Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer [Part 14] - How To Handle Migrations

There is term called "promotion-driven development" where software engineers propose big refactors and migrations to look good but don't fully follow through. This is especially common in Big Tech. This lesson will teach you:

- How to do code migrations properly
- How to judge the quality of a codebase based off of its consistency and how "good, modern code" can actually be harmful to the health of the codebase overall
- The mental and operating model behind how new engineers code, which is especially important if you're a tech lead (never forget this!)

Master The Behavioral Interview [Part 25] - Go Deeper: Follow Through

Go through case studies by level to understand the expectations at each one: [\[Taro Top 10\] Understanding Engineering Levels](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/e9rjATPbSyvRPsukXiHn/)

Take these courses as well:

- [\[Course\] Effective Communication For Engineers](https://www.jointaro.com/course/effective-communication-for-engineers/)
- [\[Course\] Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 34] - Don’t Be Weird

It is easy for software engineers to get desperate when looking for a job, and this can lead to things getting weird. The danger here is that if you're too weird, you can get automatically rejected. This lesson teaches you:

- How to send Thank You notes properly and how doing it incorrectly can lead to you failing the interview
- What to do if you were able to complete the interview problem just a couple minutes after the round ended
- The general framework to follow when it comes to post-interview communication

15 SWE Years In 1.5 Hours [Part 7] - Imposter Syndrome (Building Confidence)

Software engineers are constantly underestimating themselves. This lesson teaches you:

- How to flip your mentality when it comes to everyone in tech being smarter than you
- The best environment to be in to maximize your growth
- How to quickly become stronger and get rid of your imposter syndrome

[Case Study] Effective Communication: Leading A Multi-Org Re-architecture At Meta

Here are [the presentation slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/184dP9pi41lO5TlME4cn4fRblCPtKFdet7d5WmrpnbGc/edit?usp=sharing) and the [polished chat log](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/tech-career-growth.appspot.com/o/tps_chats%2Ftaro_premium_session_4_chat_notes.txt?alt=media&token=ca1a199d-fe36-42bc-8d2e-fc91371e691f) from the session.

As an IC, you don't have authority over engineers in the way a manager might. So your impact is defined by your ability to have **influence without authority**. Influence comes from consensus + collaboration, which comes down to communication. Said another way: Communication is the foundation for trust. 

Rahul talked about 3 parts to effective communication in this presentation: 
- **Start with the audience**
  - Understand how much context your audience has, and connect the dots for them.
  - Your communication should be as short as possible.
  - Bad news should never be a surprise.
- **Choose the right medium**
  - Do some reflection on what your objective is: build relationships or efficiently communicating some info? Be clear the difference between verbal and written communication.
  - Evaluate the current processes for communication in your org: standups, team meetings, email updates, cross-org communication. 
- **Be consistent**
  - You should have a regular drumbeat of posts for your projects. If you feel like nothing happened, you should explain why nothing happened.
  - For long-running processes like brainstorms or architecture reviews, you should consistently message the timeline and milestones.

Related resources:
- ["How can I come up with big initiatives, especially those at a Staff level?"](https://link.jointaro.com/sm57uikgXJ3RRpTv8)
- [Writing is thinking](https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/writing-is-thinking-an-annotated-twitter-thread-2a75fe07fade) - by Steven Sinofsky (Former President @ Microsoft)
- [Be plainspoken](https://boz.com/articles/be-plainspoken) - by Andrew Bosworth (VP of Eng @ Meta)

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 21] - The REAL Secret For A Top Tier Resume

Unfortunately, it's possible to optimize your resume to the teeth and still not get results. This will be incredibly common for more junior engineers. This lesson teaches you:

- A simple 2-step process to understand how to make an incredible resume
- What to do if you have perfected your resume and you still aren't getting enough interview calls
- Why you are far more powerful than you realize the second you learn how to code and deploy software to production
- How to build impressive side projects that are meaningful on a resume and get you interviews
- How to make impressive open-source contributions that are meaningful on a resume and get you interviews

To dive deeper into building impressive side projects: [\[Taro Top 10\] Building Impressive Side Projects](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/vKUWMgmmaEvzcYUXZs4B/)

To dive deeper into making impressive open-source contributions: [\[Course\] Become An Open Source Master](https://www.jointaro.com/course/become-an-open-source-master/)

Stop Bugs From Happening Again - The Importance Of Retrospectives

Bugs are often times like ants: They don't come alone and are often representative of many more of their own kind. After you fix any bug, retrospect on why it occurred to begin with and what the team could have done to prevent it. If the bug was very serious (e.g. a production outage), bring the team together with a formal post-mortem report and meeting.

This video is a clip from our debugging masterclass. You can watch it here: [[Masterclass] How To Become A Debugging Master And Fix Issues Faster](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/ioR6WzamAIUTpySLAr7o/masterclass-how-to-become-a-debugging-master-and-fix-issues-faster/)

Related resources:
- ["What's the difference between a low performer software engineer and a high performer?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/nMxx2EMVIlJbl1oK4SGu/whats-the-difference-between-a-low-performer-software-engineer-and-a-high-performer/)
- [[Case Study] Solving A Multi-Million $$ Instagram Bug](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/WYk4J05iBqOuPtD0CYKX/case-study-solving-a-multi-million-dollardollar-instagram-bug/)
- ["How can I become more independent and better at unblocking myself with tricky technical issues?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/QhqQQGrDgFjZbqohpKe0/how-can-i-become-more-independent-and-better-at-unblocking-myself-with-tricky-technical-issues/)
- ["How to turn a string of silly mistakes into a mature positive outcome?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/JybGyc935lsYbM8dAo7Y/how-to-turn-a-string-of-silly-mistakes-into-a-mature-positive-outcome/)

How To Supercharge Your Resume As A Junior Engineer

What's the best way to juice up your resume after you have gotten the basics?

True or false: As long as you can code and have a polished resume, that is enough to comfortably find a job.

Why are side projects such an effective tactic?

True or false: You can get something extremely close to work experience without having a formal job, all from the comfort of your own home.

So many junior engineers struggle for a very simple reason: They haven't taken the time to build real software. In this video, we talk about how earlier-in-career software engineers in particular need to stop dancing around the core issue and just start writing the code.

Here are the core points:
- **Resume optimization only goes so far** - At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how well your resume is formatted. If the underlying material isn't good, you don't have a real portfolio. If you are looking for your first job, this means that you need to be creative with what you put in.
- **Use side projects to create your own experience** - You don't need a formal company and work experience to write practical code that matters: You can do it completely on your own as long as you have a decent computer and an internet connection. It is easier than ever before for anybody to deploy their own app or website, all for free.

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Write A Stellar Tech Resume That Gets You More Job Opportunities](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/OnQV2V3J8DYVBBuGbZx6/masterclass-how-to-write-a-stellar-tech-resume-that-gets-you-more-job-opportunities/) - The full video this clip was taken from, which includes a link to Alex's resume
- ["What technologies or stacks should I create a project to add in my resume for entry level software jobs?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/c0DiG5ureLbkZ1mKD9Rf/what-technologies-or-stacks-should-i-create-a-project-to-add-in-my-resume-for-entry-level-software-jobs/)
- [[Masterclass] How To Build And Grow Tech Products To 500k+ Users For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/OEuX0KMhcnNSTJ50Voee/masterclass-how-to-build-and-grow-tech-products-to-500k-users-for-free/)

PIPs and Interviews: The Ultimate Guide To Navigating A PIP

The PIP is as big a deal as you make it out to be. This is the key insight as you interview at other companies: **Don’t share information** **that hurts you.** 

In the same way that you wouldn’t share your previous salary or your compensation expeditions in the interview, you also shouldn’t share past performance struggles. You don’t get points for transparency. The thinking should be that you only share information if it helps you with the job interview. In particular, you should *never mention that you got PIP-ed*.

Instead, use neutral phrasing like “*I’m super excited about this company. I deeply resonate with the mission and people.*” Or *“The previous role wasn’t a good fit”*

The Journey to Staff Engineer In Big Tech - Q&A

This is the Q&A portion of the Staff Engineer Panel discussion. Watch the [main content here](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/SaYyJGLYvrAy4XGrDhy7/the-journey-to-staff-engineer-in-big-tech-panel-discussion/).

The journey to Staff Engineer is unique for everybody. In this session, we talk about all the ways we got there! Senior Engineer is a terminal level at most tech companies. 

Staff Engineer is the next level up. This is referred to as Staff at Meta/Google, or Principal Engineer at Amazon/Microsoft. 

Questions answered in the video: 
- I'm making a career change into Software Engineering -- what advice would you have? I want to get into Augmented/Virtual Reality.
- I'm already a Staff Engineer, but I'm struggling with performance management. What advice would you have to exceed expectations?
- What resources would you recommend to improve at communication? What is an effective way to find a mentor?
- I'd like to first become a Tech Lead (TL) and then transition into a Staff Engineer role. What advice would you have for me?
- I'm a Data Engineer (DE) and big fan of Zach! How do I show the impact of my work to a manager who may be unfamiliar, especially since I don't do frontend?

See discussions about Staff Engineers on Taro: [https://www.jointaro.com/topic/staff-engineer/](https://www.jointaro.com/topic/staff-engineer/)

Publicly available promotion stories:
- [Ryan's Instagram video processing improvements](https://engineering.fb.com/2022/11/04/video-engineering/instagram-video-processing-encoding-reduction/)
- [Rahul's internal tool for debugging](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/qvp2quodqAEWSkN7sayt/case-study-building-a-meta-internal-tool-to-empower-an-entire-org-staff-promotion-story/)

Panelists:
- [Zach Wilson](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eczachly/)
- [Rahul Pandey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/)
- [Carly Taylor](https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-taylor-data/)
- [Lee McKeeman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmckeeman/)
- [Ryan Peterman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/)

Become An Open Source Master [Part 17] - How Is The Project Laid Out?

We need to understand the layout and structure of your target open-source project. We should identify the important modules and configuration items, and understand how the data flows through the project. We can also look for the entry points to the code base, such as the top-level file with all the exports or the command line interface.

- [Vue.js on GitHub](https://github.com/vuejs)

Connect with James:

- GitHub: <https://github.com/jamesgpearce>
- Twitter (X): <https://twitter.com/jamespearce>

Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer [Part 26] - Side Projects & Open-Source

You don't need to work at some fancy FAANG company to learn how to write truly good, high-quality code. Code quality is something that can be improved upon outside of your job and even if you don't have a job! This lesson will teach you:

- The power of **side projects** and **open-source contributions** when it comes to leveling up your technical skills
- How to build side projects that get a ton of users so you can maximize your learning (and your resume strength 💪)
- How to make meaningful open-source contributions that can even get the attention of Big Tech companies

To dig deeper into this topic, go through this thread: ["How to Learn/Practice Clean Code, particularly by oneself?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/6DcTkiS9UJhDkQz1HIAL/how-to-learnpractice-clean-code-particularly-by-oneself/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 8] - Interviewing While Employed

Finding a job as a software engineer is, in and of itself, practically a full-time job. But should you quit to actually treat it like an entire job? This video teaches you:

- Why currently being employed is usually the best time to find a new job
- The counterintuitive way that having a job boosts your interview performance when searching for another job
- How to find the time to do interview preparation when you're juggling a current job, including emergency levers
- The framework you should apply to determine if you should quit your current job for the job search grind

How To Know If You’re Doing Well

Your goal while onboarding is to connect your work to the bigger picture of what your team/org/company is working on, and build your own ideas around priorities.

**Signs that you're helping people**:

- Are you adding value? Are you able to help people newer than you?

- Are you able to improve the onboarding process and get feedback from coworkers about the changes you're making?

- Are you able to understand and contribute to code reviews?

**Signs that you're not doing well**: 

- You're not engaging with people on the team
- You're not getting assigned any work of value, even when you propose ideas
- You need constant support for the work you're doing

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 22] - Go Deeper: Follow Through

Download Alex's resume here: [Alexander Chiou Resume.docx](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NnAx2jYkRTMCQwbdDPPqSj1Fwxkahda-/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109380646850979301783&rtpof=true&sd=true)

Related courses:

- [**Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer**](https://www.jointaro.com/course/level-up-your-code-quality-as-a-software-engineer/)

System Design Series: Taro Playlists [Part 7] - How Can Things REALLY Break?

The tactics are covered in the system design doc, so this summary will focus on the "meta" context behind this part and additional commentary:

- You should *always* think about "How can we cause a SEV?" when you're planning out system design for any substantial project or task.
  - **Context:** SEV = Severity, which is the term Meta, Robinhood, and many other companies use to describe a really bad product event.
  - This is one of the purest and most critical manifestations of proactive thinking, which is one of the trademark attributes of a competent senior+ engineer and tech lead. SEVs are events that seriously set back your organization or even your entire company if they're something you have to react to as opposed to catching them early.
- This "anti-SEV" thinking is *especially* relevant for Big Tech where the stakes are much holder due to regulatory constraints, increased media presence, and a massive scale of users.
  - It's also far harder to do this well at Big Tech due to a greater range of ways things can break.
  - However, if you can do this well, you will add a tremendous amount of value to your team. This is why pretty much all senior and staff engineers at FAANG and FAANG-equivalent companies have really developed this skill.
- Here are the ways a SEV can happen from the video (these are all vectors Alex dealt with at Meta as well):
  - **Users not playing nice** - You should never assume that users will put in proper inputs or even not want to harm other users. Most major tech products have some sort of multiplayer component, so it's important to be vigilant here.
  - **Bad auth context** - This means that users are able to carry out actions on behalf of other users. This can happen either intentionally (i.e. the acting user is malicious) or accidentally (e.g. the user has multiple accounts on your service and switching between them cleanly is broken).
  - **Incorrect backporting** - "Backporting" is the process of making things work on older builds of your software. This is *very* relevant for mobile engineers as there will always be a good amount of users on older builds, especially if your product is used by people in regions with lower internet.

You can [find the full system design doc here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/15WaM8Ojan82g0m2mtz6kC2Hiyj0Q6VbjfqRmVNDI3qw/edit?usp=sharing) - Feel free to use it as a template for when you're going through the system design process at your job!

Amazon VP Shares Why Reorgs Happen And Why The True Reason Is ALWAYS Hidden

[**Ethan Evans**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/) is a retired Amazon VP who has gone through dozens of re-orgs across his tech career.

Re-orgs (reorganizations of the team structure) happen because at least one leader views something as broken: someone is under-performing, the right teams aren't collaborating, or some other reason which you may not have visibility into as an engineer.

Once a re-org happens, an effective way to build trust is to schedule time with your new skip level manager and ask what the mission of the team is, and if your work is still aligned to that mission. Ask your manager to setup a meeting if you can't do it on your own.

Communication challenges: Public announcements about such org changes often use vague language and corporate jargon, making it difficult for individual contributors to understand the true reasons behind them. This lack of transparency can lead to further confusion and distrust.

Legal considerations: Legal constraints limit how much information leaders can publicly disclose about personnel changes. Fear of lawsuits can lead to sanitized messages that obfuscate the real reasons behind decisions.

**More to explore:**

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Work Better With Your Engineering Manager](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/2PbJb2fuqF3iMHy57eEg/masterclass-how-to-work-better-with-your-engineering-manager/)
- [How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1:1s](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/TToehFEc738PBhJcALwL/how-to-effectively-leverage-skip-level-11s/)
- [Ask Me Anything (AMA) with a Disney Eng Director - Greg Benson](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/eHbg5nVkHn2LYJ55oOVf/ask-me-anything-ama-with-a-disney-eng-director-greg-benson/)

Maximizing a Severance Package 7/9 - Common Asks and Gives

- Connect with [Ethan on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/)
- Taro members get a discount to join [**Ethan's Level Up community**](https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/taro25)

Master The Behavioral Interview [Part 19] - Cultural Values

Culture fit is real. A lot of tech companies have toxic culture and don't vet for it properly, but that doesn't change the fact that culture fit is extremely important to running a healthy engineering organization. This lesson teaches you:

- Why cultural values are important
- What you should do to effectively study and internalize the cultural values of a company you are interviewing with
- How to weave a company's cultural values into your behavioral interview answers through an example with Alex for his Meta interview

If you're curious as to how Meta's engineering culture works: ["Is sprint planning and agile not a thing at Meta?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/tB7borE2AWb1KcuFEcon/is-sprint-planning-and-agile-not-a-thing-at-meta/)

Strategies To Stop Procrastination

Procrastination: We all become masters of it in school, and for almost all of it, this terrible habit will continue long into our careers. This video covers how you can combat procrastination and maximize your work productivity.

Here are the key points from the video:

- Break down your overall goal into smaller pieces and strive to do just 1-2 pieces of it per day.
- Write things down! Clarity leads to action.
- After every week, reflect on how you spent your time.
- Find an accountability partner. Pair with someone else and commit to sharing progress updates with one another every single day. This social pressure will motivate you to do work as you don't want to be the person going into that meeting with no progress.
- Introspect and ask yourself if you're truly excited about the thing you're doing. If you're not, you might need to find that true passion.

Related resources:

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Manage Your Time Optimally In Tech And Achieve More Results](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/rnX9EKpzc43TgGW9MozG/how-to-manage-your-time-optimally-in-tech-and-achieve-more-results-792021/) 
- [A Powerful Tool For Software Engineer Productivity - Focus Blocks](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uGdn2AiDfn3B07FkpIVR/a-powerful-tool-for-software-engineer-productivity-focus-blocks/)
- ["How do I optimize my sacred hour at work?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/l8dzUVTu99CahofQsYAi/how-do-i-optimize-my-sacred-hour-at-work/)

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.