DSA Crash Course [Part 58] - Connected Components Count Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/connected-components-count?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/**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-zablan-b73a92117/)

The Cardinal Sin Of Management: Micromanaging

This segment outlines why micromanagement is a hallmark of poor engineering leadership and how effective managers empower their teams instead of controlling them. It offers a comprehensive look at how hands-off, trust-based leadership enables better team performance and growth.

- **Micromanagement is a red flag**: Hovering over engineers’ work or constantly asking for status updates wastes time, erodes trust, and stifles ownership.
- **Effective managers lead through trust and empowerment**: Autonomy allows engineers to make decisions and own outcomes, with structured check-ins (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly) to stay aligned.
- **Staying out of technical weeds is critical**: A manager's role should focus on people, not code reviews, engineering meetings, or day-to-day task assignments—those should be handled by tech leads or the engineers themselves.
- **Micromanagement creates systemic risks**: It builds dependency, slows down team velocity, and makes the manager a single point of failure. If the manager leaves, the team may lack the tools or confidence to function independently.
- **Lack of trust leads to poor career growth**: Engineers under micromanagement are less likely to take initiative or learn leadership skills, hindering their path to promotion and long-term development.

Come Up With 500k+ User Project Ideas [Part 9] - Single Player vs. Multiplayer

The most successful apps are those where users interact with other users - Facebook, Uber, and Airbnb are just a few. However, this model doesn't translate well to side projects. This lesson teaches you:

- The difference between a single-player product and a multi-player product
- Why multi-player products are both insanely hard to get off the ground and a recipe for disaster
- Why your side project really should be a single-player products
- The brutal chicken-and-egg problem multiplayer products must solve initially, shown with a concrete example from Alex's past

DSA Crash Course [Part 75] - Count Paths Approach

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

> Write a function, *count_paths*, that takes in a grid as an argument. In the grid, 'X' represents walls and 'O' represents open spaces. You may only move down or to the right and cannot pass through walls. The function should return the number of ways possible to travel from the top-left corner of the grid to the bottom-right corner.

```
grid = [
["O", "O"],
["O", "O"],
]

count_paths(grid) # -> 2
```

```
grid = [
["O", "O", "X"],
["O", "O", "O"],
["O", "O", "O"],
]

count_paths(grid) # -> 5
```

```
grid = [
["O", "O", "O"],
["O", "O", "X"],
["O", "O", "O"],
]

count_paths(grid) # -> 3
```

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/)

DSA Crash Course [Part 56] - Undirected Path Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/undirected-path?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/**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-zablan-b73a92117/)

Tech Lead Blueprint 6/17 - Become Technically Strong

Connect with Lalit on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/lalitkundu/>

It’s not what you can see. It’s what they feel and don’t say.

There’s a kind of tension that never shows up in Jira.\
But you can feel it. In meetings. In messages. In that slight shift in tone.

This section helps you see what people won’t say directly—but always signal.\
Because the real blocker isn’t the one they’ll name.

**Want to go deeper?**

- Explore more tools and courses at [**Taha’s Method**](https://www.tahasmethod.com/) — from interview prep to leadership development.

- Follow me on [**LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahahussain/) and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, [**The Conscious Leader**](https://tahahussain.substack.com/), for more lessons like these. 

- **Taro members get 30% off** my flagship course [**Top Tech Leader**](https://bit.ly/tarotopleader)*. Discount available later in the course.*

Introducing The Active Users Problem

In this lesson we talk about a realistic example problem used throughout the course to simulate an AI-assisted coding interview.

- **Understand the problem context and deliverables:** Build the back-end logic for an active users metrics dashboard, including calculating daily unique active users and rolling 7-day active user counts from messy, real-world log data.
- **Work within a structured codebase:** Learn how to navigate starter code with helper functions (e.g., ID normalization, bot filtering) and focus on implementing two core functions while leveraging provided tests.
- **Set expectations for interview complexity:** Explore how AI-assisted interviews can range from simple LeetCode-style tasks to multi-file, production-like environments—and how this example reflects an average level of complexity.

Asking Great Questions [Part 11] - Avoid Question Ping Pong

If you want better answers faster on your question, the goal is simple: *Make it dead simple to answer your question*. But how do we do that? This lesson teaches you:

- A simple mental framework you can apply to your question to understand if it's good
- What a bad question looks like when it violates that mental framework
- How to use that mental framework to determine the quality of a question

Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech [Part 5] - Understand Their Incentives

At the end of the day, everyone is out to get something, especially in the professional world. This lesson teaches you:

- Why understanding other people's incentives is so important
- How to figure out other people's incentives
- The playbook to build an amazing relationship once you truly get someone's incentives
- What it looks like to truly align incentives, explained with an in-depth example

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 15] - Unite The Non-Engineers (XFN)

One of the most common traps engineers fall into is only caring about other engineers and engineering work. You cannot make this mistake as a tech lead. This lesson teaches you:

- The core non-engineering relationship you need to maintain in order to effectively lead projects
- Other examples of non-engineering (XFN, cross-functional) relationships to maintain
- Why earning trust across several organizational functions is so important for your role as a tech lead

[Timeless Career Advice] One on Ones

Tech Lead Blueprint 12/17 - Mentorship + Coaching

Real Stock Options Example - Kosei (Acquired By Pinterest)

This final segment offers a real-world walkthrough of a startup stock option offer and breaks down the critical information employees need to assess the *true* value of such equity. It highlights how confusing option grants can be without proper context and the financial implications of exercising options.

- **Real Offer Letter Example:** The speaker received an offer of 62,000 options at a $0.14 strike price, totaling $8,750 to exercise. However, the true value of this offer depends entirely on factors not included in the letter, like company valuation and total shares outstanding.
- **Vesting and Exercising Mechanics:** Vesting followed the standard schedule—1-year cliff with monthly vesting afterward. Post-termination, many startups only give a 90-day window to exercise, which can be financially burdensome.
- **Liquidity and Risk Considerations:** Employees may lose out if they can't afford to exercise before leaving a startup. As a response, some companies began extending the exercise window up to 10 years, reducing financial pressure on departing employees.
- **Tax Strategy Tip:** Exercising early (if financially feasible) starts the clock on long-term capital gains, which can save 10–12% in taxes versus short-term treatment if exercised and sold after a liquidity event.
- **Most Common Mistake:** Employees often overvalue large share numbers without understanding what fraction of the company those shares represent. To assess an offer, it’s essential to ask:
  - *What percentage of the company do these shares represent?*

  - *What is the current fair market value versus the strike price?*

Without those answers, it's impossible to accurately evaluate the worth of a stock option grant.

DSA Crash Course [Part 65] - Minimum Island Approach

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

> Write a function, *minimum_island*, that takes in a grid containing Ws and Ls. W represents water and L represents land. The function should return the size of the smallest island. An island is a vertically or horizontally connected region of land.
>
> You may assume that the grid contains at least one island.

```
grid = [
['W', 'L', 'W', 'W', 'W'],
['W', 'L', 'W', 'W', 'W'],
['W', 'W', 'W', 'L', 'W'],
['W', 'W', 'L', 'L', 'W'],
['L', 'W', 'W', 'L', 'L'],
['L', 'L', 'W', 'W', 'W'],
]

minimum_island(grid) # -> 2
```

```
grid = [
['L', 'W', 'W', 'L', 'W'],
['L', 'W', 'W', 'L', 'L'],
['W', 'L', 'W', 'L', 'W'],
['W', 'W', 'W', 'W', 'W'],
['W', 'W', 'L', 'L', 'L'],
]

minimum_island(grid) # -> 1
```

```
grid = [
['L', 'L', 'L'],
['L', 'L', 'L'],
['L', 'L', 'L'],
]

minimum_island(grid) # -> 9
```

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/)

Grow From Senior To Staff Engineer [Part 20] - Generalist

An easy way to understand what a great staff engineer looks like is that they're a "Jack of all trades, master of all". This lesson teaches you:

- What the generalist staff "archetype" is
- The different types of skills staff generalists need to be good at
- When it makes sense to become a generalist
- How generalist staff engineers grow long-term

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 8] - Foster Technical Innovation

As a tech lead, your job isn't only to deliver what's on the table now but figure out what should be on the table in the future. This lesson teaches you:

- A classic mechanism to foster discussion around technical innovation
- The logistics behind brown bag sessions and how to run an effective one

[Part 4] Meta Intern Success Series - Working With Your Intern Manager

- Meet with your intern manager (IM) at least every week for 30+ minutes. Anything less is a recipe for failure as your software engineer internship is so short.
- Treat your IM as a resource, not a boss. They are there to help you. Don't be afraid to leverage them aggressively to unblock you.
- The incentives align between you and your IM. They get rewarded substantially if you get the return offer, and it's rough for them if you don't. It's in everyone's best interests for you to get more from your IM.
- **Do not hide issues**. If you have any sort of problem, whether it's a technical one or a mental/emotional one, share it with your IM. Learn to be vulnerable.
- Ask for feedback every 2-3 weeks, don't just wait for mid-cycle. You can ask how you're trending rating-wise to get a clear picture. It is hard to course correct if you come out of mid-cycle with a poor rating.
- Ask for feedback regularly and make it clear to your IM that you treat all feedback as a gift and you act on it fast (literally within a few hours/days).

Related resources:
- [You Should Be Vulnerable With Your Manager](https://link.jointaro.com/CCLPu9Pp6pmRrn427)
- [Having The Proper Mentality For Manager 1:1s](https://link.jointaro.com/wmxxUCrHKvUH1D4b8)
- [Suppress Your Instincts And Treat All Feedback As A Gift](https://link.jointaro.com/TsJKvMLrzvveMkpS9)
- [Full In-Depth 1 Hour Masterclass On Effective 1:1s](https://link.jointaro.com/67uVtoJWBYwrqgDJ7)

Engineer Your Ideal Tech Career [Part 8] - What Stage Of Company?

In this video, we walk through common traits among different company sizes and also how they differ vastly. We also talk through a key mistake many engineers make when thinking about company size and stage.

Depending on how you like to work, the idea of which company size you want to shoot for should become more clear.

This video covers three main company types:

- Start-up
- Growth stage
- Large company

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)

Negotiation Course: The Importance Of Equity In Negotiation

Most companies have larger allowable bands in the equity component of their compensation. For this reason, you should treat it with additional importance as a way to best meet your compensation target. 

There are 2 reasons why companies are more willing to increase equity (RSUs or stock options) compared to other parts of the offer: 

1. Equity doesn’t hurt the profit and loss (P&L) statement of the company. This is especially important for startups.
2. Equity has inherent incentive alignment between the company and the employee. The employee will be more motivated to grow the company because the equity is worth more when the company succeeds.

In addition, equity is generally less understood by employees. Rahul's friend at Uber shared stories of people who rejected an equity grant and simply asked for an additional salary (when they could have gotten significantly more in equity). The risk tolerance for receiving stock compensation is less understood outside the US, e.g. in European countries.

For many people in tech, their base salary is enough to cover their day-to-day living expenses. In a major metro area, an engineer's base salary in a Big Tech co can range from $100K - $300K. This can cover things like rent, food, travel, and even some savings.

If you are in this scenario, Rahul's advice is to be **very aggressive** about increasing the equity component of the comp package. You should tell the recruiter that you want to "*take part in the success that you'll help to create at the company*" and therefore want to be at the highest possible range for equity. 

We'll share more about sample phrases you can use later in the course.

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.