Hearted Youtube comments on A Life Engineered (@ALifeEngineered) channel.

  1. Standing ovation for actually answering the "How much do you make?" question in the first 60 seconds of the video rather than clickbaiting us into a 20-minute video where you dance around the subject before saying "you can probably figure it out" Obviously, you're under no obligation to disclose this information at all, but the fact that you did, so plainly and matter-of-factly, is definitely appreciated.
    1500
  2. Wow you really are like the opposite of tech lead, well done
    1400
  3. This is a vulnerable video, despite the large income. It takes a great deal of courage to put all the details out there, knowing that you'll get some oddball reactions to it. I appreciate the honesty and find it both incredibly helpful and inspiring in its own right. Thank you so much.
    411
  4. Just got a job at Meta after failing my interview at Blue Origin a few months back. This is 100% on point. I ramped up my interviewing skills after I failed Blue Origin and had to fight my inner demons during that time. It paid off. Really good self psych to prevent you feeling down after failing a good opportunity is to think of these opportunities like surfing. If you miss a wave surfing, you don't go home. You get ready for the next wave. 🏄‍♂️
    376
  5. "Don't get caught playing the wrong game because you think the world should be a different way." That's some profound stuff right there that applies well outside just interviewing!
    371
  6. That is a MASSIVE point that companies don't understand. NO ONE ever starts as a senior engineer. They are made. They are the juniors and entry level that become senior engineers in the company. But that won't happen if these entry level and juniors aren't hired. It's going to hurt all companies a lot in the long run.
    364
  7. The content in your videos is gold, thanks for making them!
    283
  8. “Everybody has a network” is the truest statement. I am extremely introverted, basically a hermit, and my entire network consists of only 5 people (family and friends included) for whom I’m the most capable engineer they know. Almost all of my opportunities (failed and successful ones) have come from these connections alone.
    256
  9. Congratulations! That's huge :) can't wait to see what else you do next
    246
  10. As someone who was just diagnosed with cancer that will probably kill him with the next few years, I used to work as a web developer....one of my biggest regrets is not taking more vacation time for myself. The last 3 years I didn't take a single day off. Now that I cannot physically travel, it is a big regret.
    232
  11. Like Tech Lead but not toxic ... 😂😂😂
    228
  12. LLMs are just libraries 2.0 -- we had the same threats of libraries replacing all developer jobs then too and job growth exploded. LLMs are not the reason for junior dev positions drying up, access to cheap capital is since interest rates are so high.
    222
  13. I’m a senior engineer. I have never gotten a single job without networking and leveraging it heavily.
    190
  14. I feel like you are becoming the new Techlead, only with much better content
    187
  15. Really interesting video Steve, i agree that keeping multiple career options open is smart. Btw i really love the overall video aesthetic (pacing, music, lighting, editing style)
    175
  16. Watching your videos really feels like having a boss that really cares about your future and is willing to express his wisdom for your growth. God bless you.
    140
  17. Wild after 18 years!!! You’ve been quite an inspiration for someone currently in Amazon for 5+ years now 🎉. All the best with your future endeavours.
    140
  18. Over-delivering on your current tasks only digs you deeper into the pit of your position. Make sure you offer a better value proposition with you being promoted vs you being stuck in the same position.
    129
  19. Don't stick around with a bad manager. You will be stagnant and your market will pass you by as you age.
    128
  20. I have to say, the disclaimer at the beginning was strikingly empathetic, from the perspective of a young guy in software. A refreshing take in the Hobbesian online world of Male content creators.
    113
  21. How would you deal with toxic coworkers who are higher level than you and are clearly playing games to make themselves seem more valuable in front of the big boss?
    100
  22. you are the TechLead that we need
    94
  23. The quote about only your kids remembering you worked nights and weekends hit hard. Great video, thanks for the life update, I think these are great!
    87
  24. As someone who just made a switch from civil engineering to software engineering and made it to Amazon, I 100% agree with what Steve said. The market changes and nobody can predict it, but if it's something you are passionate about, just go for it, don't think just do.
    85
  25. The content in your video is GOLD!!! Thanks for making them 😉
    82
  26. Bunch of people that look like they're 40 but are actually 25.. and a bunch of people that are 25, that look like they're actually 40" -- that's the same thing, Steve 😅(I get what you meant tho)
    81
  27. Moral of the story: part with your ex on good terms 📝 I want support all people struggling to find a job at the moment. I was looking for a job in 2023 for 5 mo (being a senior engineer with 8yoe) and I hope market gets better soon. The only thing I can tell, there is definitely a moment of luck: like being one of the first applicants or encountering a good company with humane processes, however you have to be prepared to make the best of the opportunity when it finally occurs.
    80
  28. Damn, that point about not reading emails, checking news etc. during the 2-4 hours to essentially save ones emotional state from being polluted is just so eye-opening. I realize now, as I look back on my day, how much more I could've done if I didn't open up Instagram/Twitter. I actually read something very heartbreaking and I didn't feel so good for the rest of the day. Ugh, I really need to put my phone in another room😩
    79
  29. 0:02 1. Your 30s are better than your 20s 0:11 2. Don't take advice from people haven't failed 0:42 3. Change or learn to live with it 1:18 4. Learn to regulate your emotions 1:47 5. Take care of your body 2:05 6. You're not going to stop growing and changing 2:34 7. Get better at learning new thing 2:58 8. Wear sunscreen 3:10 9. Don't try to time things 3:57 10. You don't have infinite time with your family 4:17 11. Stop being a people pleaser 5:12 12. FREE time magement templates 6:30 13. Don't only do things you're good at 6:53 14. Put in the extra effort to make friends 7:35 15. Cure for burnout is gratitude 8:04 16. You will be the new guy many times 8:31 17. Be open to new music 8:56 18. Don't procastinate on your errands 9:20 19. Start saving a little bit now 9:45 20. Buy experiences 10:10 21. Don't take advice about your quarter life crisis from someone who is in their quarter life 10:28 22. Embrace the power of a strategic nap 10:36 23. Trade time for money 11:03 24. Journal regularly 11:25 25. You will lose some close friends 11:45 26. Find your tribe 12:11 27. Don't defer a celebration 12:40 28. Embrace your inner child 12:53 29. Boredom is totally ok 13:16 30. Read more books 13:58 31. Curate your digital life 14:14 32. Invest in your bed and ergonomics 14:45 33. Work on yourself first 15:15 34. Success is how you define it 15:30 35. Check out other videos
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  30. Seeing my employer sponsoring A Life Engineered. What a time to be alive.
    71
  31. I moved whenever I could get an advance in my career. My 20 and 30 year old self told me this was a great way to climb the corporate ladder. I would earn more money so I could have a better life. However, in my 50s I realize I lost so much time with my family. My father passed away 1 year after I graduated Harvard so he never got to see the person I would become. My mother lives on the other side of the country, and I only see her once a year for a short visit. I call her regularly, but I know I can't be there for her when/if she needs me as my life is here now. I also have few friends from the time I graduated college until I finally decided to stop job hopping. I didn't realize what I had been missing out on for all those years. I've now lived in Arizona for 11 years. I am married, and I have friends. I'll always wonder how life would have turned out if I had accepted a slower paced life of living in a small town rather than chasing the career.
    71
  32. Unparalleled transparency, thank you!
    58
  33. I think Rahul's advice is extremely important. MASTER YOUR STORIES. It doesn't matter how good you are if people can't perceive it. If you are doing wonderful technical things you're losing SO MUCH if you can't express it in a understandable way for your peers and leaders.
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  34. I have to say I am so glad I found your content a year or so ago, my career has really changed and I already aligned with a lot of your values so validation of those values really meant a lot to me. I am extremely excited about the future of you, and this content. And as a dad I completely understand, I am a decade younger than you, but the statement "I only have 2000 weeks left." really hit home. Thank you.
    54
  35. unforturnately having a unique linkedin profile isn't enough anymore.
    53
  36. Thumbnail game incredible. Thanks for making some of the best software engineering content on YouTube
    52
  37. The big difference is, this is US based, something that reflects x2/x3/x4 of what you get in most EU, let alone EEU. Also, the promotions in EU, or better said the "off-shored step-cousin offices" of the same company are waaaaay under what you get in US, this talking about faang to faang. Your progression in impressive, and important that your spouse is on the same level and even more important that you got a hefty amount of stocks, something again, EU jobs don't offer as many, regardless of rank. In the end, it's important that you managed to step away from the golden cuffs, not many get to, before it's too late.
    51
  38. 250k is definition of golden handcuffs. To your viewers its a lot of $$ but to your career earnings, its not much.. esp youll need to work another grueling 2+ months, then after "just" another few months until more money. never ends, golden handcuffs.
    50
  39. Solid advice thank you. One suggestion I have for the videos is to use more contrasting colors like for the leaf node example. People who are colorblind can't easily make out the different colors.
    46
  40. This is pretty much all great advice. My advice: don't try to take all of this great advice all at once. Pick one thing (ideally the thing you suck at/hate doing the most) to focus on first.
    43
  41. I'm 100% sure he doesn't use this for his day to day workflow.
    42
  42. "I know a person with a master's in computer science delivering pizza rn"
    39
  43. Truthfully, I am immediately impressed by everything about you, my friend. You even used one of my favorite adages: "Comparison is the thief of joy." IDK that we'll ever get the chance to actually be buds IRL, but, FWIW -- You've got a new fan for life in me. Thanks for your content and equanimity.
    38
  44. "I actually worked on the first kindle for amazon" out of no where is the coolest flex I've seen in a long time
    37
  45. An L7 who can cite a Borges story?This is the content I come to your channel for
    35
  46. Your work and dedication are truly inspiring! Thank you for sharing this with us
    35
  47. Correlation != Causation. Maybe people that solve many hard problems would have been better off solving medium/easy problems. Maybe people that solve hard problems are the type of people that are generally more interested in algorithms, or generally smarter etc and because of that get better jobs and not because harder problems prepared them better. Note: Not saying this is the case. I have as much evidence as you i.e. not sufficient.
    32
  48. Love the transparency! Thanks for sharing, Steve!
    31
  49. Your videos are so different from majority of youtube content. I dont know how to explain it but they feel so genuine and straight to the point
    31
  50. Real advice from Steve!! If you want any opportunity in the real world, being great at selling yourself will put you ahead I would also add that in the recruiter/referral optimization tip, I find that the following helps: 1. Leverage first degree connections because lower activation energy to ask for the referral. Plus you can remind the connection on how you worked together in the past 2. Keep a database of recruiters/interviewers youve talked to. If you need a job, you can already hit up those people for opportunities 3. When pitching yourself, always connect your past experiences to the company's values, mission, product. Remember if you want to influence someone, draw common ground and SHOW that your experience fits into what the company wants (ie: optimize on how the other party would benefit)
    30
  51. The main things holding me back are anxiety/depression but i will definitely come back to this video once i'm in a better state. Seems like really good advice.
    30
  52. Hey Steve, it's pretty insane that we get to enjoy Q&As from a principal engineer. Thanks for doing this!
    29
  53. It hit me so hard that your company won't attend your funeral! Also, the only person who will remember you working on the weekends are your kids! I wish you all the best! Really excited to see your upcoming journey!
    29
  54. Great work, Steve! As always, you’re an inspiration! I noticed MLEs aren’t specifically represented, so if I may add a bit of wisdom that applies to SWEs but is essential for ML Engineers: Make time to learn—no one will hand it to you. Learning isn’t a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process that requires setting aside time regularly to stay on top of all the advancements. Bonus tip: whenever you learn something new, schedule a “deep dive” session with your colleagues to explain it to them. Not only will you understand the subject more deeply, but you’ll also position yourself as a leader in the space.
    29
  55. Actually, This is so encouraging, executing an equivalent rm-rf command and still able reaching principal level.
    28
  56. Hey Steve, around 5 months ago I managed to break out from a mid-level dev job cycle to a senior role because of one of your other videos. Thank you for your guidance.
    27
  57. This video felt supremely authentic, please don’t lose this in 2025 ❤️. You’re actually a huge inspiration on why I personally continue to create content every week. Thank you for everything you do. I hope you and the family have a very merry Christmas 🎄 ❤
    27
  58. This is probably the best advice I've seen of getting a job. Especially the connections part, that is underrated. The story was a great addition to how knowing others and helping them can pay back. Thank you for the effort and for helping others.
    26
  59. "be the world's worst criminal" that had my dying great vid Steve 😂
    25
  60. I was listening to this audio only and for a minute there I thought Steve has a strange way of shortening the word candidate, “candy”
    25
  61. That interaction with services team is 💯. Make no assumptions, treat everyone like AI 😂
    24
  62. I quit after 16 years. Also 41yo, 2 kids, young. You won't believe how much this video resonates with me. I'm in tears, brother. It's comforting to know someone out there feels exactly how I feel.
    24
  63. I like hearing your life updates. Humble, carefully crafted, honest. And as a fellow Amazonian, dad, and YouTuber, it’s nice and inspiring to hear someone else’s story who’s been through more.
    23
  64. Love your videos - I’d like to see one addressing when is the right time to switch teams, or managers. It’s risky switching teams and has a big effect on your career. Anyways, keep up the good work!
    22
  65. such an awesome video with really great advice Steve! i loved the comparison to poker and the reminder that interviewing is a numbers game. interview enough times and you're bound to succeed :)
    22
  66. Congrats Steve!! Happy for you and your fam!!
    21
  67. Two most important things I learnt: 1. Get rid of scarcity mindset and have courage to reject the offer. Companies don't care about you so why care about your "dream company"? 2. Know what your manager and his manager wants from you and do it nicely and communicate with him. Repeat it continuously
    21
  68. My experience so far if you want to land a job as an engineer: build something that you care about. Dont build the next todo app, come up with your own idea. Ask yourself what piece of software would make your life - even if it is just a little bit - easier and build that stuff. Congrats! You just delivered value. Companys will always look out for people who deliver value.
    20
  69. AI won’t replace you, but someone who knows how to use AI better might
    20
  70. The learning from the mistakes part is important. Once we had a principal level engineer with a prod breakage rate that was measurably 10x higher than anyone else in the company. The company took the blameless culture too far & each time the answer was what can we do to prevent this from happening rather than addressing the elephant in the room. We ended up spending significant resources babyproofing everything for one engineer rather than surgically operating on the root cause. "Lightsaber night is cancelled. Thanks Todd!": If you aren't willing to act on gross recklessness, then the organization will build layer on top of layer of bureaucracy that punishes everyone. We extended procedural due diligence by two weeks or more to release changes for the entire organization to blamelessly prevent one engineer from breaking prod nonstop.
    18
  71. Greet video! Completely on the same page as you Steve. Focusing on one thing at a time rather than scattering focus on multiple things gets your best attention. I figured out some years ago that you need to know what works best for you in terms of devoting time. for me, a 4 hours at a time is best for longer projects and a minimum of 2 hours for shorter ones.
    18
  72. Owning problems is such a great point. Some of the best advice I've gotten was from an engineering vp that recommended bringing 3 potential solutions and 1 recommendation when asking for your boss to help you solve a problem.
    18
  73. This is super important content! I had to learn all this the hard way
    18
  74. I feel like recruiters don’t want to recruit unemployed engineers, they cold call engineers with a job.
    17
  75. My biggest mistake in my career is never letting my manager know I wanted a promotion. Don't wait years to "get ready" just ask your manager what you need to do early to get the next position.
    17
  76. Thank you for the content so far, your previous time management video has made the single biggest impact on my career of any resource I’ve ever come across. Recognising emotional context switching was the key for me, and it’s so simple! Your videos are a gold mine amongst all the clickbait bullshit dev channels that pollute YouTube 😂
    17
  77. There is a catch 22 at play here. People not burning out at their job are the most qualified to teach others for example through YT. But they are less likely to do so because they do not need to cultivate an exit plan. People burning out at work are more likely to want to grow an audience on YT so they can escape, but are they the ones you want to listen to? This has happened with teachers also. One was setting the bar so high I was thinking how do you keep this up? Of course he quit in order to "help other teachers succeed". His audience dropped of soon after...
    16
  78. It helps, but i think this video is not one of those. Good stories with each point was told.
    16
  79. This couldn't have come at a better time for me, on-sites next week
    16
  80. Thanks a ton for the answer! You really are right about time being an important factor lol. I spent a while trying to understand the codebase since the time I wrote that question but with your feedback I'll try to also take the design decisions into account as well. Thanks again!
    15
  81. that passive aggressive interaction with s3... definitely came from experience
    15
  82. Just once, I want to face a critical issue in a project, turn to my manager, and reference the stupid question he asked during the interview, or point to the Leetcode questions they make you answer, and say, "How did knowing the answer to that question help us in the real world?"
    15
  83. Your day to day life sounds like my academic life style. Saying yes to almost everything, started many, and completed none… both have lots of freedom and can easily get lost. Thank you for the great video.
    14
  84. love the videos. Video Request - How to plan 30-60-90 days in your new job at a new company and succeed.
    14
  85. Exciting to see more of these videos!!! Great video idea. Takes one to know one, to relate to this
    14
  86. Thank you for answering my question! I wish I was still under 30--only after burning out in grad school (physics PhD program) and spending time lost in the weeds did I successfully pivot to landing a software gig in my late 20's to start my career. I am in the US, but not a tech hub and not really looking to relocate. Food for thought on potential to 3x my income, but also feel more behind on personal life goals than career ones--especially since I feel my job has ample amounts of making the world a better place, as opposed to most corporate gigs.
    13
  87. A big part of the gap you noticed in our industry is just due to the math of growth: if it takes 5-10 years to mint a true senior engineer and 10-20 years to mint a true principal engineer and the number of SWEs grows 50% each year (numbers completely made up but close enough for this level of analysis) then lack of technical leadership/mentoring is going to continue to be an issue. Thanks for trying to make it better. Your take toward the end there really resonated with me: I always try to be the kind of mentor to people I wish I'd had when I was coming up.
    13
  88. Great video. I was recently promoted to senior eng at my company and feel imposter syndrome. Great way to frame looking at this very common aspect of SWE. This is a good reminder that attitude, and the willingness to absorb knowledge from the people around you is one of the most important skills that I should continue practicing.
    13
  89. I love the way you speak, it makes me come back to your channel a few times a week. Clear and easy to digest. You deserve this next chapter in your life. Excited for this next adventure of yours!
    13
  90. LOL all of those fear thoughts in the first 25 seconds are 100% accurate.
    13
  91. Of course the question about how I speak so well is chopped up to bits in the edit. Sigh. Also, I'm an idiot, ""people that look like they're 40 that are actually 25, and a bunch of people that are 25, look like they're actually 40" 🤦If you have questions please leave them in the comments section below and I'll answer them in the next episode! Continue the conversation on my Discord server - https://discord.gg/HFVMbQgRJJ
    13
  92. Congrats. You have climbed one mountain, and have found another one. I love to see people succeed. Even though I'm not an Engineer, I found your content to be pretty useful as a product manager in tech. Not only was it personally helpful, but it also let me know what my engineering teams needed from me to be successful. I think you have a lot more value to add other than just engineers. You've got so much experience, and you're ready to soar. Don't limit yourself to just one group of people for too long.
    13
  93. Being able to tell your story is so important. I’m working on my technical report at work and my mentor is emphasizing the fact that it needs to be written in a way that people care. If the “why” isn’t clear, then it’s hard for anyone to care
    13
  94. Short answer yes, long answer, yes
    13
  95. Steve is the techlead we need, but not the one we deserve.
    13
  96. I'm not even in the market for software engineering, but I found this video incredibly clear and useful. Thanks for putting out this gold mine for us Steve!!
    12
  97. Thank you.
    12
  98. I'm so glad I found your gold. I just binge-washed all of it! Now I'm content.
    12
  99. When I interview I also try to find out if I want to work with them. They are applying to me as much as I am applying there.
    12
  100. I'm a QAE over at Big A who started 6 months ago, I hope I get to have a journey similar to yours - so far I love the people I work with and the culture and hope years from now to still be as content in my job as you seem to be - cheers!
    11
  101. This was by far and wide the best way to ask for a "like and subscribe". I watch many of your videos and just realized I wasn't subscribed, yet how you asked forced me to look and make sure. Well done! P.S. - I have an amazon SDE interview soon, wish me luck
    11
  102. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge! And best of luck in your future endeavors! You are really inspiring.
    11
  103. Wow, Support Eng to SDE in AWS here myself. "Better job than no job", exactly, also I gave myself a timeline to transition to SDE while in support role, and I did it
    11
  104. Ahh!! Perfect! I just did a video on this too. I like your take and your delivery on this one. Well done man. Thanks for sharing your story too.
    11
  105. Had my first entry-level job interview as a junior dev at a local company in my city, and you've been my guide in understanding what helped me secure the job. It led me to the point where my interviewer and I were negotiating my salary. Thanks a lot uncle Steve😆!
    11
  106. Haha, grindr for your pets, masterclass Steve
    10
  107. Bookmarking for this decade.
    10
  108. Watched this and this gave me MASSIVE hope. While watching this I got an interview which is ironic and I will keep this hope. Thanks for this video!!
    10
  109. Should I accept a promotion (to senior) without salary bump? The company told me moneys tight so there are no raises, but it doesn’t make sense as the revenue and outlook are both positive.
    10
  110. Principal Engineer tier delegation 💯😃
    10
  111. RSU (stock award) vests every 3 months or 12 weeks. 10 weeks means Steve left 2 weeks after his last award. You’re “always leaving money on the table” with FAANG. That’s how they retain people, but he left close to the best time.
    10
  112. From John McEnroe's speech from Stanford, view the pressure to be a privilege to have. It is a privilege that you have this pressure/ opportunity and someone else would gladly take this opportunity. I thought that was an interesting take
    10
  113. Thanks for sharing this. I've always found promotions to be black box(y) especially in smaller companies who have no process. In large companies, it's tricky too like you said. Hoping to learn from your webinar.
    9
  114. Folks, this is how Steve would answer in an interview. It is really valuable in: which failure you pick, how you describe in clear manner. Thank Stave!
    9
  115. it's true. i have 300+ questions but the more questions i do, the less i get from leetcode. it might be cuz i keep choosing medium questions and i dont learn much from it. should try for harder ones.
    9
  116. Being a dad is such a blessing. I’m a dad as well, starting my career as a software engineer, and my hobby is my bmw e30 restoration. I will definitely follow along and join your cohort once available. Sometimes at work I feel stuck, but change that attitude to grateful. Drop down I know there’s more for my career. Accepting change is one of the biggest challenges.
    9
  117. Thanks for the quality content! I really appreciate how empathetic you are when answering questions.
    9
  118. How do you feel about the idea that it may be very risky pursuing a career at faang? If you get caught up in a layoff you will be rejected by other companies/recruiters for being damaged goods. I am a workaholic so I don't think i'd get booted for performance by I could certainly see getting caught up in bureaucratic bullshit that I have little control over.
    9
  119. This video came at the perfect time, I'm currently in this situation, got laid off after 1 year as a junior engineer
    9
  120. nerd
    9
  121. 🎉 Sign up to get 20% off a year of Brilliant Premium → https://brilliant.org/alifeengineered NEWSLETTER - Sign up to my free newsletter: https://newsletter.alifeengineered.com/general DISCORD - Continue the conversation on my Discord server. The advice section is chef's kiss - https://discord.gg/HFVMbQgRJJ PATREON - https://www.patreon.com/ALifeEngineered My content will always be free of charge but if you'd like to support the channel, I'd be honored if you supported me on Patreon.
    9
  122. Just read the analysis - one issue is it's not clear if doing more hard questions would actually make you perform better. It's just that people who do hard questions also perform better in interviews, ie there is room for confounders like "ability" or "educational background" which would simultaneously bias people toward doing harder questions rather than easier ones and those things also making you do well in interviews.
    9
  123. I started watching your videos when i was in a coding bootcamp, and now I watch them working from the Spheres! Excited for your next chapter.
    9
  124. The best video on job search that I've seen recently. Real life stories bring the point home. And I appreciate your willingness to help people get into Amazon! I am not ready for Amazon yet :) but I appreciate that you are not just offering generalized advice but practical help (7:07). I am working on my skills systematically and will get there someday.
    9
  125. #27 is so true, we must celebrate success before next life stressor comes, and #28 is the reason a good mechanical watch is worth getting over quartz. Good one Steve 🙌
    8
  126. Rahul’s advice is absolutely important !. I see it all day, everyday that most engineers shy away telling their stories in meaningful manner. Stories that follow STAR format make a ton of sense and people remember them. To all my fellow engineers, start telling the meaningful stories. Happy holidays !!.
    8
  127. I love your effort into these YouTube videos. I'm eventually planning on starting some YouTube content myself and you are an inspiration! I'm an SDE 2 (started at SDE 1) who luckily had a friend let me know about 401k + Mega backdoor Roth 401k at Amazon that I've been able to utilize (and save about $90k in my 401k accounts over the past 2 years). Speaking as someone who is in a MCOL (Seattle, Austin) 25% of your savings is a good place to start but is also likely too little. Housing is crazy now a days and in a MCOL city I think the goal should be 50% so you can save money for your future home/condo purchase. Also one thing that is crazy is the promotions at these large tech companies. I was able to get a promotion in about one and a half years at Amazon (Q1 this year), and got my stock grants priced at $100 a share (they are currently at $130). Now that has ballooned my TC up and I'm planning on selling all on my RSU vests and using this for my house fund, if I had not put in the extra hours here and there and delayed my promotion that would have cost me $30-60k over the next 2 years.🤯
    8
  128. I appreciate your candor in talking about your mistakes. Leaving over $250k on the table by not waiting 10 weeks is staggering to me. That’s an incredible amount of money and a short period of time. Hindsight being 20/20, what options were open to you? You mentioned dealing with anxiety, but were there other ways to deal with it in the short term? Did you have any PTO that you could’ve burned instead, etc?
    8
  129. just 2x speed bro
    8
  130. What resonated with me in this was the idea of "guide, then let go". Even when you know you could just tell someone exactly what to do, or know that later on, someone's implementation won't be sustainable, letting it go is one of the hardest things to do. At least for me. But its true, the same way that I grew by being allowed to fail, make mistakes, and then level up, you have to give others that opportunity.
    7
  131. haha happened just to me, rocked my way up to the final round, rocked the most of loop rounds, but had bad feeling for 1 out of 5 interviews and I was correct it seems. More luck next time. First time I applied to AWS I’ve failed first phone screening. Now 2nd time I got to final round and failed here. Third will be the one! 😂
    7
  132. AI will reduce the need for drivers but it won't reduce the need for programmers?
    7
  133. I needed this, I am going to study computer science next year. I really value your perspective as a principal engineer and I would not value any other perspective!
    7
  134. No, you didnt listen. Its about saving some of that money. If you spend it all youll never retire with lots of money
    7
  135. Based on the expressions in the thumbnail, I thought everyone was going to offer sobering, harsh reality checks. But nope 😁Thanks for collabing with all these creators!
    7
  136. 13:45 That was great!!! HA!! I'm dead ☠️.
    7
  137. "nice round number of 64 people". I see what you did there
    7
  138. I’m frustrated I don’t have a job to start saving, but I’m glad I know this stuff before starting. I can’t wait until either my security clearance goes through or another company is willing to give me a chance to break the chicken-and-egg problem: need experience to get experience. In the meantime I’m going to try to live life to the fullest while continuing to make myself a better engineer in some way every day.
    7
  139. Why? Because he has a sponsor for this free video that was chalk full of FREE valuable insights and advice? You think that people should devote themselves to endeavours where they aren’t compensated, and that Steve doesn’t have a right to income to sustain himself? Get a grip!
    7
  140. The surgeon example was so insightful! Next level here I come!
    7
  141. this is so awesome Steve can't wait for this next chapter and congrats on taking the leap super inspiring!! :)
    7
  142. Steve, I can’t believe you are giving all this away for free. I just signed up and can’t wait to get started!
    7
  143. I recently joined big tech as senior engineer and my skip told me that I am not performing at my level. Please do a video on how to perform at senior engineer? Also, what do you think is a practical timeline for matching expectations after joining a new FAANG company as Senior engineer?
    6
  144. Steve, the pressure / doubt of promoting has been growing on me over time. But this video really helped me feel more at ease and recalibrated. I always appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge and perspective with us.
    6
  145. I'm a new subscriber, Steve, but your scripting, your manner of speaking and your editing scream "Principal Engineer at FAANG". And I mean that in a good way! Crisp and invaluable, like well written documentation 😅 Would love to learn more from you! Thanks for making videos
    6
  146. I love a great SEV story. Thanks for sharing!
    6
  147. This is great, thank you for putting this video together. This is gold.
    6
  148. Terrible market, much needed video! I haven’t even watched this yet lol
    6
  149. I say the same thing that your company won't be at your bedside when you die!! Your family will! They grow so fast so savor each seconds! Mine will be 7y next month and my daughter is 5y.
    6
  150. Incredibly brave and transparent of you to share this .. good luck to you on the next amazing step of your journey !
    6
  151. Best of luck in your new future Uncle Steve! Balance is important, you cant out-produce the ticking of time.
    6
  152. Congrats on completing almost 2 decades in Amazon. Onto the next chapter!
    6
  153. Watching this in my 30s really resonates with me! Some of the advice I’ve come across before but didn’t take seriously at the time, while other insights are brand new to me. Either way, I’m so grateful for this, and I truly believe it’s going to make a positive impact on my future. Thanks for sharing!
    6
  154. Damn! Those 25 seconds hit me like a rock! Completely what I’m going through right now.
    6
  155. On Jeff's advice: If the mentor's personal life (financial, family...) were closer to the mentee's, the action items would be more applicable.
    5
  156. Thanks uncle, been suffering with this since starting my new job
    5
  157. I'm so excited for this new Chapter - and all the people you are going to help get to the next level (and the one after that). Also, my husband also has a baby tooth - it's so rare!
    5
  158. Woot thanks for the shoutout Steve! Would love to hop on a call 😇
    5
  159. I like the last point you made, actually shipping a product to understand user behaviors. I've been creating some websites in my spare time and I've learned a lot on tips to optimize loading speeds, getting better at coding, and pricing strategies. Can't say its been helpful with hearing back from job applications, but I'm definitely going to apply some of the strategies to my current role
    5
  160. Fascinating Steve. Thanks for sharing!
    5
  161. Thanks for the honest truth. I'm actually currently preparing for a SWE I interview with Amazon as a new(ish) grad. I really hope this is the one. "Don't want to act confident, don't want to try to impress, don't want to be enthusiastic because you're not enthusiastic by nature and hate to smile? Well, then you're going to be unemployed." Idk why but that line cracked me up, but it's true!
    5
  162. Great breakdown. Getting so much more out of a video than just what's in the title is why I watch. I'll be looking to include the suggested high-value hard problems in my prep.
    5
  163. Nitpick: At https://youtu.be/0XUzt0D3xMw?t=656 - halving a factor in a product doesn't give it smaller weight at all. You're just halving the score. The acceptanceRate shouldn't be multiplied by 0.5
    5
  164. Congratulations for the new member and wishing you all the best for your future endeavors…!!! You content has always been genuine and dymond quality since inception of this channel..!!! Looking forward for the full bloom…!!!
    5
  165. thank you for the wisdom unc 😼👍
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  166. Zach's advice (13:30) to do what it takes to build trust and also to find a manager that trusts you is so so crucial Be trustworthy for its own sake, and stick to your side of the street, solving problems proactively and independently Very similar solution(s) to the next advice at 15:10
    5
  167. principal dev with this mic quality btw
    5
  168. Congrats on the new changes. We'll all be still here to support. Also hopefully you don't think about the braces too much :) I'm doing my second round of it after doing it once as a kid and not turning out so great. Just another baby step to a greater day. Keep at it and looking forward to the new stuff.
    5
  169. Before you, my best youtuber resource is Techlead, I can safely say this is an upgrade, I watched all of your content always wishing you can push out more, now my wish is granted haha. Congrats for your 2nd life, and thanks in advance for the advice you will deliver to us to help with our 1st life.
    5
  170. Funny- I just evaluated my finances yesterday and uncle Steve drops a related video the next day. I guess I wont be buying anything for a while
    5
  171. Hi Steve, you seem like a really bright and metered person. Everyone learns cyclically and revisits patterns in order to grow. Kudos for being able to call it out and help others learn. Your experience is humble and helpful. Direct feedback is empirical, however there are likely many silent viewers that find this content useful. When it stops being consistently fun, something needs a shift. I've been here as well and keep a steady mental affirmation "Remember why you started..."
    5
  172. Great video, Steve! You're going to do great things. You're an inspiration to thousands!
    5
  173. Great video thanks, I'd love to see more about mediums cause where I live the faangs are not there, so other companies ask more mediums...
    5
  174. Great video, all this boils down to is making an actual real world app people would use instead of "tutorial hell apps", this can cover depth (the more scalable and real-world ready you make your app for lots of users the more likely you are to deep dive into the tech stack), easier to leverage a network if you do not have actual work experience (you have some type of proof you know what you are doing aside from tutorials), and having an app that has real users and real money makes you stand out to recruiters.
    5
  175. Fist
    5
  176. I’m just watching this so I don’t quit big tech anytime soon. I gotta put my 18 years in first. 🤣
    5
  177. Needed this. Thank you Steve. Much love
    5
  178. It is a lost that Amazon can’t keep you.
    5
  179. Short Answer: "Quit Job - Make Content on YouTube" ✌️
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  180. 1:58 - So that's why I was the manual labor in helping you setup your studio... 😏. Loving the setup Steve!!!
    5
  181. I had a feeling right when you mentioned the chunking logic that this was going to be a case of a script gone rogue due to a character. Everyone loves Little Bobby Tables, after all :) Seriously though - I've only seen SEV2 in my time so far. I can't imagine being at the center of a SEV1.
    5
  182. Congrats 🎉 on everything. Best wishes 🙏🏾
    5
  183. I Love the fact that there was no mombojombo intro to this video! and I repreat, I love the fact that there was no intro in this video
    5
  184. The collaborative spirit here is a great example of the soft skills that set the best SWEs apart from the rest. Love to see it, thanks for putting this together!
    5
  185. Wish you all the best, Steve! Sad to hear you are leaving Amazon, but I'm sure you will make a much larger impact with greater content, empowering millions of software professionals. I got to know you during my Amazon interview 10 years back, as one of the interviewers. You were such an inspirational SDE, and I became a dedicated follower of your content when you started sharing your Amazon experience on social media. Thanks, Steve! Cheers to many more years of success! (Charitha, fellow amazonian :) )
    5
  186. Wow, this video is a goldmine for anyone (like me) thinking to escape.
    4
  187. STEEEEEEVE
    4
  188. I’m on my second manager in the last 6 months, will be getting a third soon, any advice for keeping the promotion momentum up during these transitions?
    4
  189. Hey uncle Steve. This is timely
    4
  190. Okay I've been following you for the tech advice, but.... I also Dj, when are you going to rock a live set? Joking, love the content.
    4
  191. Oh man! Thank you so much I was not aware of this, will apply this tips.
    4
  192. I am so glad I found your channel... I just binged on all of your content! :D
    4
  193. Learn to Code with ChatGPT: https://clickhubspot.com/kurf 🚀 Get promoted in 2025 by taking my FREE 5-Day Promotion Accelerator Challenge: https://geni.us/9P7CAM 💥 Continue the conversation on my Discord server with like-minded ambitious tech professionals. #accountability is *chef's kiss* and #wins is 🔥 - https://discord.gg/HFVMbQgRJJ 📈Transform your tech career with my free weekly newsletter - https://alifeengineered.substack.com/
    4
  194. Subscribed to them all! Thanks.
    4
  195. The DJ comparison to work was money! Subscribed.
    4
  196. This is positively a 10X value add. Great panel of SMEs, Steve!
    4
  197. That's amazing and really inspiring to see you leave a cushy high paying job to pursue your love of teaching, helping others and fulfillment. Growth really starts outside your comfort zone!
    4
  198. Thank you so much. This video is informative and quite valuable. amazing!
    4
  199. Ty Steve for this opportunity, feels cool and humbling to be included with legends 🙌
    4
  200. I think luck also plays an important part in your career. On another note.. how your hairs are still so black? Please do a video on how to stay stress free.
    4
  201. On standing out from the crowd: A post-secondary student asked me which extra-curricular activities should they join to connect to the potential hiring managers. In particular, they were interested in knowing which hobbies that the managers are more likely to be involved in. I irked at the question because the interest to join an activity is not genuine, hence the in-person connection to the people may be artificial and may do the opposite from standing out. I replied to the student how I met my first boss in tech through a classical music ensemble but I've studied the field intensively for over a decade. I did not go out of my way to join the ensemble hoping for a job.
    4
  202. Thanks for answering my question regarding the miserable manager I had. You had an absolutely amazing prediction. Long story short, he was fired 2 months before this video was made.
    4
  203. I didn't get your teeth & tree metaphors. Nevertheless, thanks for the videos & all the best for the future.
    4
  204. 8:50 I usually just target the thing on my list I find most irritating and annoying (but necessary) to do. Once it's done everything else on the list is SO much easier comparatively.
    4
  205. Thanks for answering my question Steve, also appreciate that you pronounced my name correctly!
    4
  206. Thank you Steve !! Your videos helped me a lot last year to bring mentorship and leadership to my team. Last year I resigned and started a company that aims to create a collaborative environment for artists, coders and learners to meet together and create in a 3D environment. Your content definetely helped me to make the decision of stepping down from the Technical Director role and moving forward with what I want to do in my life - bring as much value as possible to the people. Happy to see that you are going to do the same !
    4
  207. I appreciate you Steve.
    4
  208. The breadth and depth first search part was great 3:20 I just got done studying leet code.
    4
  209. This is brilliant! I helped you launch it for a lot of money. How generous you are!
    4
  210. Great video with actionable tips Steve! Also, from Dijkstra's Algorithm to secret of life - everything roots back to the ancient Greek wisdom 🙏
    4
  211. the first sentence is literally me and SEVERAL people from my cohort
    4
  212. great vid Steve! i'm still trying to find the balance between saving money and enjoying it. also super excited for your launch!!!
    4
  213. You represent truly ownership value for your content ❤
    4
  214. Thanks for sharing. It is odd how this is something that is seen as unsharable. Most people rely on glassdoor or another sites to get the info. The break was great and insightful.
    4
  215. This video was great thanks 🙏
    4
  216. Steve thank you so much for this I have wrestled with this before finding the label...I am trying to help others who suffer with this that they alone and we should Impress the colour palette we see that others don't
    4
  217. Loved every sentence 🎉🎉
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  218. All the points are spot on! I wish I watched this before I left my last job...
    4
  219. Congratulations! This must have been such a tough decision for you. Your values and perspective on life really resonate with me. I wish you all the best and will be following your content closely. Keep at it brother 💪
    4
  220. Have been following your videos, and was able to crack some good offers at good companies soley following your interview advice. Thank you for making the amazing content Steve! :)
    4
  221. Is that a BB58? Watch game strong as always
    4
  222. Congrats and best of luck Steve 🎉🎉, your content was so helpful and vital for me to land a position at a FAANG company. I look forward to enjoying and learning more from your experiences this year as we all sail through the sea of the IT industry. Muchas Felicidades!
    4
  223. Sorry I think this video is out of touch with the current state of hiring in software engineering. In my experience getting an interview is not the bottleneck, the key is doing better at the technical interviews and behavioral interviews than every other person who applied for the position. With the sheer number of people on the job market, the threshold for passing has to be absurdly high in order to filter out candidates. Unfortunately, the way to differentiate yourself today is by learning (or memorizing) leetcode solutions, and practicing enough that you can perform them live within 30 minutes. It’s a charade, where the interviewer and interviewee both pretend as if you’re seeing a novel problem and solving it in real time, when really you’re either recalling the solution or re-conjuring it based on practicing similar problems. If you haven’t seen the problem or a similar one before the interview, your chances of beating someone who already knows the solution drop exponentially. It really is that simple, the candidate who can perform the best at the interview performance will get the job. This means learning (or memorizing) solutions to enough leetcode problems / system design challenges / behavioral scenarios that you increase your chances of getting lucky and being asked one of the solutions that you know well enough to demonstrate your ‘competency’ and ‘expertise’ in the on-site interviews. So let’s be real, how to stand out in an insanely competitive tech market: keep grinding leetcode
    4
  224. The major issue with AI is always going to be data integrity and governance. You can't continuously aggregate information and take it at face value that they're all correct. That's how we create "alternative facts". Leading AI companies still can't agree on a governance model and laws are still way too behind.
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  225. He never misses...
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  226. Your courage to pursue new things is commendable🚀. I can't wait to see all the new video ideas in action. Also, leather jackets are not impractical 😉. Best of luck on your second life, I am certain you'd crush it 🙌
    4
  227. Hi Steve! What watch are you wearing? Sorry watch nerd here :)
    4
  228. Holy shit, I've had this dream so much.
    3
  229. A small change in direction today, can lead you to do a completely different destination tomorrow :)) very very very well said!!!!
    3
  230. I did the same leaving a job, a few days later and I would have vested another few $10ks. Somehow easy to forget when lots of other stuff is going on
    3
  231. Maybe not OnlyFans but OnlyFAANG
    3
  232. Hi everyone, I have a question: if I already worked in other companies for 5-10 years, then come to interview at FAANG, will I still be asked these algorithm questions?
    3
  233. Also, open source contributions or even leadership, especially on a project that's of value to the target company
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  234. You are awesome, Steve. Please keep on pumping this golden content.
    3
  235. Man, I love your content. Keep doing what you do. Best.
    3
  236. Great flip on the view of being surrounded by experts. Appreciate the tips as someone that is constantly battling to overcome the feeling of imposter syndrome.
    3
  237. 10/10 advice on grinding my soul into dust then baking a loaf of bread with it
    3
  238. Subbed for the thumbnail meme, stayed for the knowledge.
    3
  239. In your example, I think David also made the mistake of not getting his manager feedbacks before going to his skip. His manager could have nudged him to think about the solution, implement and track results months before the promotion doc.
    3
  240. First time seeing your videos, but off of this, I have much respect for you. I love that saying about your kids being the only ones to remember you working nights and weekends. Before I got into tech, I worked night shift, and about 70-80 hours a week. Weekends were part of it for sure. Which is why I went into tech. Now I work from home, 40 hours a week and make a bit more. So much respect for you!
    3
  241. Shout out from the Black Rock Mafia.
    3
  242. Thanks so much Steve for your work and fabulous channel!!
    3
  243. Thank you so much for giving your clear and amazing viewpoint on the topic. I will follow these for my upcoming job hunt.
    3
  244. Most of current SE is problem solving with established patterns. That’s what current LLMs are good at. But what’s missing is the human ingenuity, creative problem solving. Once we get to that point, computers should just be able to solve problems within the constraints given. Do why make an app when you can just ask the computer to do what you want. There will always be people who would rather buy something prebuilt than mess with an AI themselves, so don’t see the art of programming dying any time soon.
    3
  245. ending "hat" me dying 😂
    3
  246. The video was great as always. But I can't help but think that it was all a big setup to call Michigan fans toxic
    3
  247. Thank you Steve. You finally get the point that not everything great has to get tied back to Amazon. Jeez, I used to fast-forward almost every video which goes off at the "at Amazon one time ...."
    3
  248. Amazing video! Yes, do the same analysis for medium problems. Some medium problems are actually very difficult
    3
  249. That's a really nice painting behind you!
    3
  250. Great storytelling, explanations, and video!
    3
  251. I had a similar history with FIRE. Love the story and now I'm thinking about "my health 401k" as I'm getting old.
    3
  252. based
    3
  253. Thanks for the great video Steve! Love the very direct examples around 7minute mark. It is easily understandable even as a junior engineer, and good advice to rewatch every few years
    3
  254. nerd
    3
  255. This hits home a lot, great work! I am about a year behind you on a similar journey and amen to everything you said here
    3
  256. the last name Huynh - I guess you are American - Vietnamese
    3
  257. Hi Steve love your vids! Keep it up, always watch them. Your takeaways are really helpful for a starting engineer like me. Btw, when listening to your video the audio sounds a bit cold/far away. Maybe a warmer mic would make your videos even better!
    3
  258. Steve, your videos always bring some peace and clarity to my life when it's really rough. Really appreciate the good content you put out and I hope you know how much it helps.
    3
  259. Wow! Can't believe it! Congratulations, Steve. Also, believe it or not I have a fake tooth in right now too (one of the front ones). Such a pain in the ass but hope to get it solved soon too
    3
  260. Prediction 2025-2026: colab with the Tech Lead and Joma
    3
  261. Everytime you say "My goal is to help 1 million people", aligns me back to what I am suppose to do. When I first heard you say it, I learned a very important lesson on how to set goals. Now everytime I hear it, it serves as a reminder. What other such gems have helped you do what you do that is very actionable?
    3
  262. Just so you know, I've been following since the Meta days and I've never paid any thought to your teeth before this video. I was far too busy listening to your every word. I'm slightly older than you and my kids are approaching teenagers 😬, but I've only recently broken into big tech. Part of that was staying too long in a comfortable role. Recently I've been in the sweet spot of pushing myself professionally, whilst still having time for myself and my family.
    3
  263. Excited for the future ! All the best 🎉
    3
  264. So could you please explain what did you do to solve the last incident? Just want to understand what had you guys done to fix it.
    3
  265. Rocking the "Legend" look in my next interview
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  266. You're definitely on to something. I would have no difficulties breaking into the industry and whenever i poke around leetcode I don't even bother with easy/medium problems, im not there to improve my syntax recall, i want a challenge to solve
    3
  267. Thanks for the videos. Very informative.
    3
  268. Been a fan of your channel for a months now, but I think your pessimism for the medium term capabilities of AI is a bit motivated. I don't think dev jobs will be the first to go, but I think serious changes to society are likely within our lifetimes, and the view that work is infinite so humans will always have work is too optimistic 1. The current suite of LLMs were largely trained before the hype 2. The critical breakthrough that allowed AI to make such an impact was that the LLM architecture gets predictably more accurate with more compute/data investment 3. Billions of dollars and many more bright researchers and developers are rushing into this field We're rushing to creating agents that can replace human labor, and it's unclear what effect they'll have on society, let alone unintended consequences. Among AI researchers, Yann Lecun is somewhat of an outlier in his optimism. I don't really disagree with the idea that dev jobs won't be replaced by current LLMs, but I disagree with the general tone of "nothing will change soon", and "there's nothing to worry about wrt AI"
    3
  269. Hey i listened to cal newports so good they cant ignore u book ty for the recommendation.. actually one of the most practical books ive seen in a while.. will definetly audit my actions and career plans using the frameworks preseented there 😊
    3
  270. Here's my advice for 2025, Steve: TRULY see your mistakes as learning opportunities, and spend no longer than necessary reflecting on them to get this benefit. This video seems like the outcome of exactly that, lessons learned summarized and broadcasted to your audience. I'm far from being as experienced as you, but I sure know the feeling of spiraling on my failures and mistakes, so I don't want to see your light being dimmed by such wasteful thoughts. I decided to become a mentor because of your videos 2y ago, and you're as real as it gets in youtube. Keep the grind and thanks for everything you do!
    3
  271. As usual, very valuable content from a productive, real world, and experienced dev
    3
  272. This is the most underrated career advice channel. Thanks for doing this. Proud to see a fellow Amazonian giving back like this.
    3
  273. It would be amazing if you can keep giving out those awesome interview tips! All the power to you with this next phase of your life! 💪
    3
  274. 20 year career? Sir you look 24😮. What is your age?
    3
  275. As a senior dev wanting to get more involved creating content, this is very valuable information, thank you 😊
    3
  276. By any chance, did you work with Ethan Evans? He shared a similar story in another podcast.
    3
  277. Finally someone that makes sense. You earned a subscriber sir!
    3
  278. My 2024 advice: find a way to deal with difficult people, situations and projects. Don’t shy away from the challenges. I’m currently learning how to do this. I’ve learned you can be technically correct or even make valid arguments, but without developed trust or learning how to work with those who disagree or even dislike you, your ceiling will keep you from moving forward. It takes a large amount of patience and humility but it’s worth it and I wish I had started this earlier. Shoutout to Steve for taking lessons and wisdom across many years and making it available for younger engineers. We don’t have to learn from our own mistakes.
    3
  279. I recently found this channel so just looked you up as a fellow Amazonian :) Your career trajectory is truly amazing and inspiring!!! It would be amazing if you could share more of your experience. Congratulations!!! Wish you the best.
    3
  280. Holy crap congrats man! To be honest I might have to look into your level up program. As a software engineer having that sort of mentorship would be amazing.
    3
  281. i like your authenticity and self awareness
    3
  282. I absolutely agree. Do I do hope that your prediction about AI being used in monitoring employees doesn't pan out or at least that the AIs aren't used as the only measure of good performance.
    3
  283. funny you are wearing a Rolex to emphasize on the fact that you have money ? lol
    3
  284. Yes high quality content.
    3
  285. Bro you should have never listened cared for positive or negative comments. No one knows your situation better than you so the judgements made by commentors should mean nothing. But I know it is hard to see genuine ones and the ones are just saying whatever they want
    3
  286. From a Vietnamese fellow in Tech, thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom. There is a Việt proverb that failures are the mother of success. How true that is would vary from person to person. But seeing how you talked about mistakes and faced them head on, your chance of finding success is on the high side. When I need to rest my mind, playing my favorite sport (badminton) works really well for me.
    3
  287. thank you for the content—it means a lot to have insights from an interview expert like yourself. Your perspective on my approach to these questions has given me clarity and confidence in conducting interviews effectively.
    3
  288. You're a legend dude! I'm an engineering student so rn not as much about promotion But I'm sure there's some great knowledge in there to even get the first job
    3
  289. Thank you for sharing!! Also, Bay Area >> Seattle IMO 😇
    3
  290. Thanks!
    3
  291. Pin my comment Meta!
    3
  292. 3 years as a software engineer and the worse thing I have done was a css styling bug that hid an add to cart button on mobile viewports.
    3
  293. I too left Amazon in the past year to do my own thing. Made every mistake possible. The mistakes feel more real when the cash doesn’t drop every six months. Coming out on the other side feels better than ever.
    3
  294. Very relevant thank you
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  295. Incredibly useful content, and the postcard video clip is just cherry on a cake 🚢📉
    2
  296. Amazing video 🎉 thanks you so much for doing such a good deep dive into what tech companies are asking in interviews and what questions to study to get the most knowledge.
    2
  297. Although this is out of the software wheelhouse I subscribed for, I actually really appreciate this video. Thank you.
    2
  298. Awesome video! Well done steve!
    2
  299. Great, thank you for creating this viode. It was really good
    2
  300. This is gold. Thanks Steve 🙌🏼
    2
  301. Why are you uploading videos during working hours! Not fair cause you know I will click!
    2
  302. And you didn’t evaluate the cost of AI. It’s not cheap
    2
  303. Love the videos, I tend to listen to it when working or walking. Thank you for making these high quality videos.
    2
  304. This man aged like fine wine.
    2
  305. Steve, thanks again for such a great channel. I’m so glad I found you on here, it’s been great to learn from your experiences as I grow as a software engineer.
    2
  306. great vid steve, also you look great in maize and blue :P
    2
  307. Watch him saying the same thing I was a Principle Engineer at Amazon... Just like a broken record. LMAO
    2
  308. Congrats and sick watch 🎉
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  309. Only logged in to comment. 14 YoE. Too many people now are so tied into this industry to make money and their sole personality is what they do or where they work at. This is specially for the younger kids. Great you work at fang but what do you like to do and how are you as a person. Thanks for putting that advice in because it seems lately all people care about is comp.
    2
  310. Great work
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  311. lol, i felt the same, advices from people who only saw success never works for me.
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  312. Thanks for giving away the free course and nice way to build a huge dataset of likedin profiles and emails.
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  313. Thank you. In my opinion, this is the most useful video I've seen in a while. Great!
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  314. Another super helpful video 🙏, +1 Strategic nappping
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  315. I’m so scared and so depressed about this situation as a self taught iOS Developer here in Canada 🇨🇦 .
    2
  316. All the best to you thank you for all the help. you provide
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  317. nerd ❤
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  318. Great video!
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  319. Thank you so much for sharing your career progression. It is both impressive and inspiring and I agree that assymetric information prevents us for making informed decisions about both our career paths and opporunities knocking the door.
    2
  320. TFW when the best software engineer content creator by far on the internet drops his day job to focus on making more content. 😃
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  321. Great video!!
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  322. Your channel is a gem, Steve. Keep going and never stop inspiring other engineers!
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  323. GRAMMAR! If I WERE looking.............. go apologize to your English teacher!
    2
  324. Thanks so much, Steve. Great content and great channel.
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  325. Thank you, Unc, for mentioning the downsides of FIRE. Too frequently I see young SWEs sacrifice living life now for early retirement and everyone praising their foresight
    2
  326. Nice Tudor Black Bay 54.
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  327. As always, top notch video 👏👏
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  328. Here's mine: get tested for adhd. You may not have it but if you do you can make strategies around it including medication
    2
  329. Gracias for keeping it humble! Very valuable lessons from the mistake and common pitfalls we keep going
    2
  330. Love this! Definitely taking the advice of "Make as much noise as possible" from Namanh and Steve's final observation/advice of gathering insights and moving decisively. Definitely trying to make this year about documenting learning and getting involved in the community.
    2
  331. Love your videos and the studio is chef’s kiss. ❤
    2
  332. Thanks for sharing! Yes todays world offers a lot more possibilities to prevent such issues. Our infrastructure for example is fully event-driven and even when something breaks, we still have the dead letter queue. Great time to be alive! :)
    2
  333. Ai are amazing until you get from them a terrible mistake that ended up to critical for your project, that AI does't recognize the mistake even when you point it out explicitly.
    2
  334. Agree with the Seattle Freeze lol. I grew up in WA state my whole life before moving to Seattle for college and work, but I often see transplants struggle to make friends and give a bad word about Seattle.
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  335. Awesome video as always man!
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  336. Love the content and the way you present it. Thank you.
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  337. As a father of a slightly older child, I can tell you it gets easier. They grow up, plus you get accustomed to your new schedule. And on the backend after a few years, they'll bring ever more joy to us and we get back some free time.
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  338. your title is mispelled, it says comptetive instead of "competitive"
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  339. Could you take vacation till vesting?
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  340. Thank you, Steve for openly sharing these experiences. I enjoyed the video. Well crafted.
    2
  341. Can we get 20 things you wish you knew in your 20s??
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  342. Crazy timing - I'm exactly there with the side hustles and work and I was working on a side project before going to work TODAY I've reached similar but not-as-well-formed conclusions, so it's incredibly helpful to see them like this Thanks a lot!
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  343. Thanks!
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  344. Your describing between you and the S3 department sounds just a tad better than every interaction with AWS Business Support.
    2
  345. 10:50 that final line had my jaw drop
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  346. gold
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  347. 9:33 you did not hesitate even a little bit before entering that quantity? 😂
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  348. Great video Steve! This is great advice right when I need it the most. Thanks!
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  349. Nice haircut
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  350. Another great video. Thanks for sharing, Steve. Sidenote: the genius link to the second book in the "books that changed my life" section is broken, as it mistakenly contains the word "the" at the end.
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  351. Great vid as always!
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  352. awesome vid steve :)
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  353. Happy new year Steve! I appreciate your excellent content and channel.
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  354. Like how it’s growing from 30 to 35 during the video 😂
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  355. Great video.
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  356. Thank you for your knowledge sharing, happy holidays
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  357. Well I am an accountant and not even a coder and this was a fascinating video. Your analysis of what happens when the company does the 2 year cut was bang on
    2
  358. Man when people hit 100K+ subs, they quit their jobs AND get their teeth fixed 🤣. I’m starting a YT channel bro 😂😂😂 💵💵💵💵💵
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  359. Been there since the meta days, looking forward to your future content!
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  360. This is great!
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  361. you are the star!
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  362. Well done, mate! Glad for you! I'm finishing my last 2 days in the company where I was working for the last 12 years. I know exactly how you feel. I'm pretty sure you will be alright. Keep it up! 👍🏻
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  363. I love this video, Steve. This is actual proper actionable advice, thank you! Excuse my cliché question, but if someone implements the advice you provided here but does not have a computer science degree, do you think they have a good chance of landing a desirable SWE role in today's market?
    2
  364. This is so true. Thank you for sharing. I am so grateful that I have been able to find your "A Life Engineered" blog and now this YouTube channel. Full of gems
    2
  365. Great video!
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  366. Even though it's targeted towards career, some of these points really feel like they extend to my life haha. Thank you!
    2
  367. When you caused a sev 1 and need to do a COE, your better CYA.
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  368. Congratulations, this is definitely the next step and way for you to grow. Big tech employee maximizes your time for profit. Time for you now to maximize your influence and results for profit. This is the best for you, your family, friends, and your users and viewers. Btw getting teeth fixed at a later age is fine. As soon as your braces are off you'll realise during the brief duration they were on, literally noone around you cared lol. The only thing you're gonna care about is that you didn't do it sooner, but even then, this is so small and is nothing you'll think about, except when writing a comment like this one to someone.
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  369. nice kindle flex :)
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  370. I feel like a lot of people in this video didnt actually pay attention to the video and went off commenting their own opinions disregarding some or not even knowing some of the video's points
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  371. liked and subscribed. I like the your whole vibe man. I think we would be good friends. I love engineering though and I am a little surprised you won't miss building things for just yourself and are completely retiring from software development. I am about the same age and work as a senior data engineer but on side I build video games for fun. Maybe you are getting that joy from building your youtube channel.
    2
  372. yo big thug you got this keep it gangsta
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  373. 2nd week into my first job, #16 really struck a chord in me as I was struggling with unrealistic expectations for myself plus the fear of letting others down Thanks again for the great advices
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  374. you are the big bro/uncle i wish i had growing up
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  375. Congrats! This is huge :)
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  376. 😂 “and my sentences right don’t come out sometimes” 2:36 😂
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  377. Steve, congrats and best of luck with your future endeavours. I was part of the mass Amazon layoffs in 2023, after being there for just under 13 years. I decided it would be better for me to spend time with my kids and family as well, so looking for a job isn't that high of a priority. plus, those Amazon stocks after 10+ years huh? ;). Our paths crossed briefly while I was at Amazon, as I was mostly in the Fulfillment space. Again, all the best!
    2
  378. All of my fav tech youtubers in one video, love this <3
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  379. Te quiero mucho tío Steve
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  380. Liked, commented, and subscribed to the channel and newsletter. Rooting for you!
    2
  381. Excellent video. Thank you! You are making a change!
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  382. Excellent one. It would be cool if you can share the tool you developed to rank the hard problems.
    2
  383. Evan catching strays here haha
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  384. multiplying the acceptance rate by 0.5 doesn't do anything in the formula
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  385. I am really inspired by you, Steve. I admire the path you took: Start something on the side and when you quit, put all your energy into it. When I joined Amazon, I read mtlynch's posts on quitting Google. I was clear I didn't want to work full-time employed until retirement. But at the same time, I found myself learning and growing so much that I like the job. So I decided the best way to live life is by stages. Every 7 to 10 years making a big change. Kind of like a decade change. My 20s are for working in big tech and growing. My 30s I will see. Doing it in this order helps with financial security. Best of luck mate. The best is in front of you. Fran.
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  386. You use the fleet manager analogy both as an example of a job that will be empowered by AI (makes it easier to manage drivers, who will be replaced) and as an example of a job that may be replaced (when you say that Amazon managers being let go will be like fleet managers being phased out). These can both be true, but presenting it like this makes your view feel arbitrary. You can say that there's a finite number of cars, which points to driving as finite work, but what's to stop someone from saying there's a finite number of computers that developers work on making that finite work? An obvious answer here is that developers are not constrained to working on a "single computer" or maybe we can even argue that virtual computers are computers and developers are really just "managing development" or maybe you argue that a developer need not be constrained by computers at all since that's the "easy" part that could be replaced by AI and the hard part is the other stuff. But then in that case will the line between dev and line managers or product managers become blurred? As a dev, none of these are my actual views on AI, but it is the chain of logic I go through while watching these videos, and I'm not really sure I know where you stand despite the amount of thoughts you've given here because of how they've been organized. Anyways - still enjoyed the video, good food for thought regardless.
    2
  387. Like the person you mentioned in the video I've rewatched your videos a lot. The storytelling ones in particular are really helping me with behavioral questions. I write the answers out and then go over your video to make sure I hit the points in a good way. The content in the world is largely made by people much less experienced than you-- hearing how to talk to other professionals from someone at your level is the kind of gold that's normally behind closed doors only. Thank you for being open about things you wished you had done differently too, I've been there. Moved too fast, missed out on certain things. You live, you learn, you move on. But it's nice to hear even after all your experience everyone can make mistakes sometimes. It's a good reminder that failure is just part of the road to success. I'm both super proud of you and super thankful for all of the resources you've made. The way you've condensed your experience for us all will no doubt help me for the rest of my career and life. Thanks Steve and Happy Holidays!
    2
  388. Thanks Steve for the opportunity - you've been incredibly generous in giving me advice as well. Cheers to you and everyone here!
    2
  389. Steve, thanks for advices! This video resonates with me. I'm in my second half of the 30th and for lots of tips I was "so true!" especially about music from your 20th - lol. Like I listen to new music, but hearing music from my late teens, early 20s makes me so nostalgic!
    2
  390. Me watching this right before I go on-call tomorrow, having dealt with a customer impacting issue last Friday :D. PS : I am part of the the Media Ingestion and Processing team in Prime Video.
    2
  391. awesome vid. as a mid level engineer, i echo with what's in the video. and hoepfully i'll not be at the end of a sev1.
    2
  392. In terms of monetary value, Steve's videos are provided for free with substantial value-add. Thanks for sharing!
    2
  393. Big plus-1 to anything Kurzgesagt. I've spent an unreal amount of hours just watching their YouTube videos.
    2
  394. Great insights! Thanks for sharing your experiences so that we can all avoid making the same mistakes.
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  395. another day of invaluable lessons from a world-class engineer for free :yougotthis:
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  396. Congrats on baby #2 🎉. We’ll support you. Your content, experience, and charm is unique and much needed on the Internet. Thank you so so much for everything. I follow you everywhere, from your YouTube, to discord to LinkedIn. The reason I haven’t used Patreon is because I don’t need it currently. I am in big tech myself as a SWE. If there’s anything I can to help beyond my following, I will be happy to contribute to these amazing things you’re preparing!!!
    2
  397. You're a big inspiration for me in tech and as an engineer love to see your content Steve!
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  398. Pure gold.
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  399. Highly underrated video
    2
  400. Rahul advice about storytelling is quite interesting, I have been promoted to lead in my last jobs but this year I have struggled to even land interview nows, I tweaked my resume to highlight why they put me as a lead (initiative and proactive in presenting solutions), pretty useful set of advices
    2
  401. Having an entrepreneurial experience makes you stand out.
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  402. I hit the like button at 333, congrats Steve may your next deep dive be in warmer waters.
    2
  403. @13:42 I died
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  404. These are correct takes 🎉
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  405. Godspeed. Binging your videos helped me navigate big tech and career in general. Also looking at getting major orthodontics soon to fix an underbite too so i feel you on that journey. Side note: great watch the batgirl is epic:face-blue-smiling::face-fuchsia-tongue-out::elbowcough:
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  406. Uncle Steve
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  407. I have been watching your videos since a while back when you had still named yourself Meta on Youtube, and I don't really comment a lot on videos, but I hope this reaches you. I'm 18, and started my career when I was 16, the sole reason I started was because I wanted to do something meaningful for myself, my family and my girlfriend. And now I'm happily making a bit of income, sometimes I put too much effort into software that I tire myself out. But at the the end of the day, I still remember what I'm working towards. Your career is important as long as you have a purpose for it. Software is ever changing, and so is your life. I think having a family really does make you look back on a lot of things, wish you all the best! and I'll be looking forward to your videos. and by the way, this video is great, I feel like it's more authentic than others you have made.
    2
  408. Congratulations on the birth of your second child!
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  409. Best wishes on the new direction! Are you going to do Patreon, or something similar? If not, why not?
    2
  410. Great content, thanks a lot! I really appreciate you notion on LLMs and how language is just a tool for us to explain and capture the things we are experiencing in our own (biased) words. Or as Gemini puts it: "We can only perceive and comprehend the world through the lens of our linguistic framework." 🤔
    2
  411. i lost it (with happiness of course) when i saw my question in here. thank you so much Steve!
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  412. nerd
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  413. very authentic. glad I watched this video.
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  414. Also maybe you can maybe market yourself as a more serious but optimistic version of TechLead. He is the "ex google, ex facebook, multimillionaire" techlead. He's very funny, but is very cynical and negative. Maybe you can be the opposite "ex Amazon, multimillionare" techlead who is more positive, optimistic and pragmatic
    2
  415. thanks uncle Steve
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  416. Audio sounds great 👌
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  417. When you do scoring for ranking, why do you need to apply constant factors? Applying them doesn’t really change the ranking of the problems
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  418. I didn't even know this existed but thanks a lot for sharing 🙏🏼
    2
  419. Thank you for this fantastic video. I, too, feel burn out and feeling to leave, and this video helps me put things into perspective.
    2
  420. Wait what, you are Vietnamese?
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  421. Great video
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  422. Your videos are gold. Thank you for the information. I've switched industries, and always had my hands tied to not cross the scope of job description due to the nature of my status. As a result my experience years have grown, but not really a deep dive into the experience. I've had bits and dots of information connect together, and always hungry in understanding the application, but not really hands on in other areas. I feel I'm ready to try a senior role but no right way to prove it. Do you have tips to take the leap and try or settle for a junior roles in bigger company .
    2
  423. Hi Steve, awesome content
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  424. thumbs up if you opened slack after the sound played
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  425. This is your best video thus far Steve
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  426. banger vid steve
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  427. Thank you sir! Your videos got me a job at Microsoft 🥳
    2
  428. My new life motto - "be a blue m&m"
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  429. Thank you, these are great advice. Also, now I am suscribed to 10+ tech channels !! 🙌🙌🙌
    2
  430. This was awesome Steve. Great advice.
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  431. Wow, dude. Amazing content! I just discovered your channel today (via SDE Good Reads). Well done!
    2
  432. A really good video. Thank you!
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  433. I’m already subscribed and just signed up for your newsletter. Wish you all the best!
    2
  434. Great content, subscribed. Where can I buy a t-shirt like your's :)
    2
  435. Fabulous channel my friend.
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  436. Hey steve, dont worry about the low performers in the comments. They dont even know your audience isnt them. Good s#%t in this video.
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  437. Now this is what we call great content 🙌
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  438. This is an exceptional video. They key point about doing something "different" hits loud and clear. To get hired now you need to do something nobody else in the candidate pool is doing (go all the way with it) and then effectively market that to the individuals who have sway over hiring. This will take you from a 0.1% hiring chance to an above 10% chance without doing 100x the effort. Maybe ~3-10x depending on your experience level. Similar to Mr. Beasts 1 million vs 10 million view video ideology by just spending another 50-100% more time perfecting the video.
    2
  439. Damn, so much insights in a few lines... The first 30s made me like the video
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  440. Great advice, thank you for posting this.
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  441. nice batgirl Steve!
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  442. Do you really believe in me? I’ve done nothing, and all my projects are crap.
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  443.  @ALifeEngineered thank you so much. If someone as accomplished and smart as you are believes in me, that must mean a lot. I’ll give myself like 6 months to continue finding encouraging results before I cut the line on my career.
    2
  444. love the batman!!
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  445. Love your content as usual. But timestamps, bitte. Greetings from Germany
    2
  446. The swiss cheese analogy is widely used in aviation to explain that accidents are never the result of a single error.
    2
  447. Would love to see a video about how you create videos, a behind the scenes look
    2
  448. ooooosh
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  449. Incredibly insightful! I plan to incorporate many of these insights into my own life because some of them resonated with me. I really want to see this kind of reflective video at the end of 2025 🙂
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  450. I hardly post comments on youtube, but i had to here. This is a huge step and it takes lots of guts. I love your content, cant wait to see what more you have in store. Best of luck and I'll try to support this channel as much as possible.
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  451. Thank you for this video. Top of the top.
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  452. Bruh, compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. I'm lucky I learned that in 2004 at my first job out of college, which was a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley. Imma gunna start a business, hires my kids at a young age, and auto deposit their earnings into their retirement account. Now that's a head start!
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  453. Storytelling is the advice that resonated with me. I have so many things to yap about, but I don't tell good stories.
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  454. Congratulations 🎊 👏 💐. Looking forward to hearing more from you and I hope that you and your wife get more quality sleep.
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  455. Great content! Happy Holidays 🎊
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  456. Man I don't know why Youtube algorithms recommend you only now? Your content is pure gold, keep doing. Nowadays it is very hard to find an open opinion on all questions of Tech Industry from mature and experienced senior persona. There too much junior and newbie opinions around. Just want to give you motivation to keep doing, maybe small one, but still :D
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  457. The sudden realization that youre time poor combined with sharing that youre middle aged sounds like the classic middle age transition! Life is too short to not pursue what you want to do. It sounds like you have a good plan though, really looking forward to the videos you end up creating next!
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  458. Hi Steve, I really appreciate your perfessional work and positive attitude. Helped me a lot. Thank you!
    2
  459. congrats to that nice rolex :-)
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  460. Sam's Club has LEGO btw :P
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  461. Haha, Steve's back thanks you. I guess :p
    2
  462. such an insightful video! thank you. keep up the great work man. you're doing a really great job with the value of the content in these videos!
    2
  463. Great video Steve. Love how you're being vulnerable with your audience. Glad that this video isn't just abt work stuff. Yes we should try to grow our careers but there's more to life than your job and you are in control of your identity. One big lesson in college was that any major life step, you can rebrand yourself to who you want to be. Your identity isnt 100% set in stone
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  464. If you're wondering if Steve can really get you promoted, he got me promoted.
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  465. This is very valuable. Thank you for sharing!
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  466. Great video and channel Steve. Thanks so much. You have a wonderful gift for communication.
    2
  467. Like is not enough to express my feeling about this video, Thanks Steve and everyone in the video for the great adivces.
    2
  468. as a fellow dad, let's celebrate your kid turning 3 months old and sleeping for 5-6 hours through the night. Farnsworth voice Huzzah!!
    2
  469. Thank you for this video. I’ve tried for a senior promo without much guidance and I think I instead harmed my relationship with my manager. Trying again feels like it’ll trigger some trauma, so I settled with just being a high performer in my current role. I’ll try to implement the pieces in this video and try again next time. 😊
    2
  470. I wonder how much the specific technology with a specific application in a niche field (8:00) is distinguishing candidates Still, worth a try!!
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  471. 🔥🔥🔥
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  472. Totally unrelated but Love that BB54.
    2
  473. Thank you for this video!
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  474. 10:00 mins on the dot. Congratulations Chief! I'm definitely going to be one of those people hanging around since before you quit your job.
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  475. Your content is truly awesome Uncle Steve, I am a Brazilian that has always watched your content. I think it has been some months now. I generally watch when I am waiting for a PR review. You helped me become a better developer, after watching your videos I started paying more attention to the business side of things and to track impact instead of faster and better code all the time. I understand perfectly were you are at, I just married (3 months ago) and I am super happy that I am going to be a father. Wish you the best, will continue following you up close! Thanks for the amazing content!
    2
  476. I just found your channel today and literally had to force myself to stop listening so I could focus on my actual work. I'm so glad I found this channel. Thanks
    2
  477. Doing the right thing, at the right moments, according to your principles, is hard. Eishowermatrix or the adapted version of Stephen Covey helped me a lot.
    2
  478. YEEEEEEEEES!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Let’s go PTYA squad! Killin it my dude!
    1
  479. am i the only 15yr old who watches this guy?
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  480. Yo Steve! Awesome tips and keep it up. Awesome that this video was recommended to me. Subscribed!
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  481. I'm happy I found your channel just exactly when I need it the most. Thank you for such divergent but extremely valuable content
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  482. 404 on Patreon page.
    1