From Failure to AWS: What Actually Makes a Great Engineer

Victor Moreno went from failing out of a top CS program to becoming a senior engineer at AWS, and his story says a lot about what actually matters in software engineering today.

In this conversation, we go deep into the reality behind the AI hype, what makes engineers valuable (it’s not writing more code), and why the future of the field looks very different from what most people think.

We talk about the shift from coding to system thinking, why fundamentals matter more in the age of AI, and how junior engineers will need to evolve as tools like Claude and ChatGPT take over the “grunt work.”

Victor also shares hard-earned lessons from teaching, startups, consulting, and building systems at AWS, along with practical advice for engineers looking to stand out in a crowded, uncertain job market.

This is not a hype conversation. It’s a real look at where things are going.

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🔑 What We Cover

* Why AI is making fundamentals more important, not less

* The biggest mistake engineers make is chasing promotions

* How to actually become a high-impact engineer

* Why does doing more Jira tickets not matter

* What’s broken about today’s interview process

* The future of junior engineers in an AI world

* Tactical vs strategic engineering (and why it matters)

* Why most AI-generated code is still “low quality.”

* How to think about career growth in a weird job market

💡 Key Takeaway

The best engineers aren’t the ones writing the most code—they’re the ones who understand systems, think long-term, and can drive decisions.

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