Working on Nuggets (http://www.nuggetsapp.com/): personal knowledge management to record, remember and share everything you learn. in 200 characters or less
Opower - http://www.opower.com/careers - San Francisco, CA and Arlington, VA (or DC) is hiring Software Engineers, Software Engineers in Test, Process Engineers and Product Managers.
We are building a SAAS solution for utilities to better engage and serve their customers; we help people understand and reduce their energy use through behavioral and data science.
If you are interested in joining a mission-driven company with good tech. and fun culture, drop me a note.
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." - Steve Jobs
I built this to remind myself - http://liveconsciously.me/
I joined MS straight out of college as a SDET too and I agree with most of this. This is a broad statement, but SDET is generally not the best bet if your goal is to be technical or entrepreneurial. My big regret is that I stuck around for 3 years before deciding to move. My advice - change your role/team/company soon. Realistically, nothing is going to change overnight in your current role or team - the culture has been established over several years. It is important to work on what you are passionate about and in a culture that fits you, especially when you are young and when career is a big part of your life.
I joined MS straight out of college as a SDET too and I agree with most of what this. This is a broad statement, but SDET is generally not the best bet if your goal is to be technical or entrepreneurial. My big regret is that I stuck around for 3 years before deciding to move. My advice - change your role/team/company soon. Realistically, nothing is going to change overnight in your current role or team - the culture has been established over several years. It is important to work on what you are passionate about and in a culture that fits you, especially when you are young and when career is a big part of your life.
1. Focus on one simple app, one framework(I'd recommend Django over Rails if you are new to web development), one reference book (http://www.djangobook.com/). Quick goals and instant gratification helps when you are starting out.
2. Reading the relevant chapter(s) of the book before starting the implementation has worked better for me.
3. Build the UI first (use Twitter's Bootstrap to get this done quickly). I am more motivated when I 'see' the end product.