Senior Software Engineer here (5+ YOE) AMA about career, interviews, or breaking into tech

Hey everyone,

I'm a Senior Software Engineer with over 5 years of experience in backend development, mostly in fintech and digital banking. I've worked across payment systems, secure APIs, and microservices architecture throughout my career.

I'm relatively free these days, so I figured I'd use the time to give back. If you're a fresh graduate, university student, or just starting out and have questions about:

• Breaking into software engineering
• Interview prep (data structures, system design, backend-specific questions)
• What actually matters vs what doesn't when you're job hunting
• Career direction, skill-building, or just general "am I doing this right" doubts

Drop your questions in the comments, I'll try to reply to everyone. No question is too basic.

My background/tech stack, in case it helps you gauge relevance:

• Java, Spring Boot
• Apache Kafka
• Android
• Python

Also freelance on the side and I'm Top Rated on Upwork, so if you've got questions about freelancing alongside a full-time job, happy to talk about that too.

Looking forward to the questions.