When I first joined big tech, I was overwhelmed with the feedback system. I had been used to the traditional system of getting annual feedback from my boss. Like most things, tech culture took this to the next level. Tech is obsessed with feedback, probably to a fault. If you don’t understand it, you can…
Don’t Get Burned by the FIRE Movement
The FIRE movement seems to be growing faster than California wildfires, especially in the high paying tech crowd. I write a lot about finance and investing. It’s partly because I find it interesting. I also would like to manage my money so that I can retire early. But I specifically do not refer to it…
Why You Should Skip the Startup
A lot of software engineers coming out of college will need to make an important decision right out of the gate: Should you take that high paying FAANG job or go to that hip looking startup to change the world? My advice? Skip the startup. Startups have been glamorized in the tech culture and media…
A Simple Project Plan for a TPM
If you are a TPM, you will spend a lot of time planning and executing projects, so it’s worth thinking through a model so it’s easy to repeat. There’s a lot of advice and frameworks out there for how to plan out a project. Unfortunately, I’ve found that about 90% of them are too complicated…
Themes Over Goals
The beginning of the new year is a great time to reflect on the past year and decide what you’re doing this year. Most people do this by coming up with “goals” for the next year. Goals are well and fine, but I don’t think they are the best tool for most people. The Problem…
How Much Do You Actually Need to Save to Retire Early?
Nat Eliason recently wrote a great article on the 75% rule for lifestyle creep and retiring – that you should invest 75% of your income increases if you want to keep your retirement timeline. There’s some great wisdom in there about controlling lifestyle creep, but it makes a big assumption that your lifestyle will cost…
Investing for Engineers: A Guide to Building Wealth
At some point in your life, you will realize you don’t want to be working a full time job when you are 70. You would rather be working on your own projects, or pursuing your passion, or just enjoying life a bit more. To get there, you need to build wealth to generate a steady…
How to Crush the Behavioral Interview for Technical Program Managers
Tech interviews aren’t just about algorithms and system design. You’ll also need to convince the interviewers that you are someone they want to work with. Here’s my step by step guide to preparing for the behavioral interview as a technical program manager.
Ideas are Underrated
I’m beginning to think the common wisdom that “ideas are useless, execution is everything” is wrong. I suspect the original intent of this mantra was that ideas without execution are useless, which makes sense. But then that somehow morphed into “ideas are useless” and people began to undervalue ideas. Ideas are extremely valuable. Here’s why:…
The Future of Remote Work
Facebook, Twitter, and several other big tech companies announced permanent plans to pivot towards full time remote work for their employees. For companies that insisted on in person collaboration as the key to innovation, this is big news. Expect remote work to surge, but expect bumps in the road. It won’t work out for everyone.…