At my current company, this past review cycle was my fifth. The hardest ones were the first two—when you’re still unfamiliar with the process and unsure about what’s expected of you. What helps me now, and why have I already started preparing for the next one? I’ve structured my experience into different periods, each of which can be approached separately at various stages of the review cycle. 💪 Preparation Period: End of the last performance review → Start of the next performance review➤ Read more...

Once, Hemingway made a bet that he could write the shortest story capable of scaring anyone… He won the bet: Performance Review. Let’s break down what this is, why it always seems to sneak up on you, and whether there’s anything you can do about it. In short, it’s the process of summarizing your work over a specific period. You can find more details here. The existence of such a process indicates a certain level of maturity in a company, but it needs to work correctly to avoid causing you headaches (after all, you came to write code, not reports for managers).➤ Read more...

The most valuable piece of advice I received early in my programming career: write unit tests. For many inexperienced developers, the requirement to write them causes procrastination or boredom. I still get lazy sometimes, but I still do it. And here I am not talking about the fact that in Avito for a backend developer, writing units for your logic is considered in most cases a necessary requirement for your pull request to be approved, but more about the fact that I really understand the value of this.➤ Read more...

I’ve given this topic a lot of thought. In the past, I used to believe that a Senior specialist writes “otherworldly” code and does it quickly. They could solve any complex task and had answers to every question in their field. Of course, this was an exaggeration, but that’s the direction my thoughts leaned toward. Over time, as I interacted more with engineers at this level (and even higher), I realized they often write code as slowly as juniors.➤ Read more...

First, ask yourself: should you dive into this field right now, given your current experience? And if so, what’s your goal? If we consider an engineer in a company with well-established processes and a clear division of responsibilities, system design skills are usually expected from more senior developers, generally at or near the senior level. Interviews for such positions often include the classic system design interview, where you might be asked to design Twitter, YouTube, or another popular system.➤ Read more...

In mature cross-functional teams, there’s a concept known as a feature lead. This role involves taking responsibility for the outcome of a specific feature, and it becomes especially valuable when a product team is working on multiple initiatives, each potentially comprising many features. It’s generally expected that senior engineers or higher take on this role regularly. However, it’s also a great practice for mid-level engineers to show initiative and step up into these responsibilities.➤ Read more...

Yesterday marked exactly two years since I started working at Avito. During this time, I’ve significantly grown as a professional. I have an excellent team that supports one another, helps achieve results, and is always ready to share leisure time. Of course, there’s a sense that not everyone is as fortunate with their colleagues, and situations can vary. But this is precisely why the final interview (or fit interview) exists; I had three of them when I was hired.➤ Read more...

One of the key competencies looked at during potential grade reviews is “engineering culture.” At Avito, the signs of reaching level E5 (Senior) are defined as: Improving the overall engineering tools of the company. Testing complex corner cases. Designing testable systems and fixing those that are hard to test. Identifying inefficiencies in code/architecture/test models and adding to the team’s technical backlog. Establishing and testing non-functional requirements or engaging experts for this purpose.➤ Read more...