15 Years Of Software Engineer Knowledge In 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Upon first glance, Rahul's career appears like the classic 'up and to the right' story:
- Studied Computer Science at Stanford
- Became a founding engineer at a startup that got acquired by Pinterest
- Became a Staff Engineer and Manager at Meta (video explainer)
- Quit to start a YC-backed startup
These are the highlights, but hidden in these bullet points are many episodes of failure and anxiety. From botched interviews to coworker blow-ups, Rahul endured plenty of failure alongside success.
These experiences, along with the experiences from 100s of engineers he's interviewed, have shaped Rahul's thinking around software engineering careers.
This course covers the battle-tested best practices of career growth:
- Learning: Building the fundamental skills of engineering
- Networking: Leveraging your people for feedback and growth
- Interviewing: aka Landing a job
- Promotion: Succeeding on the job
- Self-advocacy: How to advocate for yourself and your career
This course lays the foundation for a career as a high-performing software engineer at top companies.
Rahul was born in Michigan and introduced to the world of tech when he joined Stanford in 2009. He has a broad experience that makes his advice applicable to almost all engineers:
- Multiple internships at various-sized companies (VC-backed and bootstrapped) 📱
- Several full-time jobs, from Big Tech, to hyper-growth scale-ups, to his own startup 🆕
- Performance rated from below expectations to "Greatly Exceeds Expectations" 📈
- Onboarding into multiple environments with different tech stacks and business requirements 👨🏽💻
- Hundreds of interviews across dozens of companies, both successful and unsuccessful.
Rahul is now the cofounder of Taro, designed to accelerate career growth for engineers. He's spoken directly to 100s of engineers and adjusted his advice when necessary. This course condenses many years of experience into a watchable course.
Connect with Rahul:
very imformative.
Especially beneficial for someone in the early stages of their career.
nice class and thank you for making this free to all.
good
What i was looking for, an experienced SWE talking real deal.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the advice. I'm currently trying to get my foot in the door as a software engineer and I found this really helpfu.
Rahul, you are still an incredibly inspiring role model for all of us. Your attitude, persistence, perspective, and intelligence are a great example, and I wish you all the best at Taro.
Your and Alex's videos, posts, wisdom, and forum have all helped me countless times
Informative.
To the point content. Must watch for someone who is starting a career.
Amazing advice! I add my 14 years to your 15, absolutely bang on!
Absolutely amazing video series. This cleared up a lot of questions I had, but also was a great reminder. I was just working in a team of devs, there was some miscommunication errors, the backlog I felt got over complicated, and with the things he brought up it really allowed me to see where I went wrong.
I love what he said about obtaining feedback, as well as how to resolve a lot of incoming issues that I never saw coming. There was a great job breaking the myths that are said about the industry as well.
If I could add one thing that would be great to see, which is how to choose a job based on the tech stack you use.
I had talked with a Venture Capitalist from SignalFire, a company here in NY that helps new AI startups. My contact mentioned to me that startups are not looking for generalists such as Full Stack Developers to start, often preferring specialists such as those dedicated to Backend and Frontend development. As a frontend developer, he recommended I specialize in UIUX design, as it would set me apart and help me stand out.
I learned also that Bootcamps teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React.js on purpose as a "Full Stack Course", but as you go into the industry you are often ill equipped as you often have not used or been trained to use Git, know Agile Frameworks, and I used to think that Jira was a programming language I didn't know, as was Agile too!
I learned that most "big companies" with complex applications use Next.js more than React.js as that's best and what Bootcamps really prepare you for is working freelance on webSITEs not Web Applications. So if I could see a video that cleared up the road map for tech stacks that would make it way easier when choosing companies and help me not waste time aiming for company that I like when I don't have the skills or credentials to even get near the door to the interview itself due to my tech stack.
All in all, this video series is absolutely amazing. So much was shared that I personally needed to hear and there's nothing like hearing it from someone who has the time and dedication to share it who actually went through it all ahead of time.
Thank you Rahul Pandey for everything you shared it. I give it 5 stars. Nothing short of amazing.
