Marius Schulz grew to a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Instagram by redefining expectations three times (once for each promotion). We talked through each promotion and how he did it. There were also interesting learnings from when his promotion got blocked once even though he greatly exceeded expectations.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-senior-staff-eng-ic7-on

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/OXJHfb_lZII

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00 - Intro

00:55 - Choosing his specialty

02:29 - Greatly exceeding expectations with no promo

08:04 - Senior promo

15:30 - Staff promo

24:43 - Leverage and IC4/5/6 way of solving problems

29:51 - Senior staff promo

44:29 - Career planning past IC7

47:32 - Did IC7+ expectations scare him

49:49 - Advice for his younger self

52:29 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘂𝘀:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariusschulz/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/mariusschulz/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@marius.schulz

• Personal Website: https://mariusschulz.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Jayendra Jog left Robinhood and raised $35m to start his own crypto startup (Sei Labs). Before he left, he got jaded about software engineering career ladders yet was coasting through promotions at Robinhood. I asked him about how he did that along with a bunch of questions about when to leave your job, how to raise money, and what to expect as a founder.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/quitting-robinhood-and-raising-35m?open=false

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/f4eeoetb8t4

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:54 - Big tech internships

00:04:51 - Joining Robinhood

00:07:58 - Big tech vs startups discussion

00:10:16 - Getting jaded about Robinhood career growth

00:16:04 - Coasting and getting promoted

00:18:54 - Gamestop stories from the inside

00:22:34 - Leaving Robinhood

00:30:25 - Learnings from raising $35m

00:34:07 - What value does crypto provide?

00:37:47 - Learnings and when to leave

00:40:41 - Advice for his younger self

00:41:58 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝘆:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayendrajog

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/jayendra_jog

• His Company: https://x.com/Sei_Labs

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Brian Attwell grew to Senior Staff at Uber by age 25. After that he left Uber to join CloudKitchens (Travis Kalanick’s current startup) and quickly became the CTO after his team doubled in size every 6 months. I asked him about how he did it. He also had a bunch of interesting takes about big tech and stories about Travis Kalanick and Steve Jobs.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/cloudkitchens-cto-on-intelligence

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/egNtHu4q-vI

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:26 - Growth to Senior Staff at Uber

00:10:05 - Was it luck?

00:11:45 - Interviewing for IQ

00:18:02 - Intelligence and prioritization

00:22:19 - How his team doubled every 6 months

00:28:30 - Manager promos tied to scope

00:39:13 - Amazon and Google brutal honesty

00:43:39 - CloudKitchens behind the scenes

00:50:24 - Biggest career regret

00:54:17 - Travis Kalanick experiences

00:56:01 - Most impactful advice received

00:56:56 - Most impactful book for career

00:57:53 - Advice for his younger self

00:58:48 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-attwell/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/attwellbrian

• CloudKitchens: https://cloudkitchens.com/careers/

• CloudKitchens tech blog: https://techblog.cloudkitchens.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Joakim Recht grew to a Distinguished Engineer at Uber and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the project that got him promoted, what makes a great software engineer, and learnings from promo committees.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/uber-distinguished-eng-on-unfair

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/feNh_ubBAMI

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:56 - Distinguished promo project

00:19:07 - How to grow your influence

00:22:38 - Unfair promo story

00:33:09 - On delegation

00:39:05 - Why engs don’t trust management

00:47:58 - Politics as he grew

00:57:00 - How to pick mentees

01:03:22 - Why he left Uber

01:15:16 - Biggest Uber eng mistake

01:20:15 - Uber scandals

01:24:35 - Advice for younger self

01:26:14 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗺:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recht/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Ilya Grigorik grew to a Distinguished Engineer (VP-level role) at Shopify and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the behind the scenes of his startup getting acquired by Google, his growth to Director at Google, and what it means to operate like a Distinguished engineer.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-engineer-at-shopify

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:45 - Thoughts on Waterloo

00:04:36 - Starting his own company

00:08:40 - Google acquisition story

00:14:04 - Joining Google

00:20:28 - Switching back to IC

00:26:42 - Principal+ Engineering at Shopify

00:40:09 - Career regrets

00:44:53 - Top career-impacting book

00:46:59 - Advice for younger self

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗹𝘆𝗮:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@igrigorik

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igrigorik/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/igrigorik

• Personal Website: https://ilya.grigorik.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Bobby Holley went from an intern to the CTO of Mozilla Firefox. I asked him about everything he learned in that process. We cover his full career including some interesting stories on living through the browser wars and advice on career growth.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/mozilla-firefox-cto-on-browser-war

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• NYT article link: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/q2EjgGX6d5Ouwec479WSqM/For-Mozilla-Google-group-hugs-get-tricky.html

• Mozilla VP twitter thread: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1722183/former-mozilla-exec-alleges-google-torpedoed-firefox-with-oops-excuses.html

• Internal memo on writing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1518xKjijjEWHQb6wZjAWJrUN8liZGGI9v5pRFr9eFHo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.1gfr5hva69qx

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:57 - Starting at Mozilla

00:04:57 - Browser wars history

00:10:55 - Google relationship changing

00:16:11 - Why work for free

00:19:02 - Projects that drove his career

00:33:12 - No performance reviews

00:34:42 - Rust adoption

00:43:33 - Career progression

00:47:54 - Should you focus on promos

00:57:14 - Distinguished promo rejection

01:00:56 - Examples of distinguished engs

01:10:54 - Advice for aspiring distinguished engs

01:14:40 - AI browser wars

01:26:32 - Biggest technical regret

01:29:11 - Book that impacted his career most

01:32:09 - Advice for his younger self

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyholley

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/bhology

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

David Fowler went from an intern to a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft. That’s 11 different promotions all at the same company. I asked him about everything he learned by going through that process.

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/intern-to-microsoft-distinguished

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/d8tRM8RJ52M

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

(00:00) Intro

(00:53) Microsofts leveling system

(03:17) Joining Microsoft

(10:18) First successful project

(16:22) Bootstrapping his own project

(25:44) His principal promotion

(37:10) His distinguished promotion

(49:51) Engineers he looks up to

(53:40) Expanding on his top tweets

(1:05:20) Big company tip on reorgs

(1:08:25) What keeps him at Microsoft

(1:17:22) Microsoft culture after Satya

(1:23:04) Career regrets and work life balance

(1:29:51) Advice for his younger self

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfowl/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidfowl

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

David Singleton was the CTO at Stripe for 7 years before he left to start /dev/agents. Prior to Stripe, he grew from a junior engineer to a VP at Google. I recently asked him about everything he knows about career growth and being an excellent engineering leader. We discussed how Stripe hired at scale without Leetcode, why he thinks all engineering leaders should write code, the book that impacted his career most and many more topics.

Episode Links:

• Transcript

• Youtube

• Apple

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:00:56) Before Google

(00:06:34) Joining Google

(00:12:56) Deciding to try management

(00:24:15) How to decide on EM vs IC

(00:28:58) Biggest gap in managing managers

(00:34:21) The difference between VP and Senior EM

(00:37:43) How to communicate well

(00:46:14) How managers can scale themselves

(00:51:17) How to build a new engineering site

(01:01:21) What kept him at Google

(01:03:57) The story behind joining Stripe

(01:12:34) Comparing and contrasting cultures

(01:20:55) How to set culture

(01:29:25) Is Stripe too reliable?

(01:33:48) Hiring at scale without Leetcode

(01:38:06) Lessons learned working with Stripe's leadership

(01:40:31) Why leave Stripe

(01:44:55) How his AI startup plans to compete

(01:48:46) Career reflections, regrets, what went well

(01:54:03) Top book and habit that impacted his career

(01:57:40) Advice for younger self

(01:59:04) Outro

Where to find David:

• If you are a builder: https://sdsa.ai/build

• If you are very excited about what they are building and would consider joining his talent dense team, you can email David here: [email protected]

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/dps

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpsingleton/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsingleton

Where to find Ryan:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@petermanpod

This episode was produced with the help of SF Podcast Studio: https://www.sfpodcast.studio/

We hit 25,000 subscribers! 🎉🎉🎉

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported my work, never thought we'd be here let alone this fast

Had some spare studio time booked and figured I might as well use it as time for an FAQ episode. This episode is for anyone whose curious about some of the story behind the podcast

Feeling very lucky, thank you all! 🙏

Also if you have any feedback for me about the show and how to make it better, I'd love to hear it. Feel free to drop a comment

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(00:58) Story behind the podcast

(05:30) Behind the scenes of the top episodes

(10:06) Dream guest list

(12:03) Learnings from podcasting

(13:10) Balancing content with a full time job

(14:28) Outro

Stefan Mai was a Senior Manager (M2) with experience across Meta and Amazon. We went over his career story in growing to M2 which is equivalent to Senior Staff (IC7) in big tech. Since he started his own company now, he was happy to be fully transparent about the behind the scenes of managing in big tech.

Since he founded the interview prep company, Hello Interview, I also thought it’d be interesting to talk about trends he’s seeing in AI cheating tools and how to get offers at OpenAI/Anthropic. We discussed:

• Meta Senior Manager (M2) career growth story

• Amazon vs Meta culture

• Which company had stronger engineers

• How low performer quotas & PIPs work

• Eng vs manager career growth

• Transitioning to AI/ML as an eng

• Getting offers at OpenAI and Anthropic

• Advice for his younger self

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(00:59) Early career at Amazon

(05:46) Growth to eng manager at Amazon

(11:31) Storytelling tips

(16:28) Why he left Amazon

(22:59) Transitioning to AI/ML

(27:01) Senior manager (M2) promo story at Meta

(31:30) Mutiny and manager politics

(40:34) Are managers harder to layoff?

(49:50) Senior manager (M2) skill gaps

(53:21) Eng vs manager career growth

(56:27) Amazon vs Meta culture

(01:00:34) Amazon vs Meta performance

(01:05:24) Low performer quotas

(01:08:55) Can you get out of a PIP?

(01:12:23) AI interview cheating

(01:16:42) Passing OpenAI & Anthropic interviews

(01:18:33) Job hopping

(01:22:37) When he grew the most

(01:24:22) How to write better

(01:26:22) Career motivations past M2

(01:28:11) Advice for younger self

Where to find Stefan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanmai/

• His company: https://www.hellointerview.com/

Where to find Ryan:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman