One of my best pieces of advice as a Software Engineer with several years of experience: don’t let yourself go physically. Try your best to look good, and don’t fall for the disheveled engineer wearing a hoodie trope. Looking attractive makes every part of your life in and out of work significantly more enjoyable; it’s the easiest and most effective buff you’ll ever get. Being good looking is as advantageous to your career as 10-20 IQ pts imo, and that’s probably underselling it. You get more attention on you, more people rooting for you, and more people enjoying to be your coworker. It’s easy money, tell your friend to get it together.