1. The Best Engineers Don’t Just Code
Carter joined Brev.dev as a founding engineer and was immediately thrown into chaos. Within weeks, he had to fix a $300K AWS billing issue and rebuild core infrastructure. Engineering isn’t just about writing code. It’s about solving real problems under pressure.
2. Early Career Is About Growth, Not Titles
Carter got promoted in his first year at a cloud security startup but felt stuck in the corporate ladder. He left to join Brev.dev as a startup engineer, where the learning curve was steep but career acceleration was 10x faster. Startups force you to grow in ways that big tech never will.
3. Social Media Is a Cheat Code for Career Growth
Carter started posting on tech, careers, and AI in February 2023. He grew his following to 800,000+ across platforms, gaining career opportunities, visibility at NVIDIA, and an insane network. His strategy was low-friction content aka 15 minutes from idea to post.
4. AI Is the Ultimate Force Multiplier
Carter uses AI tools daily, estimating a 3-4x productivity increase in his work. He believes AI will allow solo founders to build what used to take an entire team. On Deepseek: Proof that $5M can now achieve what used to require $100M+ in AI development.
5. The Most Valuable Skill? Learning How to Learn
Carter’s journey started with building his own computer at 12 and modding Minecraft. His most impactful course was “Distributed Systems,” where he first learned about Kubernetes, cloud computing, and serverless infrastructure. His belief: certifications don’t matter, building real projects does.
6. Startups Are the Fastest Way to Learn But Not for Everyone
At Brev, Carter had to wear multiple hats like engineering, marketing, operations, and even public outreach. He learned to check his ego. Startups aren’t about individual achievement, they’re about making the company succeed. If you want rapid career growth, consider joining a startup early, but be ready for chaos.
7. The Future: More Engineers → Founders
Carter is now a Senior SWE at NVIDIA, still working on Brev post-acquisition. His short-term goal is to stay at NVIDIA and long-term goal is potentially starting his own company. His advice: If you’re a student, use university startup resources, build projects, and learn AI tools now.
Final takeaway from the talk was: the best opportunities come from building, taking risks, and putting yourself out there.
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