Overcoming Imposter Syndrome - You Have So Much More Value Than You Realize

One of the biggest factors holding software engineers back is a simple one: They don't believe in themselves. This is very common in the tech industry where being surrounded by talented peers makes it very easy to end up with a case of imposter syndrome. This video explains why every single person in tech is wrong when they believe they can't add value.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **You can't be alive for 20+ years and not have something to share** - 2 decades is a long time. A lot of people don't believe they can share value when they're early in career, which completely discards all their years prior to their career. It's not like you only started generating value in the world after you embarked on your tech career journey. It is mathematically impossible to have been on planet Earth for so long and not have something cool you can share with others.
- **Believe in yourself** - You are limited by what you think of yourself: If you don't believe that you can offer value, then you won't offer value. The absolute first step to successful networking is recognizing your own potential and feeling empowered to help others.
- **Accessible ways that *anyone* can add value**
  - Interesting experiences
  - Odd talents
  - Learnings from failure
  - Being a friendly face

Related resources:
- ["How can I bridge my confidence gap to put myself out there more and ask for help more aggressively?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/mLKUkNXpLcCxQMfWopqU/how-can-i-bridge-my-confidence-gap-to-put-myself-out-there-more-and-ask-for-help-more-aggressively/)
- ["I've felt imposter syndrome from seeing super talented peers - How do I deal with this?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/MPUkGXFDaBixmxfjOg9i/ive-felt-imposter-syndrome-from-seeing-super-talented-peers-how-do-i-deal-with-this/)

Supercharge Your Professional Networking By Leading With Kindness

When people go into the professional world, they usually go in with a very cynical and cloistered mentality. This is very true among software engineers, but this mentality often holds them back when it comes to professional networking.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Kindness is 10x more valuable when it's unexpected** - Because everyone has that more cynical mentality in the workplace, proactively being very kind to people that don't expect it builds up an immense amount of trust extremely quickly. By taking a chance on someone like this, you are short-circuiting the normally long and laborious process of earning trust.
- **You can "target" kindness tactically** - You don't need to waste a bunch of time being overwhelmingly kind to everyone around you. You should do it for people who are important to your workflow, those who you have observed being kind to others, and [those who would be valuable to your professional network in general](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/K1GyJ83GCVj7bfxytYrM/how-to-find-the-best-people-for-your-professional-network/).
- **Alex's and Rahul's Unexpected Kindness Story**
  - Rahul started at Portal a couple months after Alex did.
  - Portal was a very young org at this time with almost 0 onboarding infrastructure.
  - When Rahul joined, Alex still didn't really know what he was doing, but he knew more than Rahul did as he was brand new. Alex went out of his way to onboard Rahul smoothly, using his past struggles to make sure Rahul didn't hit the same pitfalls. This included a private doc Alex had been building up of the "tricks" he had learned while onboarding at Portal.
  - This unexpected act of kindness was the foundation for the relationship between Alex and Rahul, which has led them to cofound Taro!

Related resources:
- ["How do you network effectively within a company?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/DwT9GtdYK9nwFV3a7jrU/how-do-you-network-effectively-within-a-company/)
- [Don't Waste Your 1 on 1s. Build The Relationship](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/wcFrGc53iHzbWh0Ssw1j/dont-waste-your-1-on-1s-build-the-relationship/)

The Crucial First Step To Building Relationships That Everyone Misses

Many people in tech are bad at professional networking, and the reason is simple: They're being too selfish. If you want to build a professional network that is truly useful to you, you must strive to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

Here's the core points from the video:
- **Understand their incentives** - Everyone in the professional world is looking out for something: Nobody works purely for the sake of working. When you're working within a company environment, *this is usually what they're rewarded for in their performance review*. When you're asking for something, it's easy to get caught up in what *you're* looking for and how this other person can help *you*. The key to effective interpersonal communication is to flip that mentality and use your empathy to figure out *how you can help them instead*.
- **Alex's Instagram Misalignment Story**
  - Back in 2018, Instagram cofounders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger parted ways with Instagram and Facebook overall. This left a power vacuum with no clear "wing" of the company to drive the overall direction.
  - During this time, Alex was working on Instagram Ads. After the cofounders left, his team tried to ship a project to make the main action button on ads much bigger. Their A/B test showed that the new variant earned far more revenue.
  - The new CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, shot the idea down, citing that it was too tacky. He then declared a design lockdown across all of Instagram stating that all new Instagram features needed to meet Instagram's user design standards.
  - This changed the incentives between designers and engineers at Instagram. Designers were now more focused on upholding the aesthetic integrity of Instagram and less so on shipping projects. On the other hand, engineers were still laser-focused on shipping.
  - *The engineers who best succeeded during this transitory period were those who worked together with the designers and championed their goals.* These engineers were willing to incorporate design polish and didn't immediately dismiss it as a threat to their timelines.

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech-12172022/) - The full video where this clip was taken from
- [9-Part Effective Communication Master Series](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/hVdLQQzfslaYarLSCmmy/)
- ["How do I ask XFN partner for help to make progress in the project?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/OCUrjUM8axEIOJkSKhZp/how-do-i-ask-xfn-partner-for-help-to-make-progress-in-the-project/)

[Masterclass] How To Survive Tech Industry Layoffs

Layoffs: They will always be a part of the tech industry. 2022 was the first year of massive tech layoffs in the post-covid economy, and 2023 is sure to bear several more. Not even FAANG is safe with Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon all having layoffs in 2022.

There were a ton of important points from this masterclass, so here's our Top 5 (in no particular order):
- **Layoffs are effectively random for almost everyone** - Individual contributors (ICs) and more front-line managers are generally not privy to what happens behind the scenes with cut decisions. You can be a well-connected high-performer in a healthy revenue-generating org and still be laid off. It's crucial to recognize this reality and be at peace with it.
- **Stop freaking out** - Ironically, the worst way to deal with layoffs is to worry constantly and drastically alter your behavior to optimize for them. It's not healthy to go to places like Blind regularly to stay "up-to-date" with layoffs. The best way to deal with layoffs is to continue living your life as normal and double down on responsible software engineer behaviors. For more context on what those behaviors our, read this discussion: ["What are software engineering fundamentals?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/3VNPK7wol76s89EkgFeW/what-are-software-engineering-fundamentals/)
- **Be deliberate with your performance review** - So many software engineers, junior ones in particular, assume that if they do good work and don't see any red flags, they'll get a good performance rating. This is very much not the case, especially at high-performance tech companies like FAANG. Maintain a transparent dialog about your performance with your manager and create a concrete growth plan. Here's our masterclass to help with that: [[Masterclass] How To Navigate Your Performance Review In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/b0B8uqIAUnBLE10jJHJG/masterclass-how-to-navigate-your-performance-review-in-tech/)
- **Build a stellar, wide professional network** - It is more important than ever to build meaningful, high-quality relationships in the workplace. Tech is an inherently collaborative space: You need a multitude of connections to help you grow, vouch for you in performance review, and provide warm referrals for your next opportunity if you are laid off. If you want to deepen your network, watch this: [[Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/masterclass-how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech/)
- **Getting laid off isn't the end of the world** - There's nothing wrong with you if you're cut during a layoff. Don't dwell on how you messed up or what you could have better to avoid the layoff: Focus on your next step. The silver lining is that getting laid off opens the door to your next opportunity and likely comes with some time in the form of a severance package to allow you to seriously think about your future. To optimize your next move, check out: [[Masterclass] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/0WEmTNZOMIh8xAdfO3JH/masterclass-how-to-choose-a-good-company-and-team-as-a-software-engineer/)

Related resources:
- ["How to survive potential layoffs?"](https://link.jointaro.com/zGwioWXPLe8xhuA89)
- ["What are the signs of an impending layoff in an organisation that can help an employee prepare themselves better?"](https://link.jointaro.com/tkUnst8KKBdktPQq5)
- ["Staying motivated among lay-offs?"](https://link.jointaro.com/g9462CQrqy1KGtqR8)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Uyf04xDGTweN0ija_Z3nr9NZ_WsoDikh_54LR5AfZjU/)

[Case Study] How To Become A Data Guru As An Engineer (w/ Senior Director of DS Mo Shahangian)

Mo has had a successful career at the intersection of data science and engineering at companies like Pinterest, Meta, and Epic Games.

Mo talked about the biggest data mistakes and how the job changes as you navigate seniority levels. He also shared his contrarian approach to promotion that has worked so well in his career. 

## Data knowledge for engineers:
- Data science is an overloaded term. The high-level goal for anyone working with data is to surface insights that will inform decisions. 
- Being insightful isn’t enough -- you need to surface **actionable** and **causal** relationships.

Everyone needs a reminder correlation != causation. Have some tools to remind yourself.
- Which way does the causal arrow go?
- Remember [Goodhart’s Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law)

## Career growth
- At the most senior levels, leaders are business owners/product leaders, not functional leaders.
- At more junior levels, it’s the opposite, there needs to be order and a separation of responsibility. The best people learn how to work, not only within their lane, but across.

Career success comes from being deliberate:
- A career is a series of decisions
- These decisions come with tradeoffs
- Those best at navigating tradeoffs emerge as leaders
- "Deliberate" means that you are both intentional and calculated

Mo started out building data systems at UCLA, joined Pinterest during hypergrowth, and eventually became a Senior Director of Data Science at Meta, and recently joined Epic Games at the leadership level. Connect with Mo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-shahangian-b040188/

[Connect with Mo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-shahangian-b040188/)

More resources: 
- Another Taro Premium Session about [junior --> senior eng promos at Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/EX9563YnxcJb62cCmetg/session-5-mentoring-junior-swes-e3-to-senior-e5-in-just-25-years-at-meta/)
- [Why chasing promo could hurt you](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/qj2kX94TfFPgBLlQZBtb/why-chasing-promotion-could-hurt-you/)

[Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech

Professional networking is vital for a healthy career, especially as a software engineer. However, many tech workers struggle with building relationships, especially introverts. In this masterclass, we teach you how to improve your interpersonal communication and build meaningful professional connections quickly, which might even make you some work friends along the way.

There were a ton of important points from this masterclass, so here's our Top 5 (in no particular order):

- **You're going to get burned, and that's okay** - Professional networking is just like making friends or dating: You will meet people where it just doesn't work out. Don't let that tear you down and make you cloister up. Move on from those relationships and continue investing in new people.
- **Make them feel special** - Asking someone for a huge favor with some copy-paste message isn't networking: It's begging. The classic example is cold messaging random people for referrals into their FAANG company. If you want any chance of success with a reach out, make sure to deeply explain your background and credibility alongside why you reached out to that specific person in particular - Put them on a pedestal.
- **Understand their incentives** - One of the biggest reasons people fail with networking is that they're entirely caught up in what *they're* looking for, reducing their networking to "*How can I get this other person to give me what I want?"*. Successful relationships are those where each party is able to provide lots of value to one another, and the first step to doing that is to understand what the *other* person wants and what motivates them. When it comes to networking within a company, this is usually tied to what they get rewarded for in performance review.
- **Lead with kindness** - Only helping others when they have already helped you is a recipe for weak, slow-growing professional networks. Kindness is 10x more valuable in building up a relationship when it's unexpected, making the pleasant surprise of helping someone who's never helped you before especially powerful. For a deep dive into this concept (including a story about how Taro cofounders Alex and Rahul met), check out: ["How do you network effectively within a company?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/DwT9GtdYK9nwFV3a7jrU/how-do-you-network-effectively-within-a-company/)
- **Maximize 1 on 1 meetings** - 1 on 1s are the core engine behind deepening interpersonal communication, and that includes professional ones. Schedule a recurring 1 on 1 if possible with anybody you want to build a deep relationship with, and make sure to use that time well. Embrace [the art of the "Awkward 1 on 1"](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/xjeFRpp5YHxG9TTK8wjn/1-on-1s-are-the-time-to-be-awkward/) to share honest feedback, talk about how you're feeling, and learn who they truly are as a person. To learn more about this, watch this: [\[Masterclass\] How To Have Impactful 1 on 1 Meetings](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/FEK6JZqW2Jg3rdN9yeGn/masterclass-how-to-have-impactful-1-on-1-meetings/)

Related resources:

- [Alex's Guide To Effective Communication](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/hVdLQQzfslaYarLSCmmy/)
- ["How do I lead without authority?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/BWv3hFSELbn59mXJbkNB/how-do-i-lead-without-authority/)
- [What Makes A Truly Great Tech Lead](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uHqZZ15SK19MatEvLSO6/what-makes-a-truly-great-tech-lead-a-vp-of-engineerings-perspective/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TDdBRQTGc66T35PzB5SwcJ3HQci_csdy8mzKxQu3law/edit?usp=sharing)

Noob Software Engineer vs. Pro Software Engineer

The best software engineers proactively front-load the work to write clean code. They do this by planning ahead to find the best approach and taking the time to "dress up" their code review really well.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Noob Engineer** - Their goal is just to get the code to work. As soon as they get the happy flow functional, they submit the code for review. Their pull request doesn't have good context attached, and the test plan isn't thorough at all. They have to go through many revisions of teammates rejecting their code before they can finally land the commit. After it's landed, there's a high chance it breaks, and now they have to go back to their code to patch it up (or hard revert it).
- **Pro Engineer** - They come up with a plan to implement the best approach and vet it with their teammates. They make sure the code is polished and covers edge cases thoroughly before submitting the pull request. Their PR clearly explains the purpose of the code and has a very detailed test plan demonstrating what it does. Their teammates quickly and smoothly read their code and accept it on the first try. The pro engineer is able to land their commit shortly after submission, and the entire process was smooth for everyone. The pro engineer's reputation within the team grows with every masterful commit they push to production.

This highlight is from our masterclass on "How To Write Better Code Faster As A Software Engineer". [Click here to watch it.](https://link.jointaro.com/v6zEgUfQTxoSj33Z7)

Related resources:
- [One Diff, One Thesis - What Every Code Review Should Be Like](https://link.jointaro.com/5Ehehxt6jBR42ui1A)
- ["What can I do to quickly build my reputation as a junior engineer?"](https://link.jointaro.com/hxCTvumsQhUqRAbn6)

How To REALLY Level Up Your Coding Ability With Side Projects

There is no secret to getting better at coding: As a software engineer, you will become faster at coding when you write more code. This is where side projects can really come in.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Side projects are a productivity "hack"** - They allow you to write more code without overworking yourself. The self-guided, free nature of side projects essentially make them a hobby that also helps your performance at work.
- **When to consider side projects** - There are 2 factors that make this lever far more powerful:
  - You work at a startup: Startup code will be much more "vanilla" and closer to the code you find online. This means that it won't be too different from side project code.
  - You work on the front-end: If you're a web/iOS/Android developer and are working with pixels on screen, this puts you in a great position to do side projects as your work is inherently more sharable.
- **Side projects develop other important skills** - On top of raw coding, side projects also help you dabble in the skills of product managers, designers, data scientists, user researchers, and a whole lot more since you own the product entirely. These skills are also important for software engineers, especially those pursuing senior levels.

This highlight is from our masterclass about becoming a better coder. You can watch the full video here: [[Masterclass] How To Write Better Code Faster As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/iYpRj8XfyzCSaTYnce3y/masterclass-how-to-write-better-code-faster-as-a-software-engineer/)

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Come Up With 100k+ Users App Ideas You Can Build For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/AI4zi759PSGn6RwIFT6f/masterclass-how-to-come-up-with-100k-users-app-ideas-you-can-build-for-free/)
- [[Masterclass] How To Build And Grow Tech Products To 500k+ Users For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/OEuX0KMhcnNSTJ50Voee/masterclass-how-to-build-and-grow-tech-products-to-500k-users-for-free/)
- ["What technologies or stacks should I create a project to add in my resume for entry level software jobs?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/c0DiG5ureLbkZ1mKD9Rf/what-technologies-or-stacks-should-i-create-a-project-to-add-in-my-resume-for-entry-level-software-jobs/)

What Software Engineers Don't Get About Clean Code

Back at Instagram, Alex was able to grow very quickly. This was largely due to his coding ability. In his 1st half at Instagram, he pushed \~125 commits to production. In his 2nd half, he pushed \~185 commits to production. In his 3rd half, he pushed \~275 commits to production, making him a Top 5 code committer within his org of 50+ software engineers.

Here are the core points from the video:

- **You don't need to sacrifice quality for velocity** - This is one of the biggest misconceptions about code. You can both write a lot of code while keeping the polish high. In fact, high code quality and velocity naturally go hand-in-hand.
- **Messy code is a defining trait of a weak SWE** - 99% of bad software engineers have poor code quality, and conversely, you will rarely meet a high-performing software engineer that puts out messy code. Optimizing your code quality is one of the most powerful ways to avoid being a low performer, especially if you work at FAANG or Big Tech in general where the scale and stakes are much higher for code.
- **80/20 rule applies to code quality** - It usually doesn't make sense to cover 100% of edge cases, but you can generally cover \~80% of them with \~20% of the maximum effort, even if you're a tiny startup. Don't make excuses for broken, unreadable code by saying "We have to move fast"; strive to find that 80/20 path.

Related resources:

- ["What's the difference between a low performer software engineer and a high performer?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/nMxx2EMVIlJbl1oK4SGu/whats-the-difference-between-a-low-performer-software-engineer-and-a-high-performer/)
- ["How can I write great code faster?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/ciE9a2TZ7rZNyYP8HbeJ/how-can-i-write-great-code-faster/)

How To Earn Respect Fast - Senior Engineer Onboarding Story

Even if you're onboarding, you can earn respect amongst your team. In fact, you should feel empowered to earn this respect despite being new, especially if you're a senior software engineer.

Here are the core points from the video:
- **Help junior engineers** - This is one of the most effective ways to earn respect on a team as a more experienced engineer. The junior engineers may be more fluent in the code than you are, but if you're a senior+ engineer, there is a reason you have this level: You have certain fundamentals and instincts that are applicable everywhere that junior engineers don't really have.
- **Show your depth** - You won't win with velocity and output when you're new. However, you can win with depth and quality as that's largely a function of your effort and time. If you're a more experienced engineer, think about how you can go deeper into something than everyone else on the team.
- **Alex's senior engineer onboarding story** - Here's how a senior Android engineer quickly made a splash after joining Alex's team back at Instagram.
  - They saw a junior engineer struggling with a very complex text layout bug with the Instagram Android app.
  - They volunteered to help with this bug, even though they didn't have to.
  - After many failed debugging attempts, *they slowly extracted the relevant code line by line into an entirely separate Android app to identify the breaking line*. This was a brilliant tactic that nobody else on the team even remotely considered.
  - This combination of goodwill and extreme software engineering depth earned them a mountain of respect pretty much immediately.

This clip is from our masterclass on how to succeed at a new team or company as a software engineer. [Click here to watch the full thing.](https://link.jointaro.com/9sJzfDeH3JdWzZRg9)

Related resources:
- ["How can I quickly gain respect among my team as a senior engineer?"](https://link.jointaro.com/i9j4dtohx2bXc2Sq8)
- ["How do you network effectively within a company?"](https://link.jointaro.com/Hr1nr53D7sfQAEv3A)

Asking Questions Is NOT A Sign Of Weakness

Believing that asking questions and requesting help is a sign of weakness is easily one of the biggest misconceptions among onboarding software engineers and just people in general. If you believe this, you are simply holding back your career.

Here are the core points from the video:

- **Nobody knows everything** - And because of this, asking questions is a fundamentally human experience. There will always be some corner of the ecosystem that you don't know, and this is especially true when you work at FAANG / Big Tech, even if you're very tenured there.
- **Liberally pursue support** - This is especially true when you're earlier-in-career or new to a team or company. As long as you're polite, humble, and empathetic when seeking help, you'll be surprised at how much support you can get and how happy your team is to give it to you. Follow the advice here to learn how to ask questions in this way: ["How do you overcome the fear of asking stupid questions / bothering people when you need help?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/vNE8kgpx2zdI1wACg9jA/how-do-you-overcome-the-fear-of-asking-stupid-questions-bothering-people-when-you-need-help/)
- **Minimize the time that you're a n00b** - Let's say perception is a problem and people think you're annoying when you're asking for help as a new team member. It's much better to ask a *bunch* of questions in a short period of time and become very independent afterwards instead of asking a few questions here and there and prolonging the period where you're an inefficient newbie for 3-6 months and dragging down the team. The latter would be *much* more annoying.

Related resources:

- ["How do I not bother people when asking for help?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/0Im1Kcgso1fJ8eAX3oOO/how-do-i-not-bother-people-when-asking-for-help/)
- ["How do I balance being more independent and asking questions?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/cLsgiARaD5kVmV1BvdUi/how-do-i-balance-being-more-independent-and-asking-questions/)

[Masterclass] How To Write Better Code Faster As A Software Engineer

Code: It's the main thing software engineers care about. However, as we all know, writing code quickly while keeping it clean can be extremely difficult. This is what this masterclass will help you with: We want to empower you to not only write more code, but write higher-quality code as well.

There were a ton of important points from this masterclass, so here's our Top 5 (in no particular order):
- **Go deep, not wide** - One of the most common mistakes junior software engineers make is not focusing on just 1 stack, often captured by being a "full-stack engineer". When you go ultra-deep on just 1 stack, you will start developing software engineering fundamentals and "muscle memory" that allows you to write code a lot faster. It will generally take 2-4 years of focus on just 1 stack to start getting really good at it. For more information about this point, check out this video: [This Is How Software Engineers Should Initially Learn](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/wUl3hc2wr1ms493bd23b/this-is-how-software-engineers-should-initially-learn/)
- **Build side projects** - There's no magic to getting better at coding: The more you do it, the stronger your skill. This is why side projects are so powerful: They allow you to write more code without overworking yourself as we talk about in this discussion: ["How will side projects enhance my skills as a software engineer on the job?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KORArGLRW6mNn47ddC1S/how-will-side-projects-enhance-my-skills-as-a-software-engineer-on-the-job/)
- **Submit polished pull requests** - There's more to code than the raw lines you put into commits; how you submit it for review is a huge factor as well. If you take the time to make atomic PRs, add context, and attach a thorough test plan, your code will be landed much faster (and your team will love you for it). For concrete examples on what this looks like, watch this: [One Diff, One Thesis - What Every Code Review Should Be Like](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/3NAbmgiaY3IpvayNIoVl/one-diff-one-thesis-what-every-code-review-should-be-like/)
- **Really absorb code review feedback** - The main way you will learn as a junior engineer or as an onboarding team member is by getting feedback on your code. Make sure to respond to code review feedback in a timely manner (<4 hours) and really soak it in: Strive to never make the same code quality mistake twice. If you're having trouble getting your code reviewed fast, follow the advice here: [Quick Tips To Get Higher Quality Code Reviews Faster](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/QgDk2yWlfWzgLjh56bSq/quick-tips-to-get-higher-quality-code-reviews-faster/)
- **Modularize your code** - Split your code up into focused components with single responsibilities and thoughtful names. When you do this, your code will be much more flexible, reusable, and easier to read. Here's our advice on how to break down large projects into more digestible chunks: ["How can I be better at executing on my work when it comes to coding and breaking down ambiguity?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/6lfyIKgkoclcDNKWq9o3/how-can-i-be-better-at-executing-on-my-work-when-it-comes-to-coding-and-breaking-down-ambiguity/)

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Manage Your Time Optimally In Tech And Achieve More Results](https://link.jointaro.com/8D6Y6BnYm8696RtC9)
- [[Masterclass] How To Do Amazing Code Review](https://link.jointaro.com/8D6Y6BnYm8696RtC9)
- ["What can I do to quickly build my reputation as a junior engineer?"](https://link.jointaro.com/hxCTvumsQhUqRAbn6)
- [Presentation slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17o6XlEjiYbkV1FMrhOoFwcM1O59NmdAOfZ3AXol7daY/edit?usp=sharing)

The First Thing You Need To Do Before Figuring Out Your Next Company And Team

Choosing the right company and team for you as a software engineer is one of the most important decisions you'll make, and given the high turnover in the tech industry, is a decision that you will have to make multiple times. This is why having the right mentality here is so crucial, which is what this video covers.

Here are the core points:
- Everyone is different - There is simply no "one size fits all" career path for everyone. FAANG companies are great overall of course, but there are going to *many* people and situations where it doesn't make sense to go there.
- Before thinking about your next move, have an honest conversation with yourself and those close to you about your priorities. *Your goal is to create a stack-ranked lists of your priorities.*
- Prioritization is a much harder exercise than people realize as there's simply so many angles to it. Here the ones mentioned in the video:
  - Compensation
  - Work-life balance
  - Company prestige
  - Supportiveness of team
  - Growth opportunities
  - Stability
  - Maximum outcome (risk tolerance)
  - Remote work
  - Product space
  - Company ethics
  - Technical space
  - Level/title
  - Benefits
  - Location

This clip was taken from the following masterclass: [[Masterclass] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/0WEmTNZOMIh8xAdfO3JH/masterclass-how-to-choose-a-good-company-and-team-as-a-software-engineer/)

Related resources:
- ["How do I know when it's time to leave a team/company?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/2Ahiy6ZtUYWDjkSoG3Zk/how-do-i-know-when-its-time-to-leave-a-teamcompany/) - This is the Q&A that Rahul mentioned in this video.
- ["What's the difference between Big Tech and startups in terms of learning and growth?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KWXIrFIR1EIJsvdOdo7u/whats-the-difference-between-big-tech-and-startups-in-terms-of-learning-and-growth/)

[Masterclass] How To Succeed At A New Team Or Company As A Software Engineer

There are **ton** of great points in this presentation, so to prevent this summary from being a 10 page essay, we're only including our Top 5 points:
1. **Asking for help != weakness** - In fact, it's quite the opposite: Trying to figure out everything on your own and not asking questions is what makes you weak. Being comfortable with your cluelessness and putting yourself out there aggressively to get all the help you need is what makes you strong. Learn more about this dynamic here: ["How do I balance being more independent and asking questions?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/cLsgiARaD5kVmV1BvdUi/how-do-i-balance-being-more-independent-and-asking-questions/)
2. **Get maximum value from questions** - Ask high-quality questions and ask follow-up questions to really understand the answers your teammates give you and the systems they followed to arrive at those answers. Your goal is to learn skills in a sustainable way that makes you more independent as opposed to needing hand-holding all the time. To better understand hand-holding (and how to evolve from it), check out our in-depth explainer here: ["What does it mean to not require handholding anymore?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/5vEWajcZlSi7nlohTGtJ/what-does-it-mean-to-not-require-handholding-anymore/)
3. **Don't get trapped reading the code and documentation** - The only real way to learn a codebase is to just hop in, start changing code and seeing what happens. Software is all about learning via doing. Watch this video to learn more: [How To Learn A New Codebase Fast](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/DX27hiXPJ4G7Czk2mwLL/how-to-learn-a-new-codebase-fast/)
4. **Thanking people is a skill** - When you're onboarding especially, it is crucial for you to show your gratitude effectively: Don't just do the basic, boring "Thanks for the help!" DM over Slack/Teams after you have been helped. Send the helper a heartfelt note, tell them in person, or let their manager know about their great deed. You can learn more about "deep thanks" here: [Effective Communication Guide [Part 3.1] - The Power Of Thanks](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/noWZaoGWlrYQxX2Vhigd/effective-communication-guide-part-31-the-power-of-thanks/).
5. **Be empowered to help others, even when you're new** - Anyone can help others, even the newbie. In fact, newbies are equipped to add unique value by having a fresh pair of eyes, particularly around improving the onboarding process for others. If you're onboarding, make it one of your priorities to earn respect as that will make the entire onboarding process smoother for you.

For more premier resources on onboarding:
- [[Case Study] Becoming A Tech Lead Again In Just 1 Month After Joining Robinhood From Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/X8vpfJooDpsX915ouC00/case-study-becoming-a-tech-lead-again-in-just-1-month-after-joining-robinhood-from-meta/)
- ["How do you overcome the fear of asking stupid questions / bothering people when you need help?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/vNE8kgpx2zdI1wACg9jA/how-do-you-overcome-the-fear-of-asking-stupid-questions-bothering-people-when-you-need-help/)
- ["How can I become more independent and better at unblocking myself with tricky technical issues?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/QhqQQGrDgFjZbqohpKe0/how-can-i-become-more-independent-and-better-at-unblocking-myself-with-tricky-technical-issues/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MTs7GIklpVnYrA_JRlgcpKu1reeTLto1kYEsa6M8UqI/edit?usp=sharing)

System Design Series: Taro Playlists [Part 7] - How Can Things REALLY Break?

The tactics are covered in the system design doc, so this summary will focus on the "meta" context behind this part and additional commentary:

- You should *always* think about "How can we cause a SEV?" when you're planning out system design for any substantial project or task.
  - **Context:** SEV = Severity, which is the term Meta, Robinhood, and many other companies use to describe a really bad product event.
  - This is one of the purest and most critical manifestations of proactive thinking, which is one of the trademark attributes of a competent senior+ engineer and tech lead. SEVs are events that seriously set back your organization or even your entire company if they're something you have to react to as opposed to catching them early.
- This "anti-SEV" thinking is *especially* relevant for Big Tech where the stakes are much holder due to regulatory constraints, increased media presence, and a massive scale of users.
  - It's also far harder to do this well at Big Tech due to a greater range of ways things can break.
  - However, if you can do this well, you will add a tremendous amount of value to your team. This is why pretty much all senior and staff engineers at FAANG and FAANG-equivalent companies have really developed this skill.
- Here are the ways a SEV can happen from the video (these are all vectors Alex dealt with at Meta as well):
  - **Users not playing nice** - You should never assume that users will put in proper inputs or even not want to harm other users. Most major tech products have some sort of multiplayer component, so it's important to be vigilant here.
  - **Bad auth context** - This means that users are able to carry out actions on behalf of other users. This can happen either intentionally (i.e. the acting user is malicious) or accidentally (e.g. the user has multiple accounts on your service and switching between them cleanly is broken).
  - **Incorrect backporting** - "Backporting" is the process of making things work on older builds of your software. This is *very* relevant for mobile engineers as there will always be a good amount of users on older builds, especially if your product is used by people in regions with lower internet.

You can [find the full system design doc here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/15WaM8Ojan82g0m2mtz6kC2Hiyj0Q6VbjfqRmVNDI3qw/edit?usp=sharing) - Feel free to use it as a template for when you're going through the system design process at your job!

System Design Series: Taro Playlists [Part 1] - What REAL System Design Looks Like

This video is the introduction to our system design series, a vital skill for senior software engineers to succeed, especially at FAANG and Big Tech in general.

**Update:** Playlist are now shipped within Taro! Try it out and see how the system design in this video brought this feature to life by visiting the full playlist for the series here: [System Design Masterclass: Taro Playlists](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/dChIyTQcu2Ct5VC70lki/)

Core points from the video:

- System design interviews are more analogous to your actual job than data structures and algorithms, but there are two big gaps:
  - **Overly grandiose exercises** - You will never get a technical problem on the scale of "Build all of Netflix", especially if you work at a Big Tech where you will get something much more local. Most of the biggest problems at these companies are already solved due to their maturity and plethora of software engineering talent.
  - **Time constraint** - Because interviews are time-boxed to 45 to 60 minutes, you have to do very broad strokes. In real life, system design should be much more thorough and has more steps and technical writing.
- To make this series as authentic as possible, we are going to be breaking down an actual upcoming feature within Taro: Playlists! On top of this:
  - This system design is exactly how Alex would design a system if he were still at Meta/Robinhood as a tech lead. While Taro doesn't need something this granular as a startup, this series simulates many aspects of a more mature company.
  - Alex has made a very thorough 9-page system design doc going through every aspect of the system.

[Case Study] Building XFN Alignment Across Multiple Orgs (w/ Staff Engineer Cat Chen)

[Cat Chen](https://catchen.me/) talked about his success building alignment across multiple orgs. 

Cat was working at Facebook as a Staff Engineer on the growth team. His charter to get the Android apps on app stores beyond the Play Store. (There were 10+ non-Google stores where Android apps get downloaded with some level of traffic.

Getting an app listed on a 3rd-party platform is simple – sign up as a developer on that platform; upload the Android app for review; wait for approval and launch it. Just as simple as publishing to Google Play.

**BUT it's not that simple at a company like Facebook.** Facebook lawyers wouldn’t allow Cat to accept the Terms of Service on behalf of Facebook the company. Cat didn’t have the privilege to bind Facebook into this contract and even if he did, the lawyers would certainly advise against that.

Instead of simply handing this problem to another person or org, Cat met with a director-level lawyer. Given he was on a different time zone, and in a different job function altogether, this took some legwork. The director explained the risk profile (Facebook could have unlimited downside by blindly accepting an agreement). Eventually Cat discovered a workable solution by using a contracting company to sign the legal agreement, which limits the damages that Facebook may face.

Impact of this work: 
- Successful launch of the existing Android apps
- Ability to launch other apps in the future
- Deep and positive relationship with the legal team, and Cat owned that relationship (which made him indispensable)
- **Almost zero lines of code written!**

[Connect with Cat](https://www.linkedin.com/in/catchen/)

For more resources on how to communicate, build alignment, and operate as a Staff Engineer:
- ["How do I sell the vision behind a large, org-level project?"](https://link.jointaro.com/NGCrB2ifkkpDaDe69)
- ["What's the Difference Between A Senior And Staff Engineer?"](https://link.jointaro.com/BEM2RAjPFe8Pv7826)
- [Guide to Effective Communication](https://link.jointaro.com/mP3WEd4zt5ecnupX6)

[Masterclass] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer

Choosing the right company (or team) is one of the highest leverage decisions you'll make in your career, so it's worth doing some reflection!

It’s all about your priorities

- Figure out what’s important to you and what’s not. Create a stack-ranked list of all of these and work backwards from the top 2-3 to figure out the best opportunities for you
- People don’t realize how many angles there are to this. Here’s all the ones from the presentation: *Compensation, work-life balance, company prestige, supportiveness of team, growth opportunities, stability, maximum outcome (risk), remote work, product space, company ethics, technical space, level/title, benefits, location*

Supportiveness and overall quality of the team are often underrated

- It’s really hard to grow and have a healthy work life without this
- If you like your manager/teammates and you feel like you’re regularly learning/being challenged by them, deeply cherish that. People underestimate how hard it is to find an environment like this. Even in a prestigious company like Big Tech, this is difficult to find.

Big Tech vs. Startups

- At the end of the day, it’s all about your risk tolerance - Startups can have insane monetary/promotion outcomes, but they also might collapse the next year.
- In a vacuum: Start off at a Big Tech company to build a good foundation and then switch into smaller companies to have more scope/ownership

Some things you should NOT spend time on:

❌ Don't focus on how much you liked (or did not like) the people in the interview process. The recruiter/interviewer is NOT representative of your life at the company. Instead, focus on trends of the people joining the company, rather than individual data points.

❌ Don't spend time looking at the financials of the company. Even if you do decide to dig into the numbers, there's a good chance you'll screw up the interpretation -- humans have a really hard time with exponential growth.

Learning the quality of a team

- Talk to engineers/ICs if you can - The manager will inherently be biased towards their own team as they are often goaled on hiring
- Make sure that the team has a healthy oncall process and fast code review iteration

Related resources:

- [\[Masterclass\] 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 you tell if a large public company is going in the right direction?”](https://www.jointaro.com/question/TrlweQQ7DveTnYBP9VUH/how-can-you-tell-if-a-large-public-company-is-going-in-the-right-direction/)
- [“What does it mean to not have enough scope to be promoted?”](https://www.jointaro.com/question/bJuagPwOEEy5vkcXKkqh/what-does-it-mean-to-not-have-enough-scope-to-be-promoted/)
- [“What should I look for in a new team in terms of growth?”](https://www.jointaro.com/question/i2bOMPrqaRc0NUZ7918F/what-should-i-look-for-in-a-new-team-in-terms-of-growth/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S_kULq5zzVLkcoKy0bKJ2IHSrjL3s2VbOLe8p1TQJ7s/edit?usp=sharing)

What's the Difference Between A Senior And Staff Engineer?

The mark of someone who is NOT ready to be a staff engineer: Asking what needs to happen to get to staff.

A staff engineer should identify problems worth solving, and then get buy-in across the org to solve the problem.

- Despite each staff engineer's journey being different, there's still an opportunity to learn from the examples of other promotion cases. Here's an example from Rachel's days at Yelp with a talented staff engineer:
  - Google announced an algorithm change for SEO ranking, which would favor websites with better mobile friendliness.
  - An engineer on a feature team recognized that this would hurt Yelp and brought it up very proactively.
  - They drove a proposal and broke down the problem with several domain experts in the organization.
  - It took a while, but they were able to ship a quality, long-term solution.
- Instead of just looking at "what" new problem to solve, there's also opportunity for very senior engineers to breakdown the "how" to accomplish a large, ambiguous problem and get to staff.

If you enjoyed this video, you can watch all of Rachel's other Taro videos here: <https://www.jointaro.com/topic/rachel-zhao/>

For more resources on getting to staff:

- ["How can I come up with big initiatives, especially those at a Staff level?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/c3LcBDXEcxA85y9jlFjz/how-can-i-come-up-with-big-initiatives-especially-those-at-a-staff-level/)
- ["For a Staff engineer at a Big Tech company, what should their first 3-6 months look like?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/X8QYtxzD7SXdzMfcnBiX/for-a-staff-engineer-at-a-big-tech-company-what-should-their-first-3-6-months-look-like/)
- ["How do I come up with innovative, impactful ideas and bring them to my team?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/3QIJhAT4loA7n1hSfCuw/how-do-i-come-up-with-innovative-impactful-ideas-and-bring-them-to-my-team/)

"How did you decide to quit your job and make a startup?" - 9/13/2022

If you're interested in starting your own startup, check out our curated playlist for it here: [[Taro Top 10] Entrepreneurship And Tech Startups](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/ArtlSzF17v7cad1K6TJG/)

- Alex has wanted to start his own thing for a while - Ever since his side projects started getting serious traction in 2015-2016 (25,000+ users each).
- The initial goal with [Tech Career Growth Community](https://www.linkedin.com/company/techcareergrowth/) wasn't to make a business out of it. The pandemic was happening and people were suffering - We just wanted to help people.
  - Tech Career Growth then grew beyond Rahul's and Alex's wildest imaginations.
  - This made them start thinking what they could accomplish if they worked on it full-time instead of part-time.
- For Alex, there are the core reasons why he decided to make the jump back in early 2022:
  - **Diminishing returns on "preparing" to make a startup** - He had the 0 to 1 experience from doing side projects and building Course Hero's Android apps from scratch. Meta was great helping him build soft skills.
  - **Tech Career Growth taking off** - Alex had more fun working on this community than working his full-time job at Robinhood (which is saying something as he *really* enjoyed working at Robinhood!).
  - **Getting into an incubator** - In late 2021, Alex and Rahul got into OnDeck, which gives the old YC deal of 125k for 7%.
  - **Life timing** - Alex is 30 as of the publishing date of this video, and creating a startup only gets harder as you age due to increasing responsibilities outside of work.

If you're interested in how Alex published ~30 apps that got ~3 million users combined, check these out:
- ["Finding a mobile app idea - How to do it?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KJ4VXh6rUhKbWeiJoRDe/finding-a-mobile-app-idea-how-to-do-it/)
- [[Masterclass] How To Come Up With 100k+ Users App Ideas You Can Build For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/AI4zi759PSGn6RwIFT6f/masterclass-how-to-come-up-with-100k-users-app-ideas-you-can-build-for-free/)
- [[Masterclass] How To Build And Grow Tech Products To 500k+ Users For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/OEuX0KMhcnNSTJ50Voee/masterclass-how-to-build-and-grow-tech-products-to-500k-users-for-free/)

Lastly, here's a great discussion on how hard startups are compared to leveling up at a "traditional" job: ["Career advancement or building a startup? Which one is harder?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/EquWmWjZhqiiujyltreJ/career-advancement-or-building-a-startup-which-one-is-harder/)

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.