Alex Chiou

90% of software engineers don't realize that they should be applying the Nvidia model to their own work.

Nvidia is a brilliant business as it doesn't care if individual AI plays succeed or fail. As long as there's some hitters, the space grows and they make money.

The beautiful thing is that you can integrate this exact same concept into the code you write.

Instead of writing code to push a solitary feature that you own, write code that empowers other engineers to write code to push their awesome features.

This is a huge reason why so many engineers flee product teams to switch into infra teams, especially when pushing for Staff+ levels at Big Tech.

Rockstar engineers land multiplicative impact instead of individual impact. To learn how to do that and understand the complexities of product vs. infra, check out our in-depth guide here: https://lnkd.in/dgGW_44i

#techcareergrowth #nvidia #promotion #staffengineer #growthtips

Every engineer eventually makes this silly system design mistake, myself included.

Everyone loves JSON. It's simple. It's readable.

However, what most engineers don't realize is that JSON is not performant. Parsing it into a proper data object in particular is expensive.

This is the heart of what system design is. You need to grow from an engineer who can only make things work to one who can also make things scale.

I interviewed 250+ engineers while working at top companies like Meta, and it was painfully obvious when an engineer was the former vs. the latter.

That's why we spent 100+ hours creating a 16-part course about the system design interview. It's full of examples of what to do vs. what not to do, all presented by Staff+ FAANG engineers.

We have made the course entirely free for the next 4 days until 9/16. Take it here and ace your next system design round: https://lnkd.in/gPUyd_b9

#techcareergrowth #systemdesign #growthtips #techlead

Strong hire or super strong hire?

You get hired as a software engineer when you show that you actually know the concepts.

The best way to do that is by applying them. Tech is all about doing, not abstract theory.

Learn how to adapt to and pass any tech interview here: https://lnkd.in/djZmzMtR

#techcareergrowth #interviewtips #softwareengineering

The average Meta Principal Engineer [E8] in the US makes $1,500,000 per year. Less than 2% of Meta SWEs are E8, but I was lucky enough to work closely with one at Portal. So what made them special?

It was quite simple really: They were *by far* the most helpful person in the entire organization.

They were constantly going from team to team and fixing their hardest, highest impact problem they had been stuck on for weeks.

Over time, they developed a reputation as a miracle worker, which led to more and more teams asking for this person's help.

They were also one of the nicest people I have ever worked with. They were so humble and always took the time to deeply explain their solution, leaving long-lasting teaching impact.

It just goes to show that having a proper attitude and solid technical fundamentals really can go a long way.

To learn how this engineer was able to break down new systems and debug them so quickly, check out our in-depth guide where we share their techniques: https://lnkd.in/dkFuQg4W

#techcareergrowth #debugging #principalengineer #growthtips #promotion #softwareengineering #productivity

When I submitted my first pull request at Meta, I got 10+ comments from my tech lead politely and constructively telling me that my code was sort of garbage.

I was ecstatic. That is why I went to Meta - To learn from the best and get taught the many, many ways I could improve.

However, you don't want to remain in the mode where all of your pull requests keep getting decimated with feedback. That means you're not growing.

This is where I saw many newbie Meta engineers diverge. Many got better and reduced their code review comment count while others couldn't and got forced out of the company.

If you want to grow fast, especially as a junior engineer, the recipe is simple: Never make the same code quality mistake ever again.

To learn how to do that, write clean code, and submit clean pull requests that sail smoothly through review, follow my in-depth guide here: https://lnkd.in/g8bdRcNM

#techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #codereview #growthtips

The main reason why FAANG is so successful is due to a single incredibly basic innovation: 1 $500k engineer is worth far more than 10 $50k engineers.

The $500k engineer doesn't need an army of quality assurance to police the quality of their code as they strive to create polished, scalable solutions.

The $500k engineer doesn't need 5 kanban boards and 3 scrum masters to manage their workflow as they can connect the dots themselves.

The $500k engineer doesn't need managers to hand-hold them and tell them what to work on as they can come up with innovative ideas on their own.

On top of all that, the $500k will approach their work with far more enthusiasm and energy as they're being a paid a competitive, top-of-market wage.

When it comes to engineering talent, it doesn't make sense to be cheap. You can hire an army that way, but weak, underpaid engineers create huge inefficiencies.

To learn what separates the $500k engineers from everyone else and how to grow into one, check out our in-depth breakdown which includes deep insights from an OpenAI ChatGPT engineer: https://lnkd.in/g6Dxk9jp

#techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #faang #bigtech #growthtips

Junior engineer: Writes code

Mid-level engineer: Reviews code

Senior engineer: Deletes code

Staff engineer: Doesn't interact with the code at all but somehow has more impact than the junior, mid-level, and senior engineers combined

The best software engineers aren't paid to interact with code, they're paid to solve problems. Many problems require code, but many also don't.

Here's the kicker: A lot of those non-technical problems are harder to solve than the technical ones while also having larger scope. This happens all the time at Big Tech.

This is why Staff Engineers are so valuable. They have a diversified toolset where they can solve any problem, whether it requires 100 lines of code or 100 hours of alignment meetings.

To learn how to develop those fundamental skills that Staff Engineers at top companies have, check out our thorough resource guide here: https://lnkd.in/gPGBXVx3

#techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #staffengineer #promotion #growthtips

So many “senior“ engineers don't deserve their title for this simple reason: They're selfish and don't spend time uplifting junior engineers.

The complexity of software makes it so that the vast majority of learning comes from the teammates around you.

You can grow on your own from reading and personal projects, but almost all tech skill development comes from your peers through avenues like code review and asking questions.

Every senior engineer was originally a junior engineer that needed the kindness and expertise of their colleagues to get to senior in the first place.

When senior folks don't pay back the favor and help juniors, the entire system crumbles. Their team becomes brittle and gets hit extremely hard by turnover.

To learn how to be a true senior engineer who is able to build resilient teams full of rockstars at every level, check out our in-depth explainer here: https://lnkd.in/gJd36dmk

#techcareergrowth #seniorengineer #techlead #mentorship #promotion #growthtips

We all know at least 1 engineer like this 😅.

Seriously though, code review is important. An engineer who does this is much better than an engineer who's the blind Bart for both types of code.

Learn how to give thorough code review on any pull request with my in-depth guide covering how I reviewed 3,000+ diffs at Meta: https://lnkd.in/gVR-9jvN

#techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #codereview #meta

The average Meta engineering director in the US makes $1,500,000/year. <0.1% of engineers reach this level, but I know someone who got there in their early 30s.

This rockstar leader had a beautiful superpower: They inspired a stunning amount of productivity and loyalty from their engineers.

I saw this skill myself with how they were able to take care of one of my junior engineer mentees who reported to them back when they were a manager.

This junior engineer was going through a massive rough patch, and it was severely affecting their work output.

When the manager heard of this, they immediately extended their 1 on 1 with the junior engineer by an *entire hour*, staying after work to do so.

During this time, they deeply listened as this junior let it all out and vented. They then came up with a plan to alleviate their workload and help them recover.

This junior engineer then went on to have one of the fastest growth trajectories I have ever seen, growing to senior in just ~2.5 years.

When you take care of people, they take care of you. To learn more about the tactics this director used to grow so quickly, watch our video here: https://lnkd.in/gmqzca3B

#techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #growthtips #promotion #management #mentorship