Is It Smarter Not To Help Others At Work?

Summary

In this office hours video, software engineer Steve Win (Uncle Steve) addresses viewer questions on career growth. He discusses company cultures with stack ranking and attrition, sharing advice on maintaining a helpful reputation. Steve also covers tackling Amazon's behavioral interview, drawing parallels between DJing and web development, and shares his personal career goals. He provides insights on negotiating job offers, advocating for promotions, and reapplying to companies, along with tips for 'boomeranging' back to a previous employer. The video is sponsored by Brilliant.org, an interactive learning platform for math, science, and computer science.

Takeaways

• 😀 Steve Win, also known as Uncle Steve, is an L7 software engineer who shares career and life advice on his YouTube channel.
• 🔍 For those seeking more frequent content, Steve recommends signing up for his email newsletter at newsletter.alifengineer.com.
• 🤔 Steve addresses the issue of company culture, specifically stack ranking and forced attrition quotas, and suggests that helping others can cultivate a positive reputation despite such practices.
• 💡 He advises against playing politics in the workplace, as it may have negative long-term effects on one's career.
• 📚 Steve encourages viewers to share their questions on his Discord server if they don't get a response in the video comments.
• 🗣️ He provides a video recommendation on how to tackle Amazon's behavioral interview by telling compelling stories that reflect one's experience level.
• 🎧 Drawing parallels between DJing and software development, Steve emphasizes the importance of adapting to different roles and continuously learning.
• 🎓 Steve, as a PE, reflects on his future career goals, which include content creation, potential management roles, or early retirement.
• 💼 He discusses the importance of creating tangible evidence of one's capability to handle a higher scope of work when advocating for a promotion.
• 🔄 On reapplying to a company, Steve suggests waiting until there has been a significant change or improvement in one's skills or experience.
• 🔙 For those looking to return to a previous company ('Boomerang'), Steve advises being professional and emphasizing the unique aspects of the company culture that one misses.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to answer questions from viewers during an 'office hours' session, hosted by Steve Win, an L7 software engineer, who provides career and life advice.

How does Steve Win describe his approach to career advice on his channel?

Steve Win describes his approach as structured and engineering-oriented, offering the kind of advice he wishes he had received at the start of his career, all for free.

What does Steve suggest about the company culture involving stack ranking and forced attrition quotas?

Steve suggests that while these practices are real and can create a competitive environment, having a reputation for helping others can be beneficial and that playing politics might be a short-term gain but a long-term loss.

How does Steve Win define the rationale behind stack ranking in companies?

Stack ranking is used by companies to identify and let go of the bottom performers, approximately 1.5 standard deviations from the mean, as a way to maintain a high-performing workforce.

What advice does Steve give for dealing with a toxic work environment?

Steve advises that if the work environment is toxic and backstabbing is the norm, it's better to focus on finding a new job rather than learning to manipulate others.

What does Steve suggest for preparing for an Amazon behavioral interview?

Steve suggests that one should tell good stories that reflect their experience level and involvement in leading teams through various challenges, and to avoid lying or making things up.

How does Steve relate DJing to software development?

Steve draws parallels between DJing and software development in terms of balancing personal preferences with professional requirements and the importance of continuously learning and adapting.

What are Steve's thoughts on his future career goals?

Steve considers various options for his future, including resting on his laurels, pursuing higher positions, going into management, starting his own company, creating content full-time, or retiring early.

What advice does Steve offer for someone considering reapplying to a company?

Steve advises to only reapply when there has been a material change in one's skills or qualifications and to understand and address the reasons for not receiving an offer previously.

How does Steve recommend self-advocating for a promotion?

Steve recommends creating tangible artifacts of next-level work as evidence to support the argument for a promotion, rather than relying solely on reputation.

What is Steve's perspective on negotiating a job offer or raise?

Steve believes there are no consequences for asking for more, and it's a personal decision that should be based on one's comfort level and the potential for improvement in the offer.

How does Steve view the process of 'Boomeranging' back to a previous company?

Steve suggests that if one left on good terms, it's relatively easy to return to a previous company, but it's important to demonstrate growth and address any potential red flags regarding the reason for leaving.

Outlines

00:00

👨‍💻 Welcome to Office Hours with Steve

Steve Win, an L7 software engineer, welcomes viewers to another office hours video. He invites viewers to leave questions in the comments or on his Discord advice forum. He explains his structured and engineering approach to career advice and introduces himself as Uncle Steve. He acknowledges being slow with videos recently and promotes his email newsletter for more content. He then begins to answer viewer questions, starting with a query from Marinated Lentil about dealing with a company culture driven by stack ranking and attrition quotas.

05:01

📊 Handling Toxic Company Cultures

Steve addresses a question about dealing with toxic company cultures that incentivize competition over collaboration. He explains the rationale behind stack ranking and force attrition quotas and suggests that having a reputation for helping others is beneficial. Steve advises against engaging in office politics and recommends finding a new job if the company's culture is inherently toxic. He emphasizes the importance of cultivating a reputation for assisting colleagues to avoid being forced out.

10:02

📝 Tackling the Amazon Behavioral Interview

Steve answers a question from John Doe about preparing for the Amazon behavioral interview. He recommends watching his previous video on storytelling and emphasizes the importance of having good stories that match the level of the position applied for. Steve advises against fabricating stories and stresses the value of genuine, experience-based narratives. He wishes John luck and hopes they might become co-workers in the future.

🎧 Lessons from DJing for Software Development

Chris Lay, a former DJ turned web developer, asks about parallels between DJing and software development. Steve shares two lessons: balancing personal preferences with job requirements and continuously seeking new knowledge. He compares playing different types of music for various gigs to working on diverse software projects and highlights the importance of staying updated with new information to improve one's craft.

🏆 Future Career Goals

Tyler Lou asks about Steve's future career goals. Steve outlines several options: staying in his current comfortable job, pushing for a senior principal engineer position, transitioning into management, starting his own company, creating content full-time, or retiring early. He shares his thoughts on each path and expresses his current inclination towards making content full-time while marching towards financial independence. Steve notes that his plans could change in the future.

💰 Negotiating Job Offers and Raises

Miny Nishu asks whether to negotiate if a job offer meets initial expectations. Steve explains two perspectives: being satisfied with the offer versus asking for more since there are no consequences for doing so. He acknowledges the emotional challenges associated with negotiation and emphasizes the importance of being paid what one is worth. Steve encourages asking for more if possible and offers support for those struggling with self-worth and negotiation.

📈 Advocating for Promotion

Bobo Binks asks about effectively self-advocating for a promotion. Steve advises creating tangible evidence of work beyond the current level, such as well-written design documents and documented problem-solving efforts. He cautions against relying solely on reputation and stresses the importance of concrete artifacts to support the case for promotion. Steve encourages leaving ample evidence of higher-level work and wishes Bobo luck.

⏳ Reapplying to a Company

KCN L asks about the appropriate time to reapply to a company after a rejection. Steve suggests asking the recruiter for the minimum reapplication period and emphasizes the need to address the reasons for the initial rejection. He advises conducting a thorough retrospective of the interview and improving on weak areas before reapplying. Steve highlights the importance of understanding why the offer was not extended and putting in the work to overcome those deficiencies.

🔄 Boomeranging Back to a Former Employer

HEPA 12 asks for advice on returning to a former employer. Steve recommends maintaining professionalism to avoid burning bridges and advises treating the interview like any other if seeking a promotion. He stresses the importance of demonstrating significant progress since leaving and addressing potential concerns about job-hopping. Steve suggests expressing genuine reasons for wanting to return and reinforcing the unique aspects of the former company's culture.

🎓 Brilliant.org Sponsorship

Steve thanks Brilliant.org for sponsoring the video. He praises Brilliant's interactive approach to learning math, science, and computer science. Steve mentions various courses available on the platform, including machine learning, quantum mechanics, and computational biology. He encourages viewers to try Brilliant for free for 30 days and offers a discount for the first 200 subscribers. Steve ends the video by directing viewers to previous sessions and inviting them to leave questions for future videos.

Keywords

💡Office Hours

Office Hours refers to a dedicated time when someone, such as a professor or professional, is available to answer questions or provide guidance. In the context of the video, it is a video series where the host, Steve, answers viewer questions, reflecting the theme of providing career advice and support.

💡Stack Ranking

Stack Ranking is a performance evaluation system where employees are ranked against each other, often resulting in a forced distribution of performance ratings. In the video, Steve discusses how this practice can create a competitive and uncooperative work environment, contrary to the collaborative spirit he promotes.

💡Forced Attrition Quotas

Forced Attrition Quotas are policies where a certain percentage of employees are let go based on their performance rankings. Steve explains that companies use this method to maintain a high-performing workforce, but it can lead to a toxic culture where employees are not incentivized to help each other.

💡Career Growth

Career Growth refers to the process of advancing one's professional career through gaining experience, skills, and higher positions. Steve emphasizes that career growth should not be viewed as a zero-sum game, suggesting that helping others can actually contribute positively to one's own career progression.

💡Behavioral Interview

A Behavioral Interview is a type of interview that focuses on how candidates have behaved in past situations to predict how they will behave in the future. Steve advises on how to prepare for such interviews by telling compelling stories from one's career, which is crucial for showcasing one's experience and suitability for a role.

💡Distinguished Engineer

A Distinguished Engineer is a high-level professional title often given to senior engineers who have made significant contributions to their field. Steve uses this term to illustrate the level of experience and storytelling one should have when applying for senior positions.

💡Promotion

Promotion in the video refers to the advancement to a higher level or position within a company. Steve advises on how to advocate for a promotion by providing tangible evidence of work that demonstrates the ability to handle a higher level of responsibility.

💡Reputation

Reputation in a professional context is the perception others have of one's character and abilities. Steve mentions that having a good reputation for helping others can be beneficial in a company, but he also stresses the importance of concrete evidence of one's capabilities beyond just reputation.

💡Tangible Artifacts

Tangible Artifacts in the context of the video are physical or digital evidence of work, such as design documents, commits, or tickets. Steve suggests that these artifacts are crucial for demonstrating one's readiness for a promotion by showing concrete examples of next-level work.

💡Boomerang

In the context of employment, 'Boomerang' refers to an individual who returns to a previous company after having left. Steve provides advice on how to successfully rejoin a company, emphasizing the importance of demonstrating growth and addressing any potential concerns about leaving and returning.

💡Financial Independence

Financial Independence is a state where one has enough savings or income to cover their living expenses without having to work actively for money. Steve mentions this as a personal goal, indicating a desire to create content full-time and potentially retire early, which is part of his broader discussion on career options and life goals.

Highlights

Introduction to the office hours video format where viewers' questions are answered.

The channel's focus on providing structured and engineering approaches to career and life advice.

Dealing with company cultures that discourage helping others due to stack ranking and forced attrition quotas.

The rationale behind stack ranking and its impact on team dynamics.

Importance of cultivating a reputation for helping others in a competitive work environment.

Advice on tackling Amazon's behavioral interview by telling impactful stories related to one's career.

Transcripts

welcome to another office hours video

where I answer questions from my viewers

if you'd like to ask a question leave it

in the comment section below I read

through all the comments and if you've

ever read the dumpster fire that is the

comment section on YouTube you know that

that's something if you're new to the

channel welcome my name is Steve win

meta or Uncle Steve and I'm an L7

software engineer on this channel we

take a structured and Engineering

approach to your career in life it's all

of the advice I wish someone had given

me 17 years ago when I started my career

all free of charge if you've asked a

question but didn't get a response from

me head over to my Discord and post a

question to the advice Forum the

community there isah I've been a bit

slow with videos on the channel recently

if you want more from me sign up to my

email newsletter at newsletter. alif

engineer.com I send a new issue out once

a week and there's a lot of content

there that will likely never make it to

the channel let's get to it marinated

lentil asks how would you deal with

situations where the company culture

itself because of Stack ranking and forc

attrition quotas results in team

environments where no one is

incentivized to help others I think it's

easy to think of career growth as a zero

sum game but I also think that that way

of thinking is a trap stack ranking and

force attrition quotas are a very real

thing including at the company I work at

the idea is that performance across a

large population is distributed on

something similar to a normal

distribution companies that employ stack

ranking are trying to let go of the

bottom 1.5 or so standard deviations

from the mean so out of 20 people if

there's a superstar that's performing

really well there's likely someone

that's struggling and it's not a good

fit it's not personal it's just a

numbers game not trying to defend the

practice I'm just explaining the

rationale having a reputation for

helping others is a good thing now I'm

not saying that there isn't politics at

work not everybody has your best

interests of you and the company at

heart at all times but generally I fall

into the camp that playing politics at

work May pay off in the short term but I

think it's a net negative in the long

run because these things catch up with

you so to answer your question if you've

cultivated a reputation for helping

others around you you're very unlikely

to be forced out now if you work at a

company that's toxic where backstabbing

is the norm I would put my energy into

finding a new gig rather than learning

how to screw over other people thanks

for the question John Doe asks can you

please make a video on how to tackle the

Amazon behavioral interview John I have

take a look at this video I created last

year called how to tell a good story my

thesis is that people tell you what

level they are by the types of stories

they tell so if you ask somebody about

the biggest innovation of their career

and you tell them about a simple cred

application you built in your spare time

you might not be distinguished engineer

material if you don't have good stories

then you might not have enough

experience for the position that you're

applying to if you want to be a senior

engineer I would expect stories that

outline your involvement in leading a

team of software Engineers through the

ups and downs of tight deadlines unclear

requirements being underresourced and

dealing with showstopping bugs in

production it's the type of stuff that a

fresh-faced junior engineer just can't

speak to not because they don't have the

potential but because they don't have

the unsubstituted experience that the

jop requires don't lie and make stuff up

tell a good story commens it with your

experience and you shouldn't have any

problems with the behavioral interview

good luck and I hope that we're

co-workers one day thanks for the

question Chris lay asks I see that

turntable set up behind you as a 12year

club DJ veteran that just made a career

change into webdev are there any

comparisons you could draw into

developing my career as a developer that

would relate to DJing I'm what's known

as a bedroom DJ I play a big crowds in

my head I'll share two lessons that are

applicable to both playing music and to

software development the first is that

there's the type of work or music that

you want to do and then there's the type

of stuff that's going to make you money

and be successful in a perfect world

those two things would align and they

should in the long run but if you get

hired for a wedding you have to play

wedding appropriate music you get hired

to play at a club and you're the opening

act your playlist can't all be screaming

bangers your job is to slowly get the

energy level up and to warm up the crowd

if you're the headliner then you get to

play with whatever the heck you want to

it's your show when you're hired for a

job congratulations you're now a

professional DJ or web developer you're

getting paid but you don't run the show

at least not at first do a good job for

the job they hired you for it may not be

your taste but you're a pro now often

times software Engineers take projects

in selfish directions you can be selfish

when you call the shots the second

lesson is that a good DJ is always

listening and trying to find new music

whether it's just release stuff or new

to them I read 1 to 4 hours a working

day whether it's a design document that

a team brings to me a book on

productivity a research paper or

something about new technology a DJ that

has their set list chiseled in stone is

in the same sad place as a webdev that

has concluded that Ruby on Rails is the

only framework anybody ever needs if you

spend timec consuming information about

your craft you'll develop your taste and

your taste will get better over time

hope that helps thanks for the question

Tyler Lou asks given that you're only 40

and you're already a PE what are your

future career goals well if you ask me

this question last year or the year

before that I would probably have given

you a different response so let's go

over my options one I could rest invests

I make decent money now and while my job

isn't easy it's relatively comfortable

two I could try to make the next level

L8 and my company that would be senior

principal engineer and it's a director

level IC position I'd get a decent bump

in salary and it's certainly doable but

I'd have to really push myself for

something like the next 2 to 3 years

after that it's only one more level

before becoming a distinguished engineer

three I could go into management it'd be

a different job than the one I'm doing

now but it's the best path for becoming

director or VP four I could start my own

company or join a startup five I could

make content full-time six I could

retire early now and leave a lean fire

or Barista fire existence maybe I could

supplement my income further with only

fans of course all of this is not

mutually exclusive and there are several

variations right now I think it would be

really great if I can make content

full-time as I March toward Financial

Independence and retiring early on the

other hand the most straightforward way

to retire early is to grind the

corporate life for another 10 years or

so I'm in a good place right now because

I have options we'll see how all this

plays out ask me again in 6 months

thanks for the question miny Nishu asks

do you negotiate if they give you what

you ask for the first time this is in

the context of a job offer or

negotiating raises there are two schools

of thought on this situation the first

is that you got what you needed why Rock

the Boat the other school of thought is

that there are no consequences for

asking for more if you ask for more and

they say no you're back to where you

started if there's a possibility that

they would say yes why wouldn't you do

it well the reason is that it's

uncomfortable to ask for more and it

brings in sometimes difficult emotions

into the mix a lot of people have

problems with self-worth talking about

money and asserting themselves so I

don't think it's a cut and dry answer

whether you should ask for more in every

circumstance I think it's a very

personal calculus that everybody needs

to evaluate on their own I will say

though that from a rational perspective

there are no consequences for asking for

more if your emotions are blocking you

from doing so I hope that you're getting

the emotional support you need you

should be paid what you're worth and I

think it's a tragedy that many people

settle for the first offer that comes

your way so if you can always ask for

more thanks for the question Bobo Binks

asks how do you effectively self-

Advocate yourself for a promotion when

you know you've outgrown everybody else

at your current level promotion is an

argument that you can handle more scope

than the scope expected at your current

level if youve truly outgrown your

existing level your focus should be on

creating tangible artifacts of Next

Level work what you want to void and an

entty pattern that I see is that the

argument for more scope is based on

reputation alone if all of the feedback

is whenever there's an issue I call

Steve because I know Steve will do the

right thing that's a good endorsement

but it's qualitative and could be said

about anybody what you want are concrete

and tangible pieces of evidence I often

say that when it comes to evidence for

promotion you want to be the world's

worst criminal a bad criminal leaves

their fingerprints everywhere and drops

their wallet with their ID at the scene

of the crime they talk to anybody body

that will listen about what they did

exactly how they did it and why now you

shouldn't commit a crime or anything

illegal to get promoted but you should

leave around ample evidence that you're

operating at the next level everywhere

you can if you've designed and delivered

An Elegant solution to a complicated

problem I would expect a well-written

design document and a bevy of commits if

you're a wizard with Ops I would expect

tickets that document how you Rec caused

issues and solved problems on top of

commits that reinforce the same what you

want is a mountain of evidence to back

up your argument that you could handle

more scope so to answer your question

make sure you not only rely on

reputational hearsay not like that will

hurt but making sure to focus on

creating artifacts and leaving evidence

of Next Level work good luck and thanks

for the question kcn L asks here's a

question how long should you wait before

reapplying to a company well there's a

short answer and a long answer the short

one is to ask the recruiter when the

next time you can apply is they'll tell

you what the shortest period for

reapplication can be the long answer is

that you don't want to reapply unless

something is materially changed every

time you fail an interview you should do

your best to recount the questions that

were asked how you responded and what

the follow-up questions they had were

then try to figure out why your

responses didn't meet their bar don't

reapply until you have a good sense for

why you didn't receive an offer and I

put the work in to address the root

causes suppose that you did this

retrospective and determined that for

two of the three coding questions you

didn't come up with a good solution

everything else about the interview was

good from your estimation so then you

come up with the systematic study plan

to study for these problems and turn

these weaknesses into strengths then you

reapply in 6 months or whatever the

minimum is for the company in question

this is a good idea because you've

addressed the reason headon for why you

didn't get an offer but what if you

don't know why they didn't hire you or

perhaps they ask you a question such as

design to distributed database where you

don't even know where to begin and are

unlikely to be able to answer questions

of that caliber in these cases you need

to go a bit deeper if you don't know why

they didn't hire you I would talk to

others and share what transpired in the

interview to see if maybe there's

something that you're not seeing about

how you responded I remember a time I

asked somebody about a situation where

they worked with a difficult coworker

and he spent time talking about all of

the terrible people that he worked with

to the point where it was pretty clear

that he was the common element to all of

these interactions sometimes you can't

see the thing that is clearly apparent

to others and if they ask you a set of

questions where you don't really have

the slightest about how to answer them

your sites may be too high don't reapply

until you've really understood why they

didn't extend an offer otherwise you're

likely to have the same outcome good

luck and thanks for the question HEPA 12

asks do you have any advice for a person

trying to Boomerang to their old company

I left a company I love to work at for

more money but I miss a culture at my

old job assuming you left on good terms

and aren't looking for a promotion with

your Boomerang think it's pretty easy to

get back into your old company if you

left on bad terms let that be a lesson

about not Burning Bridges the tech world

is small so do your best to be

professional even if the place that

you're fleeing is toxic and you never

want to come back things change quickly

and you may really want to return to in

the future if you're gunning for a

promotion treat the interview like

you're interviewing with a new company

that you don't have context with you

should have been on the promotion track

before you left so you should be able to

speak to that and make sure that you

have really good stories and examples

from the short time that you were away

to demonstrate that you're clearly

operating at the next level don't let

your prior work speak for itself

interviewers are looking for solid

Deltas from your prior experience not a

summary of already documented

performance if you're trying to get your

old job back then all you have to do is

make sure that you aren't exhibiting any

red flag bags if you left because money

you can say that but then you need to

provide a reason why you won't just jump

ship again if another good offer comes

through so I might say something like I

left because they were offering me 50%

more but then when I got there it was

utter chaos nobody knew what was going

on we never shipped anything and I

realized I missed this company it's

stability and the culture they're

obviously going to re-evaluate you for a

Flight Risk so anything that you can say

to reinforce the unique culture that you

truly miss will help you in this

evaluation when speaking to each

interviewer ensure that you discuss a

different aspect of the culture along

with emphasizing the primary aspect to

make sure that it's a compelling case

ultimately the decision will come down

to a gut feeling from the team so if you

generally express your reasons for

wanting to come back the other side will

be able to feel it too or it might be

time to invest in acting classes I'd

like to take a second to thank today's

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youve enjoyed today's office hours

here's a link to my previous sessions if

you have a question you'd like answered

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and I hope you have an excellent

[Music]

day