Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 5] - Resume Gaps

Having an employment gap is effectively inevitable as a software engineer, especially in a layoff-economy. This leads to resume gaps, which unfortunately have a lot of stigma. This lesson teaches you:

- Why employers (rightfully) hold resume gaps against you
- How to include your resume gap on your resume
- What to do in common resume gap scenarios if a company probes you about it during an interview

If you have recently been laid-off, you can check these out as well: [\[Taro Top 10\] Navigating Tech Industry Layoffs](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/pE7pP0nXDx4X7mOChzHS/)

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 4] - 1 Resume To Rule Them All

Writing tons of different resumes is one of the easiest ways to waste time and overwhelm yourself on the software engineer job search. This lesson teaches you:

- Why you should only have 1 resume, especially if you're an earlier-in-career engineer
- Why "full-stack" engineer is often a trap for more junior engineers
- How to figure out the 1 resume you should write
- What to do if you really can't write just 1 resume (i.e. how to break the tie)

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 3] - The Key To Writing A Great Resume

In the vast majority of cases, a recruiter is reviewing the resumes of software engineers. This means a lot more than most engineers realize. This lesson teaches you:

- The #1 principle you **need** to remember when writing your resume
- The important attributes of recruiters when it comes to vetting resumes
- How to truly empathize with recruiters and infer their resume screening behaviors based on that
- How recruiters read through engineering resumes

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 2] - Why You NEED A Killer Resume

As a software engineer, there are a million different things you can do. Choosing the right things to work on from engineer to engineer, but the good news is that having a great resume is one of those right things for every engineer. This lesson teaches you:

- Why optimizing your resume is one of the highest return on investments you can possibly do
- Understanding the overall job search funnel and how a good resume fits within it

Write A Stellar Resume As A Software Engineer [Part 1] - How This Course Works

It doesn't matter if you have mastered 500 LeetCode problems if your resume isn't even good enough to get you the interview to begin with. Writing a stellar resume is one of the absolute highest-leverage things you can do as an engineer yet so many mess it up, making basic mistakes. With this course, you will stop making those mistakes. Here are the core parts of the lesson:

- Your instructor [Alex Chiou](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) walks you through his extensive 10+ year Silicon Valley background with rapid career advancement, ending up as a high-performing tech lead making $750k at Robinhood. More importantly, he goes through how he reviewed (and rejected) 1,000+ resumes as he was extensively involved in the hiring loop of all of his prior companies.
- You'll understand why writing a stellar resume is actually quite easy, but the internet makes it hard due to misinformation
- We walk you through the course objectives. By the end of the course, you will understand:
  - 💡 Truly understand the **principles** behind a stellar resume
  - 🗑️ Avoid the common **traps** that make resumes suck
  - 💯 Get **maximum credit** by best framing your experience
  - 📊 Make the right resume based on your **level**
  - 🤔 Know what to do if your resume **isn’t enough**

Paper Reading: Mamba - Revolutionizing Sequence Modeling

Session led by: [Akshika Wijesundara, PhD](https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshika/overlay/about-this-profile/)

*Abstract:*

Explore the Mamba paper's groundbreaking approach to sequence modeling efficiency in this event. Uncover how Mamba addresses computational inefficiencies in transformers, especially for long sequences.

*Overview:*

Discover the motivation behind Mamba, highlighting its improvements over subquadratic-time architectures struggling with language tasks. Learn about Mamba's content-based reasoning and enhancements for superior performance.

*Key Features:*

1\. **Selective Structured State Space Models (SSMs):** Mamba introduces adaptive SSM parameters for content-based reasoning, allowing selective information handling for discrete modalities.

2\. **Hardware-Aware Parallel Algorithm:** Despite forgoing efficient convolutions, Mamba's hardware-aware parallel algorithm maintains fast inference and linear scaling in sequence length.

3\. **Architecture Overview:** Dive into Mamba's streamlined architecture without attention or MLP blocks, achieving efficiency without sacrificing effectiveness.

4\. **Performance Metrics:** Witness Mamba's 5× higher throughput than Transformers, with linear scaling, showcasing its real-world improvements in language, audio, and genomics tasks.

5\. **Comparison with Transformers:** See Mamba outperforms Transformers of the same size and match larger Transformers, especially in language modeling.

Join us in unraveling the secrets of Mamba, poised to redefine sequence modeling standards. Anticipate a paradigm shift in efficiency and performance in deep learning.\
\
paper link: \[[**https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00752**](https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00752)\]

Learnings from SWE to Senior SWE at LinkedIn

*If you're not part of Taro Premium, join with Paras's link to receive a discount: [**https://www.jointaro.com/r/parass876/**](https://www.jointaro.com/r/parass876/)*

Jumping into Software Engineering from a non-technical background can be challenging, but it’s far from impossible. Join us for an inspiring session with [**Paras Sidhu**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/paras-sidhu/), who not only transitioned from mathematics into software engineering, but also cracked big tech in just 2 years and earned a promotion to Senior Software Engineer within another 2 years.

### **What to Expect**

1. **Actionable Tips**: Paras will share his experiences and actionable tips on his journey from Software Engineer to Senior Software Engineer, providing practical examples that you can apply to your own career path.
2. **Insightful Learnings**: Gain valuable insights into how to navigate and excel in big tech, even if you come from a non-technical background.
3. **Q&A Session**: Don’t miss the chance to ask your burning questions and get personalized advice from someone who has successfully made the transition and accelerated his career.

Mark your calendars and prepare to be inspired! Don’t miss out on this chance to learn from Paras' unique journey and gather tips that could propel your own career forward.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 24] - Go Deeper: Follow Through

Start a career discussion in Taro: <https://www.jointaro.com/questions/create/>

Join Taro events: <https://www.jointaro.com/events/>

Come to Alex's Group Office Hours: <https://www.jointaro.com/p/alex-chiou/>

Related courses:

- [Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/)
- [Managing Up: Build Effective Relationships With Your Boss](https://www.jointaro.com/course/managing-up-build-effective-relationships-with-your-boss/)
- [Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/level-up-your-code-quality-as-a-software-engineer/)
- [Effective Communication For Engineers](https://www.jointaro.com/course/effective-communication-for-engineers/)
- [Frontend System Design Masterclass - Building Playlists](https://www.jointaro.com/course/frontend-system-design-masterclass-building-playlists/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 23] - Plot Your Growth Journey

The mid-level engineer to senior engineer promotion takes years for a very simple reason: You need to develop a *ton* of new skills to make it. This lesson teaches you:

- How to prevent yourself from becoming overwhelmed on your journey from mid-level to senior
- The standard growth path from L4 (mid-level) to L5 (senior) and what it means to be L4.5
- Why the L4.5 growth path that initially focuses on increasing your engineering excellence is generally the smoothest path to senior engineer

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 22] - Instagram Ads Survey Cleanup Workstream

See something, say something: You'll be surprised at how much opportunity you can find by championing this mentality, including to senior levels. This lesson goes through:

- The weird organizational dynamic that led to a bunch of senior scope existing "for free" but easy to ignore as a junior or mid-level engineer
- The simple but powerful trick Alex used to turn several smaller issues into a senior-level project
- How Alex continued to deepen the impact of this survey cleanup workstream by digging deeper and doing the right thing
- The learnings from this case study that you can apply to your day-to-day to find senior scope

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 21] - Instagram Ads Testing Tool

Sometimes being a little selfish can help you tremendously when finding senior scope as it did in this case study. This lesson goes through:

- The problem Alex was solving with Instagram ads internal testing, particularly with mobile engineers
- How Alex came up with a very simple solution to the testing problem (far simpler than senior engineer technical complexity)
- How Alex scaled both himself and his basic Instagram ads testing tool
- The learnings from this case study that you can apply to your own day-to-day at work to find senior scope

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 20] - Mentorship

Mentorship is one of the most skills to master as a software engineer, especially at senior levels. It is both a way for you to do some good and scale yourself. This lesson teaches you: 

- The difference between passive and active mentorship
- Ways to provide passive mentorship to teammates
- Why you should consider taking on an intern as a mid-level engineer growing to senior
- The jump in quality when it comes to mentorship advice given by a mid-level engineer vs. a senior engineer
- The key thing to remember when being an effective mentor

To learn how Alex was such an effective mentor: [\[Case Study\] 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/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 19] - Onboarding

Onboarding is one of the most important processes for any healthy engineering team. Helping the newbies is both critical and rewarding. This lesson teaches you:

- How a senior engineer levels up the team more when helping with onboarding compared to a mid-level engineer
- Different ways to achieve multiplicative impact with onboarding instead of singular, even when you are the one onboarding!

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 18] - Build A Strong Internal Network

If you have a meaningful bench of people who are willing to fight for your success, you will succeed as a software engineer. One of the simplest ways to understand seniority is that this bench grows larger and larger over time. This lesson teaches you:

- How an engineer's internal network at a company evolves as they grow from mid-level to senior, both in terms of breadth and depth
- How to expand your internal network
- The difference in peer feedback that mid-level engineers get compared to senior engineers, especially with XFN (cross-functional) partners

To dive deeper into earning trust quickly and building relationships: [\[Masterclass\] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/masterclass-how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 17] - Meetings

Every tech company needs a ton of meetings in order to function. The tricky thing is that a lot of software engineers are introverts, so they have trouble participating in meetings, especially when they're more junior. This lesson teaches you:

- The differences between junior, mid-level, and senior engineers when it comes to meeting presence
- The difference in types of meetings mid-level engineers participate in vs. those of senior engineers
- How meeting ownership shifts as engineers grow from mid-level to senior
- Tips to run an effective meeting which is an efficient use of time

To dive deeper into how to run a good meeting: ["What are some thoughts on maintaining good meeting hygiene?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/CModSkZ4LWzw9bdaiakt/what-are-some-thoughts-on-maintaining-good-meeting-hygiene/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 16] - Project Management

Planning a project is just the first step: Execution is when things really matter. The problem is that every software engineer leading a project should expect the unexpected, especially at a top tech company. This lesson teaches you:

- How senior engineers set themselves apart when leading projects
- The core ingredients for successfully managing a project, both during and after execution

Related resources:

- ["What are some thoughts on maintaining good meeting hygiene?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/CModSkZ4LWzw9bdaiakt/what-are-some-thoughts-on-maintaining-good-meeting-hygiene/)
- ["How to get more visibility on work?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/XA0X51AypDLCeVeleJv4/how-to-get-more-visibility-on-work/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 15] - What's The Plan?

The best engineers act proactively instead of reactively, and this is critical for successful project execution. This lesson teaches you:

- The evolution in ownership of a project when it comes to a mid-level engineer vs. a senior engineer
- What a good project plan looks like

Check out the system design course for an excellent example of a master spec document: [\[Course\] Frontend System Design Masterclass - Building Playlists](https://www.jointaro.com/course/frontend-system-design-masterclass-building-playlists/)

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 14] - Work Towards The Team Goal

Software engineers aren't paid to write code; they're paid to solve problems. However, this mindset often takes years for engineers to truly internalize, often at the senior level. This lesson teaches you:

- How mid-level engineers and senior engineers react different when given a project
- The questions every senior engineer needs to ask when given a project
- What needs to be done in order to understand the true impact of a project

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 13] - Just 1 Sentence Is Enough

As a software engineer, you will often get tasks and projects that aren't fully defined. How you react and are able to perform in these scenarios is a huge factor when it comes to determining your seniority. This lesson teaches you:

- A simple framework to understand the expectations of a senior engineer when it comes to handling ambiguity
- The different components that go into converting a single sentence to a full-blown project

Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer [Part 12] - System Design

System design is a topic engineers are becoming more and more familiar with, largely due to their emerging prevalence in interviews. It's also critical for the mid-level to senior promotion. This lesson teaches you:

- Why system design is the most important technical skill that mid-level engineers need to develop to grow to senior
- The ingredients of a high-quality system design document
- How to get feedback on your system design document
- Tactics to run an effective technical review meeting

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

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.