My team owns a really wide set of features spanning across multiple repos and programming languages (C++, React, Angular). On top of that, each person works on pretty different areas (telemetry/data, UI components, client side api, etc.). We have a v1 of the app being maintained and a v2 currently being developed with some people working on v1 and some working on v2. It's impossible to know all the context behind every pull request.

How can I give quality code reviews? At most I can only provide feedback to simple code logic and really well written PR descriptions. Should I be trying to private message the developer for each PR to understand more, or is this just something that comes with time?

How to give better code reviews without full business context?

Senior Software Engineer [63] at Microsoft

Will interviews for data-related jobs at FAANG companies be different from general software jobs? Given my most recent experience is in software engineering, how can I best prepare for behavioral questions for a data related job?

Switching stacks to data engineer role - How will the interviews work?

Can you share resources for data-related interviews (applied data science, data analysis, sql, big data, etc). Also, any tips that a former software engineer can best prepare for switching roles to a data engineer.

What are some good resources for data-related interviews?

Mid-Level Software Engineer [62] at Microsoft

I am not confident whenever I try to code a new library or a service. I simply copy-paste, look at other samples in the coding repo, and complete my tasks. 
How can I be better at coding, without copy-pasting? How can I gain confidence in this?

I am not feeling confident when it comes to coding a new library, or service API. I copy paste from other coding snippets in the repo.

I had a career discussion with my new manager during my one-on-one meeting. 
I did ask him if he is ready to put me up for promotion to senior software engineer. He said he will gather feedback and get back to me next week. 
In the following one-on-one discussion, he brought up a few points as feedback.
1. I have to do independent projects:
    (I have already delivered three independent projects right from design to shipping to prod. My old manager knows about this and he had given me the highest rating). 
2. I have to mentor juniors:
  (I have already mentored two juniors in my team). 
3.  He pointed out saying that I took more time to lock my recent design:
  ( We took over a project from another team, and the design had many open-ended loose strings. I took the initiative to fill those gaps apart from designing my module.) 
From this discussion, I feel like my new manager is either less informed or he lacks knowledge of the previous impact that I delivered. 

I am actually upset and demotivated. How can I handle this situation? How to move forward with my new manager regarding career discussion?

How to drive my promotion discussion with my new manager?

Some of my work involves coding in an old AngularJS codebase that has a lot of issues. Most files are 5-6k lines long, many of the functions are on v3() while v1 and v2 are left in there creating technical debt. We've already moved on to a rewrite of the application in React, leaving the AngularJS code a mess that no-one cares about. 

How should I approach work that is assigned to me in this codebase? Get it done as fast as possible so I can get back to my "real meaningful work" in the React codebase, probably adding on more technical debt in the process? Take my time and try to make the most even if the code is worse and I might be learning anti-patterns? The AngularJS codebase will be deprecated and migrated away from in a year anyways so developers don't really care about refactoring or improving the code quality. I've been trying my best to essentially avoid work in the AngularJS codebase, but unfortunately I can't ignore it since 200 million+ users rely on it and oftentimes on-call issues crop up in it.

How to make the most working in a messy codebase?

I was watching this recorded session ["How to write better code faster as a software engineer"](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/iYpRj8XfyzCSaTYnce3y/how-to-write-better-code-faster-as-a-software-engineer-11192022/). In that series, Alex mentioned picking a tech stack and sticking to it.

In that case, I work in C# and .net tech stack, however, if I switch companies, and the other company uses Java and its relevant framework, how can I gain expertise in that stack?

Should I look for jobs that use the tech stack that I am strong with? \
Or learn and master the tech stack that companies use?

To pick a tech stack and stick with it: How is this possible when we switch companies?

I've been debating this though for a while. Is it worth it to go for a principal role 
(61 -> 62 -> 63 -> 64) or just go and build something your own

Career advancement or building a startup? Which one is harder?

[Part 4] Software Engineer Onboarding: Understand Strategic Decisions

Learn the business to make good strategic decisions.

By the time you're a month or more into your job, you should start execution on your projects, but you should continue gathering context about your team and company. You should document key decision points in your work, and reflect on who is involved, how long various steps take, and the level of detail various stakeholders ask for.

------

This is part 4 of a 4 part series from Daniel about how to **most efficiently** and **most effectively** onboard into a new team or company. What should you spend your time doing in the first few months of joining, and how should that change based on your level? 

This masterclass covers this topic from the perspective of Daniel Tomko, a 20 year Big Tech veteran. Daniel spent 11 years at Microsoft and 8 years at Meta in various senior IC and management positions. 

- [Go back to part 1 of the masterclass here](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/IYZRmwp33E3TBeFQFr9c/part-1-software-engineer-onboarding-embrace-your-lack-of-knowledge/)
- Connect with Daniel Tomko on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieltomko/)
- Check out the [Formation.dev discount](https://www.jointaro.com/perks/) for Taro Premium members
- [How To Figure Out If A Team Is Important To A Company](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/9OwPRwFFSMvEoVj6Zt5Q/how-to-figure-out-if-a-team-is-important-to-a-company/)
- [How To Find A Good Team With Career Growth Opportunities](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/UGIUC9zaGccK0tOarBri/how-to-find-a-good-team-with-career-growth-opportunities/)
- [This Is How You Get Feedback - Making The Process Smooth](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/aGuxjGbFjYb34ofhRxjs/this-is-how-you-get-feedback-making-the-process-smooth/)

When Should You Switch Teams Or Companies? - Daniel Tomko's Perspective

Daniel Tomko spent much longer at the companies in his career compared to most engineers: 11 years at Microsoft and 8 years at Meta. Within these companies, Daniel did various team changes.

- Switching companies has a higher "transaction cost" compared to switching teams.
- At a large enough company, you have tons of interesting technical challenges and people to work with.

Connect with Daniel Tomko on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieltomko/)

Other relevant resources: 
- [How to approach a team switch conversation with my manager?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/XFQqRINGf9JvW3xmnVHa/whats-the-best-way-to-approach-a-team-switching-conversation-with-my-manager/)
- [How To Figure Out If A Team Is Important To A Company](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/9OwPRwFFSMvEoVj6Zt5Q/how-to-figure-out-if-a-team-is-important-to-a-company/)
- [How To Find A Good Team With Career Growth Opportunities](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/UGIUC9zaGccK0tOarBri/how-to-find-a-good-team-with-career-growth-opportunities/)
- [What's it like working on an ads team?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/GCCIkaBVUpPxGCF4MjRL/what-is-it-like-working-on-ads-teams/)

There are so many design patterns available. I read through all the design patterns and  sometimes I feel like more than one design patterns work well for the logic I am coding. Example: I am trying to eliminate multiple if-else and switch statements as it is not scalable. I see the "Chain of responsibility pattern", and "strategy pattern". Both work well for my logic. How can I make a  decision of choosing one of the designs for this? 

*During code review*: People share their opinion on using a design pattern, and I sometimes struggle to convince my reviewers of the pattern that I have used in code. 

I am open to getting feedback and analyzing different design patterns suggested by reviewers. However, in  some situations, I feel more than one design pattern fits for the logic and there is no right or wrong approach.

How to handle this kind of situation?

There are so many design patterns available. How to choose right design pattern?

I recently interned at Microsoft, and I was able to get a return offer for another internship for the same team. I'm back at school now, and my goal is to nail the return internship so I can get a return offer to work full-time. In my spare time while at school, how can I best prepare myself to hit the ground running for my return internship? For context, I worked with Azure APIs during my internship, being more of a back-end developer.

How can I prepare for a return internship?

5 Offers w/ FAANG Companies As A New Grad: Details + Lessons

In 2014, Rahul graduated from Stanford with a BS and MS in Computer Science. He received new grad Software Engineer offers from 5 companies: 
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Microsoft
4. Google
5. Square

This video outlines the exact details of the offers, and models out the increase (or decrease) in value of those offers 8 years later, in 2022. The total compensation of the offers range from $174K/year to $262K/year, and those numbers go a lot higher if you factor in stock appreciation.

If you want to better understand how compensation works in top tech companies, first watch [this video](https://link.jointaro.com/819tdsqwJj4VnaEC6).

I am good at coding, and I am able to deliver features to prod. However, when it comes to technical writing, like writing software design document, coming up with state transition diagram, block diagram, I am struggling with it a lot. 
I am not from computer science background, so I am not well versed in coming up flow chart, sequence diagram and state transition diagram. 
How to improve on these areas?
Becuase of this, I am finding it difficult to communicate my idea to principal engineers/ architects. 
How can I improve on this?

How to improve on non-technical skills like writing Software design document?

At Microsoft, basic criteria for promotion is to deliver at next level consistently. 
Example: At L62, i need to work and deliver at L63s work level standards.

How to identify projects that are more suitable for senior engineers?

Microsoft is an American multinational technology corporation which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered in Redmond, Washington, United States. 

Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers.

Microsoft

Mid-Level Software Engineer [62]

As someone who's trying to build their own startup right now, **building your own startup is 100x harder than any promotion at any company**.
- Being a great software engineer is already hard enough as is, and the brutal thing about startups is that it requires even more skills like marketing, sales, and user research while taking existing software engineer skills like prioritization and communication to an even greater extreme.
- I felt like I was pretty well positioned to create my own thing after doing so many side projects and growing in a more well-rounded, tech lead style, but after creating Taro with Rahul, I'm fully realizing how incompetent I am at this whole startup thing 😅

In terms of whether it's worth it, this entirely depends on you and what your priorities are. There are many good reasons to build a startup:
1. Challenging yourself
2. Learning a more diverse array of skills
3. Solving a problem you're really passionate about that the market hasn't yet

What I will say is that if you think startups are an easier path to a very high total compensation vs. getting promoted to very senior levels, I don't think that's going to pan out the way you want, haha.

Something I've been meaning to do is make a video on my thought process around starting Taro into the "Building Taro" series. When that comes out, it will be [here](https://link.jointaro.com/fXVotnpQKXkTEx2aA).

Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero, PayPal

Alex Chiou

It's worth clarifying what you mean by "build something on your own". In most cases, if you're optimizing for compensation, it's really, really hard to beat the promotion ladder at Big Tech. If you get to the senior staff or director levels, you can easily make $1M+ in total compensation at places like Meta, Google, or a newer company like Airbnb.

In the video I talk about a few paths engineers may consider when doing something on their own: 
- content creation (e.g. YouTube videos or writing e-books)
- VC scale startup (hypergrowth)
- indie startup (slower, sustainable growth)

Your time is extremely valuable as an engineer -- use it wisely!!

Meta, Pinterest, Kosei

Rahul Pandey

This collection represents the best of what Taro has to offer, personally curated by Alex and Rahul. If you're short on time, go through the content here.

Mid-level engineers have very strong technical proficiency, able to execute on small to medium-sized projects with minimal hand-holding, leveling up from junior engineers.

Principal engineers have massive scope, always greatly transcending the boundaries of their immediate team. They own success at an organization level, and their impact can often be felt across the entire company.

A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model.

Career advancement or building a startup? Which one is harder?

Microsoft

Discussion

Microsoft