Book
Software Engineering
What postings now ask for, system design at the level actually assessed, product sense for engineers, code and review, debugging and the coding round, what changes from mid to staff, the loop round by round, and choosing a track.
The largest field in this atlas at 2,609 postings. Written for the general software engineering loop rather than any one specialism.
CHAPTER 1
What a software engineering job description now asks for
AI in 89%. Mentorship in 87%. Product sense in 84% — higher than distributed systems.
CHAPTER 2
System design, at the level actually asked
The round that decides most senior loops. Not a memorised architecture — a sequence of defensible trade-offs.
CHAPTER 3
Product sense for engineers
Named in 84% of postings, above distributed systems. The largest gap between how engineers prepare and what is asked.
CHAPTER 4
Code, review and the 9%
Testing appears in 9% of postings because it is assumed. Here is what is actually being assessed.
CHAPTER 5
Debugging, and the coding round
What the coding interview actually measures, and the method that transfers to production.
CHAPTER 6
What actually changes from mid to senior to staff
The most common promotion failure is doing the previous level extremely well.
CHAPTER 7
The software engineering loop, round by round
Five rounds, each testing something specific. Knowing which lets you choose the right story.
CHAPTER 8
Backend, frontend, full-stack, mobile — and where the demand is
What the corpus says about each track, and what that means for how you position yourself.