Take Some Time To Reflect

We wrap up by reframing layoffs as a rare opportunity to pause, reflect, and intentionally design the next chapter of your career. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- A layoff often comes with severance and time, which is an incredibly valuable resource that gives you space to step off the hamster wheel and think clearly.
- Taking days or even weeks to reflect is worthwhile, since deep self-introspection about career direction, values, and long-term goals is difficult but high leverage.
- Being laid off can surface important questions you may have ignored while grinding, including whether you enjoy your role, your function, or even the tech industry at all.
- Boredom and distance from day-to-day work can spark creativity, learning, and exploration that are nearly impossible when you’re constantly shipping and firefighting.
- With persistence, reflection, and conversations with trusted people, a layoff can become a pivot point that leads to a more aligned, fulfilling next step—even if that path looks very different than before.

Build Support Groups

We explain why building community after a layoff can dramatically improve both emotional resilience and job-search outcomes. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Layoffs create a natural sense of solidarity, and bringing laid-off peers together helps transform an isolating experience into a shared support system.
- Being proactive about forming or joining support groups—through spreadsheets, LinkedIn, or communities like Taro—creates powerful networks of talented people who can help one another.
- Regular check-ins, shared encouragement, and activities like mock interviews provide structure, accountability, and momentum during the job search.

Choose A Financially Sound Company

We outline the concrete, proactive steps you can take to reduce layoff risk by choosing the right company upfront.

- The most important controllable factor is company selection, with profitability as a key litmus test, since companies that spend more than they earn are far more vulnerable in tighter markets.
- Hiring quality and pace matter: overly easy interviews and hyper-aggressive headcount growth are red flags that often signal overhiring and future layoffs.
- Healthy companies tend to grow steadily rather than stagnate or attempt extreme, unsustainable expansion, especially given the high cost of tech talent.
- Clear product direction and strong leadership are critical, particularly for startups, and can often be evaluated through interviews, vision clarity, and how leaders communicate.
- There are two valid ways to assess company health—analyzing financials directly or reading secondary signals like employee quality, departures, and trusted insider perspectives—and combining both approaches gives the strongest signal.

Who Gets Cut In A Layoff?

We explain how companies decide who gets laid off and why, from the outside, the process often feels random and opaque.

- There is no universal rule for layoff selection, as decisions vary heavily by company, leadership style, and timing, making it impossible for individual contributors to reliably predict outcomes.
- Common factors considered include performance, the business importance of a team, seniority, and tenure, but each of these can cut both ways depending on company priorities and cost pressures.
- From an individual contributor’s perspective, mass layoffs often feel random because decisions are made quickly, by very few executives, and with incomplete information to avoid panic.
- At large companies, layoffs are often driven by shareholder or board pressure to improve profitability, while startups are guided by burn rate, runway, and investor feedback in a tighter funding environment.
- Layoffs can also be opportunistic, used to trim perceived excess, remove deprioritized teams, or reset perks, with additional randomness introduced by legal safeguards like manager quotas to reduce lawsuit risk.

Underrated Career Goals

We highlight the qualities engineers consistently underestimate and why these matter far more than most people realize when choosing a company or team.

Here are the core points from the lesson:

- We emphasize that the most underrated factor by far is a truly supportive team: a strong manager, teammates who challenge and care about us, and an environment where we grow—something incredibly rare, worth cherishing, and often more valuable than joining a prestigious brand.
- We explain that growth opportunities don’t come automatically from prestige; even at places like Meta or Google, you can land on a team with poor scope or weak culture, and real growth often requires intentional team selection and proactive effort.
- We stress that stability and sustainable work-life balance are often undervalued by early-career engineers, who assume they can power through long hours, even though sustained 60-hour weeks degrade learning, productivity, and mental health—and that the best creators historically do only a few hours of deep work daily.

Career Priorities List

We walk through the many different priorities that can shape which company and team are truly right for us, and why this makes the choice so hard.

Here are the core points from the lesson:

- We list 14+ possible priorities—compensation, work-life balance, company prestige, supportive team, growth opportunities, stability, maximum outcome (upside), remote work, product space, company ethics, technical space, title, benefits (like parental leave), and location—showing how many different axes there are to optimize for.
- We explain nuances within each priority: for example, early-stage startups can offer huge upside but high risk, big tech often offers more stability but lower ceiling, and team makeup/scope can make or break growth even inside a good company.
- We emphasize that the macro environment (economy, industry turbulence, company-specific churn) must be considered alongside our personal priorities when evaluating offers and career moves.
- We share that we have strong opinions and heuristics, but the goal is for each of us to examine and “stack-rank” our own priorities, test our assumptions, and disagree deliberately rather than blindly following default paths like “just go to FAANG.”

Create A Promotion Plan

In this lesson, we explain why creating a written promotion plan is essential and how treating it like a living contract dramatically increases our chances of moving up, even though perfection or guarantees don’t exist.

- We emphasize getting everything in writing: building a promotion plan that outlines exactly what “performing at the next level” looks like, so expectations are clear and aligned.
- We note that even with a solid plan, promotions can fall through due to org politics or director-level decisions—but having a plan still increases success odds by 10x compared to “just doing good work and hoping.”
- We highlight the need to maintain the plan monthly, updating it as org priorities, reorgs, or company conditions shift—especially crucial at senior or staff levels where project selection matters.
- We explain the importance of defining the delta between your current level and the next—clarifying what skills, behaviors, or scope need to improve.
- We recommend structuring the plan around the company’s evaluation axes (e.g., engineering excellence, direction, project impact, people) to clearly identify which “stats” need leveling up.

Your Rating Should Never Be A Surprise

In this lesson, we explain why your performance rating should *never* be a negative surprise and how maintaining transparent, ongoing conversations with your EM prevents career-derailing outcomes.

- We emphasize that if you expect “meets” and end up on a PIP, something has gone catastrophically wrong—and it’s almost always preventable through proactive communication.
- We recommend regularly asking for a *hypothetical rating* (“If you had to rate me today, what would it be?”) while explicitly acknowledging it’s not a guarantee—this makes managers comfortable giving candid signals.
- We highlight that good managers are usually 80–90% accurate with these hypothetical ratings, giving you strong insight into where you truly stand.
- We note that engineers who avoid this conversation out of discomfort effectively “walk themselves off a cliff” by choosing to stay in the dark.
- We reinforce that building trust through vulnerability, consistency, and strong 1:1 habits unlocks your manager’s willingness to give honest performance signals—ensuring you’re never blindsided.

The Basics

In this lesson, we outline how to structure manager 1:1s so they become one of the most powerful tools for growth, clarity, and alignment in the IC–EM relationship.

- We highlight that the gold standard for 1:1s is weekly, recurring, and 30 minutes long, which is long enough for meaningful depth but manageable on a manager’s packed calendar.
- We stress that cancellations should be rare because these meetings are the “lifeblood” of the relationship and the primary space where trust, alignment, and problem-solving happen.
- We recommend keeping a running meeting notes document with agendas, discussion points, and assigned action items to ensure continuity and accountability.
- We emphasize that although 1:1s take only \~1–2% of our weekly hours, they influence 30–70% of how quickly we grow and how effectively we leverage our EM.
- We reinforce that strong engineers prepare intentionally for these meetings—coming with notes, plans, and reflection—rather than waiting passively for their manager to drive the conversation.

Feedback Is A Gift. Seriously

In this lesson, we explore how feedback, especially how we *receive* it, is one of the most important levers for building trust with our engineering manager and accelerating our career growth.

- We highlight that managers are the primary (and often only) source of meaningful feedback, since peers rarely want the discomfort or risk of giving constructive criticism.
- We emphasize that when we first receive feedback, our job is to say **thank you**, avoid defensiveness, and take time to reflect—even if we disagree or feel misunderstood.
- We explain that most feedback contains at least a kernel of truth, and our responsibility is to identify what’s useful and implement changes quickly, then follow up later to show progress.
- We warn that pushing back defensively can permanently shut down future feedback, leaving us “rudderless” with no insight into what to improve.
- We share that the fastest-growing engineers treat feedback as a superpower: they assume good intent, absorb nuance, implement rapidly, and create a virtuous cycle where their manager is eager to invest even more in their growth.

Partner, Not A Boss

In this lesson, we talk about shifting the mindset from seeing an engineering manager as an authority figure to treating them as a partner whose incentives align closely with ours, unlocking far more growth and support.

- We emphasize that while EMs have real power (performance reviews, promotions, PIPs), relating to them through fear undermines trust, collaboration, and growth.
- We highlight that both we and our EM share the same fundamental goal: maximizing our impact, because our increased impact directly elevates their team impact.
- We explain that when we grow, deliver more, and navigate the org effectively, our manager looks better—so supporting our development is in their best interest.
- We encourage adopting a peer-like, partnership mentality rather than a hierarchical one, which creates more openness, trust, and meaningful dialogue.
- We reinforce the idea that adding value to our manager—through communication, initiative, and impact—encourages them to reciprocate with resources, advocacy, and opportunities.

Be Very Visible

In this lesson, we focus on the importance of visibility in the IC–manager relationship by making sure our EM always knows what we’re doing, where we’re succeeding, and where we need help.

- We emphasize assuming our EM has *no idea* what we’re working on; their schedule is chaotic, especially for high-performing managers, so visibility must come from us.
- We recommend over-communicating: CCing them on major updates, posting milestones publicly, and adding them as optional attendees to key meetings so they can see our impact firsthand.
- We note that joining high-stakes meetings (like SEV investigations) gives managers direct visibility into our leadership, problem-solving, and alignment skills.
- We highlight that 1:1s are the most valuable channel for surfacing wins, blockers, and complex problems that require “manager API powers.”
- We reinforce that visibility builds organizational reputation and that one of the traits managers value most is strong communication, where bad news early is fine, but surprising bad news is not.

The Onus Is On You

In this lesson, we focus on how to approach the engineering manager (EM) relationship effectively, emphasizing that our success depends heavily on how we engage, not on our manager doing everything for us.

- We stress that the responsibility for our career growth lies with us, not with our EM; they’re busy, context-switching across many reports, and can’t automatically know our needs or struggles.
- We explain that EMs need clear direction from us—without input, they can’t create opportunities, remove blockers, or advocate on our behalf.
- We compare managers to an API: they won’t initiate action on their own, but when we “call” them with the right inputs, they can be incredibly valuable resources.
- We reinforce that good managers will support us deeply if we engage correctly, but it’s our job to plug in and guide that support.
- We highlight that initiative is one of the most appreciated traits: EMs love working with engineers who proactively identify problems, propose ideas, and seek impact without needing to be pulled along.

How To Crack Any Interview

If you want direct interview support from Alex and Uzair, take their live Maven course with discount code **TARO10**: <https://maven.com/alex-kliotzkin/acing-em-interviews>

To ace any Engineering Manager (EM) interview, we need to go beyond memorized answers and demonstrate a deep, tailored understanding of the role, the company, and the people interviewing us. This final video recap ties together the core strategies we've learned throughout the course.

- **Deeply Understand the Role and the Interviewer**

  - We should thoroughly research the company's culture, the team’s business priorities, and even the interviewer’s background if possible.
  - This helps us anticipate questions and articulate the team’s pain points—making us stand out as someone who already thinks like an insider.

- **Focus on the Intent Behind the Questions**

  - Every question has an underlying purpose. We must listen for the *question behind the question* to understand what trait or leadership ability is being evaluated.
  - Once we’ve identified this, we lead our response with our **engineering management systems** and **leadership philosophies** to show intentionality and maturity.

- **Build and Customize Our Story Bank**

  - We should prepare core EM stories that demonstrate a range of leadership abilities and adverse situations.
  - The goal isn’t perfection but authenticity—sharing how we made decisions, what we learned, and how we’ve grown as a result.

- **Showcase Growth Through Adversity**

  - Most interview questions center around difficult moments. We should use these opportunities to demonstrate emotional maturity, resilience, and our ability to evolve—crucial traits for a leader.

- **Be Convincing and Confident**

  - At the end of the day, we’re not just answering questions—we’re telling a story about why we’re the best fit. We need to sell our value clearly and confidently, grounded in real experience and reflection.

Common Questions

If you want direct interview support from Alex and Uzair, take their live Maven course with discount code **TARO10**: <https://maven.com/alex-kliotzkin/acing-em-interviews>

In this video, we explore the behavioral side of engineering manager (EM) interviews, which focus heavily on leadership abilities. Each question is designed to assess core leadership competencies, and mastering these areas is critical for success.

- **Hiring & Growing Talent**: Interviewers look for evidence of managing underperformers, nurturing strong performers, and navigating hiring and talent review processes.
- **Delivery Under Pressure**: Candidates must demonstrate the ability to lead high-quality project deliveries on tight timelines, despite resource constraints or setbacks.
- **Stakeholder Management & Influence**: Expect to showcase how difficult feedback was delivered or how stakeholders were influenced for team benefit, often through challenging conversations.
- **Conflict Resolution & Judgment**: Questions will probe how candidates handle internal or external conflicts, as well as how strategic decisions were made with limited data.
- **Vision & Execution**: Interviewers want to hear about setting long-term vision, taking calculated risks, digging deep into complex problems, and operating effectively across all levels.

Leadership Bar

If you want direct interview support from Alex and Uzair, take their live Maven course with discount code **TARO10**: <https://maven.com/alex-kliotzkin/acing-em-interviews>

In this lesson, the instructor explains the core attributes that engineering manager (EM) interviewers, especially directors and above, look for when hiring. Unlike IC roles, EM hiring is predominantly trust-based and focused on leadership capabilities over technical depth.

- **Behavioral Over Technical**: 80% of the EM hiring decision is based on behavioral criteria like trustworthiness, resilience, and ownership, while only 20% is focused on technical competency such as architecture and system design.
- **Understand the Decision-Maker’s World**: Directors and VPs prioritize reliability, communication skills, and the ability to handle uncertainty and people problems over deep technical expertise.
- **Subjective Evaluation**: EM interviews aren’t about getting “right” answers. Instead, they're conversational and context-driven, evaluating fit with the team, culture, and leadership expectations.
- **Demonstrate Ownership and Initiative**: Candidates must show extreme ownership, proactive problem-solving, and the ability to deliver results, even outside formal responsibilities.
- **Adapt Communication**: EMs need to adjust messaging depending on the audience, from engineers to upper leadership, showing mastery in stakeholder communication.

Engineering Manager Misconceptions

If you want direct interview support from Alex and Uzair, take their live Maven course with discount code **TARO10**: <https://maven.com/alex-kliotzkin/acing-em-interviews>

This segment dispels a common myth in engineering leadership: that an engineering manager must be the most technically knowledgeable person on the team. Instead, it reframes technical leadership as an exercise in empowerment and strategic growth—both for the team and for the manager.

- **Technical mastery is not a requirement for effective engineering management.** The core responsibility is ensuring delivery, not being the smartest person in the room.
- **Empowering the team to deliver independently** fosters a stronger, more resilient team and allows individual contributors to grow.
- **A high-functioning team that performs well without direct intervention** is a strong reflection of a manager’s leadership, not a sign of irrelevance.
- **Delegating technical ownership frees the manager to focus on bigger-picture strategic initiatives**, technical direction, and organizational influence.
- **Letting go of ego is essential**—leaders grow by creating impact at scale, not by micromanaging every decision or technical detail.

EM vs. IC

If you want direct interview support from Alex and Uzair, take their live Maven course with discount code **TARO10**: <https://maven.com/alex-kliotzkin/acing-em-interviews>

This segment breaks down the fundamental differences between the roles of individual contributors (ICs) and engineering managers (EMs), using a structured view to clarify the contrast in scope, responsibility, and domain expertise. It emphasizes how transitioning from IC to EM is a **career shift**, not a promotion, due to the shift in focus from implementation to strategy and people leadership.

- **ICs focus deeply on implementation and domain expertise**, such as full-stack, cloud, embedded, or AI systems. They are vertical specialists with strong knowledge in their technical area.
- **ICs also operate within the software engineering realm**, applying practices like CI/CD, agile processes, and architecture—but mainly to support their implementation work.
- **EMs must be experts in software engineering best practices**, not just to implement them but to ensure sustainable development and product integrity across the team.
- **The core domain of EMs is technical leadership**, which includes stakeholder management, translating business needs into technical goals, strategic planning, communication, and team mentorship (i.e. areas ICs typically don't engage with).
- **Managing both delivery and team dynamics** makes the EM role distinctly broader, requiring versatility across both technical and people-focused domains.

Well Roundedness

Working in Big Tech expands far beyond engineering; it shapes individuals into well-rounded professionals by pushing them to develop skills in communication, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration.

- **Development of cross-functional skills**: Navigating product launches or technical changes in a large organization requires coordination across many stakeholders, honing project management, communication, relationship-building, and system design abilities.
- **Environment fosters personal growth**: Operating within a large, complex structure forces individuals to adapt, influence, and lead through collaboration—skills less emphasized in smaller, more agile companies.
- **Preparation for an AI-driven future**: As coding becomes more automated, the remaining 80% of a top engineer’s job like communication, strategy, and leadership becomes even more valuable. This environment equips engineers for longevity in their careers.
- **Transferable experience for career switchers**: Even those new to tech can succeed by leveraging skills from prior careers (e.g., hospitality, education, operations). Communication and stakeholder management experience, in particular, translate well.
- **Resilience through versatility**: Focusing on foundational skills that transcend tech stacks or tools creates career durability, avoiding dependency on niche or outdated technologies.

Big Tech Is Not A Monolith

Although Big Tech is often discussed as if it's a uniform experience, that assumption doesn't hold up under scrutiny. The lesson clarifies that these companies, and even teams within them, can differ dramatically in culture, structure, and day-to-day work.

- **Big Tech is not a monolith**: Companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft may appear similar, but each has distinct norms and quirks. For example, Apple and Amazon differ significantly in operating style.
- **Team-level variation is substantial**: Within any large company - especially one with thousands of engineering teams—there’s huge internal variability. At Google, for instance, it’s unrealistic to expect all teams to operate the same way.
- **Meta as a case study in divergence**: Meta operates almost like four separate companies due to its major acquisitions (Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus), each with its own leadership structure and internal culture.
- **Caveat for the audience**: The content that follows reflects common experiences shared by 70–80% of Big Tech engineers, but there will be outliers. Some parts may resonate; others may not - and that’s normal.

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.