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I send the same 5 blog posts to pretty much every new software engineer I mentor. They're all articles I wish I'd read when I started my career, about salary, priorities, and decision-making. Sharing here in case they're helpful: 🧵

1/5 Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/s... Long read but worth it. It highlights how companies approach salary totally differently than employees, and what to do about it It also has strong tactical advice on how to approach your salary conversation.

2/5 The Trimodal Nature of Software Engineering Salaries blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-eng... Title says "in the Netherlands and Europe" but applies everywhere. This article will really help you understand the tech job market, which is critical for knowing whether you're being paid fairly.

2/5 (cont) Note: there's an updated version of this article, but paywalled. newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/trimodal-n... The free version gets the main points across, but this newsletter is well worth the subscription.

3/5 Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems jsomers.net/blog/speed-m... Optimizing for speed and efficiency early in my career was a game-changer. I could experiment more, close more tickets, and learn faster. One of the best investments I've ever made.

4/5 Choose Boring Technology mcfunley.com/choose-borin... Cutting-edge tools introduce risk, and need strong justification. If you're new, it's unlikely you'll make decisions about what tools your team uses, but you should understand how they make these decisions. It'll be your turn someday.

5/5 How to do what you love and make good money sive.rs/balance A bit of a philosophical one. Companies can take advantage of the fact that programming is fun, and try to get you to find your meaning at work. This article encourages separating your creativity from your job.