# An engineer should have something to show

Canonical page: https://thejasonsamuel.com/an-engineer-should-have-something-to-show

[Home](https://thejasonsamuel.com/) > [Essays](https://thejasonsamuel.com/essays)

# An engineer should have something to show

Restored from Instagram stories · 9 June 2024

if you really want to stand out as an engineer, you need to be an actual engineer and really show you’re one.

read the above link.

i’ve trained engineers (not developers) from scratch. people who know nothing about coding.

we had an apprentice program (which i am pulling down right now since it’s too much energy where i don’t wanna focus on) where i proved that people regardless of their background can be placed in [it] if they are really good thinkers and are committed enough to work on something.

i see most people coming out of engineering colleges as it/cs grads.

they don’t have an active github

they don’t have their own website.

they claim to be full stack but don’t know either front end or backend.

they jump around languages too much. they just want to put a lot of names on their resumé - mastering none. they think it is showing off.

they don’t know js properly but i would see 5 more js frameworks listed there.

they’d be all around the map. zero roadmap. you won’t know why they learnt something.

they concentrate on dsa and other stupid things because that’s what an ex-faang guy who’s selling courses to them on how to get into faang told them.

instead build webapps/apps. show me the hld and lld. write and show why you chose to do that, why you used this in the architecture, your learnings etc.,

host it - things are cheap now. even inexpensive.

stop behaving like someone who has adhd. concentrate on one. take it. spend your time on it. show your excellence in it.

if i see someone in their resumé with just C and i see in their github that they have built awesome stuff using C like a bear on crack cocaine - i do know that this guy can easily master go or rust (chances are that they already do)

i can draw similar comparisons to someone who has mastered js completely. they can wreck anything and build things super fast.

those are immediate immediate hires.

[← Previous essay](https://thejasonsamuel.com/immigration-and-the-right)[All essays](https://thejasonsamuel.com/essays)[Next essay →](https://thejasonsamuel.com/political-loyalty-is-no-excuse-for-violence)All rights reserved. Copyright © 2026 Jason Samuel