 500 random Leetcode questions, I focused on structured roadmap Less noise. More depth. 3️⃣ Projects with purpose Every project wasn’t just “cool tech” — I made sure each solved a real problem, could be explained simply, and showed decisions & trade-offs. ✅ “Why did I choose NoSQL here?” ✅“What would break under 1M users?” The truth? Without a brand college or referrals, your story and clarity become your brand. They can’t see your GPA — but they can see: Ownership 🛠 Impact 📊 Thought process 🧠 📌 No IIT? No problem. If your journey feels authentic and your prep is focused, the call can still come. That’s what worked for me. #Tier3ToFAANG #ResumeTips #FAANGPrep #InterviewMindset #BigTechJourney #StorytellingInTech #Google #Microsoft

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The secret to securing a referral? Make it simple for the referrer to act. Lately, I’ve been receiving a wave of referral requests — especially for roles at Google. I genuinely want to help, but what makes all the difference is how well-prepared the request is. Nobody has the time to dig through half-complete messages, guess job IDs, or fix broken resume links just to refer someone. And let’s be honest, after a few back-and-forths, the process becomes tiring, and many referrers may unintentionally ignore the request. To avoid that, I’ve created a simple format I now share with candidates. It covers everything a referrer needs to move things forward quickly: ✅ A viewable Google Drive link to your resume (or a PDF with the correct permissions) ✅ Exact job ID or posting link you’re applying for ✅ A short 3rd-person summary answering: “Why should we hire you?” 👉 This part is crucial — companies like Google require it when submitting a referral, and most people overlook this. ✅ Updated contact details, consistent across resume and message ✅ A quick eligibility check before reaching out When you come prepared, it shows you’re serious, respectful of the other person’s time, and more likely to get referred. Let’s make referrals smoother and more efficient for everyone 🙌 #referrals #jobsearchtips #careerclarity #techjobs #googlecareers #linkedincommunity #career #referralsmadeeasier #decodingreferrals

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Most students struggle not because they’re not smart enough — but because their prep is random. LeetCode grinding feels like progress, but without structure, 80% is forgotten in a week. Here’s a proven approach 👇 1. Pick a Pattern → Easy → Medium → Hard Instead of jumping around, pick one pattern (like Sliding Window or Binary Search). Start with easy problems, move to medium, then hard. This way, you build intuition step by step. 2. Keep a “Pattern Notebook” After solving a problem, write down: The key insight The approach Variations where this applies This becomes your personal cheat sheet for revision. 3. Dedicate 30–40% to CS Fundamentals DSA alone won’t carry you. Interviewers often ask OS, DBMS, CN, OOPs questions. Make sure you can confidently explain: Deadlocks, indexing, TCP vs UDP, OOPs principles, etc. 4. Revise Weekly Memory fades fast. Spend at least 1 day a week revisiting problems & notes. Repetition = retention. 💡 Why this works? Because interviews test clarity & consistency, not just speed. Structured prep ensures you can map problems to patterns and explain your thought process. If you’re serious about placements, don’t chase random numbers. Build habits. Spot patterns. Master fundamentals. That’s how you crack interviews with confidence. 🚀 Follow Upasana Singh for more such reads. #DSA #codingInterviews

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