Amazon Behavioral Interview [Part 9] - Anticipating Customer Needs (Answer)

This video segment focuses on the interviewee's experience anticipating customer needs and proactively addressing them.

- **Identifying Predictive Signals:** The interviewee observed that certain patterns, such as a high number of open cases or upcoming contract renewals, often indicated potential customer escalations.
- **Developing a Predictive Model:** Based on these observations, they worked with their team to develop a predictive model that identified customers at high risk of experiencing significant issues.
- **Proactive Engagement:** The interviewee leveraged this predictive model to proactively reach out to high-risk customers, often in collaboration with the sales team. This proactive approach helped prevent many escalations before they occurred.
- **Unexpected Benefits:** This proactive approach also presented an opportunity to upsell premium support services to customers who benefited from the proactive assistance.
- **Regional Considerations:** The interviewee acknowledged regional variations in customer behavior and support needs, with a greater focus on proactively addressing potential issues for high-value customers in regions like the Americas.

This example demonstrates the interviewee's ability to analyze data, identify customer needs, and proactively address potential issues, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and driving business value.

Learn more about Alan's job search program, Kadima Careers, using this [discount link](https://signup.kadimacareers.com/mQBsDvu).

The Amazing Non-Money Benefits Of Working At Big Tech

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.

Ask Me Anything (AMA) with a Disney Eng Director - Greg Benson

[**Greg Benson**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg7gkb/) is the Director of Engineering at Disney Streaming (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Star+). Further questions and discussions are on the [AMA thread](https://www.jointaro.com/question/CdPjNOXvU882180yzs6R/im-greg-ex-googlenetflix-current-director-at-disney-ama/).

Previously, he was the Engineering Manager at Google, where he worked from 2017 - 2021. Prior to that, he was a manager at Netflix during the hypergrowth phase (2013 - 2017). Greg also has a deep background in music and audio, having received a Masters in Music & Audio Technology in 2003, and then working with Dolby for more than 5 years.

After leaving Google and before joining Disney, Greg took a career break to learn, explore, and recharge. He traveled to Ghana, learned about accounting, became a startup advisor, and read a lot.

Greg answered many questions in this Ask Me Anything (AMA). This session was moderated by [Igor Podkhodov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/podkhodov/). 

**Transitioning From Engineer to Manager: Insights and Expectations**

Greg shared his experience transitioning from an engineer to a management role. 

- Ask strategic questions in one-on-one and skip-level meetings, focusing on career trajectory and higher-level considerations. 
- Individual ownership and accountability are critical to ensure you succeed and build trust. 

They also discussed the purpose of skip-level meetings, which included understanding the expectations of senior staff and determining one's career trajectory. They emphasized the importance of adapting to different organizational and cultural contexts, as expectations can vary between companies. Igor added that it's important to verify the direction of one's actions during skip-level check-ins.

**Career Breaks and Influential Readings**

Greg discussed their influential reading materials, including [Creativity Inc](https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012), [Beyond Entrepreneurship](https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Entrepreneurship-Turning-Business-Enduring/dp/0133815269), and [Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances](https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Teams-Setting-Stage-Performances/dp/1578513332). He also shared their career journey, which involved tenures at Amazon, Netflix, and Google, a break of about a year and a half, and a transition to Disney. Greg quit his job at Google during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the challenges of remote work and the mental health burden. They emphasized the importance of taking breaks in one's career and the potential implications of extended gaps in one's employment history.

**Speeding up Engineering Velocity**

Greg discussed their experience at Disney, highlighting a less engineering-oriented approach compared to their previous roles. They also shared their insights on the factors that could accelerate an engineering team's velocity, such as testing, team culture, and the use of large systems. Greg further discussed the use of AI and large language models in the development process. During his time off, Greg learned more about AI and ML which helped him feel more confident in leveraging new advancements. For truly paradigm-shifting technologies (like AI), you won't be "too late" if you start adapting now.

**Mentorship and Career Growth**

Igor asked Greg about their approach to mentorship and its impact on their career growth. Greg shared that they have never used a career coach but has found mentorship through ad hoc interactions with colleagues. They emphasized the importance of reaching out to people for help and guidance, asserting that most people are willing to assist. They also shared their strategy of researching potential mentors before reaching out and being open-minded about learning from people in different roles and departments. Igor agreed with Greg's approach, noting the importance of persistence in finding a willing mentor.

**Career Progression**

- In a challenging economy (and world events), Greg advised holding out for a decent job that you're actually excited about, emphasizing the importance of following interests and passions. 
- Your specialization and expertise can help stand out in the job market. Startups often will have more growth and personal satisfaction. 

**Engineering Career Paths and Management Challenges**

Igor raised a question about career paths for engineers, emphasizing the need to understand motivations and challenges of growth into staff engineer or manager roles. Greg highlighted the significant responsibility that comes with a managerial role, including handling team issues, and advised finding an environment that supports career growth. They discussed the challenges and rewards of transitioning from an individual contributor to a managerial role, including loss of control, recognition, and specific deliverables, as well as the ambiguity and subjectivity of performance evaluation. The discussion ended open-ended with Prakash seeking insights on handling disagreements within teams.

**Managing Conflict: Strategies and Challenges**

Greg and Igor discussed the complexities of conflict within teams, with Greg sharing their experience and strategies for managing discord. Greg emphasized the importance of understanding power dynamics, providing coaching and feedback, and attempting to understand the other person's perspective. They also highlighted the challenges of balancing objectivity and support, and the importance of expressing empathy when disagreeing with someone. Igor shared their experience of trying to help a direct report dealing with personal issues, and learned the importance of empathy and understanding in communication. Greg also discussed the importance of different modes of listening, potential pitfalls of problem-solving over brainstorming, and the concept of escalation in conflict resolution. They suggested that if a manager is not supportive, it's important to know one's limits and consider finding a different team or having a direct conversation with the manager.

**Building Trust and Influence in the Workplace**

Greg shared his thoughts on building trust and influence in the workplace. 

- Honesty and transparency are paramount, with consistent actions over words. 
- Listening attentively and empathizing with others can help establish trust quickly. 

Greg also underscored the significance of documentation for accountability and avoiding circular conversations. They further discussed the involvement of politics in management roles, explaining that it's less about merit and more about relationships and perceptions. They clarified that healthy politics involves branding/reputation and accurately communicating achievements, rather than manipulating facts.

**Managing People and Avoiding Burnout**

Greg discussed their approach to managing people who don't read documentation, emphasizing the importance of empathy and support over shaming. They suggested providing opportunities for people to catch up, followed by a conversation if the issue persists. Igor then asked Greg about handling workload and avoiding burnout. Greg suggested contextualizing the effectiveness of meetings and encouraged individuals to assert agency over their time by choosing not to attend wasteful meetings, prioritizing their own work.

Further questions and discussions are on the [AMA thread](https://www.jointaro.com/question/CdPjNOXvU882180yzs6R/im-greg-ex-googlenetflix-current-director-at-disney-ama/).

Putting It All In Perspective

This bonus session wraps up the *Essence of Management* course by reflecting on the symbolism behind the **Management Deltas** logo and what it teaches us about effective leadership. The logo—featuring a lowercase delta—serves as a metaphor for the kind of impact we aim to create as managers.

- **We focus on small changes**—daily and weekly deltas—that compound over time into meaningful, lasting transformation for our team, our impact, and our careers.
- **We recognize the multidimensional nature of management**, much like the mathematical partial derivative (∂), where influence happens across many axes—people, processes, priorities, and culture.
- **We look for deltas in every direction**, and one of our responsibilities is to map these dimensions so we can lead more intentionally and with greater clarity.
- **We embrace the idea that leadership is not one-size-fits-all**—it's a creative, ongoing practice of identifying leverage points and applying thoughtful, sustainable change.

This session reminds us that our job isn’t to be perfect—it’s to continuously look for small, deliberate ways to move our teams and organizations forward.

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

Signs A Layoff Is Coming

We outline the practical signals that can help you tell when layoffs may be coming, especially in tech companies.

- For public companies, a prolonged and severe stock price decline is a strong warning sign, as companies generally can’t sustain operations when shares remain far below their highs.
- For startups and private companies, stagnant growth, hiring freezes, and an indefinite pause on recruiting often indicate belt-tightening ahead of potential layoffs.
- Companies preparing for layoffs frequently cut perks first, and leadership demeanor may shift noticeably through more guarded communication and changes that trickle down to managers.
- Gossip can surface through internal networks or platforms like Blind, but it’s unreliable and stressful, so the most consistent signal is the broader move into an “age of austerity,” where profitability replaces growth and visible reductions in spending become the norm.

Interviews Go Both Ways

We open this final section by explaining how to evaluate teams *within* a company—starting with the interview process itself.

Here are the core points from the lesson:

- We explain why “first principles thinking” about company financials is usually unhelpful for engineers: exponential growth makes predictions unreliable, and financial modeling without expertise leads to bad conclusions.
- We highlight that the interview stage is your first and most reliable chance to gather real signal about culture and team fit; you should “reverse interview” the company rather than defaulting to superficial questions.
- We point out common bad questions (e.g., “What’s your favorite thing about working here?” or “How’s the food?”) because they produce biased, obvious answers and don’t reveal anything meaningful about career growth or challenges.
- We recommend instead asking questions tied directly to your top priorities—work-life balance, growth, team culture, on-call load—so that you can evaluate whether the environment actually aligns with what you need.

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

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

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

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

Ship & Grow 500k+ User Side Projects [Part 11] - Be A Feedback Sponge

With a side project, you won't have complex analytics or brilliant product managers to craft the vision for it. This lesson teaches you:

- A simple mathematical model to understand how to take your side project from embarrassing MVP to rockstar product
- Why feedback is critical for your side project
- How to get more feedback on your side project
- The urgent, high-touch mindset you absolutely need to have with feedback

Become A Debugging Master [Part 16] - Retrospect

One of the best ways to turn a bug fix into long-term engineering growth is to reflect on what happened and how to prevent it next time. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- After a fix, run a retrospective to figure out how to prevent or better handle similar issues in the future
- Writing a clean, detailed doc about the incident helps future engineers quickly learn without digging through scattered updates
- Big tech companies like Meta normalize failure and use formal SEV reviews to systematically improve after incidents

Meta's SEV culture: <https://atscaleconference.com/videos/metas-sev-culture-how-todays-sevs-create-tomorrows-reliability/>

SWE Internship Survival Guide [Part 12] - Code Quality

Writing a lot of code isn’t enough to secure a return offer — it also needs to meet your team’s quality standards. Clean, thoughtful code makes it easier for others to review, trust, and approve your changes. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Poor quality code, even if it’s high in volume, will cost you a return offer
- High-quality code means making your changes easy to review by including a clear commit message, test plan, and relevant context
- Interns often overlook non-code details like documenting edge cases and adding screenshots or videos to demonstrate what changed
- Good code quality is about reducing friction for your reviewers — make their job easier and they’ll be more likely to trust and support you

Take the code quality course here to instantly boost your return offer chances by +50%: [Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/level-up-your-code-quality-as-a-software-engineer/)

Part 7 [RBP] Use Fragments Instead Of Divs

This lesson focuses on using React Fragments to improve the structure and styling of your components when rendering multiple elements.

- **The Problem with Divs:** Learn how wrapping elements in unnecessary divs for rendering can lead to cluttered DOM structures and styling issues.
- **Introducing Fragments:** Discover how to use Fragments (empty tags `<> </>`) to group elements without adding extra nodes to the DOM, resulting in cleaner and more efficient code.
- **Benefits of Fragments:** Understand how Fragments help maintain proper styling, improve code readability, and optimize your application's performance by reducing unnecessary DOM elements.

Links:

- Florian’s free web development playlist on YouTube: <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrnPJCHvNZuDG6BWjUFVxeWyYlve_SVJO>
- Code link: <https://github.com/codinginflow/react-best-practices/blob/fragments/src/app/page.tsx>

Conclusion

That’s it.

Not the end—just the moment you stop walking with a guide and start carrying the weight yourself.

You’ve got the tools. The stories. The bruises that come with learning anything real.

Now carry it forward.

Ownership doesn’t show up in the big speeches. It shows up in the quiet. In what you do when no one’s clapping. In what happens after the meeting ends.

**Workbook:** [Creator’s Orientation](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sysZuPhlrLZbU5stxlJBqg3LAcGTy_S7/view?usp=sharing)

**Want to go deeper?**

- Explore more tools and courses at [**Taha’s Method**](https://www.tahasmethod.com/) — from interview prep to leadership development.

- Follow me on [**LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahahussain/) and subscribe to my weekly newsletter, [**The Conscious Leader**](https://tahahussain.substack.com/), for more lessons like these.

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

SWE Internship Survival Guide [Part 13] - Code Review

As an intern, your ability to navigate code reviews can significantly impact your chances of getting a return offer. It’s not just about code correctness — how you engage with feedback and your team matters just as much. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Code reviews are mandatory for shipping code and are a key mechanism for maintaining quality, sharing knowledge, and passing on team culture
- Interns often struggle with code review because it’s rarely taught; expect lots of feedback early on, and aim to show progress by reducing repeated comments over time
- Your *dynamic* — how open, curious, and quick you are in responding to feedback — is often more important than just the *substance* of your code
- Always respond quickly to feedback, ideally within an hour, and never land a PR with unresolved comments unless clearly communicated and agreed upon
- For large or confusing feedback, escalate to a synchronous conversation (e.g., a call) instead of dragging it out over multiple asynchronous review rounds

Ace The ML System Design Interview [Part 7] - Questions For Your Interviewers

Interviews are a two-way street, providing an opportunity to assess whether a company and team are a good fit. Here are the core points from this lesson:

- Prepare thoughtful questions that focus on factors directly impacting your work experience, such as on-call responsibilities and decision-making processes
- Avoid vague questions like "What's the work-life balance like?" and instead probe for root causes, such as the frequency and intensity of on-call duties or whether decisions are made top-down or bottom-up
- Understand the company's decision-making culture to gain insights into potential work-life balance challenges
- Ask targeted questions to get a clearer picture of the team's dynamics and the day-to-day realities of the role
- Take advantage of engineers’ straightforward answers to learn what it’s really like to work at the company

If you like what Ilya has to say, subscribe to his YouTube for more high-quality ML/AI career guidance: [MLEpath - YouTube](https://go.mlepath.com/taro-youtube-mlepath)

If you want hands-on support from Ilya to crack the FAANG ML interview, join his coaching program: [MLEpath - Coaching Program](https://go.mlepath.com/taro-march-25)

Amazon Behavioral Interview [Part 8] - Overcoming An Unanticipated Obstacle (Evaluation)

This video provides feedback on an individual's response to a behavioral interview question: "Tell me about a time when you had to overcome significant unanticipated obstacles to achieve a key goal."

- **Strengths:** The interviewee effectively described a challenging situation where they had to implement a new system for measuring customer satisfaction (CSAT). They acknowledged the obstacles they faced, including resistance from their team and technical limitations. They also highlighted their proactive approach in finding interim solutions (using a manual Google Form) while working towards a long-term solution (automated surveys).

- **Areas for Improvement:**

  - **Communication and Leadership:** The interviewee's description of overcoming resistance from their team could be refined. Instead of emphasizing their authority, they could focus on building consensus, explaining the benefits of the new system, and gaining their team's buy-in through clear communication and collaboration.
  - **Proactive Communication with Leadership:** The interviewee mentioned that the initial drop in CSAT scores caused some concern from leadership. They could have strengthened their response by emphasizing their proactive communication with leadership, explaining the anticipated dip in scores due to the more accurate measurement method and outlining the steps they were taking to address the underlying issues.
  - **Focus on Positive Outcomes:** The interviewee could have further emphasized the positive outcomes of their actions, such as increased customer satisfaction in the long run and improved customer relationships.

- **Overall:** The interviewee provided a solid foundation for their response. By incorporating the feedback and refining their delivery, they can significantly enhance their ability to effectively communicate their accomplishments and demonstrate their leadership and problem-solving skills in a job interview setting.

Learn more about Alan's job search program, Kadima Careers, using this [discount link](https://signup.kadimacareers.com/mQBsDvu).

Get The Rating You Deserve [Part 18] - Build Inner Strength

**In this final section, we explored the importance of building inner strength to sustain long-term success.**

To cultivate inner strength, we should:

- **Prioritize self-care:** Invest in physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
- **Develop strong habits:** Establish routines that support our goals and values.
- **Practice mindfulness:** Cultivate awareness of our thoughts and feelings.
- **Build strong relationships:** Foster meaningful connections with others.
- **Embrace a growth mindset:** View challenges as opportunities for learning and growth.

By building inner strength, we can navigate challenges with resilience, maintain a positive outlook, and achieve lasting fulfillment.

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>.

SWE Internship Survival Guide [Part 15] - AI Tools

With AI tools becoming increasingly embedded in the software development workflow, it’s important for interns to use them wisely without compromising their own growth or credibility. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Interns should embrace AI tools but avoid over-reliance, as teams are assessing *their* engineering abilities—not the tool’s
- Use of AI must comply with company policies, and interns should always understand and be able to defend the code they submit
- AI is best used for boilerplate and simple tasks, but the intern should remain the core problem solver and decision-maker

Ship & Grow 500k+ User Side Projects [Part 6] - Least Clicks Design

You don't need to be a product design to build great software with a smooth user interface. This lesson teaches you:

- Why *every* engineer needs to care about UX, not just front-end engineers (web/mobile)
- The core philosophy you need to remember when crafting user interfaces
- The difference between a good product and a bad product when it comes to least clicks design
- What it looks like to truly champion least clicks design, explained with an in-depth example

Ship & Grow 500k+ User Side Projects [Part 14] - SEO

When it comes to getting traffic, a lot of it comes down to being in the good graces of a single FAANG company. This lesson teaches you:

- What SEO (search engine optimization) is
- The many ways you can waste your time with SEO
- An incredibly simple way to understand how to succeed at SEO
- The most straightforward, highest leverage way you can boost your SEO
- How to organically generate more web pages for your product, explained with an in-depth example

This is the only SEO tool you need: <https://search.google.com/search-console/about>

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.