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5 Things I Learned After Two Years as a Software Engineer at Microsoft
3. Everything can be solved. The important question is: what to solve first?
As I am about to complete two years in Microsoft India as a software engineer, it is but natural to contemplate what I have learned in the past two years.
I joined Microsoft straight from my college, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, making it my first experience in the industry. Over time, I have grown tremendously and have had so many new experiences. This blog attempts to structure my thoughts around it.
So, here are the five key things I’ve learned.
1. Research, Research, and More Research
“The common facts of today are the products of yesterday’s research.” — Duncan MacDonald
When I say research, I mean two things:
Doing research to find the root cause of the problem.
I realised something pretty early on: it’s very easy to get into the habit of not getting into the details of a problem or understanding the actual reason for the problem. And if you don’t know the exact reason for that problem to exist, it’s almost always going to bite you when you have almost solved the problem. Almost is a very important word here.
Doing research to find the most efficient solution to a problem at hand.
It’s important to understand that we don’t just want to solve a problem; it’s equally important to also solve it in the most efficient manner. That is what separates great work from average work. To excel, it takes some time to learn this mindset and not just complete work. This is what gives you the most growth.
Anyone knows that background research or homework is very important in a scenario, but yet it’s also very easy to not do it completely, especially when you are now solving multiple problems instead of a single problem.
When you have multiple things on your mind, it’s very easy to compromise and not reach the depths of all of it or lose track of things. Hence, it’s extremely important to keep this thought in the back…
