[Case Study] How To Land 18 FAANG+ Offers With Steven Zhang (Airtable, USDR, Tableau)

While on the job hunt in 2019, Steven Zhang received 18 offers (out of 22 onsites), including from companies such as Airbnb, Apple, Facebook, Palantir Technologies, Pinterest, Stripe, Uber.

In the process, he became an expert in software engineering interviews and job searching. Steven shared his thought process and methodology:

- When you have many interviews, **operationalize it, and treat it like a multi-week/month project**. Some days will feel like a slog, but that's ok and part of the process. (Steven used Airtable to coordinate all his conversations.)
- **Doing an interview prep course is completely worth it for DSA**. It may cost a few thousand dollars, but being able to land the ideal job is definitely worth it (and likely worth tens of thousands of $$). Steven used InterviewKickstart (his referral: https://bit.ly/swe-tips-ik).
- **For behavioral interviews**, Steven recommends:
  - Writing all questions you received in a Google doc
  - Recording yourself doing mock interviews with a friend and then listening to it.
- **Steven received offers at various levels through the bands**, from L3 (junior) to L5 (senior). Your level has huge implications for your compensation.
- Negotiation tips:
  - Negotiation should not be adversarial- think of it as doing price discovery
  - If you ask nicely, no one will rescind your offer for asking for more money.
  - Negotiation/post team matching is a way to get signal on the company itself

Relevant resources:

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - Data Structures And Algorithms](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/V4sTACzfOh22nMVcUV3w/masterclass-how-to-ace-your-big-tech-interview-data-structures-and-algorithms/)
- [\[Masterclass\] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - System Design](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/J3I9fTW9ulr6T9KjxpqY/masterclass-how-to-ace-your-big-tech-interview-system-design/)
- [How Alex Got Into Meta With 0 Prior LeetCode Experience](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/ZYiTbN21FsqFxFdpwt5a/how-alex-got-into-meta-with-0-prior-leetcode-experience/)
- Steven's [viral Medium article about this experience](https://medium.com/@stevenzhang/how-i-landed-18-faang-software-engineer-offers-after-not-interviewing-for-5-years-fc0dfc957a5d).
- Connect with [Steven on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenqzhang/)

Asking Great Questions [Part 2] - There Are No Stupid Questions

All questions start off from a positive place: An intent to learn more about the world. What matters is how you move forward with that positive energy when executing your question. This lesson teaches you:

- Why there's no such thing as a stupid or dumb question
- Why software engineers need to ask a *ton* of questions in order to succeed
- How bad questions corrupt their initially positive core can weaken the reputation of the asker
- How good questions follow through on their initially positive core to maintain that positive energy and strengthen the reputation of the asker

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 2] - Why You NEED A Killer Resume

As a software engineer, there are a million different things you can do. Choosing the right things to work on from engineer to engineer, but the good news is that having a great resume is one of those right things for every engineer. This lesson teaches you:

- Why optimizing your resume is one of the highest return on investments you can possibly do
- Understanding the overall job search funnel and how a good resume fits within it

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 4] - Go Deep, Not Broad

In order to become a tech lead, you need to have incredibly effective technical skills. So what does that mean?

- What it takes for your technical skills to be respected as an engineer
- Why depth is more important than breadth
- What it means to have true technical depth, shown with an in-depth example

To sharpen your technical depth, take our code quality course: [\[Course\] Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/level-up-your-code-quality-as-a-software-engineer/)

How To Figure Out If An Engineering Manager Is Good

Learning A New Codebase? Here's How To Figure Out What Matters

In this video, we explore how a strong **test plan** benefits not just the immediate code review process but also long-term codebase understanding and team efficiency. As engineers join new teams or revisit legacy code, test plans become invaluable guides for understanding and validating past changes.

### Key Takeaways:

- **We use test plans to unlock team knowledge**: In large codebases, no one fully understands every part of the system. A clear test plan helps future engineers (and our future selves) grasp what a change does and why it was made.

- **We prioritize hotspots over ancient code**: When onboarding to a team, we focus on recent changes in active areas of the codebase—not the 1,000 untouched lines at the top. Test plans tied to recent diffs help us make sense of these hotspots quickly.

- **We support testability with repeatable artifacts**: Whether it’s a video, screenshot, or command-line script, we include a way to replicate and verify our changes. This ensures others can validate functionality easily and efficiently.

- **We aim for speed and clarity**: For front-end work, visual demos (videos or GIFs) help reviewers instantly see the impact. For backend or logic-heavy changes, unit tests and integration scripts are more scalable and maintainable.

- **We build infrastructure for long-term velocity**: Investing early in test infrastructure—like command-line test runners—makes it easier to validate changes quickly and helps teams move faster as the codebase grows.

Ultimately, we think of test plans not just as review aids, but as **living documentation** and a **key onboarding tool** for future engineers working in our code.

Why You Should Start Your Career At A Big Tech Company

- **There's no universal right answer to which company works best for you** - At the end of the day, you should figure out what you care about and what your goals are and work backwards from there. It's entirely possible that Big Tech isn't a good fit for you.
- However, in a vacuum, you should start your career at a Big Tech company if you can. The main reason is that Big Tech is generally quite good at adding a layer of consistency to your career.
- You will probably learn a lot about writing good, scalable code as these companies know how to build massive systems and hire smart people.
- Your compensation will be very competitive, making it easier to negotiate proper pay and level at future jobs.
- You will probably develop a decent suite of fundamental soft skills as you need to learn how to work with many stakeholders to succeed at Big Tech.

Top System Design Interview Mistakes [Part 10] - Don't Speak Only in Hypotheticals

In this video, we discuss a common mistake in technical interviews - Talking only in hypotheticals instead of applying knowledge to practical scenarios. Here are the key points we cover:

- Many candidates discuss system design concepts theoretically without considering real-world applications
- We provide an example contrasting a hypothetical approach with a more practical one
- The goal is to show real-world engineering skills, not just theoretical knowledge
- **Our main advice:** Avoid "it depends" answers and make assertive decisions with proper justification

If you need extra help with your system design interview, [Formation.dev](https://formation.dev/partners/taro) can provide you hands-on, personalized support. Join us here: <https://formation.dev/partners/taro>

Top System Design Interview Mistakes [Part 7] - Document As You Go

In system design interviews, it's essential to use multiple forms of communication—verbal, written, and visual. A common mistake is relying only on verbal communication, which can lead to confusion and missed opportunities to iterate on your design.

- Not writing anything down makes it difficult to follow your logic, especially when discussing complex systems. Without written or visual references, both you and the interviewer may struggle to keep track of the design.
- Documenting as you go—whether through diagrams, lists, or notes—makes it easier to iterate on and debug your design. It also frees up your mental resources to focus on solving new problems instead of remembering all the details.
- Finally, well-documented designs provide a useful reference for interviewers when they review your performance after the interview.

If you need extra help with your system design interview, [Formation.dev](https://formation.dev/partners/taro) can provide you hands-on, personalized support. Join us here: <https://formation.dev/partners/taro>

How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1:1s

Your "skip" is the person that your manager reports to - It's what happens when you "skip" your manager when going up your reporting chain. 1 on 1 meetings with your skip are tricky as you can't talk to them the same way you would to your direct manager:

Here's how you can get maximum value from your skip 1 on 1s:
- **Understand your organization's overall strategy** - Since your skip is operating at a higher-altitude, they will be naturally well equipped to answer this question. Ask them what their priorities are, and you can then weave them into your own work to increase your impact.
- **Share "on the ground" insights** - Skips are generally pretty disconnected from nuts and bolts day-to-day work due to their seniority. As an IC, you are well-equipped to share what that experience is like as that's your life. This is really valuable, if you can come up with insights on how to improve this experience.
- **Be honest with feedback** - There's not much value sucking up to your skip and telling them that they're great and everything is going great because of that. Be candid and unafraid to share real problems with how the organization functions.

Related resources:
- ["How to make the most out of Director/VP/Exec office hours?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/GSihcOIzyP4sq5Gp1pWb/how-to-make-the-most-out-of-directorvpexec-office-hours/)
- ["Topics to talk in 1:1 with skip level manager?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/yK1UiPgm1EElzHRIqlM8/topics-to-talk-in-11-with-skip-level-manager/)
- ["What should I discuss in first 1:1 with my skip-level manager?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/WjBisBXMwLrSGO0mpR56/what-should-i-discuss-in-first-11-with-my-skip-level-manager/)

How To Find Your Path Among The Countless Paths In Tech

As an early-career engineer, it can be overwhelming to figure out what technology to learn and which domain to dive into. In this video, Airbnb Director of Engineering [Rachel Zhao](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelzhao/) walks through the framework you can use to find your path.

The key to finding your passion is: 
1. Explore and refine. Give yourself some time + space to try adjacent areas.
2. Reflect on the various activities you do: What sparks joy? Think about both technical and non-technical activities.

If you want to learn more about this topic:
- [Figuring Out The Best Company To Join As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/Nqs0U6rt2qFyXKSZurTh/figuring-out-the-best-company-to-join-as-a-software-engineer/) - The former VP of Engineering of unicorn startup Mixpanel shares his thoughts here.
- [This Is How Software Engineers Should Initially Learn](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/wUl3hc2wr1ms493bd23b/this-is-how-software-engineers-should-initially-learn/) - This video covers how earlier-in-career engineers mess up their learning.

Top System Design Interview Mistakes [Part 9] - Don't Draw Random Boxes

In this video, we discuss a common mistake in technical interviews: drawing random boxes without considering the bigger picture. Here are the key points we cover:

- Candidates often create isolated components without thinking about how they connect
- We provide an example contrasting a disorganized approach with a more thoughtful one
- Our recommended approach: Trace through data flows and user perspectives
- The goal is to think like an engineer: Identify the right problems before proposing solutions
- **Our main advice:** Don't just draw random boxes, trace data flow to uncover key system challenges

If you need extra help with your system design interview, [Formation.dev](https://formation.dev/partners/taro) can provide you hands-on, personalized support. Join us here: <https://formation.dev/partners/taro>

Building A Career Without Applying To Jobs (From An Eng Director)

[**Daniel O'Shea**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieloshea22/) is a Director of Engineering at X (formerly Twitter) and a 3x exited founder. He founded Laskie in 2020, a platform to help people understand the job market, find full-time work, and take on moonlight gigs. Daniel built a robust job-matching platform with tens of thousands of candidates. Laskie was the first acquisition by Elon Musk at X (Twitter) in 2023.

Throughout his professional career, **Daniel has never applied to a job**. Instead, he leveraged his network to find opportunities where he had an unfair advantage, and then continued to seek opportunities from his jobs and professional network. Almost all engineers suck at this: sending connection requests on LinkedIn is not enough.

In this talk, Daniel will share tactical advice to better leverage your own network, along with lessons from his professional journey. He'll also share data from seeing 1000s of engineers looking for jobs as part of running Laskie.

- Daniel on LinkedIn: [**https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieloshea22/**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieloshea22/)
- Daniel on X: [**https://twitter.com/oshea**](https://twitter.com/oshea)

Additional expert networking resources:

- [**"How to network effectively in a tech event?"**](https://www.jointaro.com/question/wx6HewLcKbxNRfMBiAAI/how-to-network-effectively-in-a-tech-event/)
- [**"How do you network effectively within a company?"**](https://www.jointaro.com/question/DwT9GtdYK9nwFV3a7jrU/how-do-you-network-effectively-within-a-company/)
- [**\[Masterclass\] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech**](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/masterclass-how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech/)

DSA Crash Course [Part 12] - Pair Sum Approach

In this lesson, Alvin explores the strategy to solving the following interview problem:

> Write a function, *pair_sum*, that takes in a list and a target sum as arguments. The function should return a tuple containing a pair of indices whose elements sum to the given target. The indices returned must be unique.
>
> Be sure to return the indices, not the elements themselves.
>
> There is guaranteed to be one such pair that sums to the target.

```
pair_sum([3, 2, 5, 4, 1], 8) # -> (0, 2)
```

```
pair_sum([4, 7, 9, 2, 5, 1], 5) # -> (0, 5)
```

```
pair_sum([4, 7, 9, 2, 5, 1], 3) # -> (3, 5)
```

If you need additional support taking these DSA skills and actually applying them, take [**Alvin's**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-zablan-b73a92117/) *complete* data structures and algorithms course on [**Structy**](https://structy.net/?utm_source=taro). You can try out the concepts yourself in their interactive code editor and learn advanced DSA patterns like stack exhaustive recursion.

Use [**this link to get 20% off**](https://structy.net/purchase?promo_code=taro20) the entire Structy DSA learning experience.

Follow Alvin on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-zablan-b73a92117/>

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 5] - Finding The Right Team

Not every engineering team can support an additional senior engineer. This lesson teaches you:

- What to look for in terms of product scope when choosing an engineering team to grow to senior
- The people ingredients of a team that's good for senior promotion
- Exactly what a great team for senior promotion looks like

To dive deeper into how to find a great team for senior promotion, check out the discussion here: ["What questions can I ask a potential new team?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/dLS6KcDwKNdMDlJwYdBw/what-questions-can-i-ask-a-potential-new-team/)

Managing Up: Effective Communication

Taro members get a discount to join [Ethan's Level Up community](https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/taro25)

Ethan's other courses on Taro: 

- <https://www.jointaro.com/course/the-growth-and-promotion-recipe-magic-loop/>
- <https://www.jointaro.com/course/maximizing-a-severance-package/>

How To Figure Out If A Team Is Important To A Company

In this age of layoffs, it's important to choose a team and organization that is valued by the company overall. Even ignoring layoffs, it's better to join a team that's mission critical overall due to more career growth opportunities, especially as a software engineer.

Here's the core points from the video:
- **Profit center or cost center** - Does the company see your organization as core to its revenue generation or something it simply needs to have in a digital age? If its the former, that means the organization is probably better for your career:
  - **Profit center example:** The ads/search organization at Google
  - **Cost center example:** Website developers at a dental company
- **Growth trajectory** - In particular, is the organization scaling up its headcount quickly? If so, that shows that it's a company priority, and scope naturally appears when teams get bigger due to higher XFN and alignment costs.
- **Company visibility** - Do execs mention your organization in all-hands meetings? Better yet, is it referenced on earnings calls? The more an organization is mentioned in these more public communications, the better positioned it is within the company.

This clip was taken from our masterclass here: [[Masterclass] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/0WEmTNZOMIh8xAdfO3JH/masterclass-how-to-choose-a-good-company-and-team-as-a-software-engineer/)

Related resources:
- ["How possible is it to spot red flags about toxic culture during the interview?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/1JwmhC3Nh9Ku0fkDL1bq/how-possible-is-it-to-spot-red-flags-about-toxic-culture-during-the-interview/)
- ["What does it mean to not have enough scope to be promoted?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/bJuagPwOEEy5vkcXKkqh/what-does-it-mean-to-not-have-enough-scope-to-be-promoted/)
- ["What should I look for in a new team in terms of growth?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/i2bOMPrqaRc0NUZ7918F/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-new-team-in-terms-of-growth/) - Question from a Google L4 engineer
- ["Is it better to work in revenue-generating divisions within your company?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/BIv8teCgxktk5tak6tlI/is-it-better-to-work-in-revenue-generating-divisions-within-your-company/)

[Masterclass] How To Survive Tech Industry Layoffs

Layoffs: They will always be a part of the tech industry. 2022 was the first year of massive tech layoffs in the post-covid economy, and 2023 is sure to bear several more. Not even FAANG is safe with Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon all having layoffs in 2022.

There were a ton of important points from this masterclass, so here's our Top 5 (in no particular order):
- **Layoffs are effectively random for almost everyone** - Individual contributors (ICs) and more front-line managers are generally not privy to what happens behind the scenes with cut decisions. You can be a well-connected high-performer in a healthy revenue-generating org and still be laid off. It's crucial to recognize this reality and be at peace with it.
- **Stop freaking out** - Ironically, the worst way to deal with layoffs is to worry constantly and drastically alter your behavior to optimize for them. It's not healthy to go to places like Blind regularly to stay "up-to-date" with layoffs. The best way to deal with layoffs is to continue living your life as normal and double down on responsible software engineer behaviors. For more context on what those behaviors our, read this discussion: ["What are software engineering fundamentals?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/3VNPK7wol76s89EkgFeW/what-are-software-engineering-fundamentals/)
- **Be deliberate with your performance review** - So many software engineers, junior ones in particular, assume that if they do good work and don't see any red flags, they'll get a good performance rating. This is very much not the case, especially at high-performance tech companies like FAANG. Maintain a transparent dialog about your performance with your manager and create a concrete growth plan. Here's our masterclass to help with that: [[Masterclass] How To Navigate Your Performance Review In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/b0B8uqIAUnBLE10jJHJG/masterclass-how-to-navigate-your-performance-review-in-tech/)
- **Build a stellar, wide professional network** - It is more important than ever to build meaningful, high-quality relationships in the workplace. Tech is an inherently collaborative space: You need a multitude of connections to help you grow, vouch for you in performance review, and provide warm referrals for your next opportunity if you are laid off. If you want to deepen your network, watch this: [[Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/masterclass-how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech/)
- **Getting laid off isn't the end of the world** - There's nothing wrong with you if you're cut during a layoff. Don't dwell on how you messed up or what you could have better to avoid the layoff: Focus on your next step. The silver lining is that getting laid off opens the door to your next opportunity and likely comes with some time in the form of a severance package to allow you to seriously think about your future. To optimize your next move, check out: [[Masterclass] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/0WEmTNZOMIh8xAdfO3JH/masterclass-how-to-choose-a-good-company-and-team-as-a-software-engineer/)

Related resources:
- ["How to survive potential layoffs?"](https://link.jointaro.com/zGwioWXPLe8xhuA89)
- ["What are the signs of an impending layoff in an organisation that can help an employee prepare themselves better?"](https://link.jointaro.com/tkUnst8KKBdktPQq5)
- ["Staying motivated among lay-offs?"](https://link.jointaro.com/g9462CQrqy1KGtqR8)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Uyf04xDGTweN0ija_Z3nr9NZ_WsoDikh_54LR5AfZjU/)

[Masterclass] What Software Engineers Should Look For In Their Engineering Manager

Related resources:
- [Voicing Your Problems And Frustrations Productively](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/elIKuK5Ody0xzVNmdnsR/voicing-your-problems-and-frustrations-productively/)
- ["My manager and I don't see eye-to-eye. How can I improve this relationship?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/WWuU0HRpNu90J638iJPs/my-manager-and-i-dont-see-eye-to-eye-how-can-i-improve-this-relationship/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Hk6oEtLAKBKI3jF5SvB7bPGZHZMoxx79VJIoA3N3Bk4/edit?usp=sharing)

The Common Misconception With Help

When you're new, there's an overwhelming amount of information to absorb. You should plan to ask many, many questions, which means it's important to have the right framing of that interaction.

Obligatory Confucious quote:

> The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life

Myth #1:

- **Myth**: Asking for help is a sign of weakness ❌
- **Reality**: You’re expected to ask questions to gain knowledge and foster interaction ✅

Myth #2: 

- **Myth**: Everyone knows so much more than me, I’ll waste their time ❌
- **Reality**: Each person’s knowledge is incomplete ✅

Instead of thinking that building expertise in something is difficult or impossible, realize that **you can become more knowledgeable than anyone** as long as you narrow the scope appropriately. (e.g. "In one afternoon, I can go understand more about the flags to configure **git log** compared to anyone on my team of 10 people.")

Tech Career Growth Videos

Our instructional videos provide software engineers with insights needed for career growth. Masterclasses go incredibly in-depth on a specific tech topic while case studies are real examples from established engineering leaders.