Gergely Orosz

If you work in tech, you probably have strong opinions on how hiring is broken.

Write this down. The pain points you see and what you'd solve if you were the hiring manager.

There's a good chance you'll be a hiring manager in a few years. Get this list out and make the changes.

When you are hiring manager, you'll start to see other constraints, invisible from the other side.

The "spam" applications you possibly can't all respond to. The time organizing a single interview takes.

It's why many revert to "usual" practices.

Don't give up that easy.

I refrain from talking much about the "real world" of hiring on Twitter, because the majority of people have not been on the other side.

It's easy to gather likes by tweeting "hire more juniors" when it's not you who will be responsible for the success - or failure - of them.

I write about real-world hiring insights for paid subscribers of https://t.co/SLe64y6YsX - many of whom are hiring managers themselves.

It might be a hard pill to swallow, but retaining existing folks, not overloading them with too many in-person interviews comes before hiring.

Writing @Pragmatic_Eng & @EngGuidebook. Advisor @mobile__dev. Uber & Skype alumni. Career opportunities for software engineers & EMs: https://t.co/MJ0eAtlaS1

I sometimes get emails from HR departments who are confused whether to trust articles on my blog on how much the market is moving up in tech.

If you want to keep your best employees: yes, you should consider my data.

If you don't care about those people leaving: just ignore it. https://t.co/KgJRtZy3P7

The same HR people are usually never subscribers of the newsletter - which is their miss.

I post data useful for employees in public. All data that is helpful for hiring managers is for subscribers, given the strategic advantage it gives: https://t.co/4pSmBEoQmE

Now I emphasise with HR: they are paid to ensure the company spends the least possible amount on expenses - including salaries.

But it’s telling of a culture where VPs of Engineering are at the mercy of HR generously deciding on budgets. It usually means tech is a cost center.

Anton Drukh

Lara Hogan

"Who are paid coaches/mentors you could recommend for engineering managers, leaders, directors, VPEs?"

Here are the 18 most-recommended EM/VPE coaches I know of - and where they are based (for e.g. timezone). In no particular order:

1. @adrukh (Israel)
2. @lara_hogan (US)

3. @prla (Berlin)
4. @patkua (Berlin)
5. @colinhowe (London)
6. @catehstn (Cork, Ireland)
7. @estherderby (US, MN)
8. @flopezluis (Spain)
9. @joelchippindale (London)
10. @keithmadams (San Francisco)
11. @KirstenClacey (Cape Town)
12. @lrnrd (Berlin)
13. @rodbegbie (Barcelona)

14. @__saurya__ (Singapore)
15. @tonypiper (London)

Plus: groups that offer coaching for engineering leaders:
16. @vpecoach 
17. @CTOCraft 
18. @Best_Practicer 

More details on the coaches: https://t.co/1KpezgzP75

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Here are the 5 most "impactful" and 5 most-read blog articles on The Pragmatic Engineer blog in 2021.

Though my focus has shifted to the newsletter starting late August, I still cross-post some newsletter issues that are free for all subscribers.

The list:

The 5 most "impactful" ones:

1. The Trimodal Nature of Software Engineering Salaries (152K views)

This post resulted in companies re-evaluating how they think about compensation & many engineers realizing there’s a “hidden range” of sw eng compensation.

https://t.co/BHWctPBJLE

2. What Silicon Valley "Gets" about Software Engineers that Traditional Companies Do Not (110K views)

Silicon Valley companies consistently "get" things their traditional counterparts fail to either understand or implement. The 7 biggest differences.

https://t.co/m31Pw6LAV7

3. Equity 101 for Software Engineers at Big Tech and Startups (70K views)

Any startup that does not issue equity for all employees/engineers is no startup in my book. A summary of key things you should know about equity, and things to pay attention to:

https://t.co/WxQ9pQh2mY

4. The Pragmatic Engineer Test (13K views)

12 questions to get a sense of what a tech company is like to work at, based on things most job postings do not mention. All job listings on my job board fill out this test: https://t.co/wt2EeQEU1Q

https://t.co/RK7HIKf5Pl

5. Reverse Interviewing Your Future Manager and Team (6K views)

The best "career" hack I know of - and one many people shared they wish they would have done earlier.

https://t.co/25VoX1UY7b

The 5 most-read ones not mentioned above:

6. Performance Reviews for Software Developers – How I Do Them In a (Hopefully) Fair Way (85K views)

My approach to preparing for and delivering performance reviews that are fair, build trust & motivate people. 

https://t.co/SWHraH0LH2

7. Preparing for the Systems Design and Coding Interview (83K views)

At Big Tech and high-growth startups, coding and systems design interviews are common - and fairly standard. My advice on how to best prepare for these.

https://t.co/OgLf9gBB6w

8. System Design Interview Book Review: Finally, a Book for Getting Better at Architecting Systems (63K views)

My review of the excellent book by @alexxubyte. Surprisingly many people found this article.

https://t.co/HNq9K3ic1k

9. How Big Tech Runs Tech Projects and the Curious Absence of Scrum (49K views)

A survey of how tech projects run across the industry highlights Scrum being absent from Big Tech.

https://t.co/W0UcBsv9O5

10. Uber's Crazy YOLO App Rewrite, From the Front Seat (49K views)

I've worked on many projects throughout my career as a software engineer. However, Helix -Uber's Rider app rewrite in 2016 introducing Swift and RIBs- stands as the craziest project.

https://t.co/5FF8gCkFLl

Read all articles on my blog: https://t.co/svCAkNmhox

Starting from late August this year, I've started to write long-form articles similar to - but often deeper - to these blog posts, and more frequently. Subscribe to get these in your inbox regularly: https://t.co/SLe64y6YsX

An interesting fallout of the very hot hiring market: companies and nonprofits with smaller budgets will struggle to hire.

Many of these places are still posting very strict requirements ("5+ years, wear multiple hats etc") while being able to offer around half the market rate.

Many of these places are also *not* remote-friendly. E.g. a nonprofit in NYC looking for sr engineers with all the above plus more for $100-110K.

My suggestion: relax requirements. I know plenty of juniors in NYC who would jump working at these places... but no seniors.

Just because you're a nonprofit or have a noble cause does not mean there are no other, similar companies who pay more for similar work.

There are startups tackling large problems that resonate with (e.g. reduce food waste)... who pay a lot more. Why would they choose you?

"Which book did you find game-changing for your career?"

Cracking the Coding Interview.

Deciding that I *will* do what it takes to get into the "big leagues" and master these arbitrary algo coding hoops was easily the best professional and financial decision I made.

Yes, data structure/algo interview critics are spot on and it’s a form of gatekeeping.

It’s also a well-documented form of gate that can be prepared for: takes time and practice.

Doing so increased my salary *by* €100-160K/year (+$110-$180K), more than doubling what I made.

And it wasn’t just the money. By working at a SV-headquartered company from an EU office, a new world opened that would have been out of my reach without joining a place like Uber.

Everything was transparent/open from the inside. A firehouse of learning I would have paid for.

A telling quote on what's actually happening at many companies:

"Most engineering teams I'm interviewing with are saying they plan to double their engineering teams. My company says the same, but our team, in reality, keeps shrinking because of people leaving. Now me as well."

In reality, there are two types of companies I see:

1. Can hire and grow 

2. Struggle to hire, and are, in reality, shrinking.

The secret to #1? They not only hire BUT ALSO retain people. Strong mission, give equity, pay fairly (and moved with the market), nice culture etc etc

Though money is not the best proxy, but companies that will not raise above inflation for engineers come January are signaling they're okay people taking a paycut.

Reminder: inflation in the US is 7%, and the rest of the world is not that much behind.

The New York Times

I *really* want to subscribe to the @nytimes. However, while subscribing is as easy as providing my credit card...

"Cancel anytime" actually means

"you need to call a phone number, wait for someone to pick up and *maybe* you can cancel then. Or not."

Thanks, but no thanks. https://t.co/m6ICee6lg4

Also the NYT can cancel my subscription any time, without letting me know (why don't they have to call a number I provide first?).

And if you just stop paying, the NYT will forward to debt collectors.

@nytimes - please let me know when I can cancel the same way I subscribed.

In what is hilarious: there *is* a way to subscribe with one click, and cancel with one click *and* have the @nytimes get 30% less from my subscription.

I’m subscribing via an in-app purchase. Thanks, @Apple for making it impossible for the NYT to use dark patterns here! https://t.co/VQRHoejQwn https://t.co/xJVHHfTepY

Observation: it's a lot easier to get promoted beyond the senior engineering level (staff/principal engineer etc) if you've been at a high-growth company for long enough, and built systems that "blew up" in impact as the company also "blew up".

Two takeaways from this:

1. The obvious one: try to join high-growth companies that will "blow up" early enough. Just by being here and building systems, there's a high chance those systems will "blow up". You'll both learn, and have a higher chance of growing to beyond the senior engineering level.

2. The non-obvious one: get really good at understanding *why* certain parts of a company "blow up" in impact. Grow your business understanding, not just your engineering one.

Find the teams/systems to work on at *any* company to have the impact staff/principal engineers do.

A tragic outcome of promotion processes at large companies:

Every promotion season those companies send a strong, negative message to their highest performers nominated - but rejected - for promo:

“That promotion your manager thinks you are ready for? The Company disagrees.” https://t.co/iAWRPrG75N

This is an underrated advantage of good startups and companies where the founders truly care about retention and have learned from these processes.

They don’t dangle a promotion/pay increase carrot in front of high performers unless they follow through.

And let’s not forget companies where it’s not The Process, but the CTO who blocks promotions.

It should be no surprise that in this case, managers in the chain (below the CTO) left the company, this incident being another nudge as to why they don’t want this kind of leadership. https://t.co/T5U2dChC4w

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