Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech [Part 21] - Go Deeper: Follow Through

Related courses:

- [Effective Communication For Engineers](https://www.jointaro.com/course/effective-communication-for-engineers/)
- [Ask Great Questions That Get Great Answers Quickly](https://www.jointaro.com/course/ask-great-questions-that-get-great-answers-quickly/)

Become An Open Source Master [Part 6] - The Right Reason To Do Open Source

The video emphasizes that we should approach open source with the right motivations, focusing on the long-term benefits rather than seeking quick career gains.

- **It's not a shortcut to a job:** Open source requires dedication and time; it's not a quick fix for career advancement.
- **Authentic contributions matter:** Open source work is transparent, showcasing your genuine skills and passion to potential employers.
- **Patience is key:** It takes time to learn, contribute meaningfully, and build relationships in the open source community.
- **Focus on the right reasons:** The primary benefits include making an impact, learning and growing, joining a community, and demonstrating your passion for building.
- **Embrace the challenge:** Navigating large, complex projects and overcoming obstacles in open source can develop valuable professional skills applicable to any work environment.

Connect with James: 

- GitHub: <https://github.com/jamesgpearce>
- Twitter (X): <https://twitter.com/jamespearce>

Break Into Tech And Become A Software Engineer [Part 8] - It's All About Time Management

In this lesson, Brian addresses the challenge of finding time to code amidst a busy life, offering practical strategies for better time management.

This lesson covers:

- Identifying time-wasting activities and making sacrifices, like cutting back on social media or entertainment, to create more time for learning
- Planning the most important task of the day the night before and waking up 30-45 minutes earlier to focus on it without distractions
- Working in short, productive sprints to maximize efficiency and avoid burnout

If you need extra help breaking into tech, join Brian's exclusive, cohort-based bootcamp (just 10 students per batch). Use this special link for $800 off: <https://www.parsity.io/taro>

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianjenney/>

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/)

Your Tech Resume Should Look Boring

True or false: As long as you have basic proficiency with everything on a job posting, you will get an interview for that job.

How much time does a recruiter spend reading a resume, on average?

True or false: Your resume should be boring and straightforward, especially with its format.

What's the main reason you should avoid the paid flashy resume formats you find online?

True or false: In order to stand out from other applicants, you can use a very unique format to make your resume more memorable to the recruiter, thus increasing your chances.

15 SWE Years In 1.5 Hours [Part 17] - Promotion

Of course, you can switch jobs to progress your career, [but you will eventually hit a wall](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/you-cant-job-hop-to-success/). At the end of the day, you need to get promoted to have a meaningful long-term, professional trajectory. This lesson teaches you:

- Why working harder isn't enough to get you promoted
- The key to understanding how promotion works, particularly at top companies like FAANG
- How you need to evolve your behavior to reach senior levels and beyond

To dive deeper into getting promoted faster as an engineer, take our course here: [Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/)

Becoming A Legendary Meta Coder: The Story of the First E7 Code Machine

There are many complex ways [**to get to staff and beyond**](https://www.jointaro.com/course/grow-from-senior-to-staff-engineer-l5-to-l6/why-have-archetypes/), but one of them is actually quite straightforward (at least at Meta): *Just write more code than everyone else by a **staggering** amount.*

That's exactly what [**Michael Novati**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelnovati/) did to get to Staff \[E6\] at Meta and eventually Senior Staff \[E7\]. Since Michael was early Facebook, there actually wasn't a Staff Engineer archetype at the time to capture the way he was adding immense value to the company. So they added it! Thanks to Michael, there is now a formal "Code Machine" archetype in the official Meta internal wiki.

Michael will be breaking down:

- His story about how he became Meta's first incredibly senior "Code Machine" engineer
- The most impactful projects he worked on
- How he managed his time effectively to write so many diffs.

At the end, we'll have time for Q&A where you can ask Michael questions about topics like:

- How he grew so quickly and crafted such an extraordinary career
- What the early days at Meta were like
- Different ways to create a unique brand for yourself, your work, and your career

If you need extra help breaking into top tech companies like FAANG, [**Formation.dev**](http://Formation.dev) is here to provide you hands-on, personalized support. Join Michael and the rest of the awesome team at Formation here: [**https://formation.dev/partners/taro**](https://formation.dev/partners/taro)

At Big Tech, You're Just A Cog In The Machine

Many people idolize FAANG companies, because they own these amazing products that everyone uses. However, working on these products is rarely as glamorous as people think: The experience is often worse the more successful the product is.

Here are the core points from the video:

- **Your ownership will probably be super tiny** - This is especially true at non-senior levels (junior and mid-level). Big Tech companies have thousands of amazing, ultra-productive engineers, and there's only so much ownership to go around. It's not uncommon for a Big Tech engineer to make $200k+ per year mainly working on a single button.
- **The work is very incremental** - Since Big Tech's product suite is so mature, it's very hard to find 0 to 1 work there, which people generally find to be more exciting. Almost all "shipped" code is wrapped in an experiment at Big Tech, and a lot of these experiments will fail.
- **It can be hard to feel fulfilled** - It's not the most exciting to own a single widget within a feature within a broader service within the overall product, and it's definitely not something that's cool to share when people ask you what you do.

Related resources:

- ["What's the difference between Big Tech and startups in terms of learning and growth?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KWXIrFIR1EIJsvdOdo7u/whats-the-difference-between-big-tech-and-startups-in-terms-of-learning-and-growth/)
- ["What does it mean to not have enough scope to be promoted?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/bJuagPwOEEy5vkcXKkqh/what-does-it-mean-to-not-have-enough-scope-to-be-promoted/)

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

Pass On Your Onboarding Knowledge

After you've completed onboarding, one immediate value you can create is making life easier for the next person. Improve the onboarding process, support more junior engineers, and continue building relationships.

Onboarding is fundamentally about building trust. (Remember the [trust meter from the beginning of the course](https://www.jointaro.com/course/the-complete-onboarding-guide-for-software-engineers-succeeding-when-youre-new/why-onboarding-matters/)?) Trust is the currency through which you grow your career, and you’re always gaining or losing trust. Trust is how you get influence, which is essential for further career growth.

How To Put The Interviewer On Your Side

At the end of the day, passing a software engineer interview is about convincing another person that you're competent. The best interview candidates behave in a way that naturally puts the interviewer on their side. Weak interview candidates behave in a way where the interviewer becomes their opponent. This video covers how to do the former.

Here are the core points:
- **Always be communicating** - Nobody can read minds. By regularly explaining your thought process, you are keeping your interviewer in the loop and giving them the maximum chance to fully understand you and your skill. Communication is an especially important axis for Big Tech.
- **Be very careful asking for hints** - If you haven't made a lot of progress on the problem, asking for a hint is effectively asking the interviewer to solve a good amount of the problem for you. This severely reduces the signal the interviewer gets on your abilities. *If you ask for hints too aggressively, you may be tanking your own chances.* For deep dive of the dynamics of interview hints, [check out our video here](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/QFZxCLSuUDRYysvBBFLR/how-to-handle-hints-in-a-software-engineer-interview-without-failing/).
- **View your interviewer as a human not an obstacle** - While it's true that you need the rubber stamp from the interviewer to pass, focusing on that too much will negatively show in how you interact with and communicate with your interviewer. When you view your interviewer as another person and have empathy for their situation, you will understand what they're looking for and be much better equipped to show that signal.

Related resources:
- [[Taro Top 10] Effective Interview Prep](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/HLBYxJI7D1j8STolrwum/)
- [Effectively Learning Data Structures And Algorithms (DSA) For Software Engineer Interviews](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/XwpMMY3ss97zOrXJQ7Xr/effectively-learning-data-structures-and-algorithms-dsa-for-software-engineer-interviews/)
- ["How can I show to a Big Tech company that I'm likely to succeed there?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/ZpqoWC1zi3wMTXBUsS2B/how-can-i-show-to-a-big-tech-company-that-im-likely-to-succeed-there/)

Negotiation Course: Negotiation Starts Now

It's critical that you only start negotiations when a company has verbally given you an offer.

Leveling is very important since it’ll dictate your salary band and equity. If you’re at a larger company, ask what level you’re coming in at, and see what kind of wiggle room there is.

If possible, talk to the hiring manager or people involved in your interview"

- You can learn advice on what you could work on.
- You can hear what the business need was to hire a role and why they picked you. 

The above points give you “ammunition” for negotiation: you want to understand how badly the company wants you.

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/)

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/)

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.

[Timeless Career Advice] Startup vs Big Tech

One of the fundamental questions you face as an engineer is where to work. Should you join a startup, medium-sized company, or Big Tech? What are the pros or cons of working at a tech or non-tech company?

Connect with Louie:

- SmallBets community: [**https://smallbets.com/?utm_source=taro**](https://smallbets.com/?utm_source=taro)
- Twitter: [**https://twitter.com/LBacaj**](https://twitter.com/LBacaj)
- Newsletter: [**https://newsletter.memesmotivations.com/**](https://newsletter.memesmotivations.com/)

Do This To Stop Wasting Time In Your DSA Interviews

True or false: You should tackle the easiest, most trivial parts of a data structures and algorithms problem first, just to get it out of the way and boost your confidence.

True or false: A lot of the time, the interviewer won't care if you don't code out every single piece of the entire solution.

Why shouldn't you prioritize writing the simple utility methods your overall solution needs?

True or false: If you are 100% confident that your solution doesn't have bugs, just tell your interviewer you are done and kick the conversation back to them to save time and move on to the next problem.

You can save a lot of time during your data structures and algorithms interview by not having to write any utility functions.

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/)

Hate Data Structures And Algorithms? Turn It Into A Habit

Set aside 30 minutes, 2-3 times a week, to build a regular habit out of learning data structures and algorithms.

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/)

15 SWE Years In 1.5 Hours [Part 6] - Networking

Your network is your net worth. Too many software engineers neglect their social skills as they solely build up their technical skills. This lesson teaches you:

- Why networking isn't just "politics"
- The key to effective networking
- How altruism can produce massive career benefits, explained with a powerful, real-life example

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/>

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.