Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 14] - Observe Other Engineers

Don't know what you need to do as a software engineer to get promoted? Observe engineers who are better than you! However, this is a surprisingly difficult skill to develop. This lesson teaches you:

- Which engineers you should observe and how to find them
- What you should be looking for when observing other engineers
- What "silent hero" work is and how very senior engineers do a lot of it
- The concrete avenues you should look at when trying to figure out why a higher-level engineer is superior to you
- Why getting jealous of engineers above you is a colossal waste of time, even if you are truly better than them

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)

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 12] - Talk To Your Manager

In order to get promoted, you almost certainly need your engineering manager on your side. However, this is much said than done, and many engineers mess this up. This lesson teaches you:

- The importance of being deliberate about promotion
- Why your engineering manager is so important to your promotion case
- The fundamental principal to remember when it comes to asking for promotion
- What to do and what *not* to do when having that promotion conversation with your manager
- How to react gracefully and effectively if your manager doesn't believe you are ready to start really thinking about promotion

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 7] - The #1 Piece: Engineering Manager

In order to have a real shot promotion, you need an engineering manager who's in your corner. Despite this, so many software engineers index entirely on company and product space, ignoring this crucial angle. This lesson teaches you:

- Why your engineering manager is so important for your promotion case
- The #1 concept to remember when evaluating a manager to support your promotion
- The exact differences between an engineering manager who is great for your promotion vs. one who is more risky
- How to get the real information you need to judge an engineering manager

Onboarding With A Probation Period

Because labor laws outside the US can make it difficult to fire someone, many companies will add more barriers before you are a full-time employee at the company with benefits. They will make employees work during a probation period before deciding to offer full-time employment. Contract-to-hire is another common way that this manifests ("try before you buy").

Here are some tips if you're working on this model:

- Chat with your manager early (ideally even before you join) so you can hit the ground running and make a good first impression.
- Information access may be limited, so call out when this happens. You don't want something outside your control to reflect poorly on you.
- Understand the criteria you’re being judged on, e.g. code commits, code reviews, design docs, etc. Track these metrics diligently, and you can even report on them regularly.

Relevant discussion: [I’m starting at Apple with a 3 month probation as a new grad. How should I think about the probation period?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/JtFLSdc1ShdaqiIyFcqe/im-starting-at-apple-with-a-3-month-probation-as-a-new-grad-how-should-i-think-about-the-probation-period/)

Failure Mode: Excessive Handholding

A common failure mode of onboarding is that, even 6 months into the job, the engineer still needs support to make code changes. Either with their workflow or a technical question about the code.

The sign of progress as you ramp up is if your questions and code reviews are evolving over time. The types and depth of interaction you have with coworkers should change.

The key to doing this is to reflect:

- Look at earlier code comments you received
- Write down questions you’ve had
- Don’t make the same mistake twice
- Ask your onboarding buddy to look for patterns

Reference question: [What does it mean to not require handholding anymore?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/5vEWajcZlSi7nlohTGtJ/what-does-it-mean-to-not-require-handholding-anymore/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 35] - Temper Your Expectations

You just went through an interview as a software engineer and are eagerly awaiting the result. Is it time to get your hopes up? This lesson teaches you:

- The dangers of having the wrong mentality after an interview
- Why having tempered expectations is crucial for long-term success on the software engineer job hunt
- Why software engineers often overestimate how they performed on an interview, especially with top tech companies like FAANG
- The exact calculation and framework you should follow to set expectations appropriately after you have gone through an interview, particularly an onsite (final round)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 31] - Scout Online

It's the classic question: What can I expect for the interview for X company? Well, chances are that you aren't doing enough to find information online. This lesson teaches you:

- Why your Big Tech interview should never be a complete surprise
- The various big online sources of interview information, organized by quality
- How you should organize online interview information to extract the best insights and optimize your interview preparation

To build up your network to get insider interview advice, follow our masterclass: [\[Masterclass\] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/nvsMxZ9ZGIjlyaZbWqYS/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 11] - Struggling? Send More Applications

One of the most common reasons for a struggling software engineer job search is that they simply aren't applying enough. The good news is that this can be easily fixed with the proper behavior adjustments. This lesson teaches you:

- How you can conquer the job search with sheer math
- A healthy conversion rate for application -&gt; interview chance
- Why you should almost never spend too much time on any individual application (quantity &gt; quality)
- The framework to follow on whether you should apply a ton or apply more selectively

Here are the Big 2 job searching websites:

- <https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/>
- <https://wellfound.com/>

On top of the Big 2, we've seen engineers have success with:

- <https://otta.com/>
- <https://www.workatastartup.com/> - Jobs at Y Combinator startups specifically, the greatest incubator in the world which is behind Stripe, DoorDash, Airbnb, and many more FAANG-adjacent companies

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)

Lessons From The Top: Managing And Growing 800 People (Ethan Evans)

[**Ethan Evans**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/) is a retired Amazon VP who now teaches managers how to break into executive levels. He was at Amazon for 15 years, and he became a VP in 2013 until he left in 2020. This wide-ranging interview covers many topics:

- Ethan's career trajectory, and how he entered the management path startlingly early.
- How do you know if an IC will be a good manager or not?
- What are the common reasons why managers fail to get promoted?
- Why do re-orgs happen, and why is there so much corporate speak?
- What should you look for in a leader?
- How are the senior-most engineers evaluated?
- Why did Ethan leave Amazon to become a full-time teacher?

Ethan shares valuable insights for anyone interested in management or career development.

**Key insights:**

- **Why did Ethan choose management so early?** He was drawn to it because that was the need from his team and his managers supported his decision.
- **What skills helped Ethan ascend quickly in startups?** High-growth environments provided opportunities, but Ethan capitalized on them by actively seeking problems to solve and proposing solutions. He took initiative and wasn't afraid to ask for more responsibility.
- **What advice does Ethan have for others?** Be proactive, identify problems, and offer solutions. Don't be afraid to step up and make the ask to your leadership team. "*Do good work and hope*" is not an effective strategy.
- **Careers are long**. Ethan was a "fake" startup VP before going getting downleveled as a manager at Amazon, and it took years for him to return to a true VP role, managing a team of 800 people.

**Helpful links:**

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Work Better With Your Engineering Manager](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/2PbJb2fuqF3iMHy57eEg/masterclass-how-to-work-better-with-your-engineering-manager/)
- [Overcome Career Stagnation (5 Common Scenarios)](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/UvGdGyBfHn4oNCfE77KV/overcome-career-stagnation-5-common-scenarios/)
- [Asking 7 Levels Of Engineers The Most Important Skill](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/J9Io5lDGaYUpI8vGrUyI/)
- [**How do I figure out whether I should stay as an IC engineer or explore management as an EM?**](https://www.jointaro.com/question/Y6qIop9wpOlCYUL0nGs0/how-do-i-figure-out-whether-i-should-stay-as-an-ic-engineer-or-explore-management-as-an-em/)
- [**\[Masterclass\] What Software Engineers Should Look For In Their Engineering Manager**](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/oeY7ncZhzJ5NO6dij5e7/masterclass-what-software-engineers-should-look-for-in-their-engineering-manager/)

How Does FAANG Hire? What Big Tech Recruiters Look For

[**Nikita Gupta**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/guptanikita16/) worked as a Senior Technical Recruiter at Uber and Amazon with 3+ years of recruiting and hiring experience. She extensively used applicant tracking systems (ATS) to search for the right candidates and hire them.

Nikita is an expert in helping candidates create better resumes and LinkedIn profiles in order to land more job opportunities. Her company [CareerFlow.ai](https://www.careerflow.ai/?via=taro) does exactly this.

As a full-cycle recruiter with experience in Big Tech and startups, Nikita will talk about how FAANG companies hire, and what misconceptions engineers often have when applying to jobs. She'll cover:

- Does "keyword stuffing" in resumes increase the chance of getting an interview?
- What are the top 3 things a recruiter looks for when opening a resume?
- How much does the recruiter screen matter in the overall interview process?
- How much does your LinkedIn matter in the job search?

Discounts for CareerFlow.ai's resume review service are available from the [perks page](https://www.jointaro.com/perks/). Use code `TARO` on [CareerFlow](https://www.careerflow.ai/resume-review?via=taro). 

Additional resources:

- [**\[Taro Top 10\] Effective Interview Prep**](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/HLBYxJI7D1j8STolrwum/)
- [**\[Masterclass\] 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/)
- [**\[Masterclass\] 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/)

How To Make Sure Your Engineering Manager Gives You The Proper Credit

So many software engineers are frustrated with the amount of credit their manager gives them, especially during performance review. Watch this video to ensure that this never happens again.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Assume that your manager doesn't know what you're doing** - Engineering managers are *extremely* busy, and they are unfortunately more busy the higher quality they are (i.e. more people will want to book meetings with them if they are good). A lot of the time, they simply won't have the time to proactively scan what you're doing - They aren't unaware of your impact/problems due to bad intent.
- **Alert your manager of important events**
  - cc them on communications (Slack/Teams message, emails) and documents
  - Put them as optional on meetings (they may even want to join if it's an important meeting)
  - Share in 1:1 meetings (this is the most powerful medium)

Related resources:
- [[Taro Top 10] Software Engineer To Engineering Manager (IC -> M Track)](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/oz0mnJvHHgM8NfVF7rgp/)
- [[Masterclass] What Software Engineers Should Look For In Their Engineering Manager](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/oeY7ncZhzJ5NO6dij5e7/masterclass-what-software-engineers-should-look-for-in-their-engineering-manager/)

Paper Reading Group: Attention Is All You Need

Generative AI, specifically large language models, have taken the world by storm. But they wouldn't exist today without a key paper published by Google Brain: "[Attention Is All You Need](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762.pdf)." The 10-page paper, published in 2017, introduced the Transformer - a critical innovation in neural networks.

**What's in store?**

- A deep dive and interactive discussion of the paper. We recommend reading (or at least skimming) it first: <https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762.pdf>
- A look at what came before the paper (neural networks, embeddings), and what came after (BERT, GPT-2, and ChatGPT).
- **All software engineers welcome** - no AI/ML background necessary!

**Did you know?**

- The paper's authors have all gone on to found multiple billion-dollar AI companies including Cohere and [Character.ai](http://Character.ai).
- Since 2017, the paper has been cited over 86,000 times.
- The Transformer architecture is the **T** in "GPT".

**Your host:**

[Charlie Guo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlierguo/) is a seasoned founder and author with over 15 years of software experience and more than a decade in Silicon Valley. He is an alum of both Stanford and YCombinator, and currently publishes [Artificial Ignorance](https://www.ignorance.ai/about), an AI-focused newsletter for engineers and founders.

**The agenda:**

- Charlie will give a brief background, and then explain the key insights and context from the paper.
- We will open the group to some Q&A and a broader discussion.
- And we'll end with some discussion on which paper to read and review next.

The next paper reading group is on October 15 about [deep reinforcement learning](https://www.jointaro.com/event/paper-reading-group-human-level-control-through-deep-reinforcement-learning-deep-q-network/), led by Sai Bhavanasi.

The First Step Of Debugging - Reproducing The Issue

The first thing you need to do when you get a bug is to see it happen with your very own eyes. From there, you can execute the steps necessary to identify the root cause and fix the bug. However, a lot of engineers aren't diligent enough when they try to get the repro.

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] Revamping Oncall For 20 Instagram Engineers - Senior to Staff Project](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/esVxIGXYC5BdgxXUkO6H/case-study-revamping-oncall-for-20-instagram-engineers-senior-to-staff-project/)
- [[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/)

This Is Why You Should NOT Work For Big Tech

Working at FAANG is great for many reasons, but the Big Tech life isn't for everybody. For many engineers, it doesn't really make complete sense to go there.

Here are the core scenarios where Big Tech might not be the best for you:
- **You have strong WLB needs** - Work-life balance generally becomes more important as you get older, and Big Tech is generally pretty bad at giving you that.
- **You don't like stress** - There's nothing wrong with wanting to chill and avoiding pressure. However, Big Tech is usually not a good place to do this.
- **You want to hyper-maximize your career growth** - Big Tech is often a consistent path that takes your career to a very good place. However, if you want to go to an astounding place (e.g. become a VP of Engineering by the time you're 30), startups are far superior. Startups have much higher risk but also much higher rewards.
- **You just want to code** - Engineers at Big Tech almost always need to become incredibly well-rounded, especially at senior and staff. If you don't want to play politics and spend mountains of time running meetings and writing planning docs, Big Tech is likely not the place for you.

Related resources:
- ["How to have FAANG level of career growth in startup?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/VQgUHZPwbzqxjutaDU3W/how-to-have-faang-level-of-career-growth-in-startup/)
- ["When does it make sense to leave big tech?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/v6GBLlfXb1ugNobkEm7w/when-does-it-make-sense-to-leave-big-tech/)

How To Prepare To Leave Big Tech For A Startup

If you’re like [Rahul](https://www.jointaro.com/profile/tTjEXHcTZEYDGh8oUFU2Dy5VFVG2/), you were intent on leaving the bubble of Big Tech to pursue the startup life for a long time. If you have 6 months or 1 year left working in an established company, what can you do in anticipation of your startup journey?

One of the best things you can do is validate the idea of your startup with a side hustle. **Be careful that you’re not using company time or resources or you may later get sued.**

Generally, there are 3 types of projects an engineer can work on: 
1. A project purely for learning, to try out some technology or framework that may have come out recently. 
2. A small business. Also known as an indie business, a micro-Saas, or even something as simple as selling a digital product like an eBook. 
3. A VC scale startup. **This should be reserved for very few companies.** When you take venture capital money, they are looking for a massive return on investment, something like 50x or 100x. That means you’ll be accountable for strenuous growth targets.

Whichever path you choose, go in with your eyes wide open about what your motivations are and whether you’d be happy signing up for the likely outcome. 

An input into the decision about *when* to leave the Big Tech life is to look for some indication of commitment for the customers you’re serving. Are your customers offering you their time, money, or reputation for your product? That’s a promising sign. 

Another reason to leave is that you feel that there’s a narrow period of time when your idea could succeed, e.g. new regulation or a groundbreaking technology.

------

Connect with [Eric on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbahn/)

Signs Of A Bad Engineering Manager: Reactive vs. Proactive

This segment emphasizes the importance of proactive leadership in engineering management and critiques the pitfalls of reactive behavior. It explores how great managers shield their teams from chaos, plan strategically, and take ownership rather than deflecting blame.

- **Proactive management reduces team thrash**: A strong engineering manager provides stability by creating clear plans and resisting frequent directional changes, which reduces mental fatigue and improves execution.
- **Poor planning leads to unrealistic deadlines**: Reactive managers often fail to properly estimate scope, ignore hiring timelines, and overlook time off or unforeseen absences—resulting in last-minute pressure on the team.
- **Deadline stress is often preventable**: Many deadline issues stem from a lack of foresight rather than actual resource scarcity. Better forecasting and preparation can avoid overburdening engineers.
- **Accountability is critical**: Managers who shift blame to upper leadership while ignoring their own responsibility to protect the team demonstrate weak leadership. Managers are expected to advocate for their team’s bandwidth and well-being.
- **Good managers don't just "pass down" orders**: While managers may not control strategic directives from above, they are responsible for how those directives affect their teams—and they should take action to manage that impact effectively.

The Incredibly Rare Benefit Top Tech Companies Offer - Equity Refreshers

This video segment explains **refresher equity grants**, a powerful and rare form of compensation offered mainly by top-tier tech companies like Facebook and Google. These grants serve as both a performance incentive and a retention strategy.

- **Refresher grants are annual RSU awards**, given in addition to the initial offer. Their size is determined by an employee's level and most recent performance review.
- **Compensation structure is formulaic** at big tech companies, including the calculation of refresher amounts, which often outpace inflation even in challenging economic climates.
- **Grants stack over time**, meaning employees may have multiple overlapping equity packages (original + yearly refreshers), significantly increasing total stock-based compensation over the years.
- **Year four marks a peak**, where compensation from the initial grant and up to three refreshers overlap—this is why many employees leave after their fourth year, as compensation often drops after the original grant fully vests.
- **Refresher grants are a major retention tool**, helping extend average tenure at top companies from around two years closer to four.

How RSUs Can Both Greatly Reward And Punish You - Pinterest Example

This segment explains the volatile nature of equity compensation through the real-life example of Pinterest. It demonstrates how RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) can dramatically boost or reduce total compensation based on stock market performance, and highlights the importance of timing, risk awareness, and planning when joining a company.

- **Pinterest’s RSU Grant Example:** An employee joining Pinterest in January 2020 with a 20,000 RSU grant at a $20 stock price would have received a $400K equity package. As the stock price rose to $80 in a year, the total value of those RSUs skyrocketed to $1.6M.
- **Golden Handcuffs Phenomenon:** When stock prices soar, employees become financially incentivized to stay—even if they’re unhappy—due to the high value of unvested RSUs, often referred to as "golden handcuffs."
- **Stock Price Timing Matters:** The RSU grant is priced just before the start date. If the stock price dips right before joining and then recovers, the employee benefits from an immediate bump in total compensation.
- **Market Downturn Impact:** As Pinterest’s stock fell \~70% from its peak in 2021, employees who joined during or after the peak saw a significant drop in total compensation—sometimes down to one-third of their original grant value.
- **RSU Lockout Periods:** Employees at public companies can't sell RSUs at will. Sale windows are restricted to prevent insider trading, which can prevent selling even when the stock is at a peak.

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/)

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.