Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 13] - Create An Expectations Plan

Don't leave your promotion to chance - Getting promoted as a software engineer should be as close to a contract as possible. This lesson teaches you:

- Why you need an expectations plan to get promoted efficiently
- The right mentality to have when it comes to crafting an expectations plan
- How to organize your expectations plan, particularly at bigger tech companies
- What a top-tier expectations plan looks like with a real, in-depth example from Meta

If you're interested in the growth plan mentioned in the video, here it is: [Meta E4 -&gt; E5 Growth Plan](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/tech-career-growth.appspot.com/o/articles%2Fmeta_e4_to_e5_growth_plan.pdf?alt=media&token=e13d88fd-9356-4c20-a229-cf0cad78a9af)

1 on 1 Meetings Are An Exercise In Proactivity

Why should you err on the side of creating a 1 on 1 meeting instead of waiting for it to be absolutely necessary?

True or false: Team meetings are more important than 1 on 1 meetings, so you should create them more aggressively for everyone to stay in sync.

Being proactive about setting up one-on-one meetings helps build strong relationships and avoid costly misalignments down the line.

- **Default to setting them up**: It’s better to create a recurring one-on-one and cancel it later than to realize too late that it was needed.
- **Low time cost, high value**: One-on-ones only use two people’s time, making them much less costly than poorly-run team meetings.
- **Prevent bigger issues**: Skipping one-on-ones can lead to being misaligned with key collaborators, which may cause serious problems later in a project.
- **Sync early with core stakeholders**: Especially in cross-functional teams or shared ownership scenarios, early and regular one-on-ones help prevent misunderstandings and build trust.

[Become A Go-To Person 5/18] Become The Technical Expert

A course by [Jordan Cutler](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordancutler1/), Senior Software Engineer at Pinterest and Author of the [High Growth Engineer Newsletter](https://read.highgrowthengineer.com/)

Maximizing a Severance Package 8/9 - Can You Sue?

- 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)

[Become A Go-To Person 11/18] Exactly What To Do - Be Visible

The 3 Core Performance Review System Archetypes

- 3 archetypes:
  - Ad-hoc spaghetti (small companies): No ratings, no recurring timeline, no formal process to get feedback
  - Manager determines all (traditional companies): Manager determines 90%+ of your rating. Used by most companies.
  - **360 feedback** (modern, mature companies): Get feedback from all directions.
- 360 feedback is the best system, and it's used by pretty much all the top companies like Meta and Google.

Master The DSA Interview [Part 14] - Clean Code

Just because you're solving a made-up problem doesn't mean that you can write messy code during a data structures and algorithms interview. This lesson teaches you:

- What most engineers don't realize when it comes to code quality, in particular with why it's easier to achieve than they think
- The types of engineers who tend to struggle with code quality
- Common messy code patterns to avoid when coding up a data structures and algorithms solution (and in general)

Take the code quality 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/)

Maximize Your Productivity As A Software Engineer [Part 16] - Mentor And Delegate

Many software engineers are naturally lone wolves due to their introverted nature. While this can work out as a junior or mid-level engineer, it quickly becomes unsustainable as you reach senior/staff levels and beyond due to the immense workload. This lesson teaches you:

- Why being a lone wolf is terrible for your productivity
- The importance of uplifting others around you when it comes to getting stuff done
- One of the core virtues the best engineers have, which is particularly needed for mentorship

Here's Alex's Meta mentorship case study: [\[Case Study\] Mentoring Junior SWEs \[E3\] to Senior \[E5\] In Just 2.5 Years At Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/EX9563YnxcJb62cCmetg/case-study-mentoring-junior-swes-e3-to-senior-e5-in-just-25-years-at-meta/?playlistId=oLssVMdTJ9NtX5SX1fek)

Engineer Your Ideal Tech Career [Part 15] - Role Types

Depending on what role you’ve narrowed your sights on, there are a number of things you can do in your current role to begin charting progress — from picking a specialization, to start scoping projects and reviewing code, to volunteering for mentorship opportunities and hiring.

Should you be thinking about a change soon, there are also actionable interview prep tips (and mistakes to avoid!) in this section.

Looking for mentorship from tech’s top engineers + personalized job hunt assistance and interview prep? [Formation.dev](http://Formation.dev) can provide you unlimited career coaching, technical mentorship, personalized practice, and mock interviews. Join us here: <https://formation.dev/partners/taro>

Worksheet: [Formation - Coding Your Career](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/tech-career-growth.appspot.com/o/courses%2Fslides%2FFormation%20Career%20Direction%20Worksheet.pdf?alt=media&token=f6344b78-529a-411e-a449-7a34a8d55fc8)

DSA Crash Course [Part 32] - Reverse List Approach

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

> Write a function, *reverse_list*, that takes in the head of a linked list as an argument. The function should reverse the order of the nodes in the linked list **in-place** and return the new head of the reversed linked list.

```
a = Node("a")
b = Node("b")
c = Node("c")
d = Node("d")
e = Node("e")
f = Node("f")
a.next = b
b.next = c
c.next = d
d.next = e
e.next = f

# a -> b -> c -> d -> e -> f
reverse_list(a) # f -> e -> d -> c -> b -> a
```

```
x = Node("x")
y = Node("y")
x.next = y

# x -> y
reverse_list(x) # y -> x
```

```
p = Node("p")

# p
reverse_list(p) # p
```

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/>

Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer [Part 21] - Non-Descriptive Names

Naming: It's important for your children but quite important for your code as well. When it comes to your variables, methods, and classes, you should put in the effort to name them properly. This lesson will teach you:

- Why descriptive, high-effort names can add up to add a huge amount of quality to a codebase
- How to identify a poor name in code and the common patterns leading to it
- How much time you should spend on each type of name and how to prioritize accordingly, particularly in code review feedback
- The mentality to convert bad names to good names in code with an in-depth example walking through a classic utility method

The Best Managers Acquire Power To Give It Away

- Even though the manager is an authority figure, the best engineering managers *acquire power to give it away*.
- What this means is they will establish ownership over a space and then give control of it to an engineer on their team to help them grow. This is especially important growing engineers to senior levels and beyond.
- By making the engineers on the team share authority, the team becomes more resilient, so that it doesn't collapse when the manager is out.
- Alex's Instagram example:
  - The oncall in his org was very weak and unhealthy.
  - His manager got the ball rolling and collected a working group of senior+ engineers and managers to align on the problem and agree to solving it.
  - After his manager established a sphere of influence here, they handed it over to Alex to lead the entire effort and successfully revamp the oncall system for ~25 mobile engineers.
  - Manager easily could have led this effort themselves but chose to delegate to Alex, so that he could build authority in this area.

Related resources:
- ["Why would a senior make themselves replaceable?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/b5eUTVq4m9ANQ5QCUc3q/why-would-a-senior-make-themselves-replaceable/)
- [Why Great Engineering Managers Are Like Captain America](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/a9s0fUXIWxm8sPigvXnL/why-great-engineering-managers-are-like-captain-america/)
- [What Makes A Truly Great Tech Lead - A VP of Engineering's Perspective](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uHqZZ15SK19MatEvLSO6/what-makes-a-truly-great-tech-lead-a-vp-of-engineerings-perspective/)

Master The DSA Interview [Part 8] - Clarify The Problem

Don't just start coding when you get a data structures and algorithms problem in an interview. This lesson teaches you:

- The first thing you should do when getting a data structures and algorithm problem, which is critical for setting you up for success
- Why dealing with ambiguity is so important as an engineer
- The overall question categories you should pull from when clarifying a problem
- How exactly to clarify a data structures and algorithms problem, shown with an in-depth example

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 33] - Understanding Big Tech Interviews

For many software engineers on the interview grind, FAANG is **the** pinnacle, the dream destination. However, Big Tech interviews are so frustrating and notorious for their difficulty. Why is that? This lesson teaches you:

- The general perspective of Big Tech when it comes to hiring software engineers
- What centralized hiring is, why it's unique, and how it affects the interview process (particularly for 2 certain FAANG companies)
- Which interview types are more common for Big Tech and why
- Which interview types are less common for Big Tech and why

To dive deeper into cracking the FAANG interview: [\[Taro Top 10\] Breaking Into FAANG](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/roKqDHgxu4C5CioEFpJY/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 25] - Practical Coding

Practical interview coding rounds are the purest form of software engineering and what software engineers generally hope the interviews are (at least when they complain about data structures and algorithms problems online). This lesson teaches you:

- What a practical coding round is and when to expect it
- What kinds of companies give practical coding rounds
- How to prepare for practical coding rounds

To get the absolute best practice for practical coding rounds, check out our side projects playlist: [\[Taro Top 10\] Building Impressive Side Projects](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/vKUWMgmmaEvzcYUXZs4B/)

[Case Study] How Engineers Unlock Huge Impact With Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This was a joint presentation from engineers who have been using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to become significantly more productive. The result is fewer repetitive tasks, fewer bugs, and more impact. The AI transformation is not some future technology that we are anticipating -- **it's happening now**. ChatGPT is the fastest application ever to reach 100M monthly active users.

We can broadly categorize AI tools into 2 buckets (generative vs analysis). Think about what is most helpful for your job and dig into other tools in that domain.

We focus primarily on productivity benefits from conversational agents like ChatGPT, Bard, and Anthropic. **The first response is usually generic and unhelpful, but simple tricks can make the output significantly more valuable**. Sample prompts: *"How can I send a text message in a Rails app with Twilio?"* and *"How can I show a div in the screen after 15 seconds of inactivity on a webpage?"*

Top 5 prompt engineering tips for Software Engineers: 
1. Ask ChatGPT to list its steps, work, or sources
2. Split your prompt into clear sections
3. Use “unique”, “unconventional”, and “creative” to get better responses
4. Make ChatGPT roleplay
5. Give ChatGPT examples of correct inputs and outputs

Some sample prompts from Jordan's [summary doc](https://www.notion.so/jordancutler/GPT-prompts-90179f5fc49440c6bffaeb94e5cfcb4c?pvs=4): 
- **[Feedback]** "Tell me 5 reasons this feature won’t work as intended"
- **[Engineering]** "Given the following code, write a comprehensive test suite in X testing library"
- **[Learning]** "Explain { topic } as if I am a principal software engineer with 10+ years of experience. Go into deep technical detail and explain how it works under the hood"
- **[Meetings]** "I’m a junior software engineer at a Series A tech company. Can you come up with 10 topics for me to talk with my manager about in our 1-1?"

Here are the top paid tools that the speakers use: 
- [Github Copilot](https://github.com/features/copilot) - $10/month
- [ChatGPT Plus](https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt-plus) - $20/month
- [Notion AI](https://www.notion.so/product/ai) - $10/month

Speakers:
- [Donn Felker](https://twitter.com/donnfelker)
- [Jordan Cutler](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordancutler1/)
- [Mike Alnakhaleh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/malik-mike-a-32b63818b/)

Related resources on Taro:
- ["How to AI proof your career?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/3xg5SvXnyTQ0mhNLfbK1/how-to-ai-proof-your-career/)
- ["Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in side projects?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/20UiCYH3QwkWkvGTrFsY/using-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-side-projects/)
- ["ChatGPT plugins to your IDE - How to prepare?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/ZqQiiaPjpzYQ8XKPOQZK/chatgpt-plugins-to-your-ide-how-to-prepare/)
- [The slides for this presentation](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lfMP8qlSix6IDNAUbyraamLgtIHwkxbbQgbpgcBqr2c/edit?usp=sharing)

What Happens After Onboarding Success?

Congratulations, you made it to the end of the course, [The Complete Onboarding Guide For Software Engineers](https://www.jointaro.com/course/the-complete-onboarding-guide-for-software-engineers-succeeding-when-youre-new/)!

Here are the major takeaways we covered:

- Attack your onboarding with a plan
- Figure out your support channels
- Make it easy to receive help
- Get your hands on the keyboard

Send me feedback at [team+onboarding@jointaro.com](mailto:team+onboarding@jointaro.com)

DSA Crash Course [Part 25] - Linked List Values Walkthrough

In this lesson, Alvin walks through the python implementation for the *linked_list_values* problem.

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/linked-list-values?language=py>

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/>

From Layoff To Liftoff As An Immigrant - By Rashmi Kishore (Senior Intuit/Netflix SWE)

In August 2022, Silicon Valley engineer [Rashmi Kishore](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashmi-kishore-software-engineer/) was hit with something too many of us are unfortunately familiar with: Layoffs. She lost her job at Netflix and was immediately put under time pressure to find new employment as she was on a visa.

Rashmi was able to overcome the odds, and she's now at Intuit. In this session, she talked about:

- Quickly picking up the interview game again to land an offer
- Managing the stress of the layoff atmosphere and immigration issues
- Handling the logistics of being on a visa in the US

For more help navigating layoffs, check out our curated playlist: [\[Taro Top 10\] Navigating Tech Industry Layoffs](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/pE7pP0nXDx4X7mOChzHS/)

Quitting a PIP: The Ultimate Guide To Navigating A PIP

You got the PIP, and you made the difficult (or maybe not-so-difficult) decision to quit. You’ll soon be off to greener pastures, but there is a strategy around leaving the company that is critical to get right.

Once you've decided to leave your company, your priority should shift to optimizing your professional and financial prospects. Most companies will provide a severance package to employees who are laid off or terminated. A severance package is the *compensation that an employee receives when they leave a company*.

While companies may care (at least a tiny bit) about the well-being of their employees, generosity is **not** the primary reason that businesses provide severance. In exchange for severance, companies will require you to sign certain documents to protect the business:

- **Non-disparagement** so you agree not to speak poorly about the company in public. The company protects their business interests by maintaining relationships and reputation.
- **Invention assignment** so there is no theft of intellectual property (IP) or source code.
- **Other agreements** such as not suing the company or not poaching employees for a set amount of time.

The Human Resources (HR) team will want your agreement on these terms, which means **you have leverage**. The asks from these companies are not too onerous, which means it doesn't cost much to agree -- very few employees end up suing their former employer anyway.

### Severance checklist

Here is the "severance checklist", the most common dimensions on which you can negotiate:

- Salary

- Health insurance (COBRA payments)

- Last day of employment

- Equity vesting acceleration

- Outplacement services

Remember, **you only get what you ask for**. Since you're on your way out anyway, it's fine to get rejected when asking for more. If you express your concern and headache from the termination ("*I just moved my family here from out of state*"), companies are often willing to meet you halfway for things like:

- Your last day of employment
- Extending and paying for health insurance for several additional months
- Accelerating the next vesting date by a few weeks

Finally, we present a "goodbye checklist":

- Contact info for relevant colleagues

- How will this be communicated to the team?

- What will your employer disclose to a future employer?

- What’s the “cooldown period”?

**Relevant links**:

- [The Key Insight Behind Negotiation](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/YliP9kVbd1zym9kmv9Gg/the-key-insight-behind-negotiation/)
- [\[Masterclass\] Understanding And Optimizing Your Pay In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/gk408yBIV2fa5RjVR213/masterclass-understanding-and-optimizing-your-pay-in-tech/)
- [Amazon VP talks about negotiating a severance package](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7161390728533741568/)

**Discussions**:

- [Does severance package get reduced in subsequent rounds of layoffs?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/FIFJWOVz2ILICZ0dOLqy/does-severance-package-get-reduced-in-subsequent-rounds-of-layoffs/)
- [Severance in companies tied to tenure?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/9nzrgmga50Dn0UEIH6Ad/severance-in-companies-tied-to-tenure/?revalidate=true)

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.