3 High-Leverage Career Skills (From a Principal At Amazon)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- Leverage is gaining an outsized benefit from a relatively small input. Programmers instinctively understand this concept with coding tasks but often fail to prioritize high-leverage activities to their lives and careers.
NEWSLETTER - Sign up to my free newsletter: newsletter.alifeengineered.co...
PATREON - / 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.
BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
So Good They Can't Ignore You - geni.us/SoGood
This book transformed m y life when I read it for the first time nearly 10 years ago. It's still guides the way I think about self-development today.
Deep Work - geni.us/ALE-DeepWork
The most important currency you have is your undivided attention. This book shows you exactly how to spend this currency in a manner that will lead to head-turning accomplishment.
SYSTEM DESIGN
Designing Data-Intensive Applications geni.us/DataIntensive
Currently the best reference for contemporary for system design.
System Design Interview (Volume 2) geni.us/SystemDesignIntervie and geni.us/SystemDesignInterview -
For interviews, the best references are System Design Interview and System Design Interview Volume 2 by Alex Xu.
I get a kick-back for the affiliate links above. The opinions expressed in this video are my own. I do not speak for Amazon.
00:00 Introduction
01:52 High-Level Career Skill 1
05:44 High-Level Career Skill 2
10:07 High-Level Career Skill 3
12:47 Conclusion - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
If you guys have other high-leverage skills I'd love it if you shared in the comment section.
I think some developer experience can be really high leverage, such as improving CICD build times. Not to mention, EMs understand the pain of slow builds more than they understand the pains of some customers
I'm new to your channel and I love the pragmatism of your content.
Some female representation in your videos (e.g., in the stock video filler material) would be rad though. 🤍
Creating a Time Budget, where you are deciding ahead of time what classes of work you are doing and when you are doing it can ensure you spend the correct proportion of time working on your high-leverage tasks. For example, I know I can spend 2h15m of focused time before I need a full 90 minutes of time to decompress, so I block out one chunk before lunch, and the other chunk before the end of my day, and that’s where I spend my time distraction free working on the priority of the day. I also have blocks scheduled for code review, for breaks, and for processing and scheduling out random less important tasks. Being diligent about keeping to my time budget helps me discriminate when to say no to things, and allows me to train my team when my typical availability is, and when they know I’ll be heads down.
@@hanshoerni4661 He isn't making any kinds of statements with his stock video fillers. Why bring up the topic of representation? Meta, this is fine. These are technical videos, not political, just focus on the content and don't spend extra time on searching through stock videos..
Growing others.
1. Document your accomplishments and impacts
2. Get good at interviewing
3. Learn when to say no
There you go, 13 minutes in 3 bullet points 👍
Promo, get out, I’m done
I have to improve my muscle at saying no. 😮
I have to improve my muscle at saying no. 😮
It's not about when to say 'no' but more about when to say 'yes'
The brag document is a tremendously good idea. I don't quite have that, but I have taken snapshots of features I've made and put them in a file when I'm especially proud of them. However, having a consistent written document--one place to go when you need it or just want to look it up for old time's sake--is very wise.
In the military, we call it the love me book
I have all my notes exported regularly so I can later build a brag document
One of the best ways to improve at interviewing I've found is being a tutor. The subject that you tutor doesn't really matter. I find that working with a student one-on-one and having a one-on-one interview feel mostly the same. The interviewer (student) asks you a question, or gives you a topic to discuss, and you have to explain a concept clearly while observing whether the interviewer (student) is following. You ask the interviewer (student) clarification questions and work together on difficult problems. So in my opinion, being a teacher or educator (such as making a TH-cam channel where you talk about concepts) is one of the best ways to get "real-world" communication experience in a different setting.
"Because most work is undifferentiated and unimpactful". Agreed, the vast majority of the work, even at FAANG companies, is this way. The thing I struggle with is that *someone* has to do it eventually or it becomes an issue, no manager is asking you do to something that completely doesn't matter. People get caught in traps doing this work, while others will throw anything under the bus for their promotion project, very few people have a healthy balance on this stance. Eventually it feels more like a game than a business; your advice about keeping your document is something I've learned along the way too, but this work theater is so dystopian.
Just wanted to say as someone who is not a software developer and has no intention of becoming one- your channel is amazing. Love the thoughtfulness and humor. Your content is applicable to more people than you might realize!
Bruh, when he said “I don’t sell anything….well, I take it back”, my heart dropped a little bit but I was like: he is so good at this, he deserves to sell whatever he wants. Then he proceeds with “just buy me a good beer”…uncle Steve you are the true GOAT
Uncle Steve? Oh, you mean the Stevemeister?!
He's also a content creator I don't know why people get so upset when someone sells something on their platform. As long as it's not pushy or gatekeeping lots of valuable content, I'm like go ahead and put your ad sell (I'll just skip or check it out to see if it actually aligns to something I would need)
@@user-rt7lr4sg4b nah, that’s not what I mean. I have been working for a FANNG company for 2 years now. People with uncle Steve’s level I met are either assholes or “figure this out by yourself” elitist. Uncle Steve is a saint for doing this for “free” (ad revenue with this view numbers is nothing compared to L7 income). Also he has the charisma and articulation to do it well. It’s a corner case of a corner case in my opinion
10:43 This guy is a principal level engineer and a principal level husband 😅
Now I really want to see a "3 high leverage skills for a successful marriage (from a Principal Husband)" video 😂
I've been deep diving a bunch of your videos, this might be the most applicable to my field (QA) and my quest at Amazon. The power of saying no is often something QAEs don't do well and a brag document is perfect for my personal quest to drive the quality bar. Thank you Steve!
I received the brag document tip from a colleague about 2 years ago. I was in a promotion review last month and I was shocked by how I couldn’t remember a thing about my accomplishments. I wish I had done it all along, I started doing it right after.
Easy to absorb actionable methods. Steve - you’re are doing amazing work with this channel!
This was your most well put together video! Very concise, and had a great pace.
Love your style, man. Authentic, insightful, valuable. Every now and then I come across a video and think: this is TH-cam's highest calling. When I watch your videos that's what I think. Thank you.
Extraordinary video!! I have a new favorite quote of all time (at 12:15): "Your undivided attention is the most precious currency in the universe" Truer words were never spoken.
Steve! You’re one of the smartest guys I know. Such a YT expert and all around so helpful with so much value!
This is probably the most valuable careers suggestions I ever seen. I know them but I need to keep doing that
Thank you so much. I really value your no-distraction straight-to-the-business approach to giving information.
Your channel is always great, but this episode is truly on a different level. Amazing!
Great advice. Gold nuggets all around. Thank you Steve for sharing your knowledge to the world
What a gold mine of information. Well done Steve!
Man this video is so useful, thanks for sharing your insights, this is brilliant.
I just found this channel and the advice shared in the video are pure gold. I'm currently a student and will be graduating next year but most of them are applicable even for me. Also, loved the added humor in between.
Great video. Thanks for sharing. Love the Brag Document tip. I’m implementing this and the other two tips immediately
Just came across your channel and normally I don't engage, but I think your content and presentation is OUTSTANDING. It is very well thought out, and very well presented. Thank you for sharing this information, invaluable. Take care.
Thank you, greatly appreciate your contributions to the community
Great content Steve, and I am running into this problem of finding my career achievements in a single place rn and so idea of brag document is fantastic. I am thinking to add it as a monthly reminder to revise the notes. Excited to see more of your content, wish you the best :)
Consistently great advice in every video. Thanks a lot.
I wish I knew these years ago, but still not too late to start it, thank you Steve, great content as always
Subscribed! This video was surprisingly inspiring! Thank you!
Super helpful and actionable insights, thanks for the great video!
Brag document is such a great idea! I’m a new-grad PM & have been struggling to organize & articulate my personal achievements when so much of the job is team-based. Now I’ll be better able to organize completed tasks & frame them from what I contributed.
Also love the jokes thrown in, keeps the content light & fun to watch :D
Thanks for the videos. Very informative.
I appreciate your wise and honest advice. Thank you for sharing!
This is my first exposure to your video. Thank you for the small lessons. I look forward to testing these out. As a small thank you I also subscribed.
love this, thank you!
Just found out about your channel today and have binging it since. Thank you for all the advice! You just got yourself a sub 🚀
You are amazing and I love that you shared the books that changed your life, I was just about to search for that, and boom, it was written right here!! I just graduated from a BootCamp, thank you for this valuable channel Steve!
Boot camp grad here, currently working at a big soulless tech company. You’ve got this!
I love your insight, how concise your videos are. This is tremendously helpful for a new software dev like myself. Keep them coming Steve, you're a legend!
Incredible video, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Hey Steve, I just moved to Seattle and am starting a new job as a Staff engineer after being a Senior for 8 years. Your advice helped land me this new role and made me feel confident accepting it, and I’m grateful. I have a few weeks off to get settled here in the city before starting my new role and I wanted to ask you if you’d like to meet up and let me buy you one of those top shelf delicious beverages to say thanks and celebrate?
Chat/Slack feedback screen grab from others (especially execs, customers, etc) is a great thing to put in your Calibration doc (brag doc) and share with your manager privately.
I highly agree. The 'brag doc' and 'saying no' are my most oft-given advice. Well said, well captured. Now I can just link people this video 😃
This advice is GOLD!
Thanks for sharing those valuable mindset.
I like the way you talk. Bravo 👏
Great stuff!
The video is so detailed and has heavy punch of information that I yook notes!
God I love this channel!! Thank you so much for existing ahha
sick dj setup!
Thank you so much! Great tips.
I love the idea to create a brag document... such a good idea! thanks!!
Good advice. Thank you!
Very informative video. There were some projects I did in college which I did not document properly, definitely regret that now .
Thanks for this.
Thanks so much
Excellent value
This was very good! Glad I found your channel. (:
I subscribed at the 5th minute mark. Great first tip.
Thanks Steve, bragging document is an excellent tip. I used to do something similar, but changed company and forgot about it. Now starting on the new position, I remembered things that I did even before I started. Which, why not at least remember and mention here or there.
Buying you a beer if you are ever in Norway :)
Love the point in regarding interviews & engagment.. sucks because I have ADHD and its pretty tough to listen sometimes.
I will now use the phrase "blankity blank". Thanks Steve!
Killing it. I see a diamond play button in your future.
very helpful info
Hey, Love your videos!
Will you be doing videos for people starting out (in college/switching careers)? Thanks!
I’ve been using Apple notes and a series of notebooks for the past five years to record and document. Although the twist to “brag” will become part of the recording. Typically it’s a goal list, to do, and because I enjoy writing, articles, headlines, emails and such for clients, this is often where these will take place. I was hesitant to tick the video, but because I leverage software and automation all the time to get something accomplished, the title “grabbed” me. Thank you.
Best career teacher I have ever seen in ~40 years on this planet. After myself of course.
Respect. Thank you
My current manager is the first one to recommend a brag document. The guy’s a real gem and I will be devastated when I inevitably get a new manager in a reorg 🙃
Best thing about a brag book, is that you can spend a lot of time making it all up.
Thanks!
Hey, I was struggling to document my KRA's on a quarterly basis in Google Sheets from last 6 years and now it all seems to be too much to look at one glance. I believe having a BRAG document makes much more sense. Thanks for the video!
Could you create more videos with actionable advice on how to level up a developer's career? Show us a road map of how to go from L3-L7. How do you choose technologies to learn. How do you go about learning languages, and technologies faster? Thanks.
Good video bro
Thanks for your bragging doc tip. Based on your tip I created a google/office form to quickly journal my what I did, impact, and dates. So I have a standardize format to refer back to.
Can you share it :)
Thank you.
I’d love to see some opinion videos regarding controversial topics of our profession. You seem like a down to earth, impact oriented engineer. I strive to be the same and I feel like a lot of stuff get over engineered at my current job. Time is wasted on future issues versus delivering value to our clients. Obviously, there’s a balance to be found.
As someone in the military, I never expected to see a tip I give to all my Sailors being on this list: Track everything! People don’t seem to understand how invaluable this tip is! While your competition is scrambling every year at review time to remember what impactful work they did, you have a spreadsheet broken down by year, then by quarter of every worthwhile item you’ve done during that time. Not only the date, but what it was, hour many hours you or other contributed, and what the result was. Love it!
Document is a big one that I could use. It's crazy how easily I forget the most impactful work that I did.
Also Learn to say No but in a manner where the other person doesn't feel it's rude especially if they are in a position of power
good stuff yo
I really wish to cultivate steves way of speech. Its so honest and genuine and matter of fact... it never sounds braggy and in no terms sounds humble either 😝
As always learn so much from your videos.
I wish we could have a video where you enumerate your career highlights..challenges faced..how u overcame them... as much as confidentiality would allow. I seriosuly believe it wud be far more honest that similar vidoes in utube
I do a version of the brag document myself. I'll suggest setting up a quarterly reminder to think and update it. To prime the habit.
Couldn’t agree more on the three major skills.
I think I also tried pretty much every single self-documenting method as well. 😅 Gotta give BRAG a try.
Steve you’re awesome :)
1st point is very painfully relatable to me. I never thought of recording my accomplishments at work!
I'm an Electronics engineer experienced with industrial controls engineering. I recently attain a position at an Amazon facility.
Thanks
Hi Steve, I like your idea on your braggadocious document.
What do you think about periodically making sure you add code to a personal or public repo demonstrating some skills you learned?
I've been working 6 years and to be honest, I don't have much code to show for it beyond the code I've written in the company's codebases.
Maybe that's a different topic, but lately I've been trying to capture those more, and I think it has helped me grow
It might be a good idea to keep a brag doc for life too!
These are some truly interesting tips,I think that the brag document is good by virtue of being so simple…the ability to say no has been a major sticking point for me.I feel like I have stagnated at my job and I am trying to find a way out but my time is taken up by unimportant stuff that I just happen to be too efficient at :/
Thank you Steve. You inspired me to create a template for the brag document in Notion that I shared with my team. If anyone wants the template, I'm happy to share.
Thank you Steve for this video I think is a very good content to share. About the second skill: "Interviewing".
Where I work I do not have the opportunity to interview people so often.
What would you suggest as an alternative to the "interviewing activity" in order to getting better in active listening, give feedback etc. ?
Cool video. Can you make another like this except for specific technical skills? Eg is there some obscure language that when learned is high leverage? Some sort of topic/skill that is really high in demand but low in supply?
My dude, awesome content. Question for ya, I got an L6 Interview, but I think the recruiter doesn't understand my background. Historically building enterprise systems, interoperability, automation and data management tools. I really don't believe this qualifies me at all to build big data solutions. I need to know what direction I should go, right now I have postponed to research and try to attain a reachable goal.
Love this. Here at 84k.
Great content, thanks! Would love to leverage it... but what if your team hasn't done any interviews in the last year? What are suggested alternatives?
Only the best beers for Uncle Steve
I recommend your channel to my colleagues and friends.
I received a job offer from Amazon, but I declined it. I regularly go though interviews even though am happy with my current job. It allows me not to loose my shape.
As for documenting impactful things - it took me about a decade to come to this. I also document some minor things (If I am sure I will need them) that otherwise take more time to search.
As for saying no, it's my default answer. After thinking for some time, I define priorities (in some cases I may change my answer).
The brag document is a standard part of your performance management at quite a few places now from what I've heard.
I unintentionally improved #2 by starting a for-fun interview podcast. Not for everyone, but it helped!
What is your opinion on internal transfers within a company?
Can I leverage this to accelerate my career growth?
How should I find a "better" team, and what are the red flags?
When is a bad time to move to other teams?
Finally, how should I prepare for this type of interview?
Thank you for your time and insightful knowledge as always, Mr. Huynh.
I'm legit flabbergasted by the simplicty and the "of course"-ness of the first skill and how I never thought or heardo of it