Get The Rating You Deserve [Part 14] - Regular Check Ins

**In this section, we explored the importance of regular check-ins with key stakeholders.**

To effectively leverage regular check-ins, we should:

- **Prioritize career discussions:** Shift the focus of our one-on-one meetings from status updates to career development.
- **Proactively communicate:** Initiate conversations about our goals, aspirations, and challenges.
- **Exhaust the feedback process:** Actively seek and incorporate feedback to improve our performance.
- **Communicate effectively:** Clearly articulate our needs and desires, using compassionate language.
- **Be patient and persistent:** Understand that change takes time and be persistent in our efforts to achieve our goals.

By effectively utilizing regular check-ins, we can accelerate our career progression and build strong relationships with our colleagues and managers.

If you want to get personalized support from Yogi, you can reach out to him at [coaching@yogisharma.com](mailto:coaching@yogisharma.com) or schedule an introductory call to dive into your situation at <https://tinyurl.com/meetyogi>.

Come Up With 500k+ User Project Ideas [Part 13] - Look For Gaps

You have found some competitors that you want to beat with your side project. Now how do you do that? This lesson teaches you:

- How adding efficiency and reducing clicks can be extremely compelling
- General basic UI/UX (user interface/user experience) improvements you can make for a product
- A simple way you can level up an application without doing anything (everybody hates ads)

Come Up With 500k+ User Project Ideas [Part 10] - Keep The Stakes Low

Every piece of software inevitably breaks. This is incredibly important to remember when it comes to side projects. This lesson teaches you:

- Why side projects are especially vulnerable to production issues
- Why you want the stakes for your side project to be low
- What it means to have high stakes vs. low stakes with a product, explained with a concrete example

How Do I Know If I'm Making Progress With Leetcode?

It's demoralizing to get stuck on similar problems repeatedly. How do you know if you're making progress?

Course: <https://www.jointaro.com/course/crash-course-data-structures-and-algorithms-concepts/>

How To Apply The 80/20 Rule To Leetcode Prep

Even Alvin, who has mastery over Data Structures and Algorithms, would not pass all the tech interviews!

Course: <https://www.jointaro.com/course/crash-course-data-structures-and-algorithms-concepts/>

DSA Crash Course [Part 83] - Counting Change Approach

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

> Write a function, *counting_change*, that takes in an amount and a list of coins. The function should return the number of different ways it is possible to make change for the given amount using the coins.
>
> You may reuse a coin as many times as necessary.
>
> For example,
>
> counting_change(4, \[1,2,3\]) -&gt; 4
>
> There are four different ways to make an amount of 4:
>
> 1\. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
>
> 2\. 1 + 1 + 2
>
> 3\. 1 + 3
>
> 4\. 2 + 2

```
counting_change(4, [1, 2, 3]) # -> 4
```

```
counting_change(8, [1, 2, 3]) # -> 10
```

```
counting_change(24, [5, 7, 3]) # -> 5
```

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 82] - Summing Squares Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/summing-squares?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/)

DSA Crash Course [Part 77] - Max Path Sum Approach

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

> Write a function, *max_path_sum*, that takes in a grid as an argument. The function should return the maximum sum possible by traveling a path from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner. You may only travel through the grid by moving down or right.
>
> You can assume that all numbers are non-negative.

```
grid = [
[1, 3, 12],
[5, 1, 1],
[3, 6, 1],
]

max_path_sum(grid) # -> 18
```

```
grid = [
[1, 2, 8,  1],
[3, 1, 12, 10],
[4, 0, 6,  3],
]

max_path_sum(grid) # -> 36
```

```
grid = [
[1, 2, 8, 1],
[3, 10, 12, 10],
[4, 0, 6, 3],
]

max_path_sum(grid) # -> 39
```

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 70] - Tribonacci Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/tribonacci?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/)

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/)

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/)

DSA Crash Course [Part 54] - Has Path Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/has-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/>

DSA Crash Course [Part 41] - Breadth First Values Approach

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

> Write a function, *breadth_first_values*, that takes in the root of a binary tree. The function should return a list containing all values of the tree in breadth-first order.

```
a = Node('a')
b = Node('b')
c = Node('c')
d = Node('d')
e = Node('e')
f = Node('f')
a.left = b
a.right = c
b.left = d
b.right = e
c.right = f

#      a
#    /   \
#   b     c
#  / \     \
# d   e     f

breadth_first_values(a)
#    -> ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f']
```

```
a = Node('a')
b = Node('b')
c = Node('c')
d = Node('d')
e = Node('e')
f = Node('f')
g = Node('g')
h = Node('h')
a.left = b
a.right = c
b.left = d
b.right = e
c.right = f
e.left = g
f.right = h

#      a
#    /   \
#   b     c
#  / \     \
# d   e     f
#    /       \
#   g         h

breadth_first_values(a)
#   -> ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h']
```

```
a = Node('a')
#      a

breadth_first_values(a)
#    -> ['a']
```

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/>

DSA Crash Course [Part 27] - Sum List Walkthrough

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

Code along and test your work in the following editor workspace: <https://structy.net/problems/sum-list?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/>

How to Crack System Design Interviews - Part 9: Effective Communication

This video details the scoring criteria for system design interviews, focusing on scalability, reliability, and communication. We learn how to demonstrate strong technical skills and cultural fit:

- **Identify and mitigate bottlenecks:** We should proactively identify scalability and performance bottlenecks in our design and propose effective mitigation strategies.

- **Address potential failures:** We must analyze potential points of failure, including those in external systems, and explain how we would handle them.

- **Communicate clearly and effectively:** We need to present our solution in a structured and organized manner, using appropriate terminology and incorporating feedback constructively.

- **Demonstrate cultural fit:** We should align our design choices and communication style with the company's values and priorities, showcasing our understanding of their engineering culture.

- **Maintain professionalism:** We must conduct ourselves professionally throughout the interview, avoiding inappropriate jokes or comments and demonstrating openness to feedback.

[Gaurav Sen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gkcs/) has conducted 1000s of system design interviews while working at Uber and building his [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@gkcs) to 500K+ subscribers. His platform [InterviewReady](https://interviewready.io/?_aff=JOINTARO) combines video explainers, live Zoom classes, and an automated System Design Judge.

How to Crack System Design Interviews - Part 5: Reviewing Your Solution

This section of the system design interview focuses on identifying and evaluating trade-offs within the proposed design. Here's how we navigate this:

- **Start with non-functional requirements:** We begin by analyzing how non-functional requirements, such as durability, influence design choices and user experience.
- **Analyze access patterns:** We consider how users interact with the system, examining the frequency of different requests and their impact on optimization strategies.
- **Make conscious trade-offs:** Based on our analysis, we make deliberate trade-offs, such as potentially sacrificing immediate consistency for faster read operations.
- **Use precise language:** We use clear and established engineering terms to facilitate accurate communication and efficient use of interview time.
- **Remain adaptable:** We stay open to feedback from the interviewer and adjust our design based on their input, acknowledging their understanding of the system.

[Gaurav Sen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gkcs/) has conducted 1000s of system design interviews while working at Uber and building his [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@gkcs) to 500K+ subscribers. His platform [InterviewReady](https://interviewready.io/?_aff=JOINTARO) combines video explainers, live Zoom classes, and an automated System Design Judge.

Paper Reading: Enhancing Reasoning Abilities in LLMs through Geometrical Understanding

Session Led by [Lucia Mocz](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucia-mocz-ph-d/)

The advancement of large language models (LLMs) for real-world applications hinges critically on enhancing their reasoning capabilities. In this paper read, we explore the reasoning abilities of LLMs through a geometrical framework. We establish a connection between the expressive power of LLMs and the density of their self-attention graphs.

The analysis performed in this work demonstrates that the density of these self-attention graphs defines the intrinsic dimension of the inputs to the MLP blocks. In particular, it shows, through theoretical analysis and toy examples, that a higher intrinsic dimension implies a greater expressive capacity of the LLM. Additionally, it provides empirical evidence linking this geometric framework to recent advancements in methods aimed at enhancing the reasoning capabilities of LLMs.

Don't miss this opportunity to deepen your understanding of how geometrical insights can drive improvements in AI reasoning. Whether you're an AI researcher, practitioner, or enthusiast, this talk promises to offer valuable perspectives and groundbreaking ideas.\
\
Paper: [**https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.02678**\
(Accompanying](https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.02678￼\(Accompanying) paper: [**https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.01648**](https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.01648))

What Engineers Get Wrong About Open Source (From the OSS Lead at Meta)

Open source software is not just about the code! It's about understanding and working with project maintainers to solve a problem.

Break Into Tech And Become A Software Engineer [Part 17] - The Chicken vs. The Egg

In this lesson, Brian addresses the challenge of gaining experience as a software developer when transitioning careers, offering practical solutions beyond traditional routes.

This lesson covers:

- The limitations of open source projects, highlighting their high barriers to entry and explaining why they may not be the best route for everyone
- Freelancing as a more straightforward option for gaining experience, which can lead to valuable work and opportunities
- Turning a side project into a legitimate business, providing either career validation or even a pathway to financial independence without needing a traditional job

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/>

Break Into Tech And Become A Software Engineer [Part 10] - Why It's Better To Share

In this lesson, Brian explains the value of building in public as a tool for personal accountability, skill development, and community building.

This lesson covers:

- How building in public holds you accountable to your goals and helps you communicate more effectively, a key skill for software development
- The importance of using public sharing to connect with like-minded people and build a supportive community
- Why building in public improves your discoverability and can lead to networking, job opportunities, and genuine collaboration

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/>

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.