Build Up Relationships

We highlight why building strong relationships and social capital is essential for career resilience, especially during layoffs. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- Relationships are a form of social capital, and having people who know you, like you, and will advocate for you can directly influence whether you survive layoffs or get new opportunities.
- Engineers often underinvest in relationship-building by staying heads-down, but proactively connecting with managers, skips, and peers across teams is increasingly important in today’s economy.
- Building relationships doesn’t require forced networking—it can happen naturally through code reviews, coffee chats, offsites, and one-on-ones if you are intentional about seeking opportunities.
- No matter how senior or skilled you are, everyone is expendable, so you should never rely on company loyalty alone and should continuously invest in relationships that outlast any single job.

Selling for Technical Founders (B2B)

Session led by [Karthik Balachandran](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbalachandran/)

This session is for technical founders, CTOs, and soon-to-be entrepreneurs looking to enhance their B2B selling skills.

Customer behavior is rapidly changing. Your ability to sell effectively is as crucial as the technology itself. Recognizing this expectation shift and the skill gap, we're excited to announce this session: "B2B Selling for Technical Founders"

We will cover:

- Understand the latest trends in B2B sales
- Common mistakes made by technical founders
- Building effective sales strategies

Whether you're in the early stages of your startup or looking to scale, this session will equip you with the knowledge and tools to drive your sales efforts forward.\
\
Event Page: <https://www.jointaro.com/event/selling-for-technical-founders-b2b/>

Amazon Behavioral Interview [Part 31] - Missing A Commitment (Answer)

This video segment describes a situation where the interviewee failed to meet a commitment during their time at Google.

- **The Commitment:** The interviewee committed to flawless execution of a major advertising campaign during the Super Bowl, ensuring all ads ran smoothly across all platforms.

- **The Obstacle:** Despite thorough planning and preparation, a critical ad failed to run on Mac computers due to a software bug.

- **The Impact:** This failure resulted in significant disruption, including:

  - **Lost revenue:** The ad in question was a high-value advertisement.
  - **Damaged reputation:** The incident could have negatively impacted Google's reputation with advertisers.
  - **Increased stress:** The interviewee experienced significant stress due to the unexpected issue and the pressure to resolve it quickly.

- **Corrective Actions:**

  - **Root Cause Analysis:** The team conducted a post-mortem analysis to identify the root causes of the failure, including inadequate testing on all devices and insufficient escalation procedures for technical issues.
  - **Process Improvements:**
    - Implemented a more comprehensive testing process to ensure compatibility across all devices and browsers.
    - Established a clear escalation path for technical issues, including multiple levels of support and on-call engineers.
  - **Improved Communication:** Enhanced communication protocols to ensure timely identification and resolution of technical issues.

- **Key Learnings:**

  - The importance of thorough planning and rigorous testing.
  - The need for robust contingency plans to address unexpected challenges.
  - The importance of effective communication and collaboration within and across teams.
  - The value of learning from mistakes and using them to improve future performance.

This example demonstrates the interviewee's ability to: *Acknowledge and take responsibility for their mistakes.* Conduct a thorough root cause analysis to identify areas for improvement. *Implement corrective actions to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.* Demonstrate resilience and the ability to learn from challenging situations.

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

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.

Adam’s Advice to His Younger Self

In this final lesson, **Adam Ernst**, Software Engineer at **Meta**, reflects on his career journey and the advice he would give to aspiring engineers. Looking back, Adam believes he would not change the path he took because it aligned with his genuine interests and strengths. He emphasizes that long-term success comes from enjoying the work itself—especially the challenge of solving difficult problems—rather than chasing titles or following trends. By pursuing work that naturally fuels curiosity and motivation, engineers are more likely to sustain high performance and meaningful career growth.

- **Follow Work You Genuinely Enjoy:** Adam believes the best career decisions come from pursuing work that you find intrinsically rewarding. Passion creates the motivation needed to continually learn, improve, and produce high-quality work over the long term.
- **Love Solving Problems, Not Just Writing Code:** While not every task is enjoyable, Adam finds fulfillment in tackling challenging engineering problems. A genuine curiosity for problem-solving is what keeps difficult work engaging and ultimately leads to sustained success.
- **There's No Perfect Career Blueprint:** Rather than trying to optimize every career decision in hindsight, Adam's experience suggests that success comes from consistently following opportunities that align with your interests and strengths. When what you enjoy also meets the needs of the industry, you're in an ideal position to thrive.

Original podcast link: [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_OYJF3Mmw**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_OYJF3Mmw)

Be Deliberate With Team Selection

We explain how team selection within a company can influence both career growth and layoff risk, while stressing the importance of balance and personal fit.

- Team choice is one of the remaining factors within your control, and teams that are important to leadership or closely tied to core revenue are generally less likely to be cut.
- Importance is relative to executive priorities, not just revenue, so understanding what leadership truly cares about is key, especially at companies with strong founder influence.
- Choosing a high-priority team is usually good career advice anyway, since those teams tend to have more scope, visibility, and growth opportunities.
- You should not sacrifice genuine interest or passion just to chase perceived safety, because lack of engagement hurts performance and long-term career growth.
- This guidance is clearer at companies with product-market fit, while earlier-stage startups carry more inherent uncertainty, making stability harder to assess regardless of team choice.

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.

Framing The Dialog

We cover how promotions actually work, why they’re not guaranteed even if we’re performing well, and how to talk about them with our EM in a way that aligns incentives and builds trust.

- We explain that promotions require **both** performing at the next level **and** an organizational need for someone at that level—otherwise even great performers can’t move up.
- We note that promotion discussions require trust; bringing up promotions too early (e.g., in week one) backfires because the manager doesn’t yet know our work or commitment to the team.
- We warn that reorgs can derail promotion momentum when a new manager must advocate for us without shared history; coordinating between old and new managers helps mitigate this.
- We highlight that promotions are meant to signal that we already operate with higher scope, independence, and cross-org trust—not something to wish into existence.
- We emphasize framing promotion goals in terms of **increasing team impact** rather than title or compensation, since managers (especially in tight-budget environments) prioritize engineers who help them deliver more impact, not those who simply want advancement.

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.

Taro Book Club: Designing Data Intensive Applications - Chapter 6 (Partitioning)

Topic: Chapter 6 - Replication

Session led by: [Bhavana Gannu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavanagannu/) and [Suraj Singh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-singh-495b192b/)

In this #taro-bookclub discussion, we talked about Chapter 6 of [**"Designing Data-Intensive Applications"**](https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321) by Martin Kleppmann.

Maximize Your Equity And Benefits In Tech [Part 23] - Conclusion

Congratulations on making it to the end of this course! Here are core points from the lesson:

- Know the details of your equity, 401k, and ESPP plans, and set calendar reminders for things like stock option expirations, enrollment windows, and rollover opportunities
- Automate what you can only after understanding your holdings—review RSU tax withholdings, grant docs, and whether you’re using pre-tax vs. Roth intentionally
- Explore advanced options like mega backdoor Roths if your 401k allows them, and ensure you're not missing out on your employer match or other benefits
- Review your health plan and associated perks like HSAs, FSAs, and wellness stipends, and use reminders to avoid letting free money go to waste

If you want to get additional support from Andy:

- [Connect with Andy on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andymoranio)
- [Receive other bonuses, leave feedback, and/or sign up for Andy’s newsletter](https://subscribepage.io/taroequitycourse)
- [Schedule a consultation](http://adastrafp.com/contact-us/)

Technical Depth vs Breadth

In this lesson, **Adam Ernst**, Software Engineer at **Meta**, shares his perspective on what it takes to reach the highest levels of the Individual Contributor (IC) career ladder. Rather than choosing between technical depth and breadth, Adam explains how he developed both by following curiosity and solving real engineering problems. He describes a practical approach to learning unfamiliar systems, collaborating effectively across teams, and continuously expanding his expertise through hands-on experience instead of formal study.

- **Develop Both Depth and Breadth:** Adam believes senior engineers benefit from deep expertise in their primary domain while gradually building knowledge across adjacent systems. This combination enables engineers to solve complex cross-functional problems and make a broader organizational impact.
- **Learn Through Real Problems:** Instead of studying technologies in isolation, Adam dives deeply into unfamiliar systems only when they become relevant to the problem at hand. Solving real engineering challenges creates meaningful learning opportunities and builds lasting expertise.
- **Become Self-Sufficient and Collaborative:** By investigating issues independently before asking for help, engineers not only reduce the burden on partner teams but also arrive with informed questions and potential solutions. This approach accelerates learning, builds credibility, and strengthens cross-team relationships.

Original podcast link: [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_OYJF3Mmw**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_OYJF3Mmw)

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.

Feature Engineering

In this part of the course, we focus on **feature engineering**, a critical area where interviewers differentiate between average and exceptional ML candidates. This is our opportunity to show not just technical skill, but creativity and judgment.

- **Mediocre feature engineering** relies on basic, mechanical steps—like one-hot encoding categoricals or normalizing numericals—without much customization.
- **Stellar candidates go further**, creating new features from raw data (e.g., extracting time-of-day from timestamps, or combining variables into meaningful interactions).
- We show thoughtfulness by **dropping irrelevant features**, checking for **multicollinearity**, and aligning features closely with the problem's objectives.
- We demonstrate versatility by handling **complex data types**—such as transforming freeform text, working with embeddings, or aggregating time series effectively.
- Ultimately, we recognize that **feature engineering can matter more than the model itself**, and our job is to shape the data so that the model can truly learn from it.

If you want to learn even more from Yayun:

- Book 1 on 1 career guidance with her here: <https://calendly.com/your-friend-yayun/1on1>
- Follow her on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/yayunjin/>

How Managers Hire Great Engineers [Part 19] - Speed

Great engineers don't stay on the market for a long time. From this lesson, you will:

- Understand that reducing the time from initial contact to offer acceptance can significantly improve your chances of closing a candidate
- Learn that a faster process can position your company advantageously against competitors who may have longer hiring cycles
- Discover how streamlining your recruitment process to make decisions quicker can prevent candidates from pursuing or waiting for other offers

Connect with John Egan on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwegan/>

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 27] - How to De-Risk Quitting

Amazon Behavioral Interview [Part 30] - Building Trust With Stakeholders (Evaluation)

This video segment discusses the quality of an interview conducted by a person named Alan.

- **The Interviewer's Approach:**

  - **Unclear Questioning:** Alan initially asked a general question about building trust, which is not a typical behavioral interview question.
  - **Unnecessary Detour:** This initial question led to a lengthy discussion that was not directly relevant to assessing the interviewee's skills or experiences.
  - **Awkward Transition:** Alan then abruptly shifted to a more relevant question about a time the interviewee failed to meet a commitment, but the transition felt awkward and disjointed.

- **Concerns about Interview Quality:**

  - **Lack of Clear Focus:** The interviewer's approach seemed unstructured and lacked a clear focus on assessing the interviewee's skills and experiences.
  - **Potential for Bias:** The interviewer's personal style and communication approach could potentially bias the interview outcome, particularly for interviewees who are less experienced or less comfortable with unexpected questioning.
  - **Limited Quality Control:** The video highlights a concern about the lack of quality control for interviewer performance and the potential impact on interview outcomes.

- **Recommendations:**

  - **Focus on Clear and Relevant Questions:** Interviewers should focus on asking clear, concise, and relevant behavioral questions that directly assess the candidate's skills and experiences.
  - **Maintain a Structured Approach:** A structured interview approach helps ensure that all candidates are evaluated fairly and consistently.
  - **Improve Interviewer Training:** Investing in interviewer training programs can help to improve the quality of interviews and ensure that all interviewers are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to conduct effective and unbiased interviews.

This analysis highlights the importance of conducting high-quality interviews to ensure fair and accurate assessments of candidate qualifications.

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

Taking a Step Back from IC9 to IC7 at Meta

In this lesson, Philip shares the story behind his decision to move from E9 to E7 at Facebook after transitioning from site leadership back to an individual contributor role. Rather than viewing the change as a career setback, he saw it as an opportunity to align his level, compensation, and expectations with the work he actually wanted to do—and knew he could perform well.

- **Optimize for the role where you can perform well, not the highest title you can hold.** Philip preferred excelling at E7 over struggling to meet expectations at E9 and believed his level and compensation should reflect his actual contributions.
- **Moving down requires separating status from career satisfaction.** Going from leading hundreds of people to becoming an individual member of a team requires being comfortable giving up hierarchy, influence, and prestige in exchange for work that better fits you.
- **When you leave leadership, you also need to relinquish the authority that came with it.** Successfully stepping back means supporting the new leaders rather than continuing to use your previous influence to shape decisions that are no longer yours to make.

How To Handle a Failed Project

In this lesson, **Adam Ernst**, Software Engineer at **Meta**, reflects on the difficult decision to end **ComponentScript** after realizing it was not achieving the impact it was designed for. He discusses how performance reviews provided honest feedback, why responsibly shutting down a project can strengthen rather than damage your reputation, and the importance of recognizing when persistence becomes counterproductive. Adam offers valuable advice for engineers navigating ambitious projects that may not succeed.

- **Performance Reviews Should Inform, Not Define You:** Receiving a "Meets Most" performance rating helped Adam recognize that ComponentScript was no longer delivering the expected impact. Rather than viewing the feedback as a failure, he used it as a signal to reassess the project's direction.
- **End Projects Responsibly:** Instead of abandoning ComponentScript, Adam personally helped teams migrate to alternative solutions, removed the framework entirely from the codebase, and documented the lessons learned. Taking ownership of the cleanup earned trust and demonstrated strong engineering leadership.
- **Listen to Early Warning Signs:** Looking back, Adam realized he had sensed for nearly a year that the project was losing momentum. His instinct was to write more code in hopes of turning things around, but he later learned that recognizing when to pivot—or stop altogether—is just as important as technical execution.

Original podcast link: [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_OYJF3Mmw**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_OYJF3Mmw)

Having The Meeting

In this lesson, we walk through exactly how to run a high-impact 1:1 with our EM by using the time intentionally to build trust, surface wins, work through challenges, and create momentum through clear action items.

- We start each meeting with 2–5 minutes of personal check-in to strengthen rapport, since life and work affect each other deeply.
- We share weekly wins to stay visible and ensure our contributions are recognized—while also making future performance review writing much easier.
- We move through our pre-seeded agenda topics (e.g., promotion planning, feedback digestion, team conflicts), which flow smoothly because we prepared them ahead of time.
- We close with clear action items for both sides—then begin the next week’s 1:1 by reviewing whether the previous actions were completed.
- We reinforce that framing wins with a “so what?” (impact or next step) and writing notes live during the meeting both strengthen trust and make the manager feel valued.

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.