Master The Behavioral Interview [Part 2] - You're (Probably) Sleeping On Behavioral

Grinding LeetCode endlessly makes no sense and will not get you a great software engineer job, especially in a bad market. So why does it makes no sense? Because data structures and algorithms (DSA) rounds are far from the most important. This lesson teaches you: 

- The reason why companies weigh behavioral interviews so heavily (usually more than candidates realize)
- Why behavioral interviews are actually the most important interview type
- How engineers waste the precious time they have in behavioral interviews

Master The Behavioral Interview [Part 1] - How This Course Works

Let's not mince words: Most software engineers are pretty terrible at behavioral interviews. Unlike interview types like data structures & algorithms (DSA) and system design, behavioral interviews are purely open-ended. 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 across top companies like PayPal, Course Hero, Meta, and Robinhood, explaining how ultra-sharpening his behavioral interview skills played a huge part in his career success. His reward? Growing from $85k TC to $750k in just 7 years!
- How software engineers throw their careers by from over-indexing on LeetCode grinding instead of developing more balanced interview expertise, particularly with behavioral interviews
- We walk you through the course objectives. By the end of the course, you will have the right mentality to answer *any* behavioral question well, understand what a good behavioral answer looks like (vs. a bad one), use the right tactics to prepare, possess the skills to vet the company, and know what behavioral performances look like across different levels

To learn more about Alex's interview success journey and overall job searching tactics, check out his master job searching course: [\[Course\] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/ace-your-tech-interview-and-get-a-job-as-a-software-engineer/)

How To Influence Your Team Without Authority

Huge thanks to [Ryan Kuck](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kuck/) for leading this session!

Have you had amazing idea with clear data to support it, but it was rejected? In this event we will talk about why that might have happened, and suggest alternate strategies for next time.

Spoiler alert: We use computers to reach millions/billions of users, but we are very different from computers ourselves. Presenting the best data to another person can actually backfire, unless it is coming from a place of shared goals/values and trust. It isn’t logical, but it is human nature. If you explain a better idea than I presented, and you even have rock solid evidence, I no longer am thinking about the user or our business impact but rather about how I just don’t want to “be wrong”.

Come to this event with your stories of challenges and successes of influencing your engineering team!

To dive deeper, check out these resources:

- [**"How do I lead without authority?"**](https://www.jointaro.com/question/BWv3hFSELbn59mXJbkNB/how-do-i-lead-without-authority/)
- [**\[Course\] Effective Communication For Engineers**](https://www.jointaro.com/course/effective-communication-for-engineers/)

Paper Reading: MyRocks: LSM-Tree Database Storage Engine Serving Facebook's Social Graph

Session led by [Dharin Shah](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharinshah/)

**Event description**

Facebook uses MySQL to manage tens of petabytes of data in its main database named the User Database (UDB). UDB serves social activities such as likes, comments, and shares. In the past, Facebook used InnoDB, a B+Tree based storage engine as the backend. The challenge was to find an index structure using less space and write amplification.

LSM-tree has the potential to greatly improve these two bottlenecks. RocksDB, an LSM tree-based key/value store was already widely used in variety of applications but had a very low-level key-value interface. To overcome these limitations, MyRocks, a new MySQL storage engine, was built on top of RocksDB by adding relational capabilities. With MyRocks, using the RocksDB API, significant efficiency gains were achieved while still benefiting from all the MySQL features and tools. The transition was mostly transparent to client applications.

The paper was published at the **International Conference on Very Large Databases (VLDB)**: [**https://research.facebook.com/publications/myrocks-lsm-tree-database-storage-engine-serving-facebooks-social-graph/**](https://research.facebook.com/publications/myrocks-lsm-tree-database-storage-engine-serving-facebooks-social-graph/).

Paper authors:

- [**Yoshinori Matsunobu**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoshinorimatsunobu/)
- [**Siying Dong**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/siyingdong/)
- Herman Lee

Taro Book Club: Designing Data Intensive Applications - Chapter 7 (Transactions)

Topic: Chapter 7 - Transactions

Session lead by [**Raj Shah**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/therajshah/), [**Raghu Kalyan**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/graghukalyan/), and [**Kevin Wu**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/wkevn/) 

In this #taro-bookclub discussion, we're having a session about Chapter 7 of [**"Designing Data-Intensive Applications"**](https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321) by Martin Kleppmann.

Here's the agenda:

- We’ll break down and discuss the key concepts from Chapter 7
- There will also be time for any questions and answers you might have

Get ready for another engaging and informative session!

Negotiation Course: Help Us Help You

Congratulations, you made it to the end of the course, **The Insider's Guide To Negotiating Your Tech Salary And Compensation**! Here are the major takeaways we covered: 

- Negotiation is extremely high leverage
- Negotiate the whole compensation package
- Don’t share information that can hurt you (e.g. salary)
- Negotiate when you have an offer

If you're isolated, you're much more likely to be taken advantage of. The antidote is to engage with the community. Then we can anonymously share your feedback and result to benefit everyone. Together, we'll all succeed 😇

If you netted a meaningful compensation delta from this course ($10K), I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [rahul@jointaro.com](mailto:rahul@jointaro.com). 

Next steps:

- Share + get support: [**joinTaro.com/questions/create/**](http://joinTaro.com/questions/create/)
  - 🧠 Get 10x better advice than anything on Blind or Reddit
- Find community: [**joinTaro.com/events/**](http://joinTaro.com/events/)
  - 🧑‍🏫 Join me for Group Office Hours!

Send me feedback at [**team+negotiation@jointaro.com**](mailto:team+negotiation@jointaro.com)

Negotiation Course: Life After Joining

Our careers are long and the real hard work begins once we join a company. Beyond negotiation and compensation, there are many other factors that go into a fulfilling career, such as technology, network, and company culture. Compensation is one part of the job, but there are intangibles that are hard to measure. Don’t feel like you need to go for the highest number.

Once you join a company, learn how performance is evaluated and what makes up compensation. Prioritize people, learning, and culture for long-term career success.

Negotiation Course: Helpful Phrases During Negotiations

The phrases covered here are applicable in various scenarios as you go through the interview process.

Negotiations require a deliberate choice of words, avoiding apologies, and showcasing your value beyond just compensation. By using these phrases, you can confidently navigate negotiations and achieve your desired outcomes.

> Interesting.

> Compensation is definitely important for me, but I care a lot about the people I work with and what I’m working on.
>
> I want to do my best work in a company that values me.

> *At this time, I’m more interested in understanding the company and people rather than the compensation.*

> *I’m sure we can work out the compensation if we think this is a mutual fit.*

> *I have a few other opportunities I’m in the process for, but if this is compelling enough I’m ready to commit.*

> That role wasn’t a great fit, so I’m exploring adjacent opportunities.

> My focus is to have tons of impact at the company and I want to take part in the success.

> This is a large decision and I want to commit fully to the job I end up choosing.
>
> I want to do right by the company I join and build the next part of my career there.

> *If you could send over the offer, I’d love to take a look in more detail.*

> *I’m chatting with my partner about the job stuff so I should be able to give you an update after that.*

Negotiation Course: Reneging An Offer

Backing out after accepting an offer (*"reneging on the offer"*) is unfortunate but happens more frequently than you think. Imagine that you accepted a job offer, but two weeks later, you finally get an offer from another company that is better in every way. What do you do?

First, prevention is the best cure: try to get all the offers around the same time.

If the timing mismatch is unavoidable, you should do what’s best for you: don’t worry too much about the company.

In the US, employment is at-will, so there’s nothing legally preventing you from joining. Of course, you may have to give back any kind of signing bonus.

There may be reputational damage: talk about why the opportunity is incredibly unique and you hope to work with them again. Reneging on a large company is not as big a deal compared to a startup.

Negotiation Course: Negotiating With An Exploding Offer

An exploding offer is an offer that must be accepted within a time limit (potentially as short as a few hours), otherwise it will expire.

**Exploding offers are often fake** and you can take longer than the supposed deadline. However, you should protect yourself in the small chance that the explosion is real by having backup options.

If you face an exploding offer, the first step is to understand where the urgency is coming from:

> What’s the timing constraint? I’ve dedicated 3 weeks interviewing here and enjoyed meeting the team, but I'm curious why there's such an urgency at this point in the process?

A few options for how to request more time: 

- **(less effective)** Explain that you’re still collecting data and wrapping up the process so you’d like another week. Something like: "*I’m in the last round with the company so I’m confident I can get back to you by Monday.*"
- **(more effective)** Ask for more information. "*One thing I heard in the interview is that many of the mobile developers have transitioned to work on dev infra, which is interesting for me. Could I chat with someone who does made that transition?*" 
  - In a similar way, you can also request to chat with folks in the management chain, e.g. the director or VP.
  - When Rahul was at Meta, he’d do calls with people who got offers coming from Pinterest

Worst case scenario, you have to renege or quit shortly after joining. You should avoid this if possible (there is potential reputational damage), but we'll talk about this scenario in the next video.

Negotiation Course: Negotiating With A Single Offer

It is possible to negotiate with a single offer, but you are in a weaker position here since you don’t have as much leverage.

- Use "market data" to justify a higher pay, and talk about how your experience and background should justify being on the top end of that range.
- Talk about the ***potential*** of other opportunities that you could pursue but you choose not to for the sake of expediency and the fact that you like this job. "*I could get another offer, but I don't want to if I you can give me a competitive offer.*"

Two scenarios to consider:

1. If you’re currently employed, use that to your advantage. Pretend that you like your current job (maybe you actually do!) and that you have to be "pried away". Talk about what you're leaving on the table, e.g. unvested equity or bonus payouts.
2. The **Close the Deal** tactic is nice here. "For an extra $10k, you can snatch me away instantly."

Negotiation Course: Negotiating Your Current Salary

Negotiating your current comp is harder. You can no longer sell on potential, you have to show the outcome of what you have achieved. There are generally also fewer levers to adjust, usually just salary and equity refresh grants.

A few tips: 

- Time when you ask to coincide when your company normally does pay evaluations and merit increases
- Share market data or another offer

If you ask for money and reference another job, be careful about the impact it may have on your manager relationship, who may give you less scope or responsibility.

Negotiation Course: Recruiter Case Study: Insights From An Ex-Amazon Recruiter

This was a conversation with a recruiter who spent several years as a recruiter at Amazon and Uber.

She believed everyone should negotiate, but only when the company wants to give you an offer. 

- Most recruiters won’t prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot if you share too much information in the phone screen.
- Amazon would let go of unreachable candidates, e.g. Meta, if they sensed the candidate was already lost.

She also shared the dangers of getting starstruck with a company, e.g. Uber hiring in LATAM hired many people who didn't negotiate at all.

Negotiation Course: Recruiter Case Study: Insights From An Ex-Meta Recruiter

This was a conversation with a recruiter who spent several years as a recruiter at Facebook (Meta) and Pinterest. 

- The tactic of *"I will sign the offer if you meet me here"* is **effective if it's sincere**. You should be prepared to explore/defend various options around other ways the company could compel you to sign the offer.
- Exploding offers are almost always fake. Recruiters know that "**time kills all deals**" so they want to close candidates quickly. However, as a candidate, you can and should push back on an arbitrary deadline. Ask why the timing constraint exists and share why you need more time.
- Be graceful when you turn down a company's job offer. This recruiter would frequently be able to hire candidates several years later who had received an offer if they kept the relationship alive.

Negotiation Course: Prefer Async Communication

Recruiters have much more information and practice with negotiation relative to job candidates. The pressure of a phone call and our desire to please others means that phone calls become dangerous places where engineers shoot themselves in the foot. Too many tech employees keep speaking on the phone call and end up revealing too much.

- Recruiters have orders of magnitude more knowledge about the job, the range of possible offers from the company, and even the range of possible offers are peer companies. 
- On the other hand, most job candidates have a handful of data points around their compensation could be, based on their past jobs and what their friends have told them.

This information asymmetry clearly favors the recruiter, who can read your emotions and take advantage of the knowledge gap to lowball you.

For that reason, you should prefer to eliminate phone calls or keep them short, and then be deliberate about your emails where you can craft the exact message you want to send. Async communication is also better for clarity and you can research on your own.

Negotiation Course: View The Recruiter As Ally, Not Antagonist

Recruiters get a bad reputation, but they can actually help you a lot! The recruiter's job is to get qualified people to work for the company, so there is incentive alignment between both parties.

Instead of viewing the recruiter as an obstacle you must overcome, view them as an ally and a valuable source of information. 

- **Before the interview**,  ask them what will be on the interview and what advice they'd have to prepare.
- **After the interview**, ask them what parts of the comp are likely to change, and build the relationship with them so they can advocate for you.

How do you build a relationship with the recruiter? 

- Say thank you whenever the recruiter shares an update with you: *"Thank you for sharing, I appreciate your clear communication throughout this process!"*
- Show an interest in the job and what makes it unique. Don't ask generic questions. 

Keep in mind that most recruiters are not technical and may not understand the value you bring as an engineer. (Unlike the hiring manager, who will know intimately what role they're hiring for.)

Understand 2 different types of recruiters:

- **Contract (agency) recruiters** are compensated for landing a butt in the seat: they’ll be much more transactional and focused on getting you to accept an offer (any offer).
- **In-house recruiters** will usually NOT see a direct financial gain if you accept the offer. They are evaluated based on goals around recruiting conversion metrics.

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.

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.

Negotiation Course: What's Best To Negotiate

As you think about what components in the offer to negotiate, you should consider: 

1. **Where do you have the most alignment with the company?** For example, reducing the "clawback period" for your signing bonus from 1 year to 3 months is unaligned since the company wants to incentivize you to stick around beyond 3 months. On the other hand, doubling your equity package is more aligned, since your comp will go up if the company does well.
2. **Where can the recruiter best help you?** Generally, a recruiter is powerless to adjust things like 401(k) match or performance bonuses since they're standardized across the company. However, recruiters are able to adjust salary or equity, especially if you are willing to make trade-offs between them.

Another dimension to consider is that equity is riskier than salary, so, therefore, it should translate to a higher potential reward. Stock options and RSUs fluctuate in value based on the market.

If you're ok with the risk tolerance, you are likely able to get more equity vs salary, e.g. increase your equity $20K/year vs salary $5K/year. This is an **obviously** good trade for a Big Tech (FAANG) company, which will have a fairly stable stock price.

Negotiation Course: Determine Levers You Can Pull

The typical 4 highest-order bits for a compensation package in tech are salary, equity, signing bonus, and annual bonus. 

Ask an open-ended question to understand what the recruiter is dealing with: 

> What parts of the offer are you able to adjust the most?

In some companies, you’re just given a salary, a single dimension to negotiate on. In this case, your job is to **invent other parameters on which you can negotiate**. e.g. talk about benefits, title, and other things that you’re willing to give up in order to optimize the thing you really care about.

You can share other offers here, but be prepared to show proof (Rahul had to do this in 2013 when he had to show the Google recruiter the numbers from the Twitter offer)

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