What's expected of you when you're a junior, senior, or staff software engineer, and what it takes to rise up in the ranks.
Zain Rizvi
Software Engineer with over a decade of experience. Building the infrastructure used by millions of developers around the world. I helped build GCP and Azure. Nowadays I'm building Stripe.
Insider's Guide to Passing FAANG Interviews
My 12+ years as both the interviewer and interviewee at Google, Microsoft, and Stripe taught me one thing: Standard interviewing advice falls woefully short. Grinding interview questions isn't enough. Here's what to do.
PARA vs Zettelkasten: The false binary
I started practicing PARA and Zettelkasten two years ago. Here's what I've realized after twenty four months of practice: Change the system, not yourselfThere's a common mistake people made when following popular note taking or productivity systems, be it PARA,
Why Software Engineers like Woodworking
The smell of fresh pine sawdust filled the air, with more floating up as I sanded the last rough corner of the stool. My toddler was happily sanding her own block off to the side. Woodworking was a new hobby
Newsletter #28 - People aren't that logical
Hey folks, Your nuggets for the week: Motivation comes from Autonomy, Mastery, and PurposePeople aren't that logicalPick your ideas apart#1 Motivation comes from Autonomy, Mastery, and PurposeThree factors which get you exited to do a task: Autonomy: You feel
Newsletter #27 - Managing Up
Hey folks, Today's nuggets: Complement your manager's skillsetAsk for what you wantProve your work is importantGet others to prove your case#1 Complement your manager's skillsLearn your manager's strengths and weaknesses (they exist, he's not perfect). Then you can send
Newsletter #26 - 2020 in Review
There goes 2020. This was the year I started writing seriously. It started off as a way to remember what I read, with this newsletter being an effective forcing function. So how did the year go? 17 articles written6 became
Your confusion is the litmus test
I was fumbling in the dark. Groping blindly. It seemed so much simpler a month ago. "Hey, could you integrate this tool into our service?" my manager had asked. "Sure," I'd replied. "How hard could it be?" Famous last words.
#21 Help yourself by helping others
In economics class they told us people work harder as they paid more. That greed was a virtue. It sounded iffy. You may have noticed the opposite yourself: How did you feel the last time you worked on a project
#20 I was Bored at Google
It felt wrong. I was one year into working at Google, one of the best companies in the world. People die to get a job here. But...something was off. I was bored. Yes, the amenities were great. The food
Newsletter #19 - Productivity tips from Jeff Bezos and Huge Jackman
Ever study something, but when you try to explain it realize that you'd understood nothing? A few sips from the pool of knowledge and we think we know it all! I find it helpful to combat this tendency by talking
#19 Productivity tips from Jeff Bezos and Hugh Jackman
Ever study something, but when you try to explain it realize that you'd understood nothing? A few sips from the pool of knowledge and we think we know it all! I find it helpful to combat this tendency by talking