Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 38] - Go Deeper, Follow Through

You made it! By completing this course, you have attained the necessary wisdom to avoid the many, many failure modes software engineers so often fall into when searching for a job. This video teaches you:

- Why completing this course is actually just the beginning of your job search success
- The Top 5 overall learnings from this course
- The exact difference between struggling job seekers and successful ones
- How you can follow through with the knowledge gained from this course and actually apply it to your job search

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 22] - Behavioral Interviews

Behavioral interviews are omnipresent across software engineer interviews. They are also excellent at filtering out problem candidates. This lesson teaches you:

- When you can see behavioral interviews
- What the purpose of behavioral interviews is
- Why software engineers often underappreciate and underrate behavioral interviews, leading to their failure
- Why behavioral interviews are the *most important interview round in any hiring loop*
- The 3 core principles you should always have in mind when answering a behavioral interview question

To master the behavioral interview, follow the resources here: [\[Taro Top 10\] Behavioral Interviews](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/IPFmEPUhAmizNe9ZUWV5/)

Alex's blog post about behavioral interviews: [Software Engineer Interview Guide - Behavioral Questions](https://www.jointaro.com/blog/software-engineer-interview-guide-part-2-behavioral-questions/)

Entry-Level Engineer (L3) Describes Most Important Skill - Uriel Sejas

Uriel is a new grad engineer at Slack.

- Most important skill: understand and follow patterns in the codebase. There's likely a well-defined template or approach you can follow to complete your work. 
- Advice: take time to connect with other engineers. An engineer on a different team (build system or UI framework) can share something that otherwise would have taken hours/days to figure out.

Here's the full playlist asking engineers what the most important skill is for their level: [Asking 7 Levels Of Engineers The Most Important Skill](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/J9Io5lDGaYUpI8vGrUyI/)

Helpful links:
- [[Masterclass] How To Write Better Code Faster As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/iYpRj8XfyzCSaTYnce3y/masterclass-how-to-write-better-code-faster-as-a-software-engineer/)
- [How Neetcode Got Promoted From L3 to L4 (Mid-Level) Engineer At Google - Tips + Insights](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/mP1jyI09NsCHDsi5yTEX/how-neetcode-got-promoted-from-l3-to-l4-mid-level-engineer-at-google-tips-insights/)
- Taro's top 10 to get promoted from [entry-level to mid-level engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/iBKHYpkjd0BRWWLKQG2j/)
- Taro's top 10 to get promoted from [mid-level to senior engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/AUMiBTvYUv0gcOzuu26V/)
- [Uriel on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/uriel-sejas/)

The Defining Trait Of Mediocre Software Engineers With Debugging

One of the main differences between a low-performing software engineer and a high-performing software engineer is that the high-performer looks for true solutions to bugs instead of hacky ones like the low-performer does. Don't suppress the symptoms when fixing bugs - Treat the root cause as well.

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:
- [[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/)
- ["What would you do, if you get a better solution purpose after PR?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/PqxeNMxwHKsWYyWVyEbZ/what-would-you-do-if-you-get-a-better-solution-purpose-after-pr/)

[Case Study] How To Become A Data Guru As An Engineer (w/ Senior Director of DS Mo Shahangian)

Mo has had a successful career at the intersection of data science and engineering at companies like Pinterest, Meta, and Epic Games.

Mo talked about the biggest data mistakes and how the job changes as you navigate seniority levels. He also shared his contrarian approach to promotion that has worked so well in his career. 

## Data knowledge for engineers:
- Data science is an overloaded term. The high-level goal for anyone working with data is to surface insights that will inform decisions. 
- Being insightful isn’t enough -- you need to surface **actionable** and **causal** relationships.

Everyone needs a reminder correlation != causation. Have some tools to remind yourself.
- Which way does the causal arrow go?
- Remember [Goodhart’s Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law)

## Career growth
- At the most senior levels, leaders are business owners/product leaders, not functional leaders.
- At more junior levels, it’s the opposite, there needs to be order and a separation of responsibility. The best people learn how to work, not only within their lane, but across.

Career success comes from being deliberate:
- A career is a series of decisions
- These decisions come with tradeoffs
- Those best at navigating tradeoffs emerge as leaders
- "Deliberate" means that you are both intentional and calculated

Mo started out building data systems at UCLA, joined Pinterest during hypergrowth, and eventually became a Senior Director of Data Science at Meta, and recently joined Epic Games at the leadership level. Connect with Mo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-shahangian-b040188/

[Connect with Mo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-shahangian-b040188/)

More resources: 
- Another Taro Premium Session about [junior --> senior eng promos at Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/EX9563YnxcJb62cCmetg/session-5-mentoring-junior-swes-e3-to-senior-e5-in-just-25-years-at-meta/)
- [Why chasing promo could hurt you](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/qj2kX94TfFPgBLlQZBtb/why-chasing-promotion-could-hurt-you/)

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

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

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

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

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

"Is Taro hiring?" - 8/18/2022

If you're searching for a job, check out [our in-depth video on how Taro can help you do just that](https://link.jointaro.com/e5Swdksn8886KrQs9).

- **Not right now, but hopefully soon** - We want to make sure that when we do hire a full-time employee, we treat them very well and pay them top-of-market. We also want to make sure we're running as stable a ship as possible, especially in this economy - We don't want to hire someone just to lay them off within a year. This requires a lot of capital, more than we have with just the YC investment.
- We're raising our seed round now, and if this goes well, we should be able to hire a full-time engineer, maybe 2.
- Our dream is to turn Taro into a huge, financially sound company and then hire folks who have been supporting us for a long time, all the way back to the Tech Career Growth days.
- If you want to help, continue using Taro, letting us know how we can improve, and sharing the app with your friends and colleagues! The more we grow, the faster we can scale up Taro and achieve our vision of empowering every software engineer in the world to be happier and more effective in their careers.

What To Do If Your Manager Doesn’t Care About Your Work

This clip explores a common frustration where employees feel ignored by their managers, even when providing regular updates. The root cause is usually a misalignment in perceived project importance.

- **Perceived neglect often stems from misaligned priorities**: If your manager appears disengaged, it's likely because your project isn't among the top priorities they are focused on.
- **Managers typically operate with a clear project hierarchy**: In teams with many contributors, managers mentally stack-rank initiatives. Only a few projects (typically the top 1–2) receive the lion’s share of attention and resources.
- **Impact matters more than effort**: You may be doing good work, but if it’s not on a high-impact initiative, it won’t attract your manager’s attention or advocacy.
- **You have two options**:
  1. **Switch to a higher-priority project** that better aligns with team goals.

  2. **Build a compelling case** for why your current project should be elevated in importance—explain its impact, urgency, and strategic value.
- **Visualizing impact can help**: The graph referenced (a power law curve) illustrates that a small number of projects generate most of the value. Aim to work on—or reframe your work as—one of those high-leverage efforts.

15 SWE Years In 1.5 Hours [Part 3] - Writing Good Code

With the rise of helpful online resources like StackOverflow and especially genAI tools like ChatGPT, learning to write code is now easier to ever. Where engineers earn their stripes (and the right to be paid $100k+ per year) is with their *code quality*. This lesson teaches you:

- The only true way to learn how to write good code
- Why copy-pasting what FAANG engineers do isn't a shortcut to writing good code
- How to objectively measure the quality of your code

To dive deeper into code quality, take our course here: [Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/level-up-your-code-quality-as-a-software-engineer/)

Become An Open Source Master [Part 2] - How This Course Works

We'll explore the benefits of open source and how to contribute to existing projects in this course.

- Understand the benefits of open source and the mindset needed to work effectively in the open source ecosystem
- Learn how to get involved in someone else's project, understand their codebase, and make meaningful contributions
- Explore how contributing to open source can benefit your career by showcasing your skills and building your professional profile.
- This course won't cover how to create your own open source project or what it's like to work on one from within a company.

Connect with James: 

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

Grow From Junior To Mid-Level Engineer [Part 1] - How This Course Works

Congratulations on breaking into tech as an engineer! Let's get you off to a great start. Here are the core parts of the lesson:

- Your instructor [Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) walks you through his extensive 10+ year Silicon Valley background with rapid career advancement, ending up as a high-performing tech lead making $750k at Robinhood. More importantly, he goes through how he was able to grow his mentees to lightning fast promotions, particularly at Meta where he grew 10+ junior engineers (E3) to mid-level engineers (E4) in just 1 year!

- You'll understand what it means to be a junior vs. a mid-level engineer in the market, including the interview space

- We walk you through the course objectives. By the end of the course, you will understand:

  - 💡 Truly understand the **difference** between a junior engineer and a mid-level engineer

  - 🛠️ Learn to **code** like a mid-level engineer

  - 💪 Know what it means to be truly **independent**

  - 🧠 Have the right **mindset** to act as a mid-level

  - ✅ Define a clear **roadmap** to mid-level

If you haven't already, we recommend taking the overall promotion course here: [Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 10] - Code Review

Writing code is great, but so is reviewing code. In fact, being great at reviewing code is more impactful than being great at writing code 90%+ of the time! This lesson teaches you:

- How the writing code vs. reviewing code dynamic changes as you get to senior
- Why senior engineers tend to review more code than they write
- How senior engineers expand their code review scope while mid-level engineer code review scope tends to be more constrained with a real-life example
- The difference between a senior engineer code review comment vs. a mid-level engineer code review comment

Get better at code review with our masterclass: [\[Masterclass\] How To Do Amazing Code Review](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/rhRFh49oouaUDhWUvkQb/masterclass-how-to-do-amazing-code-review/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 7] - Take Greater Ownership

As a senior engineer, you need to show strong ownership. Many mid-level engineers are told this by their manager but are unsure as to what that means. This lesson teaches you:

- Why the "points" you get for impact aren't just correlated to the impact of the projects you work on
- How to get more credit for each project you work on
- What it means to show stronger, more holistic project ownership with a real-life example from Alex's past at Instagram

Learn more about project credit here: <https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/its-not-just-about-impact/>

Explain Like I’m 5: Demystifying Meta’s GenAI Infrastructure

Session led by: [Malik (Mike) Alnakhaleh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/malik-mike-a-32b63818b/)

**Event description**

Dive into the fascinating world of Meta's next-generation artificial intelligence with an event crafted for simplicity and clarity!\
\
Whether you're a software developer, a tech professional, or a bit AI-curious, join us for an illuminating session where complex concepts are made accessible. No PhD required!

### **What You Will Learn:**

- The Backbone of Meta’s GenAI: Unpack the core components and architecture powering Meta's cutting-edge AI, from robust data center hardware to innovative computing networks.
- Scaling AI for Tomorrow: Explore how Meta scales its AI infrastructure to support complex models and vast datasets, ensuring efficiency and sustainability.
- Innovations in AI Deployment: Discover the cutting-edge tools and practices Meta employs to deploy AI applications, from development to production.

### **Who Should Attend:**

- Software developers and engineers seeking to understand the infrastructural demands of AI.
- Professionals interested in AI, machine learning, and data center engineering.
- Anyone curious about how large-scale AI systems are built and used.

Ready to peel back the layers of Meta’s AI infrastructure with the curiosity of a five-year-old?\
\
Secure your spot today and step into the world of tomorrow's AI, exploring the future, one simple explanation at a time.

Onboarding Tips For Senior+ Engineers

As a Senior Engineer (or Staff or Principal) coming into a new company, there will be some expectation that you are bringing in domain knowledge. Your opinion can be valuable. A few ways to have immediate impact:

- Contrast how your current company operates compared to past companies
- Ask questions about why certain processes exist or don't exist

As you ramp up, remember to "**respect what came before.**" You don't want to disparage existing systems without realizing that it was best designed at the time of construction with the constraints and knowledge *at the time*.

As a senior engineer, you also need to lay the foundation for team and org-level impact. This means you invest extra time in building relationships and meeting other senior/staff/principal engineers.

Senior Engineer video from krazam: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSqexFg74F8>

Meet The Team

Software Engineering is a team sport, and therefore building strong relationships with your team is a prerequisite for your success. Book 1 on 1s with teammates proactively, and for key people, look into recurring meetings for the first month or two.

One useful thought exercise: think about **who can throw you under the bus?** By doing this pre-mortem (analysis *before* an issue has happened), you can take steps to make them like you and prevent an issue to begin with.

The other key component to building strong relationships with your team is to prioritize in-person interaction. 

- Trust is much, much easier built when you're in person compared to remote
- If you’re hybrid, try to come in as much as you can. Align on days when other people are in the office.

Working With Your Manager

Your manager is the most important person for your career progression. If they don't support you, you will not get promoted. This means you should allocate sufficient time and attention to this relationship when you first join.

Rahul's suggestion for the bare minimum interaction during the first few months at the company:

- Weekly (or biweekly) recurring 1:1 meeting
- 30+ minutes

Two tips to ensure you get sufficient value out of the manager relationship:

- Let them know you’re eager for feedback
- Add structure to the interaction by writing things down and following a template for each meeting

If your manager frequently cancels 1:1s with you, use the running 1:1 doc with an agenda as a defense mechanism. People will think twice about canceling something if they know it's important to you.

Why Most Companies Suck At Onboarding

You should not expect a good onboarding process at your company. Helping new employees ramp up is a good example of something that is *important but not urgent*. Tenured employees likely don't remember what it's like to be new.

While many companies will have insufficient or non-existent onboarding, the other end of the spectrum is also unfortunate: larger bureaucratic companies will have excessive onboarding, with months of training before you can do anything productive.

Even if the company has good intentions, building a solid onboarding plan is a hard problem: the tech industry's rate of change is very high, with people, tools, and technologies changing every year. Naturally, documentation and processes around onboarding become outdated.

Despite the difficulties, poor onboarding can be seen as an opportunity for new employees to have an immediate impact.

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 5] - Dynamic State vs. Prepared State

The overwhelming majority of software engineers went to college and grew up in a very academically-inclined environment. Bringing the mentality cultivated from that experience to the job search often unfortunately has bad consequences. This lesson teaches you:

- Why traditional learning methods don't translate well to software engineering
- The difference between *prepared state* (how you grew up learning) and *dynamic state* (how you should actually learn)
- A defining trait of the most successful interviewers, which most candidates don't have
- How to train yourself properly when it comes to your interview preparation and overall learning

Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer [Part 15] - Make It A  Little Better Each Time

We all want to make big, fast strides, but this is often hard to actually achieve. When it comes to leveling up your code quality, a lot of the battle is incremental. This lesson will teach you:

- A framework you can apply to your code repeatedly to make it better and strengthen your coding skills
- How small improvements here and there can really add up over time to increase the quality of a codebase and build up your respect among the team
- An organic trick that Alex and all his mentees used at Meta to strongly succeed on the technical axis and get promoted fast

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.