I’m starting office hours for anyone who is a new or soon-to-be professional in software engineering, product management, or design. If you’re four years or less from starting a full-time job in these fields (e.g., you’re in school and eventually want a software/product job), or have been in the field for four years or less, I’d love to speak.

To join office hours, book a time (currently a few slots on Fridays, opening up 30 days out). The initial format will be an informal one-participant-per-time-slot Google Meet, but I’m open to other formats, sizes, and cadences. If you prefer to have a group session with a few peers, book a slot and add them to the invitation.

What can I help with? My primary goal is to be helpful: you might have questions about industry, or changes in processes and tools with the introduction of coding agents. I can give you an N=1 opinion on these things. Another way I can be helpful is to listen: our industry is going through some of the biggest changes in tools, processes, hiring, and responsibilities I’ve seen since I entered it in the 2010s, and I imagine you might want to share your thoughts, feelings, or questions on how this affects you with a somewhat neutral person who isn’t your manager or interviewer.

Who am I? I’m Adam, the Co-Founder & CTO of B12. Prior to that, I led the data team at Locu, which was acquired by GoDaddy. And prior to that, I got my Ph.D in Computer Science at MIT and studied Computer Science & Math at RPI. I like to run and spend time with family and friends. With my side project ayb, I’m trying to make it easy to create databases, share them with collaborators, and query them from anywhere.

Why am I doing this? The office hours are free, and I am not trying to sell you anything. Given how quickly our industry is changing, I figured people early in their careers might appreciate some answers to their questions or someone to listen to their story. But I’m also doing this for selfish reasons. For a while now, I’ve been thinking, writing [1, 2], and presenting on how to mentor junior team members in software engineering given all of the change happening in our industry, but that perspective is entirely based on my experience at my company. I want to broaden that perspective given that many of the biggest effects of the changes in our industry are being felt by more junior team members.

If I’m lucky to have enough conversations, I plan to use the themes I observe to create a survey to help quantify how early-career participants feel about our changing industry. If I write anything summarizing what I’ve learned from these conversations, I would keep identities and specifics confidential, only summarizing themes I’ve observed across multiple conversations. And if you say something quotable, I’ll only include the quote in my writing (anonymous or attributed) with your permission.

Is there anything else I should know? I particularly encourage you to join office hours if you identify as a woman, are a person of color or other underrepresented minority, or are a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. You likely have a unique experience with all of this, and I want to make sure to understand that perspective as well.

I expect most participants will be adults, but if a participant is under 18, please have a parent or guardian email me confirming that they are aware the participant is speaking to an adult on the internet about their professional development. If that’s not possible, email a short explanation of your situation. I’m excited to help and want to do so responsibly.

These office hours are for people who are early on in their journey in our industry. If you join office hours trying to sell something instead of discussing your own professional journey, I will politely end the meeting.

Finally: this is an experiment that I hope to learn from. If you have feedback on how I can run things better or differently, please reach out!

Thank you to Nitesh Banta, Josh Blum, Meredith Blumenstock, Jenny Cheng, Daniel Haas, and Eugene Wu for feedback on this idea.