Conor Sands

Distinguished Engineers (E9) at Meta make $4m/year. That's 16x the Bay Area median ($255k) Let's break it down [output = input x leverage] We all have 24 hours in a day, so there is a cap on [input] But hey, let's say they manage to have 2x-3x more focused time, so their [input] is 2x-3x There is still 5.3x-8x to go And that's [leverage] Here is the [leverage] they have: 1️⃣ Writing Every piece of text they write is clear to everyone, and they write a lot, for a lot of people 2️⃣ They create something from nothing And that something has clear value to the business 3️⃣ They influence other Engineers around them They are often described as having a "Midas Touch" in terms of their ability to uplift and develop other Engineers around them The best indicator is that the Engineers in their teams get promoted faster 4️⃣ They are well known and have an impact beyond Meta, promoting the brand 5️⃣ They have industry-leading experience in some areas There are rumoured to be <50 E9s at Meta

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Well said. The alarmism around AI replacing software engineers often overlooks the complexity of our role. While AI tools like Devin are impressive, they are assistants, not replacements. 𝟏. 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝟐. 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝟑. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬. 𝟒. 𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. AI will definitely reshape our workflows, but it won't replace the need for skilled engineers. Instead, it may allow us to focus more on high-level problem-solving and innovation. Arvind Telharkar 👏

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Some engineers are worth +$2,000,000/yr, and I'll explain why. Their biggest skill is not coding. It’s “leverage.” Top software engineers who make millions share these three qualities. 1. They handle a large group of engineers These engineers often lead tech leads and handle teams of 25+ engineers. This influence gives them leverage and increases their impact within the company. 2. They write super impactful and clean code In companies like Meta, even a single change in software can have a huge impact. This impact makes paying a lot for their specialized skills worth it. 3. They improve efficiency at scale They make improvements to tools or infrastructure that everyone uses. Making 500 engineers 5% faster is like creating the bandwidth of 25 new engineers.   Most engineers won’t reach these levels, but we can still learn from them. The key to having more impact is working harder and finding ways to leverage your efforts. Focus on leveraging your impact, as it’s the best way to achieve more. 

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The average Principal SWE at Wayfair makes $745k. Enough to incentivize a generation. Yet most of us chase that title for the wrong reasons. Don’t aim for Principal because: - the compensation is insane, - everyone will look up to you, or - it might finally “cure” your imposter syndrome. Do it because you know the person you must become: - a world class engineering mentor, - a master of distributed systems, - an articulate public speaker. And you want to see that person in the mirror someday. If who you have to become isn’t someone you want to be, you’re chasing the wrong horizon. Let the identity determine the goal. Not the other way around. --- P.S. even reaching Mid-level SWE requires an identity shift. A new way of thinking: What --> How. If you're a Junior who wants help getting there, check out this free 6-day email course: https://lnkd.in/euHSbh4V

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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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Fail often, fail fast and fail better

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Perfection is an illusion; start, stumble, and learn. Mistakes are the stepping stones to mastery.

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In a few days, I'll have spent 10 years at Amazon. Why do I stay? I had a job satisfaction rubric when I started here:  1. Peers  2. Manager  3. Compensation  4. Subject Matter I thought that if I could hit all of these I'd be happy--and for the most part I have hit them; and I've been happy. But as my career progressed I noticed something new that was missing from my rubric: for the first time I was able to be my authentic self--and that self was successful! As time has gone on, I've come to value this one aspect above the original four. Reflecting on my tenure, me from 10 years ago would be shocked by the this post's opening. When I applied, I was convinced I'd never be hired; and when I was hired, I was convinced that I'd never see my sign on RSUs vest--I had done my homework and was aware of the short median lifespan. But the anecdotes I was quickly amassing were at conflict with everything I thought I knew about Amazon. My manager had been there 10 years, a couple of my peers 5, and I never saw anyone crying at their desk (much to the relief of my parents). Rather things went well. My first surprise was to discover that my coworkers universally did what they said they'd do. More so, what I naturally did was often right, whether that was disagreeing in a meeting, or diving deep into some bug in a service I did not own; I was rewarded for following my instincts. This lead to my own personal virtuous cycle: the more I was myself, the more encouraged I'd be to be that self. Of all the satisfaction criteria, this is the one that keeps me excited to stay and continue growing. This leads me to be super curious about others. What keeps you where you are? (10 year cake is--of course--a figment of AI) #amazon #careers

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🔨 You're a senior software engineer. You know your stuff. But you are not being promoted or recognized, and you're not sure why. Being an amazing engineer will get you from entry level roles until senior. But beyond that you might run into snags that aren't as obvious as they should be. As you progress into more senior and principal roles, your leadership skills, including your ability to influence without authority become more and more important. This might include building trusted relationships across the organization, which is required to lead some critical initiatives. As a principal engineer you might be asked to lead an initiative that impacts all engineering teams. How will you get a group of smart and opinionated engineers to progress in the same direction? That requires teams to trust you. You may not always have a gavel. 👉🏾 Building an internal reputation is critical. Not just be known as a great engineer, but also a great collaborator who listens as much as brings opinions. 👉🏾 If this is where you are in your career, I'd love to chat more. Ping me below and/or send me a DM. I'd like to set you up with mentorship and the tools you need to be success--all free. #mentormesh #leadership #engineering

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10x engineer, rock star, brogrammers....these are all unhelpful myths. Were they a great dev? Probably, but a great dev should not have to suffer through ego death to consider themselves successful. I agree with others, this attitude is not how a team succeeds and it is toxic. When I look at Facebook now I see an application stack that constantly breaks, is unintuitive and doesn't have the infrastructure to support itself, worse in quality than it was a decade ago. Exactly the type of thing I would expect from a bunch of individual contributors without cohesion. I'm sure this analysis on my part is unfair and there are dedicated, hard working team members there ready to make a difference, but this type of culture needs to stop. Invest in your internal teams, promote from within, train, encourage, build great things together instead of waiting for an imaginary deus ex programmator to save you.

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In my time as a SWE Intern, here are some of the "Best Practice" lessons I've taken away: 1. Write Comments: Writing comments for other devs who need to work through your code is essential. At my current internship, there are some comments dated from before I was born (...I'm looking at you .NET) explaining various code functionality. While commenting on code and documenting changes are essential, it's best not to overdo it and make unnecessary comments. 2. Thoroughly Test Code: It's critical to test your code before creating Pull Requests and sending it down the pipeline. Just like you wouldn't want to turn in a paper without re-reading or math without recalculating, you wouldn't want to turn in untested code. The consequences of untested code can be severe, leading to bugs, system failures, and even security vulnerabilities. It's best to thoroughly test every instance the code is being referenced and document testing so it doesn't come back to bite you. This is definitely something you want to take into account. 3. Peer Review: Your peers and coworkers are valuable resources. Review your changes with them, preferably with someone more experienced. However, it's always beneficial to bounce ideas off those around you. This collaborative process can provide you with insightful answers and diverse perspectives about your code. It's also crucial for coordinating work to avoid stepping on each other's toes and producing merge conflicts. Remember, you're part of a team, and peer review is a key part of our collaborative process. 4. Meaningful Naming Conventions: If you code a lot in your free time, you might be familiar with the temptation to give your variables or functions whimsical names. I've been guilty of naming variables after characters in the show I'm currently watching. While this might be acceptable in personal projects, it's crucial to maintain a professional standard in a work environment. Your code should be readable and informative, guiding another developer to understand its functionality. Your naming conventions reflect your professionalism and responsibility as a developer. 5. Limit Duplication: It's so easy just to Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V your way through different coding tasks, but when coding, giving more thought to your work is essential. You should think, "What's the best way to go about this?" "How can I make my code more efficient?" You'll often find that there are better answers than copying coding, and you might need to sacrifice time for efficiency's sake. Copying code can be handy, but just be mindful when doing so. Here are just some of the helpful tips I've learned. If you have any other "Best Practices" I haven't mentioned, please share! I'm always intrested to learn #Engineering #STEM #TechTrends

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While the practice of doing crap pull requests and letting your teammates correct you is questionable, and this whole story might be bogus to begin with, it does strike a chord with me. From my experience, the developers who want to spend weeks reading docs and doing tutorials before writing any code, end up not writing much code in the long run. Jump in, break stuff, ask questions! The best devs will have a PR on the 1st day: fixing some crap sample code, tutorial or how-to that no one bothered to update for a while.

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Outcome Or Output, What matters the most?

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I'm really surprised at the amount of disagreement I'm seeing in the comments section of this post. I think it may be a matter of "how" Alex said what he said, rather than what he actually said. I think that if you're motivated ONLY by money you will likely fail in this career. What I mean when I said "motivated only by money" is that you have zero interest in actually building things. If tomorrow I got a job offer as a VC rep with 500k starting salary plus commissions for placing the money, I would definitely take it and live that experience. But I'm fairly confident that I would still tinker around with code and build things in my spare time. I believe this is the case because at one point, I actually tried to pivot my career to wealth management, and I still coded a little bit here and there while that was going on. I failed miserably at wealth management, btw, because I do not like outbound selling. Cold calling, going to events to shake as many hands as possible and hand out cards, pressuring people, etc... Really not my thing. If you feel about coding the way I felt about selling, I really can't see how you're gonna last in the business. Now of course, it isn't black and white. It's a spectrum. For instance, I like training for strength sports even more than I like coding. I believe the wise thing for people to do is take a look at all the activities you could possibly enjoy and pick the one that offers the best tradeoff in terms of fulfillment and money. I think if someone says "I only care about money, money, money" they didn't evaluate that tradeoff, and they're likely going to fail. Especially because SWE is really not really the most direct path to money. The most direct path to money would be sales. If all he wants is money he should have just started selling at 18 and gotten a business major from a cheap easy online university so he ticks the box. You can go from selling cars for 100k/year and eventually work your way up to selling higher and higher end stuff. Eventually land selling government contracts and have multi million dollar commissions. But for that, you probably need to actually love sales too.

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The hardest technical decision I made at Amazon wasn't about technology. During a project, an engineering team wanted to rebuild our entire checkout system. I remember, the enthusiast team; "It's legacy code," one of my best engineering colleague said. "We can do it in 3 months." But here's what my Amazon experience taught me to ask: I asked the below Questions: 1/ Why now? 2/ What's the actual pain? 3/ What's the hidden cost? After diving deep (Amazon leadership principle in action), we discovered: - 80% of issues came from 20% of the code - Complete rebuild = 6 months minimum - Migration risks > Current pain What we did instead: 1/ Isolated the problematic components 2/ Created clear interfaces 3/ Rebuilt critical parts first Result: - 70% improvement in performance - Only 6 weeks of work - Zero customer impact The Framework I Used: 1. Pain Assessment - Current impact - Future risks - Resource cost 2. Solution Mapping - Quick wins - Medium changes - Complete rebuilds 3. Hidden Cost Analysis - Migration complexity - Team bandwidth - Customer impact Key Learning: Technical decisions aren't about the newest technology. They're about making the right trade-offs. Early PMs: What technical decisions are you struggling with? Let's solve them together 👇

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When I was preparing for the Meta interview back in 2017, I was a hopeless idiot with a first-class ticket on the LeetCode struggle bus. It had been an entire month, and I was still failing easy problems. My brain simply wasn't smart enough to get this whole LeetCode thing. ...or so I thought. After putting in the effort, I eventually hit an inflection point and started really getting data structures and algorithms (DSA). The easy problems became easy, followed by the medium and then the hard. This all culminated with me finally landing the Meta offer in spring of 2017. When it comes to DSA, there really is no magic to it. If you strive to properly learn the concepts and have a consistent studying regimen, you will make it. The tricky part is that you need to have faith in the process. Unless you're a genius, the first several weeks will feel like you're painfully making 0 progress. I recently looked back on that entire journey and put it all together into a 3-hour DSA course. It covers the mentality shift I had to make, my study plan, and how I learned the concepts properly instead of just memorizing them. On top of that, it covers how these pesky DSA interviews are graded at top companies like FAANG, stemming from my experience interviewing ~100 engineers at Meta. Start the course for free here: https://lnkd.in/gV2PrQxx #techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #leetcode #meta #interviewtips

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Why Amazon changed their RTO Policy * Increase speed and ownership -> IC:Manager ratio change * Increase invention, collaboration, and culture -> In-Office 5 days a week Is this really why tho? Why Amazon is Enforcing a 5-Day Return-to-Office - according to a former AWS Engineer - https://lnkd.in/eRGmpNij #rto

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Just had my performance review for my first half at Meta as a new grad software engineer. Here are my takeaways: 1) Write lots of code…and keep writing it High code output is extremely important, but doing so over the course of just one half isn’t terribly impressive. Management looks for sustained high output over multiple halves to prove that you’re not a one hit wonder. 2) Leave behind artifacts Aka don’t just write code, write design docs, tech plans, project proposals, launch summaries, etc. This is all “evidence” for what you’ve accomplished that your manager can use when they advocate for you to get the rating or promo you want. 3) Complexity…and the senior eng who vouch for it… are your best friends The more complex your projects, the better. But there’s really only one way management can know if your project was complex…and that is if a senior engineer says so. This means you need to make sure senior engineers not only know what you're doing, but how hard it is to do it. Prioritize and volunteer for projects that *they* think are complex. (*clarification* this doesn't mean 'chase complexity for complexity’s sake'. That's an awful idea. It means showing enthusiasm for and working with senior eng to tackle the hard problems.) 4) Demonstrate E2E ownership For a new grad to make it to the next level at Meta, they need to show they can take a full project from start to finish. Be the one to design and propose the tech plan, breakdown the tasks, execute, experiment, record and publicize the impact, and ship. Make it clear that you want the ownership and are capable enough to deserve it. Time to put this all into practice in H2.

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