Amazon VP On Promotions, Getting Fired Twice, Working With Bezos | Ethan Evans
Ethan Evans went from being fired twice because of poor soft skills to getting promoted to Vice President at Amazon with a team of over 800 engineers. I asked him about everything he learned along the way.We discussed:• Being fired for poor soft skills• What VP promotions look like• Working with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy (current Amazon CEO)• VP performance reviews• Stack ranking, PIPs and how managers can fire anyone• Advice for his younger selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:01) Experience before Amazon(05:03) Getting fired twice & learnings(14:02) Joining Amazon(16:02) What VP promotions look like(26:03) Promotion failure story(29:14) Integrating Twitch into Amazon(33:48) Jeff Bezos vs Andy Jassy stories(36:53) VP performance reviews (41:10) Stack ranking & PIPs(46:11) A manager can fire anyone they want(50:45) Advice for his younger self(53:03) OutroWhere to find Ethan:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP• Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiAWhere to find Ryan:• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/
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Tech Lead for Meta's Most-Used Programming Language (Promotion Story)
Dwayne Reeves is a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Meta who is the Tech Lead of the most used programming language (Hack) at the company. He started at the company as a new grad from MIT and shared the story of how his career grew. We discussed:• His promotions to Senior (IC5), Staff (IC6), and Senior Staff (IC7)• The value of type systems• Transitioning to a TLM and why he switched back• Working with brilliant engineers and overcoming imposter syndrome• Advice for his younger selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:39) Joining Facebook(04:52) Did MIT help with career?(07:13) His first team(10:37) Why static typing is superior(13:17) The uncanny valley of type systems (16:11) Senior Eng (IC5) promotion story (19:24) Staff Eng (IC6) promotion story (23:38) Manager transition story(28:57) Managing ICs vs EMs(32:54) Senior staff Eng (IC7) promotion story(35:42) Impressive ICs(40:33) Why stay at Meta(44:28) Advice for younger self(45:46) Outro Where to find Dwayne:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwaynereeves/Where to find Ryan:• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/
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GoogleX Chief Scientist On Imposter Syndrome, Career Growth, Project Taste
Carey Nachenberg was a Chief Scientist at a GoogleX moonshot, a Fellow (senior most eng at Symantec) and a professor at UCLA. I interviewed him about his career story and we discussed:• Story behind his growth to IC10 (VP equivalent)• How high-level IC recruiting works• How imposter syndrome held him back• How to develop “project taste”• How AI is affecting his studentsTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:54) Growth to Fellow at Symantec (13:13) The most complex malware(16:13) Why C was faster than assembly(17:17) Imposter syndrome(21:28) What matters more than intelligence(28:03) Experience at GoogleX(34:24) Leaving GoogleX(37:43) Experience at Lyft(43:40) Getting credit on collaborative projects(46:53) Becoming a professor at UCLA(49:13) How to speak well(53:23) How AI affected his students(1:03:53) Career regrets(1:07:16) Finding work you enjoy(1:09:03) Advice for younger self(1:11:04) OutroWhere to find Carey:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carey-nachenberg-14bbb03/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
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Meta Senior Staff Eng (IC7) On Zuck Stories, Rapid Career Growth, Code Machine Archetype
Michael Novati got promoted to Senior Staff (IC7) Eng at Facebook by the age of 27. He did it while the company was still called Facebook so he had a bunch of interesting pre-IPO stories. In our conversation, we discussed:• Growth to Senior Staff (IC7) by 27• Being the #1 code committer at Meta• Volunteering to resign if his code broke prod• Stories of working with Zuck pre-IPO• What was common among IC7+ engineers• How LLMs will affect the code machine archetypeTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:46) Joining Facebook(10:26) Facebook IPO experience(16:30) His internal newsletter(24:26) Working with Zuck(29:50) Engs that impressed him(36:20) Will LLMs kill coding machines?(47:20) Operating as an IC7(1:10:30) IC7+ only group(1:12:55) Landing code faster(1:18:29) Why he left Meta(1:20:52) IC7+ talent(1:24:28) Advice for younger self(1:25:58) OutroWhere to find Michael:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelnovati/ Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
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26 Year Old Meta Staff Eng (IC6) On Promotions, Redefining Expectations, Secret Equity Bonuses
Simon Kindström is a Staff Software Eng (IC6) at Instagram who joined the company as a new grad and got promoted every year. He also achieved the highest ratings ("Redefines Expectations") twice which is almost unheard of. He shared stories about his high performance including what it's like to receive secret equity bonuses.In this episode, we discuss:• His promotions to Staff in 3 years• The story behind his "Redefines Expectations" ratings• What it's like to receive performance-based equity bonuses• His transition to management• Why he switched from management• Advice for his younger selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:34) Staff promotions in 3 years(10:32) “Redefines” expectations ratings(20:01) Redefining expectations without promotion?(29:55) Staff promotion story(41:00) Transitioning to and from management(54:50) Secret equity bonuses(58:14) The best interns(1:07:50) Where most of his growth came from(1:12:04) What keeps him at Meta(1:15:20) Advice to his younger self(1:17:05) OutroWhere to find Simon:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonkindstrom/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
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