21x Hackathon Winner Turned College Dropout | Jia Chen Interview
Jia Chen is a 21 year old that won 21x hackathons and co-founded her own startup, all while being a content creator. She’s worked hard to succeed in tech despite attending a non-target school, and has recently dropped out to work on her startup, Sprint.dev.We discuss:• Winning hackathon strategies• How to stand out as a college student• Content creation• Dropping out to build a startup• College reflections and adviceTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:55) Getting into hackathons(04:10) Hackathon strategy(15:20) Developing agency & time management(19:27) Standing out at a non-target school(20:19) Is college useful?(24:28) Personal brand(26:25) Dropping out to build a startup(32:32) Advice to younger selfWhere to find Jia:• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jia.seed/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-chen-tech/• Startup (Sprint.dev): https://www.sprint.dev/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.developing.dev
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34:28
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 selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:37) Transitioning from liberal arts to tech(06:31) Becoming a software development engineer(17:37) Breaking into the tech industry today(22:56) Future of software engineering with AI(26:06) SDE1 → SDE3 promos(33:11) Perf-based Layoffs at Amazon(46:22) His Principal promotion project(59:53) Best parts of Amazon's culture(1:05:22) His best and worst managers among 20+(1:09:09) Career reflectionsWhere to find Steve:• Newsletter: https://alifeengineered.substack.com/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ALifeEngineered• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-life-engineered/• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alifeengineered/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.developing.dev
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1:18:48
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 selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:28) Getting into programming(09:34) Leetcode(15:45) Picking his first team(22:00) P*nis story(25:13) Mid-level promo(29:03) How to ship code fast(35:28) Senior promo(52:45) Staff promo(1:12:02) Meta impact culture(1:13:16) On being a tech lead(1:16:46) Influence without authority(1:19:29) Management vs Eng(1:26:46) Why leave Meta(1:36:25) Technical learning (big tech vs startups)(1:40:26) When to build a startup(1:44:27) How much he worked(1:49:02) Biggest career regret(1:51:54) Advice for new grads & past selfWhere to find Evan:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-king-40072280/• His Company: https://www.hellointerview.com/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpetermanReferenced:• Evan's post on Substack: https://www.developing.dev/p/new-grad-to-staff-at-meta-in-3-years• Ryan’s eng blog for Meta (part of IC6 promo): https://engineering.fb.com/2022/11/04/video-engineering/instagram-video-processing-encoding-reduction/• Meta’s graph database, Tao: https://engineering.fb.com/2013/06/25/core-infra/tao-the-power-of-the-graph/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.developing.dev
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1:57:15
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 worked towards his Staff promotion and got it.After getting to Staff at Meta, he started his own YCombinator-funded startup, Taro. In our conversation we cover:• What got him promoted to Staff at Meta• Joining startups and “two-way doors”• How his promotion was rejected twice and he appealed successfully• When job hopping is good and when it is bad• What real networking looks like—Where to find Rahul:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RahulPandeyrkp• Twitter: https://x.com/rpandey1234• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rpandey1234/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: instagram.com/ryanlpeterman In this episode, we cover:00:00 – Intro1:12 – Stanford to Startup12:25 – Jr to Mid-level at Pinterest 30:20 – Senior to Staff at Meta45:12 – Management (TLM) at Meta53:40 – Leaving Meta to create a startup1:05:32 – Career reflections This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.developing.dev
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1:20:36
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: https://youtube.com/@findingrickyWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://instagram.com/@ryanlpetermanIn this episode, we cover:00:00 – Intro01:08 – Promotion timeline02:34 – Junior to Mid-level04:24 – Finding independence10:39 – Mid-level to Senior11:20 – Learning how to say no17:26 – Senior to Staff20:18 – Finding next-level work23:42 – Transitioning to management33:46 – Reflections This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.developing.dev
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