The Developing Dev

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Episodes

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Episodes

Amazon Principal Engineer On Layoffs, Interviewing & Career Growth | Steve Huynh

Steve Huynh became a software engineer at Amazon with a Liberal Arts degree. He started as a Support Engineer and eventually became a Principal Engineer (top ~1% at Amazon) before starting his own career growth YouTube channel, A Life Engineered. We discuss: • Why most interview prep advice is garbage • Why most people don’t become Principal Engineers • Amazon’s performance-based layoff culture • How to avoid being laid off • Regrets & advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:37...

Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Staff Engineer @ Meta by Age 25 | Evan King

Evan King went from Junior (IC3) to Staff (IC6) at Meta 3 years out of college. After that he quit FAANG to start a few companies that were each acquired. In this conversation we go over his career growth, his transition to startups and what he learned along the way. We discuss: • What got him promoted to Staff in 3 years • What stands out in Meta’s culture • Creating and leading a new team at IC5 • Differences between big tech and startups • Regrets looking back • Advice for his younger self Ti...

Jan 17, 2025•2 hr 57 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Ex-Meta Staff Eng & YC Startup Cofounder | Rahul Pandey

Rahul Pandey (@rpandey1234) grew to Staff at Meta through a few interesting legs of his career: • Stanford to Startup - He joined a startup that one of his professors was starting right out of college. This startup was acquired within a year by Pinterest. • Junior to Mid-level @ Pinterest - His promotion was rejected twice. He appealed the second rejection and got the promotion. • Senior to Staff @ Meta - He interviewed for Senior at Meta and got a promotion through job hopping. From there, he w...

Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast

28 Year Old Staff Engineer @ Google

Ricky (@findingricky) went from Junior (IC3) to Staff (IC6) at Google by 28. He doesn’t consider himself the best engineer, instead crediting his blend of technical and soft skills for his ability to land promotions quickly. In our conversation, we discuss: • Managing your manager • Finding good projects (and rejecting bad ones) • Imposter syndrome • Switching from IC to engineering management • Work-life balance — Where to find Ricky: • Instagram: https://instagram.com/@findingricky • YouTube: ...

Nov 22, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Staff at Airbnb by Age 26 | Zach Wilson

Zach Wilson is an engineer who grew to Staff (IC6) at Airbnb by age 26. He worked at Meta, Netflix, Airbnb and more recently has started his own company. In our conversation, we discuss: • His promotion from Junior (IC3) to Mid-level (IC4) at Meta • What blocked his promotion to Senior (IC5) at Meta • Job hopping to Senior at Netflix instead • Burning out at Netflix when given Staff scope • Negotiating Staff at Airbnb • Regrets & learnings — Where to find Zach Wilson: • Instagram: https://instag...

Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast