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.

Leaving An Executive Role To Become A Teacher

[**Ethan Evans**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/) is a retired Amazon VP who now teaches managers how to break into executive levels. He was at Amazon for 15 years, and he became a VP in 2013 until he left in 2020.

Ethan could have spent several more decades in high-powered engineering leadership roles, but he chose to leave his lucrative career at Amazon to focuse on personal development coaching and teaching.

**Reason for leaving Amazon:**

- Ethan found more satisfaction in helping people develop than building things. He actually wanted to scale his impact beyond at Amazon with the role of upgrading the whole eng team.
- Amazon wasn't receptive to his ideas for talent development initiatives. they told him the best bet was for him to become the VP of Eng for the HR products.

**Today, Ethan is focused on** teaching individuals for career development. He creates and shares free content (e.g., daily writing on LinkedIn) and then offers paid coaching and training programs for high-potential individuals.

**Motivation for charging for some services:**

- Belief that people value paid services more than free ones.
- Desire to focus limited time on highly motivated clients.
- Money is not the primary driver but it is important for reaching a wider audience and sustaining the work.
- Charging for high-value services from those who can afford it is ethical and practical.

Ethan is now pursuing his passion to help people grow and achieve their career goals. He's adopted a hybrid approach of free and paid services to maximize their impact and reach.

More to explore: 

- [\[Case Study\] Building An Engineering Brand - Why And How (LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Substack)](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/t06NajpS2kSCk98IEmQm/case-study-building-an-engineering-brand-why-and-how-linkedin-youtube-twitter-substack/)
- [When does it make sense to leave big tech?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/v6GBLlfXb1ugNobkEm7w/when-does-it-make-sense-to-leave-big-tech/)
- [I'm Greg, Ex-Google/Netflix current Director at Disney. AMA!](https://www.jointaro.com/question/CdPjNOXvU882180yzs6R/im-greg-ex-googlenetflix-current-director-at-disney-ama/?a=X1zCA1EgxqdSBELHLfkO)

The Sales Engineering Career Path (And How To Become One)

The sales engineering role combines technical expertise with sales skills as an alternative career path. Even if you don't want to become a full-time sales engineer, many of the skills that are essential for sales engineers are directly applicable for strong software engineers.

🛠️ **Learn Why Engineers are in the Best Position to Sell:**

- Explore the intersection of coding and client interaction that defines the Sales Engineering role.
- Learn why Sales Engineering might be the ideal choice for software engineers looking to blend their technical prowess with business dealings.

💡 PRO TIP: **Sales Presentation and Demo Flow For the Best Outcomes:**

- Gain insights into the advantages of pursuing a career in Sales Engineering, from enhanced earning potential to dynamic job roles.
- Understand how your unique skill set can significantly impact client-facing roles within the technology industry.

🔍 **Explore What Career Options Exist in Sales Engineering:**

- Explore different career paths within Sales Engineering and understand the growth potential.
- Learn about real-world success stories from software engineers who have transitioned into Sales Engineering roles.

Taro member discount is available for the [**2-week cohort-based course**](https://maven.com/techsales/sales-for-software-engineers?promoCode=TARO).

Course conducted by: [**https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbalachandran/**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbalachandran/)

Explore more on Taro: 

- [Should I become a sales engineer?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/CZdBlFzIDk4rxaLJ1jzu/should-i-become-a-sales-engineer/)
- [How do you "sell" your work and show impact as an aspiring Staff Engineer?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/Zr5koQ1TGgx8GzSAquwG/how-do-you-sell-your-work-and-show-impact-as-an-aspiring-staff-engineer/)

This Is What A Good Promotion Plan Looks Like

One of the most crucial ingredients for a successful promotion is a clear plan. However, the engineering career matrix that most big companies have isn't nearly enough. This video covers what a quality promotion plan looks like.

Here are the core points from the video:

- **Show the delta** - Just giving someone a concept isn't enough. Growth comes when you progress from a lower state to a higher one. To best facilitate that, you must outline exactly what that lower state and higher state are so people can understand the difference and work towards bridging the gap.
- Here's an example showing what it means to outline the delta when growing a mid-level engineer on their code review axis:
  - **Bad promotion plan:** *"Have a bigger influence in code review"*
  - **Good promotion plan:**
    - E4 (mid-level): *"You are extremely thorough catching issues within your own domain, finding architectural issues (sometimes challenging the entire diff/diff stack), performance problems, and several edge case misses."*
    - E5 (senior): *"Instead of mainly reviewing stack-specific diffs within product domains you have worked on, you review diffs across the entire stack for your org (M2+ scope). You are able to review diffs for areas that you have never worked with before, quickly absorbing the context of the diff and its surrounding ecosystem to leave genuinely insightful feedback in a relatively short period of time.”*

Related resources:

- [\[Taro Top 10\] Software Engineer To Engineering Manager (IC -&gt; M Track)](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/oz0mnJvHHgM8NfVF7rgp/)
- [\[Masterclass\] What Software Engineers Should Look For In Their Engineering Manager](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/oeY7ncZhzJ5NO6dij5e7/masterclass-what-software-engineers-should-look-for-in-their-engineering-manager/)
- [\[Taro Top 10\] Getting Promoted Faster In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/eZOEUatYEe7BBAZByuha/)

What Does An Engineering Manager Actually Do?

In order to work together optimally with your engineering manager (EMs), you should have a great understanding of their perspective and incentives.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Engineering managers shouldn't do technical work** - They need to influence the code of the team without writing it, reviewing it, or designing it. This is an extremely hard job.
- **So what specifically do EMs do?** - Ultimately the EM's goal is to make the team land impact, and this can manifest in many different ways (some of which engineers don't want to hear about). If you are a good performer, it's in the manager's best interest to foster your talent and grow you. If you aren't (i.e. you're dragging the team down), it's possible the manager believes firing you to be the best choice for the team. Outside of managing performance, there are tasks like removing non-technical blockers and making people work better together that EMs do to keep the impact engine going.

Related resources:
- [[Taro Top 10] Software Engineer To Engineering Manager (IC -> M Track)](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/oz0mnJvHHgM8NfVF7rgp/)
- [[Masterclass] What Software Engineers Should Look For In Their Engineering Manager](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/oeY7ncZhzJ5NO6dij5e7/masterclass-what-software-engineers-should-look-for-in-their-engineering-manager/)

How can H1B (visa) holders do a startup?

As an H1B holder, it can be hard to imagine starting a company. However, many H1B holders (and other visa holders) are able to navigate the startup landscape, maximize opportunities, and turn their entrepreneurial dreams into reality. This talk covered practical insights for people on visas.

Our speaker is Harsh Goel, a software engineer turned entrepreneur who has started two startups on an O1 visa. He will share his experience and also the visa experiences of other founders he has interacted with.

Harsh provided advice based on 5 levels of involvement: 
1. Doing side projects that don't make money
2. Doing side projects that make money
3. Doing a startup while working -- what you can and can't do
4. Going full-time into a startup without funding
5. Going full-time into a startup with funding (>$200K)

Harsh also covered insights on how to quickly qualify and apply for an O-1 visa, a **nonimmigrant employment-based visa classification for individuals of extraordinary ability in sciences, education, business, arts or athletics**; or individuals of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture and televisions industries.

To qualify for an O-1 visa, you need to show evidence of being recognized in your academic field. You must show credentials both in achievements and in your place of employment.

- There are 3 categories of achievements, and this turns out to be very easy to manufacture. Things like judging a hackathon or speaking at a conference (no matter the size) are common ways to demonstrate this. With some hard work and time, **most people can meet this criteria for an O-1**.
- You also need "evidence that the employment requires the skills of someone with 'extraordinary ability'". This requires letters of recommendations from peers or managers at work. If you lead a team within a Big Tech company, **you probably have enough to meet this criteria as well.**

Learn more:
- More events on Taro: [https://www.jointaro.com/events/](https://www.jointaro.com/events/)
- Harsh on LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/harsh-fyi/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/harsh-fyi/)

How Rahul Accidentally Got 70k Installs On An Android App

### The Story
- Before 2021, Rahul's YouTube channel was focused on Android tutorials.
- One of the tutorials he made was a simple Android app that let you set your status as an emoji. It was a pretty basic example of using Firebase.
- To make the output of the tutorial accessible, Rahul published the completed app to Google Play.
- What he didn't realize is that the app would be discovered by tens of thousands of users. After the past couple years, it has gotten 70,000+ installs with near-0 effort from Rahul.

### Learnings
- *Always publish* - So many people make projects that they then abandon or declare victory after the GitHub has gotten to a good state (even sharing this on their resume). Your code will pretty much never matter until it's fully out there in the world - If you're looking for your projects to help with job searching, recruiters are not going to care how clean the GitHub is.
- *Android distribution is extremely powerful* - Android has over 2.5 billion active users, and that number continues to grow. Due to the sheer volume of people, Android is one of the easiest platforms, if not **the** easiest platform, to publish something that gets a ton of users. There are far fewer Android apps compared to websites, so it's easier competing for Google Play search traffic vs. Google website search traffic. You only need to pay a 1-time $25 fee to publish an infinite amount of apps.

If you want to learn how to build your own side projects that get a ton of users:
- [In-depth Session On How To Come Up With Side Projects That Can Get 100k+ Users](https://link.jointaro.com/4m3CpQGgvkN3Xuem9)
- [In-depth Session On How To Grow Side Projects To 500k+ Users](https://link.jointaro.com/8QPgCkexjUjR9AA29)

Understanding The $$$ Behind Stock Options - Hypothetical Startup Example

This video uses a hypothetical example from Carta to illustrate how startup stock options can lead to financial gain—or loss—depending on the company’s trajectory. It highlights both the upside potential of a successful IPO and the downside risk if the company underperforms.

- A fictional employee joins a startup, *Meatly*, in January 2020 and receives 16,000 stock options at a $1 strike price. After two years, 8,000 options (50%) have vested.
- When the company IPOs at $5/share, the employee exercises the options, spending $8,000 for shares now worth $40,000—a **$32,000 profit**.
- Alternatively, if the employee exercises at departure and the company later sells for only $0.75/share, the same $8,000 purchase yields **just $6,000 in value**, resulting in a **$2,000 loss**, not including taxes.
- This example underscores that **stock options carry real financial risk**, unlike RSUs, which are granted outright and do not require upfront payment.
- Employees need to carefully consider market performance and timing before exercising options to avoid losses.

ESPP Explainer With Tips On How To Navigate It

This section explains the **Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)**, a more traditional and common form of stock-based compensation compared to RSUs. ESPPs are typically found at companies outside the top-tier tech firms and offer employees a way to invest in their employer's stock at a discount.

- **What ESPP Is:** ESPP allows employees to purchase company stock at a discounted rate—usually 10% to 15% off the market price—using a portion of their base salary.
- **How It Works:** Employees allocate up to 10% of their salary into a fund, which is periodically used to buy company shares. Unlike RSUs, employees pay to acquire the shares.
- **Tax Implications:** The discount is considered taxable income because it's effectively a financial gain (e.g., buying $100 stock for $85 means $15 in taxable benefit).
- **Differences from RSUs:** RSUs grant a fixed number of shares, regardless of stock price fluctuations, while ESPP is tied to monetary investment and stock price dynamics, often using an average price over time.
- **General Advice:** Though the gains may be smaller and the system slightly more complex, ESPP is considered “free money” and is worth maximizing when financially feasible.

How You Can Supercharge Your Team - Discovering Synergies

The Five Pillars of Business

In this first module, we explore the essence of individual contributor roles through the lens of core business functions. This sets the stage for understanding how management fits into the bigger picture.

- We break down IC roles across the **five pillars of business** (from Josh Kaufman): value creation, marketing, sales, value delivery, and finance—clarifying how each function contributes.
- The **essence of software engineering** is to create value by building software that solves problems for customers.
- Marketing professionals focus on **raising awareness** of that value, while salespeople focus on **exchanging value**, usually closing deals.
- Roles in value delivery, like customer support or DevOps, ensure that users receive and benefit from the value created.
- Finance professionals ensure **business sustainability**, tracking what’s working financially and what isn’t.
- This clarity of purpose—knowing what success looks like—is often **missing in management**, which leads us to part two: defining the true essence of a manager’s role.

If you want to learn more from Gilad, he shares free leadership advice daily on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/giladnaor/?utm_source=taro&utm_medium=course&utm_campaign=cta) and weekly on the[ δeltas newsletter](https://posts.managementdeltas.com/?utm_source=taro&utm_medium=course&utm_campaign=cta)

You stayed calm. They still didn’t trust you.

You said nothing was wrong.\
But they felt something was off.

Here we explore what happens when teams can’t read you—and start reading into you.\
Not because you did anything wrong.\
But because silence always fills itself.

**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.

- Get 30% off [**Top Tech Leader**](https://bit.ly/tarotopleader) with code **ILOVETARO** (exclusive for Taro members).

Become A Debugging Master [Part 15] - Monitor System Health

Fixing a bug isn’t the end — true resolution means confirming the fix worked at scale. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Always monitor system health after a fix using real metrics, not just local device testing, to verify the problem is truly resolved
- Track both user-facing metrics (like revenue, call minutes, login attempts) and code-facing metrics (like error rates, ingress/egress traffic, build failures)
- Be aware of natural variations in user metrics across days, weekends, and holidays so you don’t misinterpret normal fluctuations
- Revisit your original blast radius notes and make sure the impacted areas are reflected in your dashboards to fully validate recovery
- Understand the difference between root causes (e.g., spike in Firestore reads) and lagging indicators (e.g., billing costs) when monitoring your fix

Example metrics dashboard: <https://convertkit.baremetrics.com/>

Become A Debugging Master [Part 13] - Create A Real Fix

Quick fixes are tempting, but true engineering excellence comes from addressing the real problem. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- A surface-level fix, like returning null to avoid an exception, hides the real issue and often leads to worse problems later
- Always stress-test your fix, check nearby features, and invite feedback instead of hoping a band-aid fix is “good enough”
- If you must land a short-term patch, clearly document it and create a task for a proper fix to maintain team trust
- Use the “Five Whys” method to dig deep into the root cause rather than stopping at the first obvious error

Become A Debugging Master [Part 12] - Take Breaks

Sometimes the smartest move when debugging isn’t pushing harder—it’s stepping away. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Taking breaks is critical to avoid getting trapped in unproductive rabbit holes and to regain a fresh perspective on tough bugs
- If you haven’t made meaningful progress after an hour, switching tasks, taking a walk, or asking for help can prevent burnout and unlock new ideas
- Breaks scientifically boost memory consolidation, accuracy, and problem-solving by giving your brain time to process and connect scattered information
- Studies show staying awake too long severely impairs your mental performance, making rest essential for effective debugging and clear thinking

Become A Debugging Master [Part 11] - The 2 Styles Of Bug Searching

When you’re stuck on a tough bug, how you approach it can make a huge difference in how quickly you find the root cause. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Top-down debugging starts from the full application and removes pieces to isolate the bug, while bottom-up starts with a clean slate and adds code until the bug appears
- Bottom-up debugging can dramatically speed up iteration and discovery in large, complex codebases, even if it requires more upfront effort
- A key mindset is to “move the ball forward” by adding logs, setting alerts, or gathering information that will help your future self debug faster
- Forming clear written updates or questions based on your debugging history allows you to get much higher-quality help from others

Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech [Part 18] - Give Deep Thanks

"Thanks" is a magic word but only if you play your cards right. This lesson teaches you:

- Why basic thanks (what many software engineers do) is so ineffective, especially in the context of networking
- Ways you can give deeper thanks, shown in order of intensity
- An incredibly powerful way to give deep thanks in the context of a work setting

Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech [Part 17] - Ask Good Questions

The most basic way to get help is to ask a question. This has huge implications on networking and relationship building. This lesson teaches you:

- Why it's extremely punishing to ask bad questions
- How asking good questions can actually be an asset and make you look *better* to other people, earning you respect and trust
- The difference between a good and bad question, demonstrated with an in-depth example

Take the question asking course here: [Ask Great Questions That Get Great Answers Quickly](https://www.jointaro.com/course/ask-great-questions-that-get-great-answers-quickly/)

Expert Secrets of Successful Big Tech Interviews

**Event description**

Join this special NEW session where I interview "Mr. X" –– a former Amazon Bar Raiser and current Head of Talent Acquisition at a top tech company that must remain nameless ;)

Together, we'll take you beyond the basic tips you already know and unveil **specific, winning strategies** that actually separate you from other candidates in competitive interviews.

If you have the job skills and a solid work history (but interviewing continues to be where you "fall down" in the job search) this event will be an absolute game-changer.

**After This Masterclass, You Will:**

- **Eliminate Blind Spots**

  - **You’re making mistakes every time you interview, that you don’t see, that cost you job offers. Get ready to hear what they are.**

- **Own Your Story**

  - **The winning candidates aren’t necessarily the most skilled––they have the best stories. Soon, YOU will be that candidate.**

- **Read Minds (Literally)**

  - **Hiring managers speak in code. What they say is often totally different from what they’re thinking. Now you’ll know the difference.**

If you need additional support with your job search, you can get coaching from Alan and Kadima Careers. Join with a discount here: [**https://signup.kadimacareers.com/mQBsDvu**](https://signup.kadimacareers.com/mQBsDvu)

SWE Internship Survival Guide [Part 10] - Understanding The Codebase

Understanding a large codebase can feel overwhelming at first, but you don’t need to master everything to make an impact. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Use the Pareto principle to focus on the small portion of code that matters most for your project rather than trying to understand everything
- Avoid getting stuck reading docs and aim to quickly build the code, add logs, and view those logs to gain hands-on comprehension
- Identify key parts of the codebase by asking your manager or teammates for pointers and using exploratory techniques like print logging
- Treat code understanding as a “multiplayer” activity by asking questions, pair programming, reviewing commit history, and engaging with teammates
- Operating in multiplayer mode not only accelerates your learning but also strengthens relationships and increases your chances of getting a return offer

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.