How To Get Ahead of 99% of Software Engineers (Starting Today)

Summary

This video script reveals the secrets of the top 1% of software engineers, emphasizing the importance of thriving in ambiguity, identifying impactful problems, becoming a subject matter expert, and being customer-obsessed. It also highlights the need to avoid over-engineering, mentor others, understand business impact, and improve company culture. The speaker shares personal experiences and provides actionable advice for aspiring engineers to excel in their careers.

Takeaways

• 🧑‍💻 **Thrive in Ambiguity**: Top engineers embrace uncertainty and take initiative without needing explicit instructions, focusing on problem-solving rather than waiting for direction.
• 🔎 **Find and Define Problems**: The best software engineers actively seek out impactful problems, understand their scope, and clearly define what success looks like in addressing them.
• 📈 **Become a Subject Matter Expert**: Building deep expertise in a specific area leads to becoming a go-to person, which is achieved by spending time, understanding complexities, and gaining trust through consistent problem-solving.
• 👀 **Be Customer-Obsessed**: Top engineers prioritize customer needs and feedback, ensuring that the solutions they build are relevant and valued by the end-users.
• 🛠️ **Avoid Over-Engineering**: It's important to build for the present needs without overcomplicating solutions. Focus on delivering value quickly and iterating based on real-world use.
• 🤔 **Think About Trade-offs**: Understanding the balance between technical excellence and practical constraints is key. The best engineers know when to optimize and when to simplify.
• 👨‍🏫 **Mentor Others**: Sharing knowledge and experience helps in building a strong team and contributes to personal growth. Top engineers actively mentor and guide others in their career.
• 💼 **Understand Business Impact**: Recognizing the financial implications of engineering decisions and aligning work with business goals is a characteristic of top engineers.
• 🌟 **Improve Culture**: Leading by example and actively participating in shaping a positive company culture is a mark of a top engineer. This includes organizing events, sharing knowledge, and enhancing the interview process.
• 🔄 **Iterate and Improve**: Continuous improvement is a mindset. Top engineers understand that tech debt is inevitable and embrace the opportunity to refine and enhance their work over time.
• 🔗 **Build a Personal Brand**: By contributing to the industry outside the company, such as through blogs and conferences, top engineers establish a reputation that extends beyond their immediate work environment.

Q & A

What is the first secret to becoming a top 1% software engineer as mentioned in the script?

The first secret is to thrive in ambiguity, which means accepting the lack of clear instructions and taking responsibility to figure out the problem and make it happen.

How can software engineers define success when dealing with vague problems?

Engineers should define a success criteria by understanding what the problem is and then determining what it means to be successful, especially when the problem itself is not clearly defined.

What is the role of planning and design in the approach of top 1% software engineers?

Top engineers spend a lot of time thinking and designing before coding. They create design documents and tech specs, gather feedback, and ensure they have buy-in from relevant parties before they start coding.

Why is it important for software engineers to find and solve high-impact problems?

Finding and solving high-impact problems is a mark of a rockstar engineer because it demonstrates the ability to identify significant issues, convince leadership of their importance, and then solve them effectively.

How can software engineers improve their discoverability of problems within a system?

Engineers can improve discoverability by spending time exploring the codebase, having casual conversations with team members, and examining metrics to understand pain points and surface issues to leadership.

What does it mean to become a subject matter expert in software engineering?

Becoming a subject matter expert means being the go-to person for certain aspects of a company, being responsible for entire product lines or teams, and building trust by demonstrating deep understanding and expertise in a specific area.

Why should software engineers be customer-obsessed?

Being customer-obsessed ensures that engineers are building products that solve real problems for real people, leaving their ego at the door, and focusing on delivering value to the end-user.

How can software engineers avoid over-engineering solutions?

Engineers can avoid over-engineering by building for the current needs, not over-planning for future scale, and understanding that there is power in shipping a feature and iterating on it slowly.

What is the significance of mentoring in the growth of a software engineer?

Mentoring is significant because it helps engineers learn from the experiences and habits of more experienced peers, improving their skills and efficiency, and contributing to their personal and professional growth.

Why is understanding business impact important for software engineers?

Understanding business impact is important because it aligns engineers with projects that can significantly move the company's bottom line, increasing profitability and shareholder value.

How do top software engineers contribute to improving company culture?

Top engineers improve company culture by running hackathons, writing blog posts, organizing conferences, and making the interview process better, understanding that a good culture attracts great talent and is essential for scaling a company.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Thriving in Ambiguity

This paragraph emphasizes the importance for software engineers to embrace ambiguity and take initiative in their work. It suggests that the best developers don't wait for detailed instructions but instead thrive on vague directions and are capable of identifying and solving problems independently. The speaker shares that top engineers spend time in thoughtful planning and design before coding, ensuring they understand the problem and define success criteria. They also engage in discussions and gather feedback to architect robust systems, demonstrating a deep understanding of trade-offs and the ability to make things happen without being spoon-fed.

05:01

🔎 Finding and Solving Problems

The second paragraph focuses on the ability of top software engineers to identify high-impact problems and convince leadership of their importance. These engineers spend time exploring the code base, engaging with team members, and analyzing metrics to uncover pain points. They then present these issues to leadership with a clear rationale for why they are problems worth solving. The speaker advises on the importance of data in making a convincing argument and the value of heavyweight engineers' support. The paragraph also touches on the speaker's personal use of the 'Magical' Chrome extension for productivity and communication.

10:01

👨‍🏫 Becoming a Subject Matter Expert

This paragraph discusses the journey to becoming a subject matter expert in a specific area of a company. Top engineers build trust by spending time in one area, understanding its complexities, and becoming the go-to person for that system. The speaker suggests that by being proactive in learning and solving issues related to the system, engineers can establish themselves as experts. They also highlight the importance of being involved in discussions and taking on challenges to demonstrate expertise and build a reputation within the company.

🤝 Mentoring and Building a Personal Brand

The paragraph discusses the role of mentorship in the growth of software engineers and the importance of giving back to the community. It emphasizes that the top engineers are those who help others improve, sharing their knowledge and experience. The speaker mentions that mentorship can take various forms, from document notes to career advice, and that the top echelon of engineers extends their influence beyond their company, contributing to the broader industry through blogs, conferences, and interviews.

💼 Understanding Business Impact

This paragraph highlights the significance of understanding the business impact of engineering work. Top engineers are aware of the financial implications of their projects and align their efforts with initiatives that can significantly affect the company's bottom line. The speaker points out that even if a project fails, being part of high-impact projects can lead to promotion and recognition within the company. They stress the importance of being involved in projects that can drive profit and shareholder value.

🛠 Improving Company Culture

The final paragraph emphasizes the role of top engineers in shaping company culture beyond their technical contributions. These engineers are described as driving cultural initiatives, such as organizing hackathons, writing blog posts, and improving the interview process. They understand that a strong company culture is essential for attracting talent and scaling the business. The speaker concludes by mentioning notable engineers like Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat, who have made significant contributions to both technical and cultural aspects of their companies.

Keywords

💡Thrive in ambiguity

Thriving in ambiguity refers to the ability to effectively navigate and make decisions without complete information or clear instructions. In the context of the video, it is a key trait of top software engineers who can operate and innovate in situations where the problem is not fully defined. The script mentions that these engineers do not wait for detailed instructions but take on the responsibility to understand the problem and define success criteria, which is crucial for tackling complex software challenges.

💡Go-getters

Go-getters are individuals who are proactive, self-motivated, and take the initiative to accomplish tasks or solve problems. The video emphasizes that companies value go-getters who can work with vague directions and identify the nuances of a problem to make things happen. This concept is illustrated through the script's discussion of how higher-level and better-paid developers often have fewer instructions, indicating their ability to thrive with autonomy.

💡Subject matter expert

A subject matter expert (SME) is someone who has deep knowledge and expertise in a specific area. In the video, becoming an SME is presented as a key to building trust and being the go-to person for certain aspects of a company. The script explains that by spending time in one area and understanding its complexities, an engineer can become the most knowledgeable about that system, which is essential for leadership and decision-making.

💡Customer obsession

Customer obsession is a focus on understanding and meeting the needs and desires of customers. The video stresses that the best engineers are those who are customer-obsessed, meaning they prioritize solving real problems for real people over technical showmanship. The script gives the example that even though an engineer might find a complex problem intriguing, the focus should be on whether it addresses a genuine customer need.

💡Over-engineering

Over-engineering occurs when a solution is made more complex than necessary for the problem it is intended to solve. The video warns against this tendency, especially when building products for real users. It suggests that engineers should build for current needs without overcomplicating the system for potential future scalability, as exemplified in the script by the advice to 'build for what you need now'.

💡Mentorship

Mentorship is the process of guiding, training, or helping someone less experienced to develop skills and knowledge. In the video, mentorship is highlighted as a critical practice among top engineers who give back to their community and help others grow. The script mentions that mentorship can come in various forms, such as document notes, code review comments, or career advice, and is a way to emulate the habits of successful engineers.

💡Business impact

Business impact refers to the effect that a project, decision, or action has on a company's financial success or strategic goals. The video emphasizes the importance for engineers to understand and align their work with projects that can significantly influence the company's bottom line. The script points out that engineers should not be shielded from the business aspects but should embrace the numbers and work on projects that can drive profit and shareholder value.

💡Technical debt

Technical debt is the concept of work that needs to be done to make up for quick and easy solutions to problems that may cause longer-term issues. The video acknowledges that even the best engineers will always introduce some level of technical debt and that understanding and embracing this reality is a superpower. It suggests that engineers should not strive for perfection but rather focus on shipping features and iterating on them.

💡Product mindset

A product mindset is an approach to work that focuses on creating something that is valuable to users, often involving an understanding of user needs, market trends, and business goals. The video describes how top engineers have a product mindset, meaning they think beyond just the technical aspects and consider the end-user's experience and the overall value of what they are building. This mindset is crucial for creating successful products, as illustrated in the script by the emphasis on solving real problems for real people.

💡Culture improvement

Culture improvement involves actively working to create a positive and productive work environment. In the video, it is mentioned that rockstar engineers contribute to a company's success not just through their technical skills but also by driving culture. They may organize events, write blog posts, or improve interview processes, all of which contribute to attracting and retaining talent. The script uses Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat as examples of engineers who have significantly impacted Google's culture and technical initiatives.

Highlights

Thriving in ambiguity is key for top software engineers, who must accept responsibility without all the answers.

Higher-level developers receive fewer instructions and are paid more for their ability to solve problems with vague directions.

Leadership values the completion of projects on time and without excessive tech debt, rather than the method of execution.

10x engineers spend time in thoughtful design and discussion before coding, ensuring they understand the problem and define success criteria.

Finding and solving the highest impact problems is a mark of a rockstar engineer, who explores the codebase and metrics daily.

Convincing leadership of the necessity and priority of a problem requires data and persuasive communication skills.

Becoming a subject matter expert involves deep understanding and trust-building in specific company aspects.

The top 1% of software engineers are go-to people for certain aspects, often responsible for product lines and teams.

Product-mindedness is crucial; even infrastructure and backend teams have customers and should focus on solving real problems.

Continuously collecting feedback and prioritizing improvements shows a commitment to customer satisfaction and business success.

Avoiding over-engineering is important; build for current needs and iterate, rather than planning years in advance.

Mentoring others is a hallmark of the best engineers, who give back and improve the efficiency of their teams.

The top echelon of software engineers extends their coaching beyond the company, influencing the broader industry.

Understanding business impact and aligning with projects that move the needle is essential for career advancement.

Improving company culture is a way for rockstar engineers to scale a company and attract great talent.

Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat are examples of engineers who have improved culture and technical initiatives, increasing a company's market cap.

Emulating the behaviors of the very best software engineers is a path to personal and professional growth in the field.

Transcripts

to get ahead of 99% of software

Engineers you have to act like the top

1% and I've worked with them I sat next

to Kent Beck at Gusto I've been yelled

at by the first engineer at jet brains

and my now good friend is a circle CI

Legend and today I'm going to spill all

their secrets broken into eight key

areas starting with secret number one

Thrive and

ambiguity most software Engineers cannot

function without Direction they sit

around waiting for projects or even

worse individual tasks it's one thing to

get a meaty problem with a bunch of

unknowns that you have to go figure out

but it's even worse to sit around until

you're spoonfed an a sauna or jira

ticket spelling out exactly what you

need to do in fact this is a pretty good

way to approximate an engineer's level

usually the fewer the instructions on

the task the more experienced higher

leveled and better paid the developer

companies want go-getters they want

people who can take vague directions

like our tests are flaky or our builds

take too long or our AWS bill is too

high they're not told how to solve the

problem just what the problem is it's on

them to figure out the intricacies and

make it happen so how do you thrive in

ambiguity well the first step is to just

accept it don't shy away from

responsibility because you don't have

all the answers the truth is no one does

I used to think that I was a terrible

engineer because I couldn't finish the

entire project by myself and some god

tier staff engineer could but that's

simply not the case leadership doesn't

care how a project gets done they just

care that it's done on time without

introducing too much Tech debt and the

result is successful 10x engineer spend

a lot of time thinking and designing

before ever touching a line of code they

talk to a lot of people and try to

really understand what the problem is

and then they Define a success criteria

because remember if the problem itself

is vague then what it means to be

successful is murky too for example

let's say leadership comes to us and

says our AWS bill is too high well we

want to decrease it obviously but by how

much anyone can make up a number and say

we want it to go down by 50% per month

but is that a reasonable goal is it

attainable and more importantly does it

make sense maybe it's possible but not

at the cost cost of engineering time and

effort everything has a price and the

best Engineers understand trade-offs

once all the planning is done the pros

and the con the best Engineers architect

a robust system to cover all the

important cases no coding yet all this

is done on design docs and teex specs

which they then send out for feedback

they get all the relevant parties to

comment and once they have adequate Buy

in only then do they start coding

usually with a team of Engineers secret

number two find problems the best

software Engineers are independent they

can go find the biggest impact problems

convince leadership that they need to be

solved and then actually go solve them

finding the highest yield problems in

the first place is the true Mark of a

rockstar engineer and they accomplish

this by spending a little bit of time

every day just exploring the code base

having casual one-on ones with team

members and poking around in the metrics

their goal is to understand pain points

these can be technical bottlenecks or

product shortcomings or even just things

that give developers the ick a word I

learned quite recently and then they

surfac these issues to the PMS or

general leadership and they're often met

with the same question okay but why you

have to convince people that the thing

you're trying to solve is one an actual

problem and two big enough of a paino

that we should prioritize this isn't

easy to do because engineering projects

usually take months and are very costly

because engineering time is expensive so

how do you get good on both these fronts

finding and convincing well for

discoverability you just have to put in

the time you need to read code and

review PRS and Venture into parts of the

system system that are foreign to you

onboarding yourself and reading

documentation you'll have a fresh

perspective it's like that air freshener

commercial where the person can't tell

that their apartment stinks because

they're there all day well software is

very similar the more you interact with

the system the more biased you become so

A New Perspective can make all the

difference as for convincing people and

rallying them towards your mission well

that just takes practice you have to be

persuasive and in this day and age data

is king So when you say something is

slow tell me by how much and if

something costs too much then go find

out what similar sized teams are paying

and then prove to me that our spend is

multiple times that the more data you

have in writing the better your case

will be and of course having heavyweight

Engineers backing you can only help your

cause secret number three become a

subject matter expert the top one% of

software Engineers are the go-to people

for certain aspects of a company they're

responsible for entire product lines and

teams of Engineers and if something goes

wrong well the buck stops with them but

how do you build so much trust well if

you paid attention to the first two

Secrets then you're well on your way by

learning how to First find and then

break down ambiguous problems into

bite-sized chunks so you can make

forward progress you inevitably spend a

lot of time in one area and the deeper

you go the more complexities you unlock

and the better you understand that

system and at some point you've just

spent more hours than any other person

at the company and so you know the most

about that one thing the goods the bads

and the Ugly hopefully you don't hate

the area you've now learned so much

about because then you'd have to start

from scratching somewhere else the more

you get invited to meetings and roped

into discussions whenever your system is

mentioned the more people start

associating you with that area and if

you're not already that person well then

start faking it till you make it if

something breaks step in and volunteer

to help investigate and fix it if

someone ask a question instead of

pointing them in the right direction go

figure out what the answer is and tell

them don't find the right person for the

job become the right person for the job

get in the weeds and find the answer top

Engineers don't wait to become experts

they just act like experts and then one

day they become them doing all this

takes time and the top 1% of Engineers

know how to be productive one tool that

stands out is magical a completely free

Chrome extension used by over 500,000

people a lot of you reach out to me with

questions so I've created a calendar

link where you can grab some time to

chat about whatever is on your mind

since I get a lot of emails with magical

I can respond with the click of a button

I've set up a template with placeholders

so I can personalize each message and

then all it takes is dascal 30 and I'm

good to go I also use it when recruiting

when hitting up people for coffee chats

I use magical on LinkedIn you can add a

bunch of placeholders everything from

first name to company to so much more so

download magical today with my special

link in the description once again it's

100% free now let's get back to some

more tips secret number four be customer

obsessed if you forget who you're

building for then you're not valuable at

all the best Engineers are customer

obsessed and leave their ego at the door

just because you think something is cool

and technically challenging doesn't mean

we should go build it you're trying to

solve a real problem for real people and

though 99% of Engineers understand this

they don't live it or breathe it they

think it's the product or the user

experience team to understand the

customer and figure out what we should

build but it's not the best Engineers

are product minded and this doesn't mean

they're building a consumer app

everything is a product even the

gnarliest infra team or the backend

developer experience team they also have

a customer it just happens to be a

technical person while most engineers

get their project done and then move on

the top 1% of Engineers continue

collecting feedback they check in from

time to time and understand how their

customers are liking the product then

they suggest improvements and go on to

prioritize them they realize that you

can always do better and delighting

customers is the best way to make more

money which means more recognition and

then that means better pay secret number

five don't over-engineer ideally

remembering that you're building

products for a real person should stop

you from over-engineering but it doesn't

always as a computer science Enthusiast

and a fellow software engineer I love

when my projects are hard and complex I

just want to solve the most complex

problem so just leave me alone but the

truth is we only have so much time and

resources and we can't build everything

and I remember going down the rabbit

hole of trying to make something super

abstract or over-engineering a system so

it can scale to like hundreds of

millions of users when really all I

should be doing is building a simple

form for a web page build for what you

need now and that doesn't mean be dumb

and purposly make your life harder in

the future but don't plan months or

years in advance there's a lot of power

in Just shipping a feature and then

iterating on it slowly that's definitely

better than spending an entire year

developing something and then no one is

using it you'd rather put something out

that has thousands of users and then

slowly make it better the biggest place

amateurs fail is scale they think that

the real world is like a system design

interview and that you should just throw

CPUs and cores and expensive systems on

a problem the top 1% aren't the best

coders strong programming fundamentals

can definitely help but it's not

necessary so if your goal is to become

the top lead coder or a legend grandm at

code forces or even an international

Olympiad gold medalist well then I'm not

your guy I didn't even know you could

earn these titles until like 5 minutes

ago the best software Engineers simply

build the best products in the time

frame that they're given they realize

that there are real world constraints

and you can always improve and iterate

in the future also you'll always

introduce Tech debt there'll always be

stuff you have to fix later and

understanding and embracing that is a

superpower secret number six Mentor

others hopefully this one isn't a

surprise because I'm sure the software

Engineers you look up to most have

helped you in your own personal growth

and career in some way the best

Engineers give back and make the people

around them better it's what they're

judged on because if you're not making

your direct team more efficient then

what are you doing companies want

multiple Rockstar engineers and some are

just born that way but the majority of

them are coached into that level by

spending time pairing with and getting

feedback from Superstar Engineers you

start emulating their habits and

behaviors and good industry conventions

it's like faking it till you make it but

you're not really Faking It anything

you're just copying until you get there

mentorship can come in many different

forms it could be notes on a document or

comments on a poll request or just

career advice in a casual one-on-one but

the true differentiators that top

Echelon of software Engineers the top 1%

of the 1% they don't constrain their

coaching only to the company they

believe that their brand should Echo

across the industry and they do this

through blogs and conferences and

interviews secret number seven

understand business impact if these

layoffs have taught you anything it's

it's that companies only care about

their bottom line increasing the bottom

line means more profit which means more

money back to shareholders people often

think that Engineers should be shielded

from the intricacies of making money

that's for the product and finance teams

right wrong the top 1% of Engineers

embrace the numbers and align themselves

with projects that will move the needle

the joke at Google used to always be

that the fastest way to get promoted was

by getting on projects that would ship

and make a big impact even if they fail

it's the reason there have been so many

messaging apps from Google Hangouts and

me an Alo part of succeeding is having

people in your corner and there's

nothing that brings people together like

money spending time understanding the

money printing machines that are company

and how to improve margins or create new

business lines is the best way to make a

splash secret number eight improve

culture and last but not least Rockstar

Engineers improve a company in more ways

than just engineering and product they

drive culture they run hackathons and

write blog posts and organize

conferences and they even make the

interview process better they understand

that the only way to scale a company is

by working on its culture good culture

is the best way to attract great talent

if you think of two of the best

Engineers out there Jeff Dean and Sanjay

Gad they built some insane products at

Google but their reputation is so much

more than that they've mentored hundreds

if not thousands of Engineers improved

culture as well as technical initiatives

like code processes and testing and

they've worked on projects that have

directly increased Google's market cap

I'm not a top 1% engineer I'm nowhere

close but by emulating the behaviors of

the very best software Engineers I'll

eventually get there and so will you

that's all I have till next time cheers