Several people have asked me what the qualifications are for junior software engineers to be hired these days. This level is often referred to as “new grad,” but people with lots of different backgrounds, not just recent university graduates, can use the entry-level software engineering role as their first job in big tech.
For example, in my early career I worked as a generalist in nonprofit after studying environmental economics. Then, using experience managing a website as part of my job, coding personal projects, and going through a software bootcamp, I moved into a junior SWE role as the foundation of my career in engineering.
Once you’re in the SWE field, your background is not an overwhelming predictor of success in your job. So what is?
The #1 qualifier I look for in hiring junior software engineers is mindset and soft skills. Curiosity, humility, and eagerness to learn is one critical area for successful engineers, and strong ownership, collaboration, and drive to create impact is another. The differentiator is self-management to find the right balance between the two, so that you’re continuously both growing your skills and shipping real work.
Transparently, although this is the top thing I’d like to see, it’s really hard to demonstrate in interviews. If you have stories that show how you employ these skills, share them with your interviewers.
For hard skills, in years past candidates have studied search algorithms, practiced using data structures, and considered optimal database patterns to pass coding interviews. In a world where AI agents write lots of our code, do prospective engineers still need to learn those core building and efficiency skills? Yes.
Although you may not be writing a lot of syntax by hand, you must thoroughly know the right approach so that you can prompt and review for the correct tradeoffs. There is rarely a universal right answer; a non-optimal but easy-to-understand algorithm is sometimes the best choice, whereas in other circumstances spells disaster. Knowing which is which and when to use them is what an engineer brings to the table.
In the AI era, the contribution human SWEs make has shifted even more toward judgement. At Lyft, the software we build shapes how people get around and earn a living every day — the stakes are real. Showing the motivation to inquire and the wisdom to make reasoned decisions is required to earn the team’s trust as a steward of technical architecture where your choices impact people in their daily lives.
To be successful as a new hire at Lyft, you need recent experience producing significant amounts of production-quality code. If you’d like to apply but aren’t in this position yet, find a way to ramp up your coding so you can be a strong applicant — for example, through personal side projects, driving technical solutions as part of a non-engineering job, or pursuing a structured learning program that gets you building.
Why is this worth it? This role gives you mentorship and support, tons of tools and resources, and the time and opportunity to develop all of your skills, whether you want to become a senior engineer, lead a team as a manager, or build novel solutions as a technical founder.
If this resonates with you, I hope you’ll consider joining a team at Lyft. Currently hiring on my team:
- SWE, Android (Mexico)
- Intern, Data Science (Toronto)
- Intern, Backend (Mexico)
- Intern, Frontend (Mexico)
Visit Lyft Careers to see all our openings.
Ashley Lorden is a Senior Engineering Manager leading Global Growth at Lyft, working on autonomous vehicle integration, luxury experiences including our new Alcove brand, and international expansion. She joined Lyft in 2013 as a Junior Software Engineer.
Hiring Junior Engineers was originally published in Lyft Engineering on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Source: eng.lyft.com
