Engineers' Survival Guide: Advice, Tactics, and Tricks after a Decade of Working at Facebook, Snapchat, and Microsoft

- Authored by Merih Taze , Senior Software Engineering Lead at Facebook (Previously Microsoft and Snapchat) There are a lot of amazing technical books out there. But what about your life as an engineer? How you interact with others? How happy are you with your career?Are you tired of the need to put on a fake confidence show?Are you having a hard time convincing others?Are you interested in getting promoted?Are you overworked and can't find a way to get the help you need?Are you scared of the feedback from your peers?Do you find yourself in conflicts with no solution in sight?Want to learn the secrets of having your manager work for you?Interested in building a career you'll be proud to talk about?If you've been feeling alone in your journey and keep wishing you had a friend or a mentor you could get some advice about non-technical aspects, look no further! Inside, you will find the summary of advice, tactics, and tricks learned the hard way through many years of working on mission-critical components, complex system designs supporting billions of users, and working with thousands of the most brilliant engineers around the world. Have a survival guide for most situations you'll be facing throughout your career as an engineer and learn how to play for the long game. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Topics Covered: Conflict resolution, finding mentors, prioritization, interviews, importance of data, visibility, failures, consensus, design discussions, how to drive meetings, adaptability, ambiguity, networking, meetings with your managers (one on ones), biggest regret, perfectionism, system design, calendar, focus blocks, office jargon, diversification, positive surroundings, being the happy coworker, working at a startup, office politics, playing for the long game 1. Introduction and Who This Book Is For 2. First Day at Work and Imposter Syndrome 3. The Importance of Data to Convince Others 4. How Often Should You Interview? 5. Learning to Say No and Brutal Prioritization 6. Never Say No! 7. Finding a Mentor 8. Prototype Fast. First Working Prototype Always Wins 9. Visibility Is Everything 10. Let People Fail. Help Them Fall Slowly 11. The Tiebreaker—Reaching Consensus 12. The Importance of Allies in Design Discussions 13. The Power of Meeting Summary Emails 14. Align, Align, and Align Again 15. The Power of Giving Credit 16. Sharing the Responsibilities 17. Taking Responsibility & Ownership 18. How to Disarm Assholes 19. Adaptability 20. The Importance of Tools and Patterns 21. Open Source Internally 22. How to Get More Headcount 23. Side Projects and Knowing Your Surroundings 24. The Importance of Networking 25. Changing Teams—Risks, Timing, Making the Switch 26. How Fast to Respond to Emails/Chats 27. One-on-Ones with the Leadership 28. Act Then Think 29. Do Not Be Scared to Take the Time Off! 30. Biggest Regret 31. Perfectionism—Your Biggest Enemy 32. Finding an Ownership Area 33. Do Not Redesign a Working System 34. The Importance of the Culture 35. Ambiguity 36. Hold That Question 37. Put it on My Tasks—Unblock Yourself 38. Do You Have Some Time? Ask My Calendar 39. Setting Focus Blocks 40. Make People Think It Was Their Idea 41. Being More Active on Interviews 42. What to Expect from a Brand-New Manager 43. Collecting Feedback 44. Dogfooding 45. The Importance of Knowing Terms—Office Jargon 46. Knowing Popular Frameworks and How They Work 47. Never Keep All Your Eggs in The Same Basket 48. The Importance of Positive Surroundings 49. Being the Happy Coworker 50. Working at a Start-up 51. Office Politics 52. How to Help Your Manager Work for You 53. The Importance of Intelligence 54. Comparative Analysis 55. Power of A/B Testing 56. Logs, Events, Metrics and Dashboards 57. Debuggers and Crash Investigation 58. Remember It Is Not Your Company 59. Playing for the Long Game 60. Conclusion There are a lot of amazing technical books out there. But what about your life as an engineer? How you interact with others? How happy are you with your career? Are you tired of the need to put on a fake confidence show? Are you having a hard time convincing others? Are you interested in getting promoted? Are you overworked and can't find a way to get the help you need? Are you scared of the feedback from your peers? Do you find yourself in conflicts with no solution in sight? Want to learn the secrets of having your manager work for you? Interested in building a career you'll be proud to talk about? If you've been feeling alone in your journey and keep wishing you had a friend or a mentor you could get some advice about non-technical aspects, look no further! Inside, you will find the summary of advice, tactics, and tricks learned the hard way through many years of working on mission-critical components, complex system designs supporting billions of users, and working with thousands of the most brilliant engineers around the world. Have a survival guide for most situations you'll be facing throughout your career as an engineer and learn how to play for the long game. "Inside, you will find the summary of advice, tactics, and tricks learned the hard way through many years of working on mission-critical components, complex system designs supporting billions of users, and working with thousands of the most brilliant engineers around the world." -- from Amazon.com