Figuring Out The Best Company To Join As A Software Engineer

- **Follow The Talent You Know**
  - One of the best things about the tech industry is how full it is of extremely talented people, and you probably know some of them. In particular focus on those who are both talented and have a strong degree of integrity.
  - For the people you truly respect in your network, you should seriously consider the companies they go to as options. After all, if a company met the bar of these great people, it's probably pretty good!
- **Understand A Company's Strengths And Match Against Them**
  - Different companies have different core cultural values, and it's really important for your values and theirs to align. When this alignment isn't there, it's far too easy to go somewhere, work very hard, and not achieve much impact or career growth.
  - Examples: Amazon's leadership principles, Netflix's emphasis on freedom and responsibility
  - To find out what the culture is like at other companies, consult your network and [ask in Taro Premium](https://www.jointaro.com/membership/)!

Related resources:
- [Masterclass on finding the best team and company for you as a software engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/0WEmTNZOMIh8xAdfO3JH/masterclass-how-to-choose-a-good-company-and-team-as-a-software-engineer/) - FAANG, startups, mid-sized companies: We talk about it all in this 1 hour+ deep-dive
- ["What's the best way to think about a team switch?"](https://link.jointaro.com/ie2UbksptgRKUaeW6) - Q&A from a software engineer at Meta
- ["What questions can I ask a potential new team?"](https://link.jointaro.com/iRVaALE88p3kKLhE9) - Q&A from a software engineer at Target

What Makes A Truly Great Tech Lead - From A Former VP of Engineering

- **Overview:** Tech leads are extremely valuable. They allow a team to multi-thread and execute on multiple projects at once, not requiring the engineering manager to babysit everything.
- **Understands the business context:** Great tech leads have strong product understanding and realize that software needs to be built in different ways based on the situation.
- **Project risk shrinks over time:** Great tech leads are constantly looking for ways to de-risk their projects over time. As things get closer to the ship date, the project actually becomes less scary!
- **Level up the team along the way:** Great tech leads figure out ways to leave the team in a better place than it was before the project.
- **If you're looking to become a great tech lead**: Get to know your PM, assess risk proactively and tackle the hardest items first, and find opportunities to level up your teammates.

If you want to learn more about becoming a great tech lead, check out the following resources:
- ["How can I hit the ground running as a tech lead?" - Senior Engineer at Amazon](https://link.jointaro.com/GF5bSUF3yiS1wtCU7)
- ["How do I lead without authority?" - Staff Engineer at Meta](https://link.jointaro.com/hQzz7xC5JhGfUwxD7)
- [Becoming A Tech Lead Again In Just 1 Month After Joining Robinhood From Meta - Case Study From Alex](https://link.jointaro.com/mQVZ9Qs8DQW8ANiN6)

Rockstar Software Engineer Story: SW2 -> Principal In Just 4 Years

- An engineer joined Mixpanel as a level 2 Software Engineer, and received 4 promotions in 4 years to become a Principal Tech Lead Manager (TLM). 
- Key to his success was the ability to make rapid progress on one of the company's top priorities: reduce infrastructure spend.
- He had a hypothesis that the majority of the cost incurred came from a few customers where the economics were backward for Mixpanel.
- Rather than solving a gnarly technical problem, the engineer worked with these customers to change their use of compute resources, resulting in massive savings for the company.

For more resources about becoming a rockstar engineer:
- [Mentoring Junior SWEs [E3] to Senior [E5] In Just 2.5 Years At Meta](https://link.jointaro.com/cpnvkDTC9daXMC9Y8)
- ["How do you get the most out of mentorship?"](https://link.jointaro.com/deNuMCdtRz5t9fEF9)
- ["How do I find a proper mentor within my company?" ](https://link.jointaro.com/3dVSLgYprZAtPJoh9)

Explore David Pan on Taro

Figuring Out The Best Company To Join As A Software Engineer

What Makes A Truly Great Tech Lead - From A Former VP of Engineering

Rockstar Software Engineer Story: SW2 -> Principal In Just 4 Years

How Effectively Do Big Tech Engineers Perform In Startups?

How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1:1s

How Managers Split Their Time Between High/Medium/Low Performers

What People Get Wrong About The Manager To Software Engineer Relationship

David Pan's Career Journey - Becoming An Engineering Manager