Ryan Peterman

Am I Doing “No Real Work”? Are You? Alright, so just to start: this isn’t like, defending Google specifically. The author especially targets Google, but condemns technology companies overall. Are there people who “aren’t contributing” or not doing so at the same level as peers? Yes, that’s absolutely true. Maybe it’s situational and can change, maybe it’s terminal and they aren’t a good fit. That is not really what the article is about, though or not exclusively. My main takeaway was that we are working on things that don’t make money. We build things that never launch. We research things that aren’t profitable. The author seems to have run a successful, technical business. Maybe it had laser focus on one product, and what to build was well understood. This isn’t always true. Technology is a new application of scientific understanding. We don’t always have the scientific understanding we need to build a particular technology, and they require spending on research. Sometimes a promising research project can bear no fruit. Key learnings can come from this, unrelated projects can be improved, research techniques can be made more robust. Investing in research is not “wasting money” that could be “returned to stakeholders”. If human hours spent must equate directly to revenue, don’t invest in companies that invest in research. Invest in businesses with billable hours like law, or physical product production where hours on the line yield salable products. I think it’s really unhelpful to conflate “wasting money” on “unproductive workers” and a company spending money on R&D, which is inherently risky. Google Cloud was not well-understood, or a guaranteed success. It yields billions of dollars now. That was one bet. You can debate how many bets should be made, and at what scale, but we are at a stage where, to move the needle at a company this size, the bets have to be very big, and made fairly frequently. Standing still will not mean we keep making the same amount of money so we can “return value to investors”. I do think in the “white collar”, big tech environment, there is a lot of “silent value”. Maybe that does end up yielding nothing for shareholders. Training and guiding more junior engineers so they can contribute to more complex projects has a very ambiguous value. They can leave. They can never really uplevel skills. They may be tasked with working on something with “no shareholder value”. The cost of not doing it is skill and brain drain, and an inability to continue innovating. If innovation stops, the world moves on around you and shareholder value drops to zero. Mostly I think while I don’t mean specifically to defend Google (because most big tech make these kind of investments), I may have taken this personally. I am contributing to shareholder value? When I turn off this 15 year old system, does the stock price go up? No, but it frees us up for faster innovation. Is it worth what I get paid? That’s a very different question.

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This is a good post that seems to reflect how many business people may be seeing the future. Here is a little reaction just to the GenAI-will-change-coding part: I enjoy having access to quick softmaxed reproductions of scraped code examples as much as everyone else, but really wish we would all stop spreading the "bots are going to do the coding" trope that so many people in a decision-making position seem to believe in, without much basis and lacking the understand of what software engineering really is - not only producing code, but specifying behaviour and being able to change systems in the face of changing requirements. Good luck with copying-and-pasting that!

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When I first got to Amazon, one of the things that stood out as different from my past job experience is that Amazon has a strong written document culture. Meetings typically start with documents <= 6 pages and everyone reads the document for the first part of the meeting before starting discussion -- because who has time to read documents before the meeting? Starting the meetings with a read means that everyone gets the time baked into their schedule to actually read the doc, and then you can have a productive discussion with everyone starting at the same place. This simple tweak has a few powerful impacts, but the one that has had the most impact on me personally is the page length constraint. When you require everyone to read the doc at the start of the meeting, that imposes a time constraint on how much content you can expect them to read before discussion. This constraint puts the burden on *you*, the author of the doc, to make sure that you are: 1. Concise, highlighting only the important info. The details that don't make the cut can go in an appendix for reference. 2. Prioritizing the actual decisions that you want to get out of the meeting. You asked these people to meet for a reason! To help them help you, you have to organize the information in a way that makes it as simple as possible for them to grok and contribute/decide. 3. Actually understand your own problem! Size constraints force us to distill complexity and find the right conceptual abstractions to communicate at the right level. I started using the size constraint trick in my design documents as well for these reasons as I found it made it simpler for others to understand my docs - regardless if we're speed reading in a meeting or reading on their own. Happy Writing! ✒

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Here is how I use ChatGPT and LLMs to be a better Engineering Manager. 1. Whenever there is a birthday or work anniversary (we call them Yelpiversaries) I will hop over to ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion and generate a card catered to that person. It's a small investment from me, and usually sparks some joy! I might generate a few to get something interesting. Almost everyone else will search for gifs or memes, which are a great alternative. In either case, I will also try to write something meaningful and personal (I don't use ChatGPT for this, but you could ask for ideas if you feel stuck. Tell the LLM a bit about the person and ask it to construct a concise message. Use that as inspiration, don't copy paste, it will come across cheap). 2. Understanding new concepts quickly. I had never heard of RAPID before, and when I did a Google Search I had to deal with a bunch of really weird websites and bad explanations. I asked ChatGPT to explain RAPID to me, and then I asked it to be explained for a software engineer. It was fantastic. For deep research and understanding I wouldn't just use an LLM, and I'd be careful to double check, but for well known concepts it does really well. I didn't need to be a grand master at RAPID, I just wanted to know what the heck these Product Managers were talking about. 3. Helping format data. Sometimes I want to invert a table. Passing ChatGPT a markdown table and asking it to invert it has worked out really well. I usually carefully scan to make sure it didn't change values, but so far hasn't failed and saves me a bunch of work. 4. Helping me quickly write bash or python scripts to do different tasks. As a manager, I don't write production code. But sometimes I pull down data and want to process it. For example, looking over all of our incoming support requests we have on Slack (we support a lot of internal teams). I can use an internal API to take someones slack handle, and determine their team or department. In that way I can see how much support requests we had this month from a particular area which is useful data to see how we can better support the organization. 5. Rubber ducking. Talking through problems. In general I prefer to get feedback from a human, but mentors are busy creatures, and our schedules don't always mesh up. If I'm working through a difficult problem, chatting it through with an LLM has been very helpful. I keep out personal details because paranoia, but I describe the situation and how I'm thinking about it. That's the important part that helps; forming my thoughts. Rarely is the actual output from the LLM helpful, although I can't say it never has been. People get really hung up on LLMs/ChatGPT not just solving things for them 100%, and I think these people are going to be left behind. It doesn't need to be perfect, it can even give you the wrong answer and you still benefit. But it can help get your brain looking at lots of answers.

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Three years ago, I moved from Chile to California to work at Google. It sucked, and nobody warned me. Don't worry, this is not another post about "The hardships of starting a job in a new country" or "10 reasons why FAANG is not all sunshine and roses." This post is about my advice to people who call me and say, "Marco, I've landed a job in the Bay Area! This is gonna be AWESOME!" Relax... my initial response is in fact "OMG, yeah, that is awesome!" I'm not that dense—at least, not yet. But after a few days or weeks, I tell them something I wish someone had told me: 🛑 "Brace yourself, it's going to be HARD." 🛑 You're moving your whole life to a new place, and it's going to suck. 1️⃣ You'll feel lonely. 😔 Being far from family and friends hits hard. You'll lose a big part of your support system, which can be overwhelming when things get tough. 2️⃣ You'll feel lost. 😵 Rebuilding your life from scratch in an unfamiliar place will be confusing. "What is an SSN?" "What do you mean I have to PAY to file my taxes?" “What the hell is a four-way stop?” Sometimes you won't realize that you don't know something until it’s too late. "Sh*t, I chopped a part of my finger—quick, to the ER!! ... WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY OF MY INSURANCE ID??" (True story) 3️⃣ You'll feel out of place. 🫥 You'll have to rebuild your daily routines. Worse yet, some little comforts from home might not even be doable here. Creating new routines and finding small comforts will take time and effort. "Jeez, Marco—You ARE dense. Are you trying to scare people from moving abroad??" Not at all! Relocating was one of the best decisions I've made! But I've seen many come and go because the hardships were too much. I almost didn't make it through myself. I want you to succeed! And your chances will greatly increase by preparing for the hard parts. 👥 Reach out: Connect with others who have gone or are going through similar experiences. 📞 Stay grounded: Keep in touch with family and friends back home, and be honest—share your sadness and fear too! 🏠 Find stability: Establish new routines to make yourself comfortable in this new place. No detail is too small if it makes you happy: take that extra five-minute walk through the park on your commute. Relocating is a significant life change, and we need to acknowledge that it’s tough. If you’re going through this, know that you’re not alone. If you’ve gone through this already and know someone who recently relocated, do them a favor and reach out to them!

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If I had the opportunity to go into SWE / Tech today, would I do it again? Probably not. This is something I have been thinking about a lot recently. There have been over 350k layoffs since 2023 and 100k+ CS grads entering the global job market per year. Our field is reaching saturation. It seems like a natural right-sizing for a career field that is generally over valued and hyped up by our society since the dot com boom. Now, it takes a competitive edge to succeed as a software engineer. That’s different for each person. For some it’s networking, innate intelligence, or even business acumen. I can’t imagine the thoughts I would have as a CS or boot camp grad entering the job market in 2024. I am grateful to have experience (and employment!) in the field at this point, but I think 2019 me would have taken non traditional routes to get into the 2024 market instead of mass applying to roles.

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** Unfortunate Experience with Amazon: Seeking Guidance ** On March 30, 2024, I placed an order with Amazon for a Boat neckband and Boat earbuds. While the neckband arrived in good condition, the earbuds turned out to be defective upon receipt. Naturally, I initiated a return order, and the defective earbuds were collected on April 19, 2024. However, over a month later, I'm still awaiting my refund. Each time I reach out to customer support, I'm told an investigation is ongoing, and worse, I've been accused of potentially returning a different item. Despite their agent verifying and collecting the item, I continue to face delays and blame for an issue that's beyond my control. I filed a complaint on the consumer portal, only to receive a response stating that the product wasn't returned, despite confirmation from their own agent. Here's an excerpt from their communication: "Dear Sir, On review of your complaint and on the information received from the third-party seller we find that you have not returned the product delivered to you vide Order Id 403-8363294-1083540. Accordingly, neither refund nor replacement order can be initiated. Please note that the seller initiates refund only after receipt of the original product as per return policy. Further, it is submitted that our role is limited to that of an intermediary and we are not the seller/manufacturer of the products listed on our e-commerce marketplace. The products listed on our e-commerce marketplace are sold by independent third-party sellers. In view of the above, the issue stands closed. Thank You." I find myself at an impasse and seek your guidance. What steps would you recommend I take next in this scenario? Your insights and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. #CustomerService #AdviceNeeded #AmazonExperience #boat

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I'm hiring an SRE for my team in the Bay Area. My rough parameters (but everything is negotiable, please don't self-select out): - Preference for folks who can be in our SF office at least 2 days per week, WFH the other 3 days. Sunnyvale office days is a secondary option. - Targeting mid-career engineers, not your first job, but you don't need to be senior either. - Total team size is 10, with 40% women. You'll be focusing on load balancers in general and Traffic Director specifically. - Overview of the general space: https://lnkd.in/gv8E7TSR - Deep dive into Traffic Director: https://lnkd.in/gvP9ssJy Hiring at Google is a lot different these days. Less generic, more targeted. While the link below has a lot of boilerplate text, it is for my specific opening. If you apply and notify me, I will personally review your application. https://goo.gle/41R0Dk6 If you have any questions, please message me. Good luck, and pass it along to anyone else you think might be interested!

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Great article about navigating your career

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A few years ago, I wrote a post on Quora about interview process for Principal Engineer role at Amazon. In that post, I shared my own experiences as the recruiter owning that hiring process, as well as tips from other Principal Engineers who had been through the process. Even today, I get weekly emails and messages from senior engineers who saw that post and want to learn more about the Amazon interview. We often end up talking about more than just Amazon. We discuss career development and interview skills in general. I really enjoy those conversations! Since 2017 (when I wrote the Quora post), Amazon has created several helpful resources to prepare candidates for their interviews. Here below are those "official" interview prep materials. I hope you find them useful. Feel free to share them with your friends who are getting ready for job interviews. The Original Quora post: https://lnkd.in/gGVBsJfn Amazon Interview Prep Repo: https://lnkd.in/gnnanGCz Now that you have a starting point, in coming weeks, I plan to write about the "softer skills" that are hard to measure but can really make a difference in interviews. I will expand on those topics. I will breakdown topics like "technical leadership assessment in interviews", authenticity, dealing with ambiguity, "active listening during interview", and other topics. I will write about 'interview preparation' itself! DM, email me on what other 'non-obvious' topics you want me to write about? PS: I'll try to keep my writing practical and broadly applicable, even though my experience is mostly with Amazon. 😀 #interviewing #careeradvise #careergoals #careertransition #interviewpreparation #interviewtips #principalengineer #amazon #amazoninterview

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When I was at Google, my very first promotion from Eng 1 to Eng 2 got rejected. I remember the day I found out about it as if it were yesterday: my manager telling me that the promo committee feedback was to “work on more impactful projects”. I was crushed! How could that be? I delivered everything I was asked to. Little did I know that it would end up being one of the biggest lessons of my career, for which I’m very grateful now. That rejection was a blessing in disguise. What is the lesson? “I’ll just do what I’m told and I’ll get promoted” is simply not true. I needed to take more control over the process, relying less on my manager. Is it unfortunate and perhaps unfair? Debatable, leaning towards yes. Am I grateful for this early lesson? Absolutely—1000%. Did it serve me well? Without a doubt. Here are some of the things I did differently afterward: • I independently researched what’s expected at the next level • I reached out for advice from other senior folks in the org and unintentionally found a mentor • I started relying less on my manager and self-managed more • I asked for a larger scope project that I could deliver end to end and tried to work on fewer snack tasks The results: I not only got to Eng 2 6 months later but also senior another year after. Read the story and full list of learnings here: https://lnkd.in/gXYVXC9B ♻️ Please repost if you found this useful 🤝 I help engineers and leaders become high performers in high-pressure tech careers, dm me “CONNECT” to learn more #softwareengineering #coding

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Great compilation of resources! These are definitely some of the best materials out there for prepping for tech interviews. I've personally found the "System Design Interview" books to be incredibly helpful for grasping complex design principles. Also, "Neetcode" has a great collection of problem solutions that are super handy for quick review sessions. One resource I'd add to the list is "The Pragmatic Programmer" book. It's not directly interview-focused, but it provides invaluable insights into software development that can help deepen your understanding and improve your problem-solving skills. For behavioral interviews, practicing the STAR method with real-life examples from your experience can be a game-changer. It's all about storytelling and demonstrating your impact. Curious to hear what others think about these resources. What has been the most effective material for your prep? #TechInterviews #InterviewPrep #SoftwareEngineering

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what is the solution?

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Some good advice here

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To my fellow former Mercarians: I’m so sorry to hear about the recent layoffs. The news only just reached my feed and I’m so sorry to hear how much of the workforce there has been impacted. From experience, allow me to give you a few next steps: - apply for unemployment NOW, because there’s a waiting period and your first check will usually be on paper. - take a week to yourself, or maybe two depending on how much you got from your severance. Don’t worry about anything except the bare minimum for unemployment. Don’t even worry about your resume or anything. Just take some time. Spend it with your loved ones or on a beloved hobby. - get back into a routine. Schedule a few hours a day a few days a week for your job hunt. If you spend a bit longer that’s great but use that time to update your resume and portfolio if applicable, get really clear on your skills, get a free LinkedIn premium trial and go absolutely nuts on LinkedIn learning. - join a discord server, subreddit, slack channel, or whatever else with others in your field or with former colleagues. Ask for references, review each others resumes and provide feedback, etc. and try not to get stuck in a negative feedback loop. It’s tough in the job market and job hunting is miserable but if you dwell on it and reinforce that with each other you’re going to burn out and approach any interviews with cynicism that’s going to damage your chances. It sucks. Don’t do it. If anyone wants my help with the following: - resume revision - presentation skills - references Please DM me here or on other socials. I’m really invested in the success of my former peers, especially if you’re someone I trained. I’ve got your back!

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Huge news for anyone working in tech in the US: noncompetes will be banned: not just in California (like before), but nationwide. This is very, very relevant for anyone at Amazon (which is the Big Tech that has enforced noncompetes even for low-level engineering positions). But it's just as relevant at other companies that (outside California) added noncompetes to contracts. Other countries should take notice. The FTC has correctly determined that noncompetes is bad for the economy: although undeniably good for businesses that want to keep wages lower, and enforce lower attrition. If you read the ruling closer: there is an exception where noncompetes can remain for executives. The regulation defines as an executive as those making more than $151K/year AND being policy makers. Many senior-and-above individual contributors will make more than this (especially in Big Tech). But they are not policymakers/execs! That's usually Director-and-above. The regulation is expected to be in effect in a bit over 4 months' time. During this time, organizations can sue the FTC to get this reversed: and the US National Chamber of Commerce has immediately announced they will do just this. Still, there's now a very real chance that soon, noncompetes will be a thing of the past for almost all US workers. We've seen what happened in states that did this earlier: California is the hotbed of innovation and startups. It also has a ban on noncompetes. Coincidence? The FTC doesn't seem to think so. Other countries (that still have noncompetes allowed) could well take notice. The FTC ruling source: https://lnkd.in/dFeVcXwr

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Major layoff journey update! I'm at the one week anniversary of receiving my layoff notice and here are four major steps that I've taken so far: 1. Light social networking, mainly via an uptick in content creation 2. Sharpening my coding round skills! I'm up to what I would call moderate preparedness now (I can do 6 of my 12 standard kata in an hour). 3. I activated a couple "passive profiles" with job boards like hired.com 4. I spent a whole day yesterday refining my resume Now it's time for an exciting and significant step: Starting high-volume Tier 2 applications! Interviewing at Tier 2 companies early provides serious benefits: 1. You get practice without burning Tier 1 opportunities 2. You may get a job offer early, kicking off a snowball of bargaining power and motivation. I will also start placing paid Tier 1 / FAANG+ mock interviews mixed in with real Tier 2+ interviews over the next two weeks, then begin real Tier 1 applications. Follow along for updates! In addition, feel free to DM me if you: 1. Are hiring and would like to refer ahead of the pack 2. Are a fellow job seeker looking for practice interviews, resume review, or other help #programming #jobsearch #bigtech

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A lot of people share this sentiment, but please hire inexperienced software engineers. The tech world has got to be the only career where we simultaneously complain about not having enough engineers, laying people off and not hiring new engineers. I get that companies want to try to please their investors with immediate short-term growth, but it's a poor strategy. You can't please your investor because you always could have better numbers. Rather than trying to please your investor, just set your goals on making a good company.Take strategic risks rather than pleasing your investors. Data shows that 100% of engineers that you think are amazing were inexperienced at one point. Every big successful company has hired inexperienced employees before. Hiring new workers isn't a new strategy but a tried and true one that has proven it works time and time again. #softwareengineer #recruiting #hiringmanagers #machinelearning

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Things to keep in mind as a laid off #softwareengineer I've been affected by #layoffs for a couple months now and wanted to condense some thoughts that may help others that find themselves without a long term role. 1. Prioritize #mentalhealth It's easy to fall into a dark spiral while laid off. Keep your mind clear with #exercise, eating healthily, (for me meditation helps) and enjoying your hobbies/friends/ the warm weather. Relax a little - you won't get the opportunity to when you're working full time again. Life has given you a Costco-sized bag of lemons - enjoy some lemonade on the beach, and with some friends. 2. Leverage tech and your #network It takes more to get noticed today. Leverage #AI to help you touch up your resume, resume scanners to improve your chances, and people you know to get that referral and recruiter phone call. 3. Slow and steady wins the race Applications are a numbers game. Keep up the grind, consistently, and don't burn out. If you're in #tech like me, learning #algorithms and #systemdesign is a lot like scaling a mountain, but with consistency you can turn that mountain into a... large series of manageable hills instead lol.

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