[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) is a proven Silicon Valley engineer with 10 years of experience across top tech companies like PayPal, Course Hero (now Learneo, a $3.6B unicorn), Meta, and Robinhood. His success is also reflected in his compensation:

- **2014:** Alex was making *$85,000* per year as a clueless new grad at PayPal 🤓
- **2021:** Alex was making *$750,000* per year as a high-performing tech lead at Robinhood 😎

In just 7 years, Alex was able to increase his pay by a staggering +800%. While a lot of this was due to promotions and his personal growth, a huge portion was also due to the 3 company switches he made across his career. It's hard to reach the top without changing jobs, and Alex took that idea to the bank 🏦.

## Interview 0 -&gt; Interview Hero

Alex graduated UCLA as a lackluster student, just barely maintaining a \~3.0 GPA. He entered the tech job market as an even more lackluster interview candidate who was too lazy to do LeetCode. It took him 25+ failed interviews before landing the offer for his first job at PayPal.

Fast forward to his later years and Alex was passing his interviews with far more ease at better and better companies, having learned from his many failures of the past. For Meta and Robinhood, he only had to study a few hours (&lt;5) to pass their behavioral and system design rounds!

## Inspiring Others To Job Success

Alex has mentored thousands of software engineers towards cracking the interview for their dream jobs. Here's just a small list of the top tech companies Alex has empowered engineers to get into:

- Meta
- Amazon & Twitch
- Google
- Snap
- Microsoft
- Pinterest
- Workday

And this is just the big publicly traded companies. Alex has also landed many engineers into positions at cutting-edge startups.

On top of the stellar selection of companies, Alex has helped engineers from all sorts of backgrounds ace their tech interviews:

- **Junior and senior** - Alex has helped both struggling new grads and senior engineers with 10+ years of experience.
- **US citizens and new immigrants** - Being on a visa makes the job search much harder, and this is an obstacle Alex has coached several mentees through, even helping an international student land a role at a top startup.
- **Traditional and non-traditional** - One of the engineers Alex helped get into Workday didn't even have a Computer Science degree!

## From The Other Side Of The Table

The last big reason why Alex is perfect to teach this course is that he's thoroughly seen the interview from *both* sides and built a deep understanding of what the world looks like through the eyes of the interviewer (i.e. the person giving the questions) and the (often struggling) candidate.

Alex was an interviewer at every company he's ever worked at, giving 250+ interviews, with \~100 of those being at Meta. He's reviewed 1,000+ resumes and been in the room for many hire/no-hire decisions. He's done every interview type from phone screen to onsite and DSA to behavioral. At Course Hero, he was their 1st Android engineer and tech lead, so he wrote their entire Android engineer interview process from scratch.

With all this experience, Alex has seen every possible way a software engineer job candidate can fail during their interview grind:

- He knows why they have to desperately apply online into a black hole with minimal results
- He knows why their resume doesn't even make it past the initial screen, not even getting the chance to talk to a human
- He knows why they completely choke during the interview despite having studied for 500+ hours

With this course, Alex is teaching you how to learn from the countless mistakes both he and his thousands of prior mentees have made.

Alex Chiou

Finding a job as a software engineer *sucks*. From "gotcha" data structures and algorithms (DSA) problems to recruiters ghosting you, the tech interview grind is often miserable. The sad thing is that universities and bootcamps are **terrible** at adequately preparing new talent for the brutal realities of the engineering job market.

This is why this course exists: It is the comprehensive resource you need to fully understand the many ins and outs of the software engineer interview grind. After going through this course, you will:

- **🧹** Organize your entire job search (and make it debuggable)

- 🧠 Train your brain to learn interview skills properly and stay healthy throughout the process

- 📃 Apply effectively and efficiently to jobs

- ✅ Have a framework to come prepared into any interview

- 💡 Understand all common interview types and how to approach them

Now you might be looking at this and wondering, "*Wait, where's the advice on becoming a LeetCode master?"*. This is 100% intentional and not a mistake: Over-indexing on DSA is easily the #1 way software engineers mess up their job search. While the vast majority of online resources help engineers with this portion, there is far, far more to the interview journey. It's why most engineers never break into FAANG - They don't master the multitude of other crucial interview mechanics besides DSA. Take this course and you will learn those mechanics!

Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer

Overview

Get Interviews

Interview Types

Pass Interviews

After The Interview

Conclusion

[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) is a proven Silicon Valley engineer with 10 years of experience across top tech companies like PayPal, Course Hero (now Learneo, a $3.6B unicorn), Meta, and Robinhood. Across his entire storied career, he has been a champion of code quality and woven it into so many of his accomplishments:

## Course Hero

At Course Hero, Alex was hired as their first Android engineer and tech lead. From there, he grew the team from 1 to 4 engineers and led the [Course Hero Android app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coursehero.coursehero) to having the highest NPS by far of any Course Hero surface (web, iOS, and Android) with the most 5 star ratings.

## Meta

At Meta, Alex was a Top 5% code committer and Top 1% reviewer, always getting **Exceeds Expectations** or higher on the *Engineering Excellence* performance review axis every half:

- With *270+ diffs landed per half*, Alex landed more than double the average Meta engineer. This is largely because his code quality was extremely high, leading to his diffs getting approved and landed on the 1st try 95%+ of the time. Alex was one of very few engineers within his 100+ person org to have an average time-to-close of less than 1 day.
- With *720+ diffs reviewed per half*, Alex reviewed more than three times as much code as the average Meta engineer. This is because his expertise in code quality let him spot messy code patterns extremely quickly, uplifting his entire team (and multiple sister teams) to ship much better code.

## Side Projects

Outside of work, Alex has built several side projects at scale and with a stunning degree of quality:

- [Random Name Picker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randomappsinc.studentpicker): 1,000,000+ users with a 4.7 star out of 5 average rating after 5,600+ reviews
- [Random Number Generator Plus](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randomappsinc.randomnumbergeneratorplus): 680,000+ users with a 4.8 star out of 5 average rating after 6,500+ reviews
- [SQL Practice PRO - Learn DBs](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=randomappsinc.com.sqlpracticeplus): 550,000+ users with a 4.9 star out of 5 average rating after 9,300+ reviews

With the infinite amount of tutorials and infrastructure services out there nowadays, writing code really isn't hard - Just getting things to work is much easier than ever before. This means that if you want to stand out as a software engineer, *you need to write much **better** code than almost everybody else.*

Every engineer needs high code quality, especially at Big Tech companies like FAANG where even the slightest mistake can hurt hundreds of thousands of users and cost millions of $$. After going through this course, you will:

- 🔎 Understand what good code looks like (and doesn’t look like)
- 🌱 Set up the right growth mentality around code quality
- 💻 Learn how to submit a quality pull request
- 🍝 Avoid common messy code patterns

Now you might be looking at this and thinking, *"I need to move fast, I don't have time to write the perfect code"*. This is a very understandable misconception many engineers have before getting to the highest-levels, but it couldn't be further from the truth: *When you write better code, you will actually move **faster** as a software engineer*. Don't believe us? - Take the course and find out why!

Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer

Having The Proper Mentality

Better Code Strategies

Pull Requests

Common Messy Code Patterns

Wrapping Up

Rahul has been "the new engineer" seven times in his career: four internships and three full-time jobs. He's been an engineer for most of his career and directly shaped the onboarding experience for new engineers on his teams as a manager. Most recently, he worked for 4.5 years at Meta as a Staff Software Engineer and Manager.

### Rahul: The Frequent Noob

Rahul has personally onboarded across a variety of companies and levels of seniority. His first job after university was as a founding engineer (employee #3) at a Stanford startup. Onboarding in this company was as simple as "Here's your laptop, good luck!"

This startup was acquired by Pinterest, which was a Silicon Valley darling undergoing hypergrowth at the time with \~400 employees. Pinterest had more process than the startup, but the product and company were changing rapidly. The onboarding was frequently incorrect or outdated.

Rahul then onboarded as a senior engineer at Facebook (now Meta), the classic Big Tech environment with tens of thousands of employees. Facebook is famous for a very structured approach to onboarding through Bootcamp: a multi-week program to get engineers up to speed.

This doesn't count the "mini-onboardings" that happen within a company: switching teams or moving around due to a re-org. The tech industry today moves incredibly fast, so the ability to adapt and ramp up quickly is essential.

### Years Of Learning In 3 Hours

Rahul is now the cofounder of Taro, designed to accelerate career growth for engineers. In this capacity, he **spoke directly to 100s of engineers** who have onboarded at dozens of companies. This course condenses the collective wisdom from these engineers about the successful (and unsuccessful) traits of new employees.

Connect with Rahul:

- [**Taro**](https://www.jointaro.com/p/rahul-pandey/)
- [**YouTube**](https://www.youtube.com/rpandey1234)
- [**LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/)

Rahul Pandey

Onboarding is the critical period when you first join a new team or company. The impression you create in the initial months has an outsized impact on your future opportunities. The best engineers leverage this time to put their careers on the fast track, while poor engineers miss expectations and end up [PIP'ed](https://www.jointaro.com/course/the-ultimate-performance-improvement-plan-pip-guide/) or terminated.

There's a lot to do as you ramp up: learn the codebase, build relationships, and start working on impactful projects. So it's no surprise that joining a new company can be overwhelming and stressful.

**This course presents a roadmap to ensure your success while onboarding**. We cover the importance of onboarding as the foundation for your job and career, why companies generally suck at it, and the correct mindset to adopt when you're new.

We'll then share tactics around three key pillars for Software Engineering onboarding:

- 🧠 Asking for help
- 💻 Learning the codebase
- 🙋🏽 Building relationships

Most importantly, this course will share the **principles** behind the advice so you can navigate any situation you're in.

We'll also cover specific tips for success in common situations:

- Junior engineers
- Senior engineers
- Joining a small company (whether VC-backed or indie business)
- Joining a large company

Here's what you'll gain by the end of the course:

- **✊🏽 Build serious respect** with your manager + team

- ⌛️ Quickly become **productive in a new codebase**

- **👨🏽‍💻 Learn from coworkers** (even if they’re not helpful)

- ❌ Understand **failure modes** (+ prevention)

If your anxiety is coming from **looking** for a job instead of **onboarding** into a job, you're in luck! Take this course and come back when you're gainfully employed: [**\[Course\] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer**](https://www.jointaro.com/course/ace-your-tech-interview-and-get-a-job-as-a-software-engineer/)

Watch the full course or go through the parts that are most relevant for you. **The Complete Onboarding Guide For Software Engineers: Succeeding When You're New** is designed to give technical employees to increase your impact and reduce your anxiety.

The Complete Onboarding Guide For Software Engineers

Proper Onboarding Mentality

Asking For Help

Learning The Codebase

Building Relationships

Contextual Onboarding Tips

[**Sophie Novati**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophienovati/) is the founder and CEO of [**Formation**](https://formation.dev/partners/taro), an interview prep platform that has empowered hundreds of engineers to secure top-paying roles in the tech industry. With extensive experience in interviews, Sophie understands the common challenges and strategies that lead to success.

Through Formation, she provides tailored coaching to help engineers advance their careers with confidence and earn more while doing it — on average, individuals increase their total comp by $127k after going through Formation.

Before founding Formation, Sophie served as a staff-level engineer at Meta and Nextdoor, where she conducted interviews and mentored over 100 engineers through pivotal moments in their careers.

In her spare time, Sophie loves traveling the world with friends, enjoying great food, and snowboarding.

Learn more about Sophie and what she is building at Formation: [**https://formation.dev/**](https://formation.dev/)

Sophie Novati

This course prepares software engineers for the growing shift toward AI-assisted coding interviews, where the rules of engagement have fundamentally changed. You'll learn how to strategically approach the first 10 minutes by gathering requirements and writing tests before touching any code, how to leverage AI for generating test cases while knowing when to rely on your own judgment for debugging, and how to communicate your thought process in a way that sounds controlled and intentional. 

The course also covers how advanced data structures like tries, heaps, and LRU caches are re-entering the interview landscape now that AI handles their boilerplate implementation — and how to study for them by focusing on the "why" over the "how." To match what these interviews actually test, you'll also learn to shift your practice habits toward reading and tracing code rather than writing it from scratch. The core theme throughout is that AI changes the weight of each skill, not the skills themselves: typing speed matters less, while verification, clear communication, and strategic judgment matter more than ever.

How To Master AI-Assisted Coding Interviews

Introduction

Doing The Interview

Takeaways

[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [**Rahul Pandey**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) are good at interviewing, but a lot of their career success actually comes from being consistently excellent in performance reviews, especially at Meta (which is one of the toughest tech companies to perform at).

**Alex Chiou:** Across his \~4 years at Meta, *Alex got an "Exceeds Expectations" rating or higher every single half*. In fact, Alex has never gotten a below average performance rating across his entire career. Alex then took the learnings from his personal success to [**mentor dozens of engineers to lightning fast promotions at Meta**](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/), increasing their compensation from \~$200k to $500k+ in just 3 years. It got to the point where he could perfectly predict which rating his mentees would get.

**Rahul Pandey:** Rahul has always been a star performer, getting all the way to Staff \[E6\] at Meta. Rahul actually was one of very few engineers at Meta to get DE, which is Discretionary Equity (i.e. a huge chunk of RSUs). DE is a massive performance bonus only given to the top engineers who operate within the Top 5%. Rahul's DE reward was a huge reason behind [**his meteoric rise to $800k+ TC**](https://blog.jointaro.com/how-i-became-an-800k-engineer/).

Alex Chiou & Rahul Pandey

This course provides a clear, grounded guide to understanding layoffs in the tech industry and navigating them without panic or self-blame. We explain why layoffs happen, how macroeconomic forces and company decisions shape outcomes, and why layoff selection often feels random from an individual contributor’s perspective.

We then focus on what we can control: choosing financially healthy companies and high-impact teams, optimizing performance, building strong relationships, and developing durable, transferable skills that outlast any single role or tech stack. Finally, we cover how to respond if a layoff happens—handling severance and finances, leveraging brand and domain advantages in the job search, building support networks, and using the forced pause to reflect and intentionally choose what comes next.

By the end of the course, we walk away with a realistic mental model of layoffs, a practical playbook for reducing risk, and a resilient mindset for turning uncertainty into long-term career strength.

[Taro Classic] Survive Tech Layoffs As An Engineer

Avoiding Layoffs

What To Do If You're Laid Off

[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [**Rahul Pandey**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) have worked at every company type you can possible think of from the seed stage startup (including one that gets acquired) to the massive FAANG company to the pre-IPO unicorn and more. From this experience, they've developed a deep understanding of how every team and company type can bolster your engineering career.

**Alex Chiou:** Across his 10+ years in Silicon Valley, Alex has worked for 5 companies covering every stage. He started off his career at PayPal, a large, older tech company. After that he learned what a scale-up was like at Course, joining at \~50 employees and leaving at \~250. From there, he did the classic FAANG stint with Facebook and then went smaller again, joining pre-IPO Robinhood. Finally, he's in the seed-stage startup life with Taro.

**Rahul Pandey:** Rahul is one of relatively few engineers who has gone through an acquisition, joining a new startup Kosei after he graduated from Stanford which got acquired by Pinterest. From there, he went to Meta (where he was also an engineering manager) and is most recently doing the seed stage startup grind with his cofounder Alex on Taro (Y Combinator Summer 2022).

As an engineer, your skills are incredibly important, but at the end of the day, they are meaningless if you can't find the right team and overall environment in which to put them to use. This is why being able to choose a proper company and team for every stage of your career is one of the highest (if not *the* highest) leverage things you can do in your career.

Now here's the big problem - The vast majority of tech companies and teams are terrible. Even at top companies like FAANG, there are tons of teams that are awful for your growth. This course is here to help you slice through all the noise and identify truly stellar teams where you can thrive. After going through it, you will:

- 🧭 Know the main framework you should follow to make the best career decisions
- ❌ Learn both what is commonly overrated and commonly underrated by engineers when it comes to career priorities
- 💡 Understand the pros and cons of working for Big Tech
- 🚀 Get insight into what unique career benefits startups can offer, especially those that are inaccessible at Big Tech
- 🔍 Have concrete tactics to get information on what a team is actually like

[Taro Classic] Choose The Best Company And Team As An Engineer

Finding The Right Company

Finding The Right Team

[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [**Rahul Pandey**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) spent years honing their coding skills, which was a huge asset towards their career success. However, none of this would have mattered if they weren't able to build deep relationships with their engineering managers, particularly at Big Tech.

**Alex Chiou:** Across the first 8 years of his career, Alex had a whopping *11* engineering managers. Throughout this experience, he really learned what it meant to be a bad, average, or genuinely great engineering manager. While never becoming a manager himself (he was close at Meta and Robinhood), he took those learnings to mentor dozens of engineers directly, having recurring 1 on 1s with 15+ engineers at Meta.

**Rahul Pandey:** Rahul is one of the few who has seen both sides of the coin. After having a large collection of managers across Kosei, Pinterest, and Meta, he became an engineering manager himself during his last year at Meta. With this perspective, he is uniquely capable of teaching engineers how to optimally plug in with their managers as he knows exactly what managers are looking for from their direct reports.

As an engineer, the single most important figure in your professional life is whoever is currently your engineering manager. No matter how skilled you are, it is simply impossible to lead a successful tech career if you aren't able to get along with your engineering manager.

This is surprisingly difficult as there's far, far more to this than hoping to get a "nice" manager and then being "nice" in return. The vast majority of engineers get this relationship wrong, and that's what this course is here to help you with. After going through it, you will:

- 💡 Deeply understand life through the lens of an engineering manager, so you can properly empathize with them
- 🧠 Have the proper mindset around how to approach the engineering manager &lt;-&gt; engineer relationship
- 🚀 Maximize the growth you achieve with your manager’s support
- 📋 Go into your manager 1 on 1 meetings with a crystal clear plan
- 🎖️ Know how to work with your manager optimally to achieve your performance review and promotion goals

[Taro Classic] Work Better With Your Engineering Manager

Approaching The Relationship

Manager 1 on 1s

Performance Review

Promotion

[**Alex Kliotzkin**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-kliotzkin/) (Director of Engineering and Career Coach)

- Alex is an experienced tech leader with 17+ years of international experience in big tech and startups
- Alongside his full-time job as a Director of Engineering, Alex pursues his passion for helping engineers grow as a Career & Leadership Coach, having coached 30+ engineers into leadership roles
- A graduate of University of Waterloo, Alex worked for 11 years at Qualcomm in San Diego, before relocating to Munich, Germany, where he now resides

You can get 1 on 1 coaching from Alex here (mention Taro and get 10% off): <https://www.alexkliotzkin.com/>

[**Uzair Khan**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/uzairkhan/) (Engineering Manager at Stripe and ex-Amazon Bar Raiser

- Current Engineering Manager at Stripe
- Formerly an Engineering Manager at Amazon for 5 years
- Ex-Amazon Bar Raiser with over 250 interviews conducted at Amazon
- More than 20 years of experience in Software Development
- 10 years of engineering management experience spanning roles as Engineering Manager, Director, and VP of Engineering
- Successfully trained, managed, and promoted numerous Engineering Managers throughout his career
- Bachelors of Software Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Class of 2007

If you want direct interview support from Alex and Uzair, take their live Maven course with discount code **TARO10**: <https://maven.com/alex-kliotzkin/acing-em-interviews>

Alex Kliotzkin & Uzair Khan

As an engineer, you’ve mastered the coding challenges, system design, and behavioral interviews. But when it comes to Engineering Manager roles, the interview process is a different beast. *You’ve likely hit a frustrating wall, interviews that feel like you’re doing everything right, but still no offer.* You might not even know *why* you’re not breaking through.

The truth? Engineering Manager interviews aren’t about discussing your experience - They’re about showcasing *leadership, systems, and strategy* in a way that resonates with the interviewer. To land the offer, you don't just need the right answers - You need *memorable* ones.

This course is designed to bridge that gap and help you break through to land that Engineering Manager offer. We’ll focus on how to communicate your leadership capabilities, showcase your seniority, avoid red flags, and tailor your answers to what hiring managers are truly looking for.

By the end, you’ll know exactly how to approach the interview process and confidently present yourself as the leader you know yourself to be:

- You'll experience mock interviews with real-time coaching feedback
- You'll understand the exact hiring criteria for Engineering Manager roles
- You'll learn how to convince the hiring manager (Director+)
- You'll learn how to nail any behavioral question, even ones you haven't seen
- You'll know exactly what the interviewer is looking for
- You'll learn how to tailor your answers to go from good to memorable

Ace The Engineering Manager Interview

Breaking Down The Job

Interview Grading

Answering Questions

[Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) built their careers at FAANG, spending an almost combined 10 years at Meta. They have also worked at FAANG-adjacent companies like Pinterest and Robinhood.

**Alex Chiou:** Across his \~4 years at Meta, Alex achieved meaningful career growth as he *got an "Exceeds Expectations" rating or higher every single half*. However, with increased seniority comes more exposure to the negatives of FAANG, particularly with politics and bureaucracy. Back at Instagram, Alex had the (dis)honor of working on a project to make a button bigger for \~6 months only to have it shot down by the CEO of Instagram at the last minute.

**Rahul Pandey:** Rahul spent almost 5 years at Meta, also working his way up quickly. Rahul has a unique perspective on what Big Tech is truly like as he became an engineering manager in his later time at Meta, developing an understanding of both the IC-track and M-track experience at FAANG. During his time at Portal, he went through more reorgs than you can reasonably count.

It seems like for 90%+ of engineers, their ultimate career goal is to break into FAANG, otherwise known as Big Tech. While this is a perfectly fine aspiration to have, many of these engineers don't actually know what life at FAANG is like at all, especially those earlier-in-career with weaker networks. FAANG looks great on the surface with its many genuinely helpful career perks, but it's full of darker downsides underneath the surface as well.

In a nutshell, that's what this in-depth course is meant to help you with - We're going to demystify and lift up the veil around FAANG, so you can get a full, objective look at what it's actually like being an engineer at these tech behemoths. After going through this course, you will:

- 🧠 Have a framework to plot a course toward your career success
- ✅ Understand the full suite of career benefits FAANG provides you as an engineer
- ❌ Get a real look at the many cons of working at FAANG
- 🔍 See common scenarios where it does or doesn’t make sense to work at FAANG
- 🎯 Know the true pure ultimate goal every engineer should have with their career (hint: it’s not to work at FAANG)

[Taro Classic] FAANG Career Guide: What Big Tech Is Like For Engineers

Pros of Working at FAANG

Cons of Working at FAANG

[Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) are good at interviewing, but a lot of their career success actually comes from being consistently excellent in performance reviews, especially at Meta (which is one of the toughest tech companies to perform at).

**Alex Chiou:** Across his \~4 years at Meta, *Alex got an "Exceeds Expectations" rating or higher every single half*. In fact, Alex has never gotten a below average performance rating across his entire career. Alex then took the learnings from his personal success to [mentor dozens of engineers to lightning fast promotions at Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/), increasing their compensation from \~$200k to $500k+ in just 3 years. It got to the point where he could perfectly predict which rating his mentees would get.

**Rahul Pandey:** Rahul has always been a star performer, getting all the way to Staff \[E6\] at Meta. Rahul actually was one of very few engineers at Meta to get DE, which is Discretionary Equity (i.e. a huge chunk of RSUs). DE is a massive performance bonus only given to the top engineers who operate within the Top 5%. Rahul's DE reward was a huge reason behind [his meteoric rise to $800k+ TC](https://blog.jointaro.com/how-i-became-an-800k-engineer/).

Passing the interview is tough, but it's actually just the 1st step of the journey - After you get into the company, you need to figure out how to survive and thrive there. *More specifically, you must consistently get good ratings in that company's performance review system.*

This is particularly hard, especially at top tech companies like FAANG where stack rank percentages and PIPs are getting jacked up higher than ever. In the modern tech economy, performance management is more intense than ever, and as a software engineer, you must be ready for this (and we're here to help!). After going through this course, you will:

- 💡 Understand the 3 core performance review system archetypes and which one is the best
- 🤝 Smoothly work with your manager to create a plan to achieve the exact rating you want
- 🛡️ Have sharp tools to protect yourself from the dreaded performance improvement plan (PIP)
- 💪 Make the best case for yourself with an expertly-written self-review
- 💬 Know what feedback to write for your peers, particularly on the constructive side

[Taro Classic] Expertly Navigate Your Performance Review in Tech

Understand The System

Getting The Rating You Want

Feedback Writing

As tech leads and managers at some of the world's best tech companies, [Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) know what it takes to be a truly great leader. Both of them have seen both sides of the table:

- As an engineer, how do you find a good manager and synergize with them optimally?
- As a leader and mentor, how do you foster great engineering talent?

**Alex Chiou:** Across the first 7 years of his career, Alex had a whopping 11 managers. While this was certainly thrashy, it made Alex really understand what makes a great manager, what makes an average manager, and what makes a terrible one. Most of Alex's career progression came in the latter half of his career, and a big factor behind this is quite simple - He learned how to identify high-quality managers and avoid the low-quality ones.

**Rahul Pandey:** As someone who's gotten [consistently excellent performance review ratings](https://www.jointaro.com/course/expertly-navigate-your-performance-review-in-tech/) (including a Top 5% rating at Meta which got him a discretionary equity \[DE\] award), Rahul knows what it takes to forge a powerful relationship with your engineering manager. He even went to the other side during his time at Meta, becoming a tech lead manager (TLM).

Your tech career lives or dies on the following 2 things:

1. The quality of the engineering managers you work for
2. Your ability to maintain a healthy relationship with those engineering managers

Of course, there are many other aspects that go into software engineer success like coding ability and communication, but the engineer &lt;-&gt; manager dynamic absolutely dwarfs everything else in terms of importance. You can get everything else right, but if you have a bad manager, it's effectively impossible for you to make any real career progress.

That's what this course is here to help you with. Together, we will deep dive into the entire world of engineering management, giving you all the wisdom you need to navigate it properly as an engineer. After going through this course, you will:

- 🏆 Know what it actually means to be a great engineering manager
- ⚠️ Understand why the vast majority of engineering managers are terrible
- 🧠 See the difference in how top tech companies handle engineering management differently from everyone else
- 🛠️ Be well equipped with tactics to navigate negative manager scenarios
- 🔍 Have a concrete strategy to vet potential engineering managers to see if they truly care about the health and growth of their reports

Too many engineers chase trendy tech trends and flashy brand names above all else, landing themselves in toxic teams (yes, even FAANG is filled with these). When it comes to job selection, *people is key*, and the engineering manager is the most important person of all.

[Taro Classic] How To Find A Great Engineering Manager

Top Tech Company Dynamics

Good Manager Traits

Negative Manager Scenarios

Vetting

As tech leads and managers, [Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) know their way around a 1 on 1 meeting, having done 10,000+ across their careers combined. Being good at these is a huge reason behind their success as these meetings allowed them to align teams, earn trust, mentor others, and accomplish so much more.

**Alex Chiou:** What does it take to [mentor dozens of engineers to lightning fast promotions at Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/), increasing their compensation from \~$200k to $500k+ in just 3 years? Well, a lot, and a big portion of that was being able to have extremely effective 1 on 1 meetings. As a prolific mentor, Alex would often have days where he would have 6+ 1 on 1s, back to back to back to back. Those were some of his favorite days.

**Rahul Pandey:** As one of the few people at Meta who had the unique TLM (tech lead manager) role, Rahul had to really learn his way around a 1 on 1, both for execution as a lead lead and growth + mentoring as a manager. His effectiveness in 1 on 1s is a huge reason why Rahul has such an impressive network, ranging from Distinguished Engineers at FAANG-tier companies to CEOs of multi-billion dollar startups.

There's nothing like being able to sit down with another human being and have a meaningful amount of time together, just you and them. This applies to the work world as well - 1 on 1 meetings are one of the most fundamental building blocks of any work relationship and engineering team overall.

Now here's the problem - What the heck are you supposed to say in these meetings? Because of this, so many engineers (especially junior ones) walk into these meetings with 0 plan, completely wasting the time. With this course, that will happen no more. After going through this course, you will:

- 🧠 Unlock the fundamental mindset shift you need to get the most out of every meeting
- 📅 Have common scenarios to book 1 on 1 meetings
- 💎 Know what’s the most valuable thing to talk about in 1 on 1 meetings (hint: it’s not status updates)
- 🚫 Understand what most people get completely wrong about how manager 1 on 1s are supposed to work
- 🛠️ Have tactics to personally complain to someone in a productive way

[Taro Classic] How To Have Impactful 1 on 1 Meetings

Mindset

The proof is in the pudding for both [Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) when it comes to the success of their careers - Both of them were paid \~$800k per year before quitting their jobs to start Taro.

**Alex Chiou:** Alex worked for 4 very different companies with PayPal, Course Hero, Meta, and Robinhood, getting exposure to the many tech pay mechanisms across each of them. At PayPal, he had an ESPP. At Course Hero (Series A at the time), he dealt with stock options. At Meta, his compensation became mostly RSUs. At Robinhood, he got to experience his first IPO.

**Rahul Pandey:** Rahul has ample experience with RSUs from his time at Pinterest and Meta, finding so much career success that he once ended up with a 6-figure tax bill. However, Rahul went through a very unique financial experience very few engineers go through - An acquisition! Rahul's first company was Kosei, a startup that ended up being acquired by Pinterest. Rahul actually breaks down the financial ramifications of that experience in this course.

Let's be real: A big reason people become software engineers is because they're paid well (and this is totally okay!). The tricky part about this phenomenon is that it comes with a strange first world problem - Tech compensation is *incredibly* confusing, especially in Silicon Valley where so many engineers receive a meaningful amount of equity.

This is a problem with real stakes; if you don't understand how all the different components of tech pay works, you can easily miss out on hundreds of thousands or even million of dollars. After going through this course, you will:

- 🧩 Understand the major components of tech pay and which parts really matter, especially for top companies like FAANG (hint: it’s not salary)
- 💰 See the different cash compensation options tech companies can offer
- 📊 Know what a stock option actually is (not just what the TV shows and movies make it out to be) alongside equity overall
- 📈 Have a high-level strategy on how to maximize your tech pay across a long-term career horizon
- 🤝 Negotiate your offers with confidence

[Taro Classic] Understand How You're Paid In Tech And Make More Money

Bonuses

RSUs

ESPP

Stock Options

Maximizing Your Pay

Negotiation

As tech leads and managers, [Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) and [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) know the importance of code reviews, having gone through 10,000+ of them.

**Alex Chiou:** At Meta, Alex was one of the most prolific code reviewers in all of Instagram, reviewing 700+ diffs per half in his final years there, putting him in the Top 1% of code reviews. He wasn't writing short comments either - Alex had the most lines of code review comments by volume by a wide margin across his entire organization of 100+ engineers, often writing paragraph long comments to mentor his teammates and teach them better engineering practices. As a tech lead, he built a culture where engineers would fight to review each other's diffs as quickly as possible, creating a review turnaround time of less than 4 hours!

**Rahul Pandey:** At Meta, Rahul had the unique TLM (tech lead manager) role where he mentored many engineers on how to make the code review process effective, both when writing diffs themselves and reviewing those of others. His code review fundamentals are also excellent from his exposure to many different languages - At Meta alone, he worked in 8 different programming languages!

At any real tech company, you can't just merge your code straight to production - It has to go through code review first. For junior engineers in particular, this can be particularly daunting as their pull requests get riddled with comments and are stuck in review hell for days. If you're more senior, you now have the conundrum of how to leave insightful feedback.

That's what this course is here to help with. We want to give you the skills and confidence to make code review amazing on both ends, for the author and the reviewer. After going through this course, you will:

- 💡 Understand the core benefits of code review
- 🎯 Know what optimal code review discussion looks like (hint: it’s not linter comments)
- 🛠️ Have an arsenal of tactics to level up your pull requests so they sail smoothly through code review
- 🤝 Write code review comments that are both constructive and empathy, deepening relationships on your team
- 🌱 Build a healthy code review culture within your team

[Taro Classic] How To Make Code Review Amazing

Perspective: As The Author

Perspective: As The Reviewer

Elevating Team Culture

#### **Colin Bryar**

Joined Amazon in 1998 — four years after its founding — and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon’s senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. For two of his years at Amazon, Colin was “Chief of Staff” to Jeff Bezos, AKA “Jeff’s shadow”, during which he spent each day attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. After Amazon, he and his family relocated to Singapore for two years where Colin served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce company RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. Colin is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Visit [Colin's LinkedIn profile here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/).

#### **Bill Carr**

Joined Amazon in 1999 and spent more than 15 years with the company. As Vice President of Digital Media, Bill launched and managed the company’s global digital music and video businesses, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive In Residence with Maveron, LLC, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. Bill later served as the Chief Operating Officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today Bill is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Visit [Bill's LinkedIn profile here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-carr/).

Colin and Bill are the authors of [Working Backwards](https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1529033829), an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives.

Bill Carr & Colin Bryar

You know what's harder than shipping a complicated piece of software to millions of users? Creating a system that makes sure that you keep improving it instead of making it worse while allowing you to deeply understand if users are still resonating with your product at scale.

With this course, you'll unlock the power of Input Metrics to drive predictable growth, improve user satisfaction, and achieve operational excellence — All with clear, controllable steps for consistent success.

By the end of the course, you will be able to do:

- Achieve a deep understanding of input metrics, why they're important, and how they can make your product better
- Identify input metrics relevant to your business, product, operation, or function to give your team/organization the right direction to go towards
- Measure and analyze your inputs effectively so you focus on the right things and not on the wrong things
- Implement and utilize Amazon's tried-and-true Weekly Business Review process to visualize metrics and understand how your organization is doing

Overall, this course breaks down a system you can use to implement effective metrics and achieve results at hypergrowth tech companies.

Input Metrics Mastery

The DMAIC Method

Discovering Your Input Metrics

Putting It All Together

Gilad Naor is an experienced engineering leader who has navigated the full journey from individual contributor to managing teams at Meta, Amazon, and startups. With 13 years of management experience, he understands the unique challenges that come with leading technical teams—and has developed proven methods to help others excel in these roles.

What sets Gilad apart is his systematic approach to leadership development. After seeing talented engineers struggle with the transition to management, he spent the last three years creating frameworks and tools that deliver consistent results. His coaching methodology combines real-world experience from top tech companies with practical strategies that work across different organizations:

- **Proven experience**: 13 years leading engineering teams at Meta, Amazon, and startups
- **Leadership specialist**: 300+ tech professionals coached, with graduates landing management roles at Meta, Amazon, and other leading companies
- **Framework creator**: Developed unique management methodologies that clients say "completely transformed how I lead and work"
- **Results-focused**: Students consistently achieve promotions, secure new leadership roles, and find greater satisfaction in their careers

**Dedicated coach**: Focused on helping senior ICs and early managers unlock their leadership potential through hands-on learning

Gilad Naor

You were crushing it as a senior engineer, but management feels like a completely different game. You're spending your days in back-to-back meetings, juggling conflicting priorities, and wondering if you're actually making any meaningful impact. Sound familiar? You're dealing with unclear expectations, team members who seem disengaged, and the nagging feeling that you're missing something fundamental about what it means to be an effective manager.

Millions of talented engineers face this same struggle when they transition into management roles. The problem isn't that you lack the skills, it's that nobody taught you the core principles that separate good managers from great ones. This course cuts through the noise to deliver the essential frameworks you need to succeed as a software manager.

After taking this course, you will:

- Understand your true role: Gain crystal-clear clarity on what managers actually do and why it matters
- Master the Five Pillars: Learn the fundamental business framework that guides all business decisions
- Apply immediately: Work through real management scenarios with practical exercises you can use right away
- Build confidence: Transform from feeling overwhelmed to knowing exactly how to approach any management challenge
- Unlock your potential: Discover how to create genuine impact through effective leadership

Whether you're a senior IC considering the management track or an early manager looking to level up your skills, this course provides the foundation you need to excel. With guided exercises, real-world examples, and actionable tools, you'll walk away with a clear understanding of what it takes to thrive as a software manager, not just survive.

If you want to learn more from Gilad, he shares free leadership advice daily on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/giladnaor/?utm_source=taro&utm_medium=course&utm_campaign=cta) and weekly on the[ δeltas newsletter](https://posts.managementdeltas.com/?utm_source=taro&utm_medium=course&utm_campaign=cta).

The Essence of Management

The Soul of the Job

Management Scenarios

Dr. Yayun Jin is a machine learning engineer at Reddit, where she leads the development of large-scale ML systems that support Reddit’s advertising products. She previously worked at Microsoft and Workday, building production ML and generative AI solutions across enterprise and consumer domains. With a PhD in engineering and years of hands-on experience, Yayun blends research rigor with real-world engineering execution. She has also mentored over 200 engineers and students, helping them land ML roles at companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon.

This course distills the frameworks and strategies she’s refined through industry work and one-on-one coaching. Designed for software engineers preparing for ML interviews, it offers a clear, actionable path through the technical, design, and behavioral expectations candidates face today. Learners walk away with insider insights, real-world examples, and the confidence to excel.

Follow Yayun on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/yayunjin/>

Yayun Jin, Ph.D.

**Everyone wants to break into machine learning. Very few actually do.**

ML roles are some of the most coveted—and competitive—jobs in tech. But here’s the truth: most software engineers trying to transition into ML fail the interview. Not because they’re not smart enough, but because they prepare the ***wrong*** way. They memorize buzzwords. They build side projects nobody cares about. They don’t know how to connect their skills to what top companies actually evaluate.

**This course changes that.**

**Master the Machine Learning Interview as a Software Engineer** is your unfair advantage in a crowded field. It’s a step-by-step, no-fluff guide to mastering every part of the ML interview process—from modeling and coding to system design and behavioral rounds. Built by a working ML engineer who’s helped over 200 people land roles at companies like Meta, Amazon, and Google, this course gives you the exact strategies, examples, and mental models that interviewers want to see.

You’ll learn how to:

- Speak clearly and confidently about core ML concepts—without rambling or sounding rehearsed
- Tackle real-world modeling and notebook interviews like a pro
- Implement algorithms from scratch and explain every line
- Design ML systems that scale—and impress senior engineers
- Tell impactful project stories that make hiring committees remember your name

Whether you’re switching from software engineering, returning to ML after a break, or aiming for your first senior role, this course gives you everything you need to stand out and win offers.

**Don’t just hope you’ll break into ML. Learn how to make it happen.**

Master The Machine Learning Interview As A Software Engineer

Essential ML Concepts

Practical ML Coding And Modeling

Coding Fundamentals

ML Algorithm Coding

ML System Design

Project Deep Dive and Behavioral

Preparation Strategy

[Taha Hussain](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahahussain/) is a seasoned engineering leader who has transformed from a curious software engineer into a strategic executive, scaling teams and impact across some of the world’s most influential companies. With leadership roles at Microsoft, Yahoo, Walmart Labs, and PlayVS, Taha has built and guided engineering organizations ranging from small startup teams to 250+ people, generating over $2.3 billion in business impact along the way.

What sets Taha apart is not just his technical acumen or executive experience—it’s his deep commitment to human-centered leadership. After leaving a 7-figure role in 2022, he dedicated himself fully to coaching ambitious engineers toward transformative career growth. This is why he's such a great fit to teach this course:

- 👥 **Scaled leadership**: Led engineering orgs of 250+ people at major companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, Walmart Labs, and PlayVS
- 🧠 **Proven methodology**: Creator of *Taha’s Method*, a leadership philosophy rooted in emotional intelligence and practical application
- 🎯 **Coaching impact**: 600+ professionals coached, with results spanning management and high-leverage IC roles
- 🔥 **Purpose-driven mission**: Left corporate leadership to build a coaching practice focused on unlocking human potential
- 📣 **Trusted voice**: Widely followed thought leader on LinkedIn with 65,000+ followers, sharing real-world insights on leadership, growth, and emotional intelligence

Connect with Taha: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahahussain/>

Taha Hussain

You’ve done the work.

You’ve earned the trust of your team.

You solve problems. You take initiative.

And yet, when it comes to the next step in your career, things feel unclear.

This course is for engineers who want to grow. Whether that means expanding your scope, earning more responsibility, or positioning yourself for a promotion, it starts with one shift: being seen as someone who carries the work differently.

Ownership isn’t just a mindset. It is something people feel from you. It shows up in how you respond to conflict, how you communicate when things get hard, how you handle silence, and how you carry weight without needing credit.

Across ten practical and thoughtful sections, you will explore the patterns that shape how others experience you. Often, without realizing it.

You will look at:

- Moments where clear feedback backfires
- The difference between helping and hovering
- Why people stall even when the path forward is obvious
- What people hear when you say nothing
- Practical tools to get unstuck on your own

These are not abstract leadership lessons. They are the things that change how people trust you, work with you, and choose you for bigger opportunities and higher-leverage roles.

What you learn here applies just as much in your career as it does outside of it. The way you carry things — conversations, tension, responsibility — shapes every relationship you're in.

You do not have to become someone louder or more polished.

You just have to become someone people rely on for what matters most.

That is what this course helps you do.

How To Create Ownership

Understanding The Blockers

Shifting The Pattern

Building Real Traction

Turning Lessons into Leverage

[Andy Moran](https://linkedin.com/in/andymoranio) is a former software engineer turned financial planner who helps tech professionals maximize their equity compensation and intellectual capital to create lives of freedom and purpose. After nearly a decade in the startup world, they experienced burnout, planned their own sabbatical, and discovered firsthand how intentional financial planning can unlock bold life changes. That journey inspired them to pass the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ exam and launch Ad Astra Financial Planning in early 2023, where they specialize in equity strategy, career transitions, sabbaticals, and early retirement.

Since founding [Ad Astra Financial Planning](https://adastrafp.com), Andy has been featured in USA Today, MSN, U.S. News & World Report, Wealth Management, and The Sabbatical Project, among others. They’ve guided several clients through complex equity decisions and life transitions, helping them align their finances with what matters most. Andy has worked with engineers at companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and other Big Tech cos.

When they’re not working with clients, Andy calls the San Francisco Bay Area home while embracing a semi-nomadic lifestyle—traveling the American West in a converted van, hiking through nature, and exploring new places. They’re living the kind of flexible, intentional life they help others design for themselves.

If you want to get additional support from Andy:

- [Connect with Andy on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andymoranio)
- [Receive other bonuses, leave feedback, and/or sign up for Andy’s newsletter](https://subscribepage.io/taroequitycourse)
- [Schedule a consultation](http://adastrafp.com/contact-us/)

Andy Moran

If you're a tech professional with stock options, RSUs, or an ESPP, this course is your roadmap to making smarter, more confident financial decisions. Taught by a financial planner who spent nearly a decade as a software engineer, this course demystifies equity compensation and company benefits so you can fully understand what you have—and use it to build the life you want.

You’ll learn how to avoid common tax traps, how to maximize the upside of your equity, and how to think more clearly and strategically about your compensation. Whether you're at a public company or a startup, this course will help you go from overwhelmed to in control.

In this course, you’ll:

- Learn how public company Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) are actually taxed (and the unexpected tax quirks of RSUs vesting monthly)
- Discover why early-year Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) exercises could save you thousands in taxes
- Understand the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and why it matters when you exercise ISOs, and strategies for navigating this parallel tax system
- Explore several strategies for maximizing the upside leverage of your Nonqualified Stock Options (NSOs/NQSOs) while minimizing the downside risk
- Uncover why you might want to participate in your company’s Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), and when holding for a qualified disposition can actually cause you to pay more in taxes
- Learn how to maximize your 401(k), IRA, and Roth opportunities—including Backdoor and Mega Backdoor Roths
- Learn about the most tax-advantaged saving vehicle in the U.S. that you might be overlooking—the Health Savings Account (HSA)

Whether you’re navigating a new offer, a liquidity event, or just want to stop guessing and start optimizing, this course gives you the tools—and the mindset—to take charge of your equity compensation and benefits.

While this course does not constitute personalized financial advice, it aims to equip you with a solid foundation of education to help you navigate the complicated terrain of equity compensation.

Tech Finance Guide: Maximize Your Equity And Benefits

Public Company RSUs And Bonuses

ESPPs

Be Careful

Private Company Equity

Retirement Accounts And Other Benefits

Rahul Pandey is a seasoned engineering leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record of excelling in every environment — from fast-paced startups to top-tier tech giants. He started off his career by interning at four different companies including Walmart and Meta, gaining a deep appreciation for thriving under different pressures and constraints.

After his internships, Rahul went on to have a deep array of impressive work experience. Before Taro, he was most recently a Staff Engineer and Engineering Manager at Meta. He also led impactful initiatives at Pinterest and cut his teeth at Kosei, a nimble startup which was later acquired by Pinterest. Across his career, Rahul has worn many hats: writing production code, scaling teams, defining engineering strategy, and shipping products used by millions. 

Beyond his professional roles, Rahul is a prolific content creator, sharing insights on software engineering and career growth with thousands of subscribers on YouTube. His unique advantage? Rahul has consistently built systems to stay productive and focused — not just in high-stakes corporate environments, but also while growing side projects and fostering a healthy work-life balance.

Struggling to stay focused despite your best intentions? Always feeling like you’re busy but not truly making progress on what matters? If you’re a builder or creator who’s tired of spinning your wheels, this course is designed for you. This isn’t about shallow hacks or fleeting motivation. It’s about designing a way of life that helps you consistently make meaningful progress on your most important goals.

Inside the course, you’ll learn how to move beyond willpower and instead build durable systems that keep you on track, even on tough days. Whether you’re struggling with prioritization, getting stuck in distractions, or managing your energy across the week, you’ll walk away with practical strategies that actually work. Here are some of the core topics covered:

- 🔁 How to kickstart momentum every day by reversing the typical motivation loop (“action leads to motivation”)
- 🛠️ Building a personal system that makes the right actions easy and the wrong actions hard
- 🎯 Identifying the right work to focus on for maximum impact, not just working efficiently
- 🤝 Using social accountability and written artifacts to stay organized and avoid mental clutter
- 📅 Structuring your calendar and decomposing tasks to eliminate ambiguity and sustain flow

20 Years Of Fighting Procrastination In 1 Hour

Get Unstuck

Organize Your Day

Optimizing Workflow

Final Words

[Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/) is a seasoned engineer and leader who understands the hidden power of mastering debugging. Rahul started his career at a small startup called Kosei before moving on to larger companies like Pinterest and Meta. Early in his career, like many engineers, he viewed bugs as frustrating distractions — but over time, he realized that being able to fix tough, elusive bugs was one of the fastest ways to deepen his technical skills and earn the trust of his team.

Rahul’s appreciation for debugging culminated at Meta, where he led a major initiative in the Portal organization:

- 🛠️ He [built an internal tool](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/qvp2quodqAEWSkN7sayt/case-study-building-a-meta-internal-tool-to-empower-an-entire-org-staff-promotion-story/) that helped 200+ engineers diagnose and solve extremely difficult Android bugs

- 🚀 His tool significantly accelerated development velocity and improved reliability across multiple teams

- 🏅 The success of this project earned him a promotion to Staff Engineer (E6) and [pushed his total compensation over $800k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inydj1VZ0y0)

Rahul’s career journey shows that becoming exceptional at debugging isn’t just about fixing issues — it’s a proven path to massive growth, leadership, and real impact.

For many software engineers, bugs can feel like terrifying roadblocks — distractions from the “real” work of building features and shipping projects. But the truth is, learning to fix bugs well is one of the most underrated ways to grow as an engineer.

This course is designed to help you shift your mindset around debugging and give you the tools to become that go-to person when things go wrong. This course will help you:

- 🧠 Learn how to **properly** **prioritize** debugging

- 📋 Understand the **necessary prep work** before the fix

- 💡 Develop a **mental framework** to fix any bug

- ✅ Understand **the difference** between good and bad fixes

- 🏆 Be able to **get maximum credit** for debugging

By the end, you’ll not only be faster and calmer when facing bugs — you’ll also see them as opportunities to stand out, deepen your skills, and accelerate your career.

Become A Debugging Master And Fix Issues Faster

Before Debugging

Finding The Fix

Resolution

[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) is a proven Silicon Valley engineer with 10+ years of experience across top tech companies like PayPal, Course Hero (now Learneo, a $3.6B unicorn), Meta, and Robinhood. His success has also profoundly reflected in his compensation growth:

- **2014:** Alex made *$85,000* per year as a clueless new grad at PayPal 🤓
- **2021:** Alex made *$750,000* per year as a high-performing tech lead at Robinhood 😎

In just 7 years, Alex was able to increase his pay by a staggering +800%, and a huge part of this was due to his ability to build a deep network and make people like him.

## Applying? What's That?

Alex hasn't properly applied to a job in 8+ years, and that's because he doesn't need to. At virtually every top tech company, Alex has someone there who's willing to vouch for him. This is a big reason why he's gotten interviews from companies like these without even applying:

- OpenAI
- Uber (offered to jump him straight to the onsite twice)
- Discord
- Block
- Instacart
- Google

## Forging Deep Manager Trust

If your manager isn't on your side, your career isn't going anywhere. Alex quickly learned that the hard way earlier in his career as he wasted so much potential with his first 5+ managers. However, by his time at Instagram and Robinhood, he had figured out how to take his manager relationships to the next level and get them firmly on his side.

How strong was the bond between Alex and his managers? Well, at Meta and Robinhood, Alex told his managers *2 months before* that he was going to leave, confident in their trust. Both his managers were happy for him, and his Robinhood manager even pinged him personally to congratulate him for launching Taro on Hacker News!

## Bringing People Together (In Perf)

Back at Meta, Alex consistently got the *"Greatly Exceeds Expectations"* rating on the people axis in performance review (PSC). The people axis judges the engineer's ability to align teammates and grow people, and this is something Alex regularly excelled at due to his strong networking ability. At a top tech company like Meta, everything is 5x easier when all of your project stakeholders are fighting for your success and you don't need to browbeat them with politics.

Ever since high school, Alex knew that he couldn't be the smartest person in the room. That's why instead of winning with intelligence, he took a much different (and fun!) strategy to achieve his great career success - Making as many people as possible like him as much as possible.

You're back on the job search, but you aren't getting any good interviews because nobody is willing to give you a referral. You're on the hunt for a promotion, but you don't have enough peers willing to give you glowing feedback, vouching for your ability to perform at the next level.

Millions of engineers go through this every year, and this is how they learn the hard way that *they didn't invest nearly enough time building up their network*.

This course is here to make sure that these negative situations never happen to you ever again. After taking it, you will:

- 🌟 Understand the **#1 rule** of networking
- 2️⃣ Set up a basic **2-step process** for networking
- 🤝 Know how to find the **best people** for your network
- 🏃 Develop tools to **build relationships fast**
- 🛑 Save time by **avoiding common mistakes**

When it comes to an industry as hyper-competitive and complicated as tech, the reality is harsh but straightforward - If you don't have a massive squad of people behind you who truly have your back and are happy to fight for your success, you are not going to make it as an engineer.

This is why it's so important to build up your social skills and expand your network. A strong network comes with a huge plethora of tactical benefits, and it simply makes your tech journey a lot more fun as well.

Networking Guide: Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech

General Mindset

Finding The Right Connections

Building The Relationship

Your instructor, Rahul Pandey, brings a rare blend of real-world engineering experience and heartfelt mentorship to this course. As a former Staff Engineer and Engineering Manager at Meta, Rahul has not only written and shipped code at scale, but also led teams and personally mentored interns navigating their first steps in the tech industry. He’s also guided interns at Pinterest, giving him a clear perspective on what differentiates those who thrive from those who struggle to secure a return offer.

What makes Rahul especially effective as a mentor is that he’s been in your shoes—more than once. He interned at four different companies, including:

- **Shop It To Me**, a small startup where he got his first taste of real-world coding
- **Marin Software**, a mid-sized company where he gained more structure and guidance
- **Walmart**, where he navigated working in a large org
- **Meta**, where he earned a return offer—*but only after a rocky start*

Rahul knows what it's like to feel overwhelmed and unsure as an intern. In fact, he barely scraped by during his Meta internship. That experience is exactly why he's passionate about helping students avoid common pitfalls and walk into their internships with the clarity and confidence he wishes he had. With years of technical leadership and mentorship under his belt, Rahul is here to be the guide he never had.

Landing a software engineering internship at a top company is an incredible achievement—but for many students, it also brings a new wave of anxiety: *How do I make the most of this? What if I mess up?* 

This course will help you walk into your internship with clarity, confidence, and a game plan. We know how much is riding on your performance, especially if you’re aiming for that coveted return offer. This course cuts through the noise and focuses on what actually matters during your internship—both technically and interpersonally.

You’ll get practical insights and guidance on how to approach the internship experience holistically. By the end, you’ll understand how top-tier internships really work, what’s expected of you, and how to set yourself up for long-term success. This course will help you:

- ⛰️ Understand how internships work at **top companies**
- 🧠 Establish the **right mindset** to succeed
- ⚙️ Clarify **technical skill** expectations
- 🗣️ Know the critical, underappreciated **soft skills** interns need
- 💪 Generate a list of **concrete action items** to prepare and improve

Whether you’re feeling unsure about what to expect or just want to give yourself the best shot at thriving, this course is here to support you every step of the way.

The Software Engineer Internship Survival Guide

Technical Skills

[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) is a proven Silicon Valley engineer with 10+ years of experience across top tech companies like PayPal, Course Hero (now Learneo, a $3.6B unicorn), Meta, and Robinhood. His success has also profoundly reflected in his compensation growth:

- **2014:** Alex made *$85,000* per year as a clueless new grad at PayPal 🤓
- **2021:** Alex made *$750,000* per year as a high-performing tech lead at Robinhood 😎

In just 7 years, Alex was able to increase his pay by a staggering +800%, and a huge part of this was due to his side projects:

- **2015:** Alex becomes Course Hero's 1st Android engineer and lead with 0 professional experience. His only Android experience at that point was building a couple side projects with 10,000+ users
- **2017:** Alex gets into Facebook [with his 100k+ user side project being a huge pull on his resume](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/jly45Gx6qR1kqQwBmJEy/case-study-building-an-app-with-1000000-users-to-get-into-facebook/) and a fascinating discussion point during the interview
- **2020:** Alex crushes the most important round of his Robinhood onsite interview, a practical coding round where he has to build an Android app from scratch (i.e. just like what a side project is). He finishes the round in just 50% of the time, and the interviewer decided to just use the remaining time for a friendly chat

## Side Project Master

Throughout his entire career, Alex has shipped 30+ side project mobile apps and consistently struck gold, building 10+ apps with 10,000+ users. He has delivered not 1, not 2, but *3 apps with 500k+ users*. Here are the crown jewels:

- [Random Name Picker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randomappsinc.studentpicker) - 1,150,000+ users, 4.6 rating after 5,700+ reviews
- [Random Number Generator Plus](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randomappsinc.randomnumbergeneratorplus) - 880,000+ users, 4.8 rating after 6,700+ reviews
- [SQL Practice PRO - Learn DBs](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=randomappsinc.com.sqlpracticeplus) - 700,000+ users, 4.8 rating after 9,400+ reviews
- [Simple Flashcards Plus](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randomappsinc.simpleflashcards) - 195,000+ users, 4.5 rating after 3,700+ reviews

Now guess how much Alex spent promoting his side projects to get them so many users...

🥁 *Drumroll please* 🥁

**$0.**

## Getting Top Interviews Without Even Applying

Alex has had tons of top tech companies reach out to him through his Google Play developer email, marveling at his massive side projects. Here's just some of them:

- OpenAI
- Uber (offered to jump him straight to the onsite twice)
- Discord
- Block
- Instacart
- Google
- Clubhouse (this was back when Clubhouse was the hottest startup during the pandemic, and they wanted him as their 1st Android engineer!)

Because of this, Alex hasn't needed to properly apply to a job in 7+ years.

## High Code Velocity = No PIP

Alex has written far more Android code than almost every other Android engineer on earth due to his immense love for side projects. This made his coding muscles ultra-efficient and is a huge reason why Alex has never been a low performer across his entire career as an Android engineer.

Alex spent \~4 years at Meta and always got an "Exceeds Expectation" or higher rating every half despite Meta being an often brutal high-performance tech company. This is largely because he simply wrote more code than most other Meta engineers. With \~270 landed diffs per half in his last year at Meta, Alex was writing roughly double the commits of the average Meta engineer, putting him in the Top 5% of code committers.

After a lot of thinking, you have finally come up with a [great side project idea](https://www.jointaro.com/course/build-side-projects-with-500k-users-coming-up-with-an-idea/). Now here's the problem: How do you bring it to life? And after that, how will you get anybody to actually use it?

That's exactly what this course is here to help you with. After going through it, you will:

- 1️⃣ Understand what makes a great first version

- 😯 Learn easy, low-effort ways to improve a product

- 🗣️ Set up the right mindset for processing user feedback

- 💻 Know how to build a smooth user interface

- 📈 Get tactics to acquire users organically

If your work experience isn't enough to get interviews, you need your resume projects to pick up the slack and the only way for them to matter is if they get a meaningful amount of users.

Once you get 1,000+ users, your project will be better than 95%+ of other resume projects. When you get to 10,000+ users, you'll start turning the heads of recruiters, and if you can get 500,000+ users like this course talks about, tech companies (including FAANG) will be banging down your door, eager to hire you.

Build Side Projects With 500k+ Users: Shipping & Growing

User Interface

Making The Product Better

Getting Traffic

Ilya is a Machine Learning Engineer and career coach with over 14 years of experience in tech, including Staff Engineer at Meta, Twitter, and Adobe. Throughout his career, he has built large-scale ML systems, led teams, conducted over 100 ML system design interviews, and trained the interviewers and designed ML System Design questions.

Since 2020, [Ilya](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibreznik/) has been helping engineers break into top tech companies by demystifying the interview process and providing structured guidance on ML system design. His approach focuses on practical strategies, clear communication, and avoiding common pitfalls that trip up even experienced candidates.

This course is a culmination of his experience—built to help you **think like an experienced ML engineer, communicate effectively, and pass your interviews with confidence.**

Follow Ilya on YouTube: [youtube.com/@MLEpath](https://www.youtube.com/@MLEpath)

Ilya Reznik

Are you preparing for machine learning system design interviews but feeling overwhelmed by the complexity? Maybe you’ve read the guides, practiced a few problems, and still find yourself struggling to structure your thoughts under pressure. I get it—I’ve been on both sides of the table, conducting 100+ ML system design interviews at top tech companies and coaching countless candidates through this process.

This course is designed to help you cut through the noise and **develop a repeatable system** to confidently tackle any ML system design question. You’ll learn how to think like an experienced engineer, communicate your ideas clearly, and avoid common pitfalls that trip up even the best candidates.

Through real-world examples, proven strategies, and insider insights, you’ll discover:

- Why most candidates fail—not because of lack of knowledge, but due to poor structure and communication.

- How to **efficiently align on the problem** and build a system design that demonstrates **seniority and depth**.

- The key trade-offs that **separate junior engineers from senior and staff-level hires**.

- How to avoid wasting time on unnecessary details and **focus on what interviewers actually care about**.

We’ll also cover **practical techniques** for handling uncertainty, optimizing your preparation, and adapting to different interview formats. Whether you’re aiming for a mid-level role or a Staff+ position, this course will give you the tools to **pass with confidence and in style**.

Ace The Machine Learning System Design Interview

The System

Studying

Florian Walther is the creator of the popular *Coding In Flow* YouTube channel, known for its in-depth programming tutorials without the fluff. 

With 8 years of experience creating tutorials, Florian has focused specifically on ReactJS and NextJS for the past three years. He believes React is a fantastic framework but recognizes its potential pitfalls. This course distills his expertise, highlighting common React mistakes, offering solutions, and providing tips for writing cleaner, more robust code. 

For more React and NextJS insights, subscribe to [Coding In Flow on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/c/CodinginFlow) and join his free web dev newsletter at [CodingInFlow.com/newsletter](http://CodingInFlow.com/newsletter).

Florian Walther

ReactJS is, by far, the most popular JavaScript framework invented. This short video course outlines common developer mistakes during React app development, completed with detailed code samples and explanations.

By watching this course, you will be able to:

1. Make tangible improvements to your company's codebase
2. Deepen your understanding of core React concepts

Florian outlines key best practices for building maintainable and efficient React applications. It covers six essential topics:

1. **Derive State When Possible:** Learn how to minimize redundant state management by deriving state from existing props or state.
2. **Clean Up Your Effects:** Understand the importance of cleaning up side effects (like timers and subscriptions) within `useEffect` to prevent memory leaks and unexpected behavior.
3. **Clean Up Your Fetch Requests:** Discover best practices for managing and cleaning up asynchronous fetch requests to avoid race conditions and improve performance.
4. **Create Custom Hooks:** Explore how to extract reusable logic into custom hooks, promoting code organization and maintainability.
5. **Create Hooks For Your Context Providers:** Learn how to create dedicated hooks for accessing context values, simplifying component logic and improving readability.
6. **Use Fragments Instead of divs:** Understand the performance benefits of using React Fragments instead of unnecessary divs to optimize the DOM structure.

By following these guidelines, you can avoid common pitfalls and create cleaner, more performant React apps as a web developer. Not following these recommendations will make your codebase harder to work with and be less performant.

Become A Better Web Developer: Basic React Best Practices

Getting Started

Best Practices

Go Deeper

[Sophie Novati](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophienovati/) is the founder and CEO of [Formation](https://formation.dev/partners/taro), an interview prep platform that has empowered hundreds of engineers to secure top-paying roles in the tech industry. With extensive experience in interviews and mentoring, Sophie understands the common challenges and strategies that lead to success.

Through Formation, she provides tailored coaching to help engineers advance their careers with confidence and earn more while doing it — on average, individuals increase their total comp by $110k after going through Formation.

Before founding Formation, Sophie served as a staff-level engineer at Meta and Nextdoor, where she conducted interviews and mentored over 100 engineers through pivotal moments in their careers.

In her spare time, Sophie loves traveling the world with friends, enjoying great food, and snowboarding.

Learn more about Sophie and what she is building at Formation: [https://formation.dev/](https://formation.dev/partners/taro)

Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? What projects will you be working on? What problems will you be solving?

Many people take a passive approach to career growth, but this rarely leads to fulfilling, motivating work. Since we spend more than half of our waking hours working, it’s worth being intentional about doing something you love.

This course will help you take control of your career by providing:

- 👂 **Insights from Experienced Engineers:** Learn from Meta’s original Coding Machine, an Engineering Manager at Coinbase, and an ex-Meta & ex-Microsoft Tech Lead.
- 💻 **A Framework for Career Planning:** Understand key career dimensions—coding vs. management, small vs. large companies, risk vs. stability—and how they shape your path.
- 🚀 **A Personalized Career Roadmap:** Define your next steps based on your aspirations and course takeaways.

The course is structured into four key sections:

- 1️⃣ **Model Your Ideal Career:** Visualize your long-term career goals.
- 2️⃣ **Gather Requirements:** Identify key career levers and make informed choices.
- 3️⃣ **Code Review: Career Edition:** Hear firsthand how successful engineers shaped their paths.\
  4️⃣ **Engineering Your Next Steps:** Set actionable goals to make measurable progress.

With a structured approach (and downloadable worksheets), you’ll make informed, strategic career decisions that drive you toward fulfilling work. A small time investment now will pay off in career-long returns!

Engineer Your Ideal Tech Career

Introspection

Figure Out Your Exact Path

Code Review: Career Edition

Engineering Your Next Steps

Rahul was born in Michigan and introduced to the world of tech when he joined Stanford in 2009. He has a broad experience that makes his advice applicable to almost all engineers:

- Multiple internships at various-sized companies (VC-backed and bootstrapped) 📱
- Several full-time jobs, from Big Tech, to hyper-growth scale-ups, to his own startup 🆕
- Performance rated from below expectations to "Greatly Exceeds Expectations" 📈
- Onboarding into multiple environments with different tech stacks and business requirements 👨🏽‍💻
- Hundreds of interviews across dozens of companies, both successful and unsuccessful.

Rahul is now the cofounder of Taro, designed to accelerate career growth for engineers. He's **spoken directly to 100s of engineers** and adjusted his advice when necessary. This course condenses many years of experience into a watchable course.

Connect with Rahul:

- [**Taro**](https://www.jointaro.com/p/rahul-pandey/)
- [**YouTube**](https://www.youtube.com/rpandey1234)
- [**LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/)

Upon first glance, Rahul's career appears like the classic 'up and to the right' story:

- Studied Computer Science at Stanford
- Became a founding engineer at a startup that got acquired by Pinterest
- Became a Staff Engineer and Manager at Meta ([video explainer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inydj1VZ0y0))
- Quit to start a YC-backed startup

These are the highlights, but hidden in these bullet points are many episodes of failure and anxiety. From botched interviews to coworker blow-ups, Rahul endured plenty of failure alongside success. 

These experiences, along with the experiences from 100s of engineers he's interviewed, have shaped Rahul's thinking around software engineering careers.

This course covers the battle-tested best practices of career growth:

- **Learning**: Building the fundamental skills of engineering
- **Networking**: Leveraging your people for feedback and growth
- **Interviewing**: aka Landing a job
- **Promotion**: Succeeding on the job
- **Self-advocacy**: How to advocate for yourself and your career

This course lays the foundation for a career as a high-performing software engineer at top companies.

15 Years Of Software Engineer Knowledge In 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Intro

Establishing Your Foundation

Interviewing

Succeeding On The Job

Self Advocacy

[Alan Stein](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanjstein/) is the Founder & CEO of Kadima Careers, where he is on a mission to accelerate 1 million careers by 2040.

A graduate of Columbia Business School, Alan spent nearly 30 years as a successful leader at Google, Meta, Salesforce, Tableau, and American Express. He went from Manager, to Director, to Vice-President, to Global Department Head in about 10 years. In 2016, Alan received Google’s Manager Of The Year award. When he left his last corporate job at Salesforce, he was making well over half a million dollars a year. 

Today, Alan helps underrepresented, underestimated, and underpaid talent land great jobs at companies including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Spotify, Salesforce, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and more.

He’s spoken at MIT, Columbia Business School, Blacks In Tech, Sistas in Sales, and [AnitaB.org](http://AnitaB.org). And he works with people 1:1 every single day to accelerate their careers. His private clients, on average, increase their annual compensation by $124,887 in an average of 3.56 months of coaching (data through June 2023). 

What Alan found throughout his career is that there is a lot of bias and inefficiency to the way that companies hire people. Perfectly qualified candidates are ghosted, or rejected from roles for no good reason. For all the talk of diversity, the corporate playing field is nothing close to level.

This inspired Alan to create a systematic process — The GROWTH Framework –– to help people break through these obstacles, get hired by the best companies, and build generational wealth.

When he isn’t scaling Kadima to accelerate 1 million careers, he lives in Brooklyn with his three kids, two cockapoos, two messy doves, and one phenomenally supportive wife. He also loves traveling (43 countries and counting), live music, and devouring podcasts & audiobooks.

Alan Stein

[Alan Stein](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ownyourcareer/), former Google/Meta/Salesforce hiring manager and global leader will demonstrate how to pass the Amazon interview, which is famous for incorporating [its 16 Leadership Principles](https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles). In this incredibly thorough mock, he will give actual answers to actual behavioral interview questions asked by Amazon.

After giving the answers, you will see a former Amazon Bar Raiser shred him to pieces, give him feedback, and share what to do and not to do in your interviews. These responses, interview techniques, and execution resulted in Alan's ability to land FAANG offers consistently, and we hope that this insight helps you do the same.

Learn more about Alan's job search program, Kadima Careers, using this [discount link](https://signup.kadimacareers.com/mQBsDvu).