We just released the Taro Job Board at joinTaro.com/jobs. We wanted to create a job board specifically for software engineers with the best possible signal-to-noise ratio. By focusing only on SWE jobs, we can provide better filters and recommendations (tech stack, level filters, and remote/hybrid preference). The ..read more

As a Software Engineer for 7 years, I have joined new teams 5 different times. In that process, I learned the importance of talking to my new teammates in the critical 2 weeks of joining a team. As the new person, you can get away with asking many questions. I am referring to discussing company specific questions, not questions that you can easily Google or search up. How to set up 1 on 1s with your new teammates Notify your teammates ahead of time that you want to have a 30 minute 1 on 1 meeting with them. This can be in your daily stand up or sent as a direct message. 30 minutes is short e ..read more

I asked 7 levels of engineers to share the most important skillset for success for their level. These engineers work at companies like Meta, Pinterest, Instacart, and Slack. Intuitively, we understand that the scope of our work should increase as we climb the career ladder. Here's the approximate scope for each level: Scope expectations by level These interviews are enlightening because they concretely translate each level into behaviors and advice. Many thanks to these engineers for sharing how engineering expectations evolve at each level! L3 New Grad at Slack ?‍♀️ Skill: Learn from existin ..read more

Too many engineers are completely unaware of career norms. A recent conversation I had about job tenure really brought this to light. In the tech industry, there's something of an art to timing your exits and entries in the job market. It's an art that can deeply influence how you're perceived professionally. Most people know you can stay at a company for too short a period, but the inverse is also true: you can also stay at a company for too long. And being on either extreme can hinder your future career prospects. So, let's clear the air: How long is too long, and how short is too short, wh ..read more

I've had a variation of this conversation many times in my career. I'll ping you offline via DM about the perf cycle in the next sprint cycle. Ack Ack is right! Whether you're brand new to tech or a grizzled veteran with decades of experience, this industry will present you with a daunting number of acronyms, made-up words, and slang. In the above exchange, "ack" is short for acknowledged, used to quickly tell the recipient that their message has been received (often during production issues). Use the browser's find option to jump directly to the term you're confused about, or read on to imbi ..read more

This post summarizes the beginning of the book “Fundamentals of Data Engineering” by Joe Reis and Matt Housley. I recently delivered a talk on this info via Taro. The talk for Chapter 2 is happening on February 18. Looking forward to seeing you there! Without further ado, let’s get right into it. Preface In the book's preface, the authors describe their motivations for writing it. The authors describe themselves as “recovering data scientists.” By this, they mean that they started off as data scientists, but realized that before companies can do good data science work, they need to do good d ..read more

We got started in 2022, but 2023 was Taro's first full year of existence. Our mission remains unchanged: accelerate career growth for software engineers. [1] Our data reveals insights about what software engineers were looking for: Learning the traits of high performing software engineers. [video] Developing the right mindset for interviews. [video] Switching domains in tech. [discussion] Looking back, 2023 was a year of infrastructure. We added a lot of "obvious" functionality that you'd expect in any kind of community: better Q&A support, native events, and more community options. We ..read more

This article is the 2nd in my series breaking down Meta interview questions which I actually gave as an interviewer during my time there. There's a lot of misinformation around how Big Tech judges candidates, and this series' goal is to demystify all that and help you study data structure and algorithms (DSA) properly. If you want to read the 1st article, you can find it here: Meta Software Engineer Interview Question Breakdown: Finding Unique Integers While the 1st article covered my warm-up phone screen question, this one takes us into the Big Leagues: The onsite. I'll cover the primary pro ..read more

The demand for custom software in the world is insatiable. Tech companies create value with their software products, but the demand is far broader than the tech industry: software is eating the world across law, real estate, and much more. Writing code is one way to build custom software (and one which will remain valuable), but the rise of no-code tools makes it even easier. That’s why even coders should consider adopting no-code tools. Ask any successful Software Engineer and they'll point to the many projects they've built. Side projects are one of the best ways for developers to hone thei ..read more

Back when I was at Meta, I interviewed ~100 engineers, specializing with data structures and algorithms (DSA) questions (internally known as the "Ninja Round"). Meta has a pretty rigorous and standardized process for training its interviewers, and I really came to appreciate that as I worked at the company and absorbed its incredible engineering culture. In this new series, I will go through the interview questions I asked at Meta in-depth, including how I graded them. I'm hoping this helps you understand: How to properly solve DSA problems and treat them as more than a raw memorization grin ..read more