CS Mini: Alok Menghrajani on Software Engineering
Insights from a seasoned career in computer security
Alok Menghrajani is a security engineer with experience at both Facebook and Square. I asked him a couple questions about the field and Silicon Valley over email.
What does an average day look like for an effective person in your field as compared to an ineffective one?
Effective software engineers have the following skills: coding proficiency, English (or whatever language you work in) writing proficiency, and being able to lead projects/convince people why an idea is good.
You can read more about the various engineering levels here: https://www.levels.fyi/blog/swe-level-framework.html
If you suddenly woke up to realize that your entire life was a dream, and that you were actually a high school student in 2022, what would you then decide to spend your time doing/avoiding knowing what you know now?
Great question. It took me a while to dive deep into one area (infosec) -- for the longest time, I was creating little pieces of code but nobody was using my work because it wasn't polished. If I could start over, I would focus on building little things from A-Z and getting others to see/use it.
What myth surrounding security engineering jobs in Silicon Valley is most damaging to newcomers?
I don't know if it's a myth, but there's a divide between security folks who are analysts or PMs and can't code vs those who are software engineers. The combination of software engineering + security knowledge is IMHO more useful and opens more opportunities. Obviously, companies need to hire various different roles so your experience may differ.