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)

How To Recover After You've Been Laid Off In The Tech Industry

Steven Zhang and Chris Talley are 2 incredible software engineers who have worked at Airtable, Airbnb, Meta, and more between them. They have advised hundreds of engineers who have been laid off about how to recover, and this session shares that wisdom.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Don't blame yourself** - Getting laid off is very different from being fired. Layoffs are purposely random and made with very limited information - It is not your fault that you got cut. Being part of a layoff has no indication towards your ability as an engineer or your quality as a person. *As long as you did your best at the company and treated others well, you should be proud.*
- **Figure out your severance** - Make sure the amount and time period you're kept on payroll are correct; the latter is especially important if you're on a visa. If you have the resources, you can get a lawyer to look over it. After you figure out the package timeline, file for unemployment benefits accordingly - California in particular is pretty generous with unemployment pay. These packages can be negotiated as well: [Laid Off? Here's How to Negotiate Your Severance Package](https://www.teamrora.com/post/how-to-negotiate-severance-package-when-laid-off)
- **Organize** - If you were laid off from a Big Tech company in particular, there's a very good chance that it has an alumni community: Join it! If your company doesn't have an alumni community, make one. Communities are great for sharing resources and boosting your mental state by interacting with others in a high-solidarity environment. You can find a list of company alumni communities here: [WARNTracker - Tech Company Alumni Communities](https://www.warntracker.com/blog/company-alumni-communities)

Here's the case study Steven did about his legendary interview run in 2019: [[Case Study] How To Land 18 FAANG+ Offers With Steven Zhang (Airtable, USDR, Tableau)](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/gGkO4pLeFq1ctRM9tSBF/case-study-how-to-land-18-faang-offers-with-steven-zhang-airtable-usdr-tableau/)

Connect with Steven and Chris on LinkedIn:
- [Steven Zhang](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenqzhang/)
- [Chris Talley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophertalley/)

Steven's and Chris's businesses + side projects:
- [WARNTracker.com](https://www.warntracker.com/) - Learn more layoff trends and find helpful resources
- [ClimateTechList.com](https://www.climatetechlist.com/)- Find jobs at companies that are meaningfully tackling climate change
- [RationalRiches.com](https://rationalriches.com/) - Free tools for real estate investors

For more resources on layoffs:
- [[Masterclass] How To Survive Tech Industry Layoffs](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/axnVXYox5QeOneqcoyuH/masterclass-how-to-survive-tech-industry-layoffs/)
- ["What are the signs of an impending layoff in an organisation that can help an employee prepare themselves better?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/tNOO9FtALQIRrUXSqzV1/what-are-the-signs-of-an-impending-layoff-in-an-organisation-that-can-help-an-employee-prepare-themselves-better/)
- ["How to survive potential layoffs?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/ydZFpJz0x8wKUIfd8E1r/how-to-survive-potential-layoffs/)

Are you a PIP risk? The Ultimate Guide To Navigating A PIP

The most obvious way to identify if you’re at risk for a PIP is if you’ve received poor ratings in prior performance review cycles. But this is a **lagging indicator**, so it may be too late to do anything at this point. Ideally, we’d like a **leading indicator** so you can take steps to avoid a PIP by discovering the warning signs early enough. 

The best leading indicators are: 

- Check-in with your peers and managers and get feedback
- Compare markers of progress: code output, design docs, and updates on tickets of projects. 

On the topics of ratings, you should understand the breakdown of what percent of employees get each rating. Companies may not reveal this info directly, so you can ask your manager or look up internal documentation.

If your manager and teammates start ignoring you or removing your scope, that’s an unhealthy sign.

Taro Book Club - The Fundamentals of Data Engineering - Chapter 3: Designing Good Data Architecture

Discussion led by [Gideon Blinick](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gideonblinick/)\
\
In this session, we'll discuss Chapter 3 (Designing Good Data Architecture) of [**"The Fundamentals Of Data Engineering"**](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZM6Wf-uyFjO5TXFGF8vIaVKi4XEhAeYf/view?usp=drive_link).

How do you do good Data Architecture? Wouldn’t it be great if there were principles you could follow? Well, there are! Google has 5 in their Principles for Cloud-Native Architecture. Amazon has 6 in their AWS Well-Architected Framework. But I’m here to tell you that there are 9.

This is a great chapter for those interested in System Design!

Check out #taro-bookclub in the [**Taro Premium**](https://www.jointaro.com/membership/) Slack for more details.\
\
Event link: <https://www.jointaro.com/event/taro-book-club-the-fundamentals-of-data-engineering-chapter-3-designing-good-data-architecture/>

To Fix Software Bugs, You Must Understand Their Blast Radius

It's not enough to be able to reproduce the bug on your own device: You need to fully understand the blast radius as well. This will help you fully understand the bug and fill out the post-mortem report afterwards.

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 is the effective way to understand new repository in order to make the required changes in that repo?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KoxB3UU2zWC9pdYU6Rx0/what-is-the-effective-way-to-understand-new-repository-in-order-to-make-the-required-changes-in-that-repo/)

Grow From Senior To Staff Engineer [Part 6] - You Need Tenure

Software engineers like to give up when their team isn't going perfectly, often interviewing with another company entirely to jump ship. While this can work earlier in your career, it almost always stops as you're approaching staff. This lesson teaches you:

- Why job hopping to a staff uplevel at a top company is almost impossible
- Why you need to be in the same team for 2+ years in order to have a real case for staff
- The ingredients to develop the presence and impact of a staff engineer

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 19] - Take Home Assignments

Take home assignments are one of the most brutal screening mechanisms tech companies use to filter out software engineer job candidates. This lesson teaches you:

- Why take homes are horrible
- How to skip take homes as much as you can
- A framework you can use to figure out whether or not you should do a take home

If you have no other option but to do a take-home, follow these resources:

- ["How do I make software less overwhelming?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/YseMPDw538jhyS1MWlTs/how-do-i-make-software-less-overwhelming/)
- ["How Long to Complete Take-Home Assignment II"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/7PfT1CWSY0Dd1jiLYTou/how-long-to-complete-take-home-assignment-ii/)
- [\[Course\] Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/level-up-your-code-quality-as-a-software-engineer/)

Grow From Senior To Staff Engineer [Part 8] - Create Scope

The best engineers don't need to be told what to do. Creating scope is a behavior that usually develops as an engineer hit senior, and it's sharply refined as they grow to staff. This lesson teaches you:

- Why staff engineers often write less code than their senior engineer counterparts
- The difference between senior and staff engineers when it comes to creating scope
- A trap senior engineers often fall into when trying to creating scope
- The more graceful way competent staff engineers create scope within their organizations

Watch Rahul's internal tool case study here: [\[Case Study\] Building A Meta Internal Tool To Empower An Entire Org: Staff Promotion Story](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/qvp2quodqAEWSkN7sayt/case-study-building-a-meta-internal-tool-to-empower-an-entire-org-staff-promotion-story/?playlistId=EWIo3USNcsgXbCs5PS0h)

PIP Stereotypes - The Ultimate Guide To Navigating A PIP

Given the secrecy and consequences of PIPs, you've probably a bunch of stereotypes about PIPs. This is a non-exhaustive list of beliefs that are simply not true:

- *"You must be incompetent or lazy"*
- *"Your manager or company must be horrible"*
- *"It’s impossible to keep your job on a PIP"*
- *"You'll no longer be employable"*

This thinking is reductive and will lead to more harm than good. A better way to think about a PIP is not to cast blame on one party or another. Instead, a PIP means **there was a mismatch in expectation between employee and employer**. 

The reality is that there are many potential reasons why you may receive a PIP, ranging from lack of support, poor management, lack of motivation, shifting company needs, etc.

Throughout the PIP process, one of the most difficult parts is that you’ll feel zero (or negative) support from key people around you. In order to find success at your job, and more broadly in your career, **you need to be an advocate for yourself**. Have the confidence that you are valuable. Too many engineers are their own worst critic, which exacerbates the negative spiral of performance.

How To Tell If A Layoff Is Coming At Your Company

Layoffs are scary and are often a complete surprise. This video covers some of the warnings signs you can use to predict if a layoff is coming and start preparing for interviews accordingly.

Here are the core points:
- *For public companies, the most obvious sign is a struggling stock price*
- In general, stagnant growth is bad
- Mass hiring freezes are a common precursor to big layoffs
- Trimmed perks and a more somber, frugal mood among leadership are other signs
- You can also listen through the "grapevine" but be careful
  - Blind in particular is quite flaky. Blind correctly predicted the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 layoffs, but *it also incorrectly predicted 18 other layoffs*
  - In general, treat online rumors with a massive grain of salt, and it's probably best to just stay away from them. There's no need to add a bunch of unnecessary stress to your life

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Survive Tech Industry Layoffs](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/axnVXYox5QeOneqcoyuH/masterclass-how-to-survive-tech-industry-layoffs/) - The full video where this clip was taken from
- ["What are the signs of an impending layoff in an organisation that can help an employee prepare themselves better?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/tNOO9FtALQIRrUXSqzV1/what-are-the-signs-of-an-impending-layoff-in-an-organisation-that-can-help-an-employee-prepare-themselves-better/)
- ["How to handle stress at work especially after a company layoff?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/mOjMnHL2Zhke2rSrtVdD/how-to-handle-stress-at-work-especially-after-a-company-layoff/)

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/)

[Distributed Systems Deep Dive] Wide-column NoSQL DB / Cassandra

If you're interested in how to design a wide-column NoSQL database, this session is for you. We'll start with the basics: what Cassandra is and why it's a popular choice for handling massive amounts of data. Expect a clear explanation of its architecture and how it spreads data across multiple servers. We'll cover how Cassandra keeps your data in sync and the trade-offs you might face.

- **Cassandra Basics:** Learn what Cassandra is made for and when it's better than other database options.

- **Architecture Overview:** Understand Cassandra's setup and how it's built for horizontal scaling.

- **Data Duplication:** Find out how Cassandra copies data to protect against outages.

- **Consistency Levels:** See how you can control consistency in Cassandra to fit your use case.

- **Writes and Reads:** Get into the details of how Cassandra handles your data when you're adding or retrieving it.

- **Node Communication:** Discover how Cassandra's nodes talk to each other to stay up to date.

- **Space Management:** Take a look at how Cassandra keeps disk space in check by getting rid of unnecessary data.

- **Dealing with Deletions:** Understand how Cassandra handles the cleanup of deleted records.

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

For more system design resources:

- [\[Masterclass\] 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/)
- [\[Course\] Frontend System Design Masterclass - Building Playlists](https://www.jointaro.com/course/frontend-system-design-masterclass-building-playlists/)

The Best Programming Languages For Interviews

- Try to use a more concise language like Python if possible. This is because interviews, DSA rounds in particular, are a precise time management exercise.
- However, if you are *very* familiar with a certain language, use that. The exception is if that language is very verbose like C.
- Avoid the trap of using a rarer, "fancier" language. It may cost you time to explain, and if you aren't actually that knowledgeable in it, you may get called out.

Related resources:
- [[Taro Top 10] Effective Interview Prep](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/HLBYxJI7D1j8STolrwum/)
- [[Taro Top 10] Finding A Tech Job](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/E6R0wVJ5EyCfVnVrlfno/)

Come Up With 500k+ User Project Ideas [Part 8] - The 3 Levels Of Tech

One of the easiest and most common ways to sabotage a side project is build out an idea that's way too technically complex. This lesson teaches you:

- A 3-layer framework you can use to categorize side project ideas and their technical difficulty
- The difficulties of any level beyond Level 1 with Level 2 being incredibly hard and Level 3 being insane
- Why you should stick to Level 1 project ideas as an engineer working on side projects, especially if you're earlier-in-career

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/)

Ace Your Tech Interview As A Software Engineer [Part 17] - Avoiding Scams

There is a lot of desperation among job seeking software engineers, and there's tragically a lot of evil people out there eager to take advantage of that. This lesson teaches you:

- The most common "job training" scam and how it works
- The relatively new fake check remote work scam and how it works
- How to keep yourself safe with the overall principle to keep in mind when it comes to identifying scams in general (not just when job searching)

There Is No Such Thing As A Stupid Question

What is a good amount of time to be stuck before asking a question?

True or false: To prove that you are a good engineer when joining a new team, you should ask as few questions as possible.

What is the optimal amount of questions to ask per week as a junior engineer?

True or false: Asking a lot of questions can help other people in your company and increase your respect within your team.

What are the benefits of asking a lot of good questions?

- There is no such thing as a stupid question: Each question is a genuine request to become more informed about the world.
- If there's a metric to measure your onboarding, it's the amount of questions you ask.
- Don't worry about how you'll look when you ask a question. If you have taken the time [to choose a healthy team](https://link.jointaro.com/WtZRJ5GtEVvAskLh8), they will not think any less of you for asking.
- It's much better to ask questions than to be stuck for days, if not weeks. *If you're completely stuck after 15-30 minutes, just ask the question*.
- If you're asking questions in a public forum (which you should!), you are creating content with your Q&A pair. Not only are you benefiting by getting unblocked, you are having multiplicative impact by creating a useful resource that will help the team across the future.
- *If you are asking questions the right way, people will not get mad at you for asking questions*.

So how do you ask the questions the right way? You can find [our in-depth guide on how to do that here](https://link.jointaro.com/yhEYut43nosKyPYw9).

DSA Crash Course [Part 71] - Sum Possible Approach

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

> Write a function *sum_possible* that takes in an amount and a list of positive numbers. The function should return a boolean indicating whether or not it is possible to create the amount by summing numbers of the list. You may reuse numbers of the list as many times as necessary.
>
> You may assume that the target amount is non-negative.

```
sum_possible(8, [5, 12, 4]) # -> True, 4 + 4
```

```
sum_possible(15, [6, 2, 10, 19]) # -> False
```

```
sum_possible(13, [6, 2, 1]) # -> True
```

```
sum_possible(103, [6, 20, 1]) # -> True
```

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/**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-zablan-b73a92117/)

Avoid This Common Bad Habit That Fails You Interviews

You should allocate enough time to prepare for your data structures and algorithms interview to avoid cramming at the last minute.

Related resources:
- [[Taro Top 10] Effective Interview Prep](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/HLBYxJI7D1j8STolrwum/)
- [[Taro Top 10] Finding A Tech Job](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/E6R0wVJ5EyCfVnVrlfno/)

DSA Crash Course [Part 52] - Graph Warm Up Lecture

In this lecture, Alvin reviews how to implement a basic depth-first and breadth-first traversal on a graph.

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/>

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/)

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.