Meta Case Study: The Ultimate Guide To Navigating A PIP

This was a veteran engineer with more than 15 years of experience at other large tech companies before joining Meta.

- **Before**: Hired in as Staff Engineer \[**E6**\], brought in as a domain expert. Worked for almost 2 years before the PIP

- **During**: Not surprised based on rating trends. Main issue was code productivity, inability to use tooling such as version control

- **After**: Struggled with the PIP for a few months, then negotiated a severance package

Joining a company at too high a level is not good

If an employee's performance is subpar, it's better to act on that early, both for the employee and the team.

At a high level, your job is to lead the team and teach others. It’s ok if you don’t know the tooling, but you should not let that get in the way of landing code. Code output was poor.

Managing Up: Giving Upward Feedback

Pinterest Case Study: The Ultimate Guide To Navigating A PIP

This was a non-engineer who had several years of experience before joining Pinterest.

- **Before**: 90 days after joining, was told they needed to improve

- **During**: “Completely blindsided” when placed on PIP at the 4 month mark. Goalposts kept shifting, didn’t receive feedback until 4 weeks later

- **After**: Took the termination after taking leave for interview prep

[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/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 32] - Understanding Startup Interviews

A huge portion of software engineers will be unable to get into Big Tech on their first try, and that's completely okay! The good news is that startups are quite awesome and can often lead to better career growth compared to FAANG. This lesson teaches you:

- The general perspective of startups when it comes to hiring software engineers
- Which interview types are more common for startups and why
- Which interview types are less common for startups and why

To dive deeper into acing startup interviews: ["How to prep for interviews at a startup?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/iNwnJg9G2DCXrLFdIwmV/how-to-prep-for-interviews-at-a-startup/)

Maximize Your Productivity As A Software Engineer [Part 20] - Just Jump In

If there's one thing software engineers love to do, it's prepare. They'll read and watch and listen to countless resources in order to get "ready" to tackle their meaty technical challenges. This lesson teaches you:

- Why "preparing" to do a task is basically the same as doing nothing
- The right mentality you must have to tackle any software engineering task efficiently, going away from the mindset that got you through school
- How to effectively dive into a task and get it done fast

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 15] - Cover Letters

Cover letters are one of many roadblocks predatory tech companies put in your way during the application process. They convince software engineer job candidates that they can win with gushy words, but this is almost never the case. This lesson teaches you:

- The very minimal impact cover letters have on the hiring loop
- The rare situations where cover letters can actually work
- What to do if a cover letter is required for a company you aren't genuinely ultra-passionate about

Quick Tips To Get Higher Quality Code Reviews Faster

In this segment, we focus on how to **ramp up effectively and build trust through proactive code review habits**. By learning from past diffs, referencing previous work, and anticipating reviewer questions, we strengthen both our code and our relationships with teammates.

### Key Takeaways:

- **We study past code reviews to ramp up faster**: Reviewing recent diffs helps us identify codebase hotspots and learn how experienced teammates structure context, write test plans, and address feedback.
- **We reference prior diffs to preempt questions**: When making similar changes, we compare our approach to earlier ones (especially from tech leads) and explain why we took a different route—saving reviewers from needing to ask.
- **We proactively comment on our own code**: By flagging areas we’re unsure about and inviting feedback up front (e.g., naming choices or design alternatives), we guide reviewers toward the most relevant parts and show that we care about quality and collaboration.
- **We show respect for reviewer input**: Code review isn’t just about getting approval—it’s about listening. Ignoring thoughtful feedback undermines trust. We strive to acknowledge and incorporate suggestions to create a positive, team-first review culture.
- **We demonstrate maturity through initiative**: These habits—referencing historical context, asking for help, and valuing reviewer input—aren’t just tactical. They signal leadership and self-awareness, accelerating our growth and reputation on the team.

Engineer Your Ideal Tech Career [Part 4] - What Type Of Environment Are You In?

In this video, we walk through the different environments you can or may be working in throughout your career. Depending on where you feel you most thrive, it may make some roles or companies more or less fulfilling.

Avoid choosing the middle number for each of these — do the hard work of making actual trade-offs for each option to make your preferences clearer.

We cover key environments and what they mean, like:

- Fast Paced vs. Methodical
- Job Stability & Cash Comp vs. High Risk, High Reward
- Mentorship & Guidance vs. Independence & Autonomy

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)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 27] - Hiring Manager Round (Separate)

Congratulations, you went through the onsite loop and did well! But what's this - The engineering director behind the job you're interviewing for wants to talk? This lesson teaches you:

- When separate hiring manager rounds happen (and why that's a good thing)
- How to pass hiring manager rounds and what to expect from them

How To Find The Best People For Your Professional Network

Many software engineers are introverts who have a hard time connecting with others - We've been there too! This can make it really daunting when trying to build your professional network: How do you identify those who you'll get along with? This video covers how you can find those people who would be great to bring into your professional network.

Here are the core points:
- **It's not too different from making friends** - The most basic barometer for a relationship's success is how much you two have in common. Having mutual interests and similar backgrounds maximizes the chance that you're able to interact and understand one another.
- **The most successfully relationships are bidirectional** - The most successful professional relationships are those where each person is able to provide a lot of value to the other. The split should be as close to 50/50 as possible - If there is one party providing an overwhelming majority of the value, this relationship is not meant to last. *When you're evaluating whether someone would be a great addition to your network, don't only think about how they can help you, think about how **you** can help them as well.*
- **Identify those who actively add value to others** - If someone is kind in a general setting and always happy to help others, it is likely they would be a great person to know in a more personal 1 on 1 way. When you strive to add value to these people, they will almost certainly return the favor, and at its core, this is what a healthy relationship looks like.

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech-12172022/) - The full video where this clip was taken from
- [Effective Communication Guide - Building Relationships](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/488EjOLzU707WhdqMOK4/effective-communication-guide-part-3-building-relationships/)
- ["How to get referrals?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/FQIi8us9uoTDIYdzMhvg/how-to-get-referrals/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 26] - Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

Many programming languages are Object-Oriented Programming languages, otherwise known as OOP languages. This lesson teaches you:

- What OOP interview rounds are and when to expect it
- The optimal way to prepare for an OOP interview round
- What a good OOP diagram looks like

DSA Crash Course [Part 31] - Get Node Value Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/get-node-value?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/>

20 Years Of Fighting Procrastination [Part 13] - Your Phone Is A Menace

Your phone can be both a powerful tool and a massive productivity killer—how you manage it makes all the difference. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- To prevent unconscious distractions, keep your phone physically out of reach during deep work and turn off nearly all notifications by default
- Replace passive phone checking with active forecasting—mentally plan what you’ll do next based on the outcome of a task to stay engaged
- Use batching strategies (e.g. scheduled email checks) to reduce context switching and maintain focus
- Aim to move up the PEM framework: from Pleasure (mindless scrolling) → Engagement (being immersed in your craft) → Meaning (working toward a long-term purpose)

Negotiation Course: Understand What You’re Negotiating For

The most common (and important) parts of a compensation package in tech are: base salary, sign-on bonus, equity, annual bonus. There are other high-value benefits such as a 401k match, paid time off (PTO), and healthcare, but these are typically not negotiable terms. 

It's important to figure out what are the negotiable terms and what are not. e.g. start date is be negotiable: if you don't care about this, you can mention to the recruiter that you're willing to start as needed if the company can offer flexibility on a term that you care about, e.g. salary.

Another important takeaway is that "negotiating a job offer" and "negotiating a salary" are NOT the same thing. You should negotiate the terms of an offer in parallel, not serially. Talk about the whole package rather than talking about individual components.

Onboarding Tips Within Smaller Companies

Some relevant tips if you're onboarding as an engineer in a smaller company:

- Smaller companies will have less process and, therefore, a less formal onboarding. This means it's more important to get stuff done quickly since you can't rely on a bunch of classes or hand-holding.
  - A good benchmark is to land code within a week
- In a smaller company, a lot of knowledge will be in the heads of a few people
  - Your goal is to find the tenured people and ensure you understand their worldview and prioritization.
- Don’t assume processes or people exist. Especially if you come from a larger company, you should not assume that there is a well-defined QA (Quality Assurance) team or design team.

The Most Common Mistake Made When Authoring Code Reviews

In this video, we focus on the **critical importance of providing context** when submitting code for review. As codebases grow in size and complexity, understanding the "why" behind a change becomes just as important as the code itself. Without clear context, reviewers are left in the dark—and teams lose valuable time and trust.

### Key Takeaways:

- **We explain the “why” behind every diff**: When submitting code, we clarify *why* the change exists, *why* we chose this approach, and *why* alternatives were rejected. This empowers reviewers to assess our choices without second-guessing or chasing us for clarification.
- **We include business, technical, and historical context**: Good diffs often explain the strategic purpose, relevant architecture, past experiments, and legacy code decisions—all of which help reviewers understand how our change fits into the larger system.
- **We reduce friction with thoughtful summaries**: A well-written diff summary is low-effort but high-impact. Taking 5–10 minutes to write it may feel like a tax, but it dramatically speeds up reviews and earns the gratitude of teammates.
- **We acknowledge that no one sees the whole system**: Using the “elephant” metaphor, we recognize that everyone sees only part of the codebase. Providing our view helps others see how our changes fit into the broader system, making collaboration more effective.
- **We write for humans, not just machines**: Code may be infinitely flexible, but humans need context to interpret it. By empathizing with reviewers and anticipating their questions, we make code review a faster, smoother, and more collaborative process.

20 Years Of Fighting Procrastination [Part 11] - Decompose Aggressively

Decomposition is one of the most reliable habits for making progress feel easy, especially when applied daily. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Breaking down large, ambiguous tasks into small, concrete steps helps reduce mental friction and makes it easier to start taking action
- Practicing decomposition builds leadership skills and supports team collaboration, since assigning scoped work is essential for effective delegation
- Writing down one key task the night before primes your brain to subconsciously begin planning, leading to more clarity and momentum the next morning

Negotiation Course: Closing The Deal

If you’re willing to sign the offer, **you have manufactured leverage you can use to squeeze out additional compensation with high probability**. Tell the recruiter you’re willing to sign the offer immediately if they can give you X, where X is a bit higher than the current offer.

A good choice is to ask for an extra $10K-$20K in sign-on bonus. Companies are willing to do this since it’s a one-time cost but they can guarantee you sign. But $10K is be life-changing for many people.

Making the final request focused on salary or equity is a bit more difficult since it often requires more people’s approval. Your goal in this final round of negotiation is to propose something quick and a no-brainer for the company.

Phrasing:

> I'm eager to use my experience to have impact quickly at \[COMPANY\]. I'm willing to sign the offer today if you can add a signing bonus of $15,000. This would make the offer compelling for me so I can commit to \[COMPANY\] for the next phase of my career.

Ideally you want things in writing. Some recruiters will tell you they can’t put it in the formal offer until you’ve verbally agreed, which is fine, but in that case, you can still ask them for a quick email recap with the numbers included.

"How did you decide to quit your job and make a startup?" - 9/13/2022

If you're interested in starting your own startup, check out our curated playlist for it here: [[Taro Top 10] Entrepreneurship And Tech Startups](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/ArtlSzF17v7cad1K6TJG/)

- Alex has wanted to start his own thing for a while - Ever since his side projects started getting serious traction in 2015-2016 (25,000+ users each).
- The initial goal with [Tech Career Growth Community](https://www.linkedin.com/company/techcareergrowth/) wasn't to make a business out of it. The pandemic was happening and people were suffering - We just wanted to help people.
  - Tech Career Growth then grew beyond Rahul's and Alex's wildest imaginations.
  - This made them start thinking what they could accomplish if they worked on it full-time instead of part-time.
- For Alex, there are the core reasons why he decided to make the jump back in early 2022:
  - **Diminishing returns on "preparing" to make a startup** - He had the 0 to 1 experience from doing side projects and building Course Hero's Android apps from scratch. Meta was great helping him build soft skills.
  - **Tech Career Growth taking off** - Alex had more fun working on this community than working his full-time job at Robinhood (which is saying something as he *really* enjoyed working at Robinhood!).
  - **Getting into an incubator** - In late 2021, Alex and Rahul got into OnDeck, which gives the old YC deal of 125k for 7%.
  - **Life timing** - Alex is 30 as of the publishing date of this video, and creating a startup only gets harder as you age due to increasing responsibilities outside of work.

If you're interested in how Alex published ~30 apps that got ~3 million users combined, check these out:
- ["Finding a mobile app idea - How to do it?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KJ4VXh6rUhKbWeiJoRDe/finding-a-mobile-app-idea-how-to-do-it/)
- [[Masterclass] How To Come Up With 100k+ Users App Ideas You Can Build For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/AI4zi759PSGn6RwIFT6f/masterclass-how-to-come-up-with-100k-users-app-ideas-you-can-build-for-free/)
- [[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/)

Lastly, here's a great discussion on how hard startups are compared to leveling up at a "traditional" job: ["Career advancement or building a startup? Which one is harder?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/EquWmWjZhqiiujyltreJ/career-advancement-or-building-a-startup-which-one-is-harder/)

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.