Become A Debugging Master [Part 4] - Where To Find Bugs

Finding and fixing bugs proactively is one of the most underrated ways to accelerate your growth as an engineer. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Great engineers don’t wait for bugs to be assigned—they actively hunt for them through QA reports, user feedback, crash logs, dashboards, and on-call alerts
- Proactively surfacing and solving bugs builds trust, reduces last-minute surprises, and makes you a more reliable and promotable team member
- Attending SEV (severe incident) reviews, learning from outages, and applying those lessons is a major career hack for fast growth
- Engineers can approach bugs at different levels of ownership, from simply reporting them to fully owning the investigation, fix, and communication
- Creating scope by finding and fixing high-priority bugs—even without being asked—can dramatically accelerate your career trajectory and reputation

Why Team Selection Is So Critical

We open by explaining that choosing the right company or team is one of the highest-leverage decisions we can make in our software engineering careers.

Here are the core points from the lesson:

- We use the “bus on a highway” analogy to show that company choice determines how far we can go; our personal effort only determines where we sit on that bus.
- Even if we perform exceptionally, joining a stagnant or declining company limits our long-term trajectory, while joining a fast-moving, hyper-growth company can accelerate our career dramatically.
- Real-world examples like Marin Software versus Google illustrate how picking the right “bus” can either stall or amplify career outcomes, independent of our individual contributions.

Make Sure To Do This To Get Full Credit For Your Work

On top of doing the work, what else do you need to do in order to get full credit for what you are doing?

True or false: It is bad to give more public status updates for your project as it will come across as looking for attention.

Why should you not feel icky when you are properly broadcasting the status of your project?

Core points:
- *You don't get credit automatically for doing good work, especially if you work in a large company.*
- It is vital that you bring visibility to your work and claim credit for jobs well done in project updates, meetings, and other more public avenues.
- You may feel "icky" for sharing status updates - Don't! If your work is truly important, than it's worth sharing about and keeping the team in the loop. If you don't feel like your work is important, then you have a separate problem you need to address.
- Use project updates to thank others! Treat it as a mechanism to build social capital.

Related resources on how to write concise, impressive project updates:
- ["How can a painfully introverted person increase their visibility and promote themselves?"](https://link.jointaro.com/3XHsUifABjyN3Tq98) - From a SWE intern at Google
- ["How to get more visibility on work?"](https://link.jointaro.com/aQUHxnsNAJVcRgth6) - From a junior engineer [E3] at Meta

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 11] - Step 0: Establish Yourself

So many software engineers want to move up the career ladder as soon as possible, but they're way too hasty when it comes to seriously thinking about promotion. This lesson teaches you:

- The embarrassing failure mode to avoid with bringing up promotion
- How to know if you have established yourself as a rock-solid performer
- How long you should generally wait before asking about promotion

To dig deeper into becoming a high performer, check this out: ["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/)

Ace The ML System Design Interview [Part 3] - Big Picture Design

A strong big-picture system design is crucial for success in machine learning system design interviews. It's not about drawing a perfect diagram immediately, but about demonstrating an understanding of the system's components and their interactions. Here are the core points from this lesson:

- Identify the inputs and outputs of the system during the alignment phase to establish a foundation for building the diagram
- Start with the user and the service, then progressively add components, especially those involving machine learning, to illustrate the flow of data and processes
- Break down machine learning components beyond a single "ML system" box to show the different stages and types of models involved
- Include essential infrastructure elements, such as feature stores, to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the system
- Iterate on the diagram, adding or modifying components as a deeper understanding of the problem and its requirements develops

If you like what Ilya has to say, subscribe to his YouTube for more high-quality ML/AI career guidance: [MLEpath - YouTube](https://go.mlepath.com/taro-youtube-mlepath)

If you want hands-on support from Ilya to crack the FAANG ML interview, join his coaching program: [MLEpath - Coaching Program](https://go.mlepath.com/taro-march-25)

Claiming Full Credit For Your Projects On Performance Review

- What is the project: Which features did it compose of? How does it work?
- Context behind the project:
  - Why was this project hard/interesting: Complexity of projects is especially important for more senior engineers.
  - What was the business impact: Did it lead to more revenue directly? Did it improve user experience? Was a core KPI increased?
- Role you played in the project: What value did you specifically add to the project, especially that of the deeper kind? For Big Tech companies, this is very important as projects can easily have 15+ people working on them.

[Masterclass] Understanding And Optimizing Your Pay In Tech

Related resources:
- ["If my main goal is compensation, would it be wise to learn blockchain tech since it will potentially be the tech of the next couple decades?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/tyS6MzzADqBzt10802Mh/if-my-main-goal-is-compensation-would-it-be-wise-to-learn-blockchain-tech-since-it-will-potentially-be-the-tech-of-the-next-couple-decades/)
- ["How do people in Big Tech deal with constantly fluctuating Stock Prices from their company?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/JhEDkJl8AexlsL4IXBOH/how-do-people-in-big-tech-deal-with-constantly-fluctuating-stock-prices-from-their-company/)
- [[Taro Top 10] Pay Negotiation](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/uyWSc5q79zFw2Ei7w59d/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MdJrfT-wBDI6p-3z2_4rNY8IJwlvj1X7n3E5bmYajFU/edit?usp=sharing)

Don't Waste Your 1 on 1s. Build The Relationship

Why should you build the relationship in 1 on 1 meetings?

True or false: Small talk is okay in 1 on 1 meetings to break the ice and learn more about the other person's life outside of work.

Why are deep relationships needed in tech, especially at senior levels?

One-on-one meetings are a foundational tool for building trust and social capital within a company. Especially in medium to large organizations, relationships drive execution—and one-on-ones provide a structured, intentional space to cultivate those relationships.

- **Build social capital early**: Scheduling one-on-ones with key teammates—engineers, designers, PMs, and adjacent team managers—early on helps lay the groundwork for future collaboration. This “trust bank” can be drawn on when challenges inevitably arise.
- **Treat relationships as human endeavors**: There's no formula for connection. These conversations are opportunities to build real understanding, not just to exchange project updates.
- **Welcome small talk, especially at first**: In early one-on-ones, light conversation about emotions, hobbies, and general well-being helps establish rapport. This human connection builds the trust needed for deeper collaboration later.
- **Shift toward deeper conversations over time**: Once a working relationship is more established, focus should evolve toward more meaningful topics—emotions, motivations, and work challenges—while still leaving space for the personal.
- **Listen with genuine care**: The most effective relationships are built on authentic interest. It’s not enough to ask personal questions—true connection comes from caring about and following up on what others share.

By using one-on-ones intentionally and empathetically, it's possible to create strong, lasting connections that enhance both individual performance and team effectiveness.

Why Engineers Can't Ignore Politics

In this lesson, [Ryan Peterman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/) discusses the realities of senior leadership and management in the tech industry through the perspective of [**Ethan Evans**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/), a former Amazon VP. Building on a previous conversation known for its unusual transparency, this lesson sets the stage for a candid look at what happens behind the scenes at the highest levels of technology companies—including organizational decisions, reorgs, and management practices that engineers and managers rarely get to see.

- **A transparent look at senior tech leadership:** Gain insight into what happens behind the scenes at the VP and executive levels of major technology companies.
- **Lessons from both successes and mistakes:** Explore leadership experiences with an emphasis on openly examining decisions, including things the speaker would approach differently in hindsight.
- **Understanding how organizations really operate:** Set the foundation for a deeper discussion of reorgs, management decisions, and other internal dynamics that affect both engineers and managers.

Original podcast link: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WaeGfLnRvc&t=24s>

Master The Behavioral Interview [Part 22] - Do Mock Interviews

Software engineers love working and studying solo, but this is extremely difficult with behavioral interviews. This lesson teaches you:

- Why behavioral interviews are inherently collaborative and effectively require mock interviews to master
- How to get the most value from your mock behavioral interview sessions

How To Navigate Pivotal Points In Your Tech Career - By Casey Dai

[Casey Dai](https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseydai/) is a Head of Engineering at Capgemini, leading Data Engineerings and ML Ops. On top of that, he has a rich history of tech leadership across Manulife and Accenture.

To learn more from Casey, connect with him on LinkedIn: [Casey's LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseydai/)

Here's some of the incredible career wisdom Casey has shared on Taro:
- ["How do I choose whether to become a people manager or continue to be an individual contributor?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/aMvbV6SUjdDaU8RftQk5/how-do-i-choose-whether-to-become-a-people-manager-or-continue-to-be-an-individual-contributor/)
- ["How to make communication succinct and more impactful?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/QDLV5owweJveRLlspOdc/how-to-make-communication-succinct-and-more-impactful/)
- ["Why would a senior make themselves replaceable?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/b5eUTVq4m9ANQ5QCUc3q/why-would-a-senior-make-themselves-replaceable/)
- ["How to get into networking as a fresher?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/2Ld9u7f4pVcm36cj1P36/how-to-get-into-networking-as-a-fresher/)
- ["How to get interview calls?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/MOCBUYFhyn7Yv5ZF7qBU/how-to-get-interview-calls/)

How Big Tech Judges Interview Performance Differently

What is the main extra axis that Big Tech companies will grade interview candidates on?

As long as you get a correct, optimal solution, that is enough to pass a Big Tech interview round.

Why is communication so important in Big Tech companies?

True or false: Big Tech companies don't really care about what specific technologies and programming languages you have worked with.

What's the core high-level asset Big Tech interviewers look for?

- At a lot of companies, you can just get the right solution and pass. This will often not be the case with Big Tech interviews.
- Communication is much more important at Big Tech companies as there's more stakeholders on everything
- Try not to be silent for 5+ minutes at a time during the interview. Regularly be explaining your thought process
- Massive companies like Meta and Microsoft will have very custom technology, so it doesn't really matter what you're currently experienced in
  - Because of this, Big Tech companies generally let you code in whatever language you want
- It's possible to get the sub-optimal solution or a slightly incomplete solution and still pass the interview if your communication is very strong

Related 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/) - The video this clip was taken from
- [Alex's Guide To Effective Communication](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/hVdLQQzfslaYarLSCmmy/)
- [[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/)

Master The Behavioral Interview [Part 11] - Interviews Are A 2-Way Street

One of the easiest ways to tank your career as a software engineer is to join the wrong company or team. Despite this, so many software engineers squander their time in behavioral interviews to uncover extremely valuable information about the quality of an organization. This lesson teaches you:

- Why not having thoughtful prepared questions to ask the interviewer makes you look really bad in a behavioral round
- The critical career importance of behavioral interviews being a 2-way street

Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer [Part 24] - Infinite Layers Of Nesting

Nesting is great for birds, but terrible for code. Having too much nesting is one of the easiest ways to make code terrible. This lesson will teach you:

- Why deeply nested code is literally hard to read
- The early-return pattern to unfurl nested code
- How to compress conditionals properly (this includes how not to mess them up)

The Most Important Thing To Do After You Get Laid Off

As a software engineer, you naturally have a lot of leverage as a highly sought after, highly-skilled worker. If you end up getting laid off, take the opportunity to use that leverage and seriously think about bettering your future.

Here are the core points:
- **Take the time to introspect about career direction** - When you're working, it's way too easy to get lost in the hustle and just trudge from project to project. After you're laid off, you now have the mental freedom to really think about where you want to go with your career. This will take at least several days, maybe even weeks. Try to envision what the perfect job looks like to you and make that your goal. Ask yourself where you want to be 5 or 10 years from now.
- **Think about what makes you happy** - This sounds cliched, but it's 100% true. There's no point min-maxing your compensation and level if you're fundamentally unhappy while doing it. The tech industry is such a broad space: There is a right opportunity for everybody where they can grow their career and be happy while doing it. But in order to get that opportunity, you need to discover what genuine passions you have.

Related resources:
- [[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/)
- [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/)
- ["How do I know what I'm great at?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/hksE5OSxktWdbnQQFdaT/how-do-i-know-what-im-great-at/)

Maximize Your Productivity As A Software Engineer [Part 15] - Live And Breathe Quality

One of the biggest myths in the tech industry is that in order to move incredibly fast, you need to sacrifice quality and do a mediocre job. This lesson teaches you:

- The dangers of cutting corners when it comes to engineering work
- Why having high code quality leads to you landing code faster
- Different ways for you to weave quality into your work for an immediate positive return on investment for your time

[Distributed Systems Deep Dive] Design a KV such as Dynamo DB

This is a session on DynamoDB if you're looking to understand how to design a distributed key-value stores. We'll start with what DynamoDB is and why people are using it. Expect a run-through of its architecture and a straightforward explanation of how data gets sliced for efficiency. We'll also cover what happens when things go south and how DynamoDB keeps data consistent and up-to-date as well as the pros and cons.

If you write code and care about making it scale, this will be worth your time.\
\
**Dynamo Basics:** Understand what DynamoDB is built for and when to use it over other databases.

1. **Architecture:** Get to grips with DynamoDB's architecture - how it's built to scale effortlessly and provide consistent performance.

2. **Data Handling:** Learn about partitioning strategies that spread data across nodes effectively and replication techniques that prevent data loss.

3. **Resolving Conflicts:** Master vector clocks for resolving data conflicts in a system designed for eventual consistency.

4. **Operational Workflow:** Gain insight into the lifecycle of 'put' and 'get' operations and how DynamoDB handles data under the hood.

5. **Merkle Trees:** Understand how DynamoDB uses Merkle trees to synchronize data across distributed systems efficiently.

6. **Gossip Protocol:** Learn the workings of the gossip protocol for node communication and how it contributes to DynamoDB's robustness.

Thanks to [Alex Poon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealexpoon/) for leading this session!

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 18] - The 3 Core Interview Stages

So a tech company has decided to not throw your resume straight in the trash and are giving you a chance. How does the interview process work? This lesson teaches you:

- What the first round of *screeners* is
- What the second round of *phone screens* is (and the history behind the term)
- What the final round of onsites is (and the history behind the term)

DSA Crash Course [Part 39] - Depth First Values Approach

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

> Write a function, *depth_first_values*, that takes in the root of a binary tree. The function should return a list containing all values of the tree in depth-first order.

```
a = Node('a')
b = Node('b')
c = Node('c')
d = Node('d')
e = Node('e')
f = Node('f')
a.left = b
a.right = c
b.left = d
b.right = e
c.right = f
#      a
#    /   \
#   b     c
#  / \     \
# d   e     f

depth_first_values(a)
#   -> ['a', 'b', 'd', 'e', 'c', 'f']
```

```
a = Node('a')
b = Node('b')
c = Node('c')
d = Node('d')
e = Node('e')
f = Node('f')
g = Node('g')
a.left = b
a.right = c
b.left = d
b.right = e
c.right = f
e.left = g
#      a
#    /   \
#   b     c
#  / \     \
# d   e     f
#    /
#   g

depth_first_values(a)
#   -> ['a', 'b', 'd', 'e', 'g', 'c', 'f']
```

```
a = Node('a')
#     a

depth_first_values(a)
#   -> ['a']
```

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/>

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 10] - You Need More Junior Teammates

Every software engineer pushing for promotion understands that they need more senior teammates to emulate as role models and seek mentorship. However, many software engineers don't realize they need more junior teammates too. This lesson teaches you:

- Why you need more junior teammates
- How scope dynamics work on an engineering team
- The classic "pyramid scheme" of growth that a healthy engineering team runs
- What healthy and unhealthy teams look like when it comes to more junior engineer presence

To learn how to scale yourself through more junior engineers, check out this incredibly in-depth explainer here: ["How can I help juniors?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/OzbQJCzLPbOKTEqpeSxF/how-can-i-help-juniors/)

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.