Ryan Peterman
@ryanlpeterman
Followers
17K
Following
3K
Media
357
Statuses
3K
AI/ML @Meta, ex-Staff engineer @instagram • Building a newsletter, podcast & hardware side project • Join 100k+ engineers who read my newsletter ↓
Joined February 2017
Writing is one of the most important skills for software engineers. A lot of it is repetitive in structure (e.g. design docs, post mortems, etc). Here are my top 6 software engineering templates that I wish I had sooner:.
10
93
846
Meta is hiring like crazy, start prepping for algo interviews. Last time I interviewed, I got 7 offers out of 8 onsites from Google, Meta, Riot, Affirm, Blend, and a few others. Top 3 changes I made that increased my interview -> offer rate:.
28
200
5K
Ask an engineer to review a 15 lines of code and they’ll find plenty of issues. Ask them to review 1000 lines and they’ll say it looks good.
75
382
4K
After trying Cursor, I realize the value of 80% of my technical skills dropped to zero. The leverage for the remaining 20% of skills went up by at least 10x.
105
185
4K
Distinguished engineers (E9) at Meta make $3,251,000+ per year. Among tens of thousands of strong engineers at Meta, <<1% of them are E9. One thing I've seen common among all of them is that they are world-class writers.
42
245
3K
My favorite technical book, highly recommend. What’s yours?
96
213
3K
'C' Engineers: "There's a bug. Someone should fix it". 'B' Engineers: "There's a bug. Do you want me to fix it?". 'A' Engineers: "There was a bug. I fixed it so it can't happen again. I've also added detection so we know faster next time if something similar happens.
236
222
3K
Blameless postmortem reviews are an underrated part of FAANG engineering culture. Here's why:
170
180
2K
If you want to become a better software engineer, read these famous engineering blog posts from top companies (OpenAI, Airbnb, Stripe, Figma, Netflix, Meta). I spent hours curating top posts so you don't have to:.
17
376
2K
If you want to become a better software engineer, read these famous posts from top companies (OpenAI, Airbnb, Stripe, Figma, Netflix, Meta). I spent hours curating top posts so you don't have to:.
20
437
2K
FAANG companies are hiring again, here are 8 vetted interview resources to help you pass your interviews you can save for later:
10
216
2K
If you want to learn system design and Kubernetes, read these famous engineering blog posts from top companies (OpenAI, Airbnb, Netflix, Stripe, etc). I spent hours digging for them so you don't have to:
10
249
2K
The longer you work as a software engineer, the more you realize that writing code is rarely the hard part.
40
170
2K
Why most engineers don't make it to Staff:. They have the wrong behaviors and mindsets. I went from Junior to Staff in 3 years at Meta largely because of the way I worked. 3 behaviors that helped me (feel free to copy):.
25
104
1K
7 famous GitHub repos to help you pass software engineering job interviews:. 1. System Design Primer (252k stars):
9
201
1K
.@eczachly went from Junior (180k/yr) to Staff Engineer (625k/yr) by age 26 through job-hopping between Facebook, Netflix, and Airbnb. Here’s how he did it:.
6
58
1K
If you want to learn system design and how to scale services, read these famous engineering blog posts from top companies (OpenAI, Stripe, Instagram, Netflix, Airbnb). I spent hours curating their best posts so you don't have to:.
11
163
1K
If you want to become a better software engineer, there are 6 famous books you should read. They cover the 20% of reading you need to do to for 80% of the benefit:.
6
107
953
They don't blame engineers personally for breaking things. This allows postmortem conversations to revolve around the systems in place and how to improve them, which results in:. 1. Less breakages over time - Everyone focuses retrospective energy on system improvements.
1
13
843
Every diff description, launch post, or directional doc is crystal clear. I understand what they say even if I don't work in their domain. They have extraordinary levels of influence through writing; this skill helps them grow/unblock/direct others at scale.
4
20
854
Take writing seriously if you want to have leveraged impact as an engineer.
2
33
819
@odannyboy Isn’t there some merit in the idea that they overhired? Look at Meta’s last few quarters of hiring compared to the previous years
23
30
739
11 free Github repos to help you grow as a software engineer, the ones that enable you to “learn by doing” will have the most impact:.
5
88
734
Shopify reduced BigQuery costs by ~$1,000,000/month with a simple change, here's how:.
9
84
686
Getting good at Leetcode got me offers from every company I interviewed at (Facebook, Google, Affirm, Blend, Riot, and a few others) but one. Here's how:.
13
82
671
If you want to learn system design and how to scale services, read these famous engineering blog posts from top companies (OpenAI, Netflix, Stripe, Airbnb). I spent hours digging for them so you don't have to:
7
115
666
2. Faster resolution - People are shameless about owning and escalating breakages. 3. Better team health - people don’t beat themselves up over unavoidable breakages.
1
10
629
FAANG engineers: Looking for something to read this weekend ?. Here are 8 articles that will help you get promoted to Staff (IC6) faster:.
4
70
620
Why most engineers don't make it to Staff:. They have the wrong behaviors and mindsets. I went from Junior to Staff in 3 years largely because of the way I worked. 3 behaviors that helped me (feel free to copy):.
16
68
611
6 famous software engineering books to help you master system design:. 1. Designing Data Intensive Systems by Martin Kleppman
7
102
609
If you want to become a better software engineer, read these posts about open source from top companies (Meta, Uber, Stripe, Instagram, Netflix). I spent hours curating the best so you don't have to:
5
114
605
Relying on fear to prevent breakage is much less reliable than automated system level tactics (e.g. test coverage, push blocking, static analysis tooling). What would your team do if a new hire destroyed a production database?.
13
11
584
1. No domain expertise - The example L7 above has a deep understanding of Java's runtime + Google's existing pipelines. This allows him to solve problems few others can.
3
3
577
Shopify reduced BigQuery costs by ~$1,000,000/month with a simple change, here's how:.
9
71
565
Why software engineers should interview around even when happy:
8
60
497
The longer you work as a software engineer, the more you realize that writing the code is rarely the hard part.
21
57
464
Meta’s infrastructure is world-class. What other company’s infra could handle an unexpected influx of 70M users with no major outages?.
59
18
453
Great software engineers have one thing in common. It's not that they know a specific technology well but that they can quickly parse new information to solve problems. That's why top tech companies don't care what programming language you interview with. They just want strong.
17
33
464
If you're a software engineer looking to grow this year, here are some newsletters I've read that you'll find helpful:.
4
64
456
If you want to learn system design and Kubernetes, read these famous engineering blog posts from top companies (OpenAI, Airbnb, Netflix, Stripe, etc). I spent hours digging for them so you don't have to:
3
75
432
I studied the career paths of 11 Principal Engineers and Directors at Meta. There were four simple things they all had in common:.
3
47
433
How can a Principal Engineer at Meta (IC8) make $1,713,732 when a Junior Engineer (IC3) makes $194,246 even though they spend similar time at work?. These IC8s have extraordinary levels of impact because they know how to "scale themselves". There are a few ways they do this:.
4
46
416
2. No influence - Not all 10x engineers have impact purely through code. Some lead major initiatives by influencing large groups of engineers to build what matters most.
1
3
401
Every engineer will eventually decide to become a people manager or stay as an individual contributor (IC). Neither path is objectively better than the other. I compiled all my notes from senior managers and ICs I chatted with when considering the switch myself. Some takeaways:.
4
50
406
Getting good at Leetcode got me offers from every company I interviewed at (Facebook, Google, Affirm, Blend, Riot, and a few others) but one. Here's how:.
8
24
397
'C' Engineers: "There's a bug. Someone should fix it". 'B' Engineers: "There's a bug. Do you want me to fix it?". 'A' Engineers: "There was a bug. I fixed it so it can't happen again. I also added detection so we know faster if something similar happens.
16
43
390
Pinterest decreased clone times by 99% (40min -> 30 sec) with a one-line change. I read their engineering blog post so you don't have to. Here's a summary of how they did it:.
6
39
386
No one ever sat me down at Meta and taught me explicitly how to review code. I learned through trial and error for years. Here are 8 things I wish I had known earlier:.
6
44
377
If you want to become a better software engineer, there are 5 famous books you should read. I spent hours curating these from the top of Hacker News and Reddit so you don't have to:.
3
40
373
Distinguished engineers (E9) at Meta make $3,251,000+ per year. Among tens of thousands of strong engineers at Meta, <<1% are E9. One thing I've seen common among all of them is that they are world-class writers.
8
20
372
I've spent hundreds of hours studying the top 1% of software engineers. They all share the same 7 skills, here's the breakdown:.
12
46
346
If you're a software engineer looking to grow this year, here are some newsletters I've read that you'll find helpful:. 0. System Design Newsletter by @systemdesign42 - Breaks down real-world engineering examples to teach system design. 1. Engineer's Codex by @engineerscodex -.
10
81
340
How To Get Promoted as a Software Engineer (without getting lucky):.
7
40
342
2. Practice Like It's Game Day - I changed my approach to practice just like I’d be interviewed. I set a 20-minute timer for each Leetcode question and graded myself on the % of questions I could get right on the first submission. I only looked at solutions after the timer was up.
1
7
345
College completely failed to teach me how to write for software engineering. At Meta, I spent 1000s of hours learning how to write through trial and error. I distilled what I learned into 5 simple principles:.
4
20
328
1. Switched to Python - It's easier to read and solutions are much shorter in this language. For instance, "Two Sum" in Python is only 8 lines of code while it's 15 lines in C++. This helped me get the code out faster:
3
5
321
90%+ of all software engineers never get to the Staff level (IC6). Here are the 6 most common reasons I have seen software engineers fail to get to Staff:.
4
37
317
Stop using dated CLI tools, here are 9 better alternatives that are all open source:. 1. cat -> bat - adds syntax highlighting and line numbers - 2. ls -> exa - more features (e.g. coloring, git aware) modern replacement - 3.
6
42
308
Junior Engineer: "How should I build it?" (implementation details). Mid-level Engineer: "What should I build?" (solution-level direction). Senior Engineer: "Why should we build it?" (problem-level direction).
9
57
304
If you want to become a better software engineer, read these blogs from top companies (Meta, Uber, Stripe, OpenAI, Netflix). I spent hours curating my top 22 from a list of over 681 different blogs so you don't have to:
4
61
294
I've been working on an AI/ML infra team (switched from traditional infra role) for a year now. here are my top learnings on what is different:.
7
19
296
3. Play The Game Like It's Practice - I split my job applications into two waves: companies I'd be content with vs my top companies. The first wave gave me confidence since I wasn't afraid to fail. When interviews with my top companies came along, I wasn't as anxious.
2
3
280
My team at Meta is hiring ML and systems generalists. Comp: $173,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits.Where: BEL/SUN.Tech: Distributed GPU training via PyTorch stack.Perks: Laundry, free food/snacks, shuttles. Appreciate retweets to get the word to more candidates.
9
33
272
Software engineering is +90% writing. I don't mean coding, e.g:. - Design docs.- Messaging (e.g. emails, slack).- Documentation.- Sharing learnings (e.g. internal & external posts).- Bug reports.- Code reviews. Most don't realize that we write more for humans than machines.
6
31
263
If (1) appeals to you, consider working on an infra team. This is much more common on those teams in my experience. There's generally more opportunities to learn and demonstrate deep technical expertise in infrastructure.
2
2
252
If you want to grow faster as a software engineer, learn from these free newsletters:. 1. System Design Newsletter by @systemdesign42 - System design through real-world engineering examples 2. Byte-Sized Design by @alexcancode - Digestible case studies to.
9
49
244
Although people criticize Leetcode for not testing the skills we use on the job, it’s not changing anytime soon. Focus your energy on getting good at it. This will increase your chances of getting offers significantly.
1
1
241
11 interesting whitepapers from Google, Meta, TikTok, etc to grow your system design skills. Learn the systems behind many top tech companies:.
4
28
240
There's limited numbers of roles for people who can lead initiatives of large enough scope for (2). (1) however is permissionless and fully in your control (although hard).
1
1
220
A friend of mine got promoted to Staff (IC6) at Google by 28 in an unusual way. He said he worked <40 hours a week even with that career trajectory. Main learning: "What you work on >> how hard you work".
4
27
222
Why most engineers don't make it to Staff:. They have the wrong behaviors and mindsets. I went from Junior to Staff in 3 years at Meta because of how I worked. 3 behaviors that helped me (you can copy):.
4
19
209
I've been an intern manager four times at Instagram/Meta. Some of my interns have gotten "rockstar" return offers. Here are 9 tips to help you do well during your software eng summer internship:.
2
22
188
1. "Ownership mindset" - I had a pattern of finding and pursuing large problems even if they weren't in my team's scope. I drove this work and owned the problems regardless of who was working in the space. This conviction created scope across teams.
1
5
188
I’ve worked with Principal (IC8) engineers at Meta making $1,000,000+/year that only pushed a few dozen commits per half. So what did they do?.
4
19
186
Advice from my manager that changed my career:. It’s always better to “overcommunicate”. This advice made a big difference once people started to depend on my work as my career grew (when I started to grow out of the mid-level, IC4). Here's how to use this advice:.
2
15
185
Ricky went from Junior (IC3) to Staff (IC6) at Google by 28. He started there as a new grad with a total compensation of $180K, which grew to $520k. Few interesting takeaways from that conversation:. 1. He wishes he grew slower - Ricky is the first person to tell me this. His
3
11
182
Most impactful advice I've received in my 6 years working at Meta. "It is always better to overcommunicate":.
4
17
180
Simple fact I learned that helped me go from Junior to Staff eng in 3 years at Instagram/Meta:.
7
12
178
If you're a software engineer looking to grow faster, check out these free newsletters I've read that you'll find helpful:. 1. System Design Newsletter by @systemdesign42 - System design through real-world engineering examples 2. Byte-Sized Design by.
6
58
171
Scrum is a huge waste of time. First internship (scrum): 2 hour meetings every other week to hand out tasks and debate how many "story points". Current role (no scrum): Engineers own projects and are held accountable for outcomes. Less meetings, more autonomy and flexibility.
11
11
162
Software engineering is +90% writing. I don't mean the code:.- Design docs.- Messaging (e.g. emails, slack, etc).- Documentation.- Sharing learnings (e.g. internal & external blogs).- Bug reports.- Code reviews. Most don't realize that we write more for humans than machines.
15
16
167
Great software engineers have one thing in common. It's not that they know a specific technology well, it's that they can parse new information quickly to solve problems. That's why top tech companies don't care what language you interview in. They just want strong generalists.
8
18
165
2. "Focusing on Impact" - I learned how to tell if something mattered to the business fast. This thinking helped me adjust my time investment on problems based on what was most impactful. As I grew, this thinking extended to influencing others to do the same.
4
5
162
This is mostly focused on Leetcode since I was interviewing for Junior roles at the time. Tips 2 & 3 apply for system design interviews as well.
0
1
165
Men will literally do Leetcode instead of going to therapy
4
7
156
Moved from SF -> NYC and lost:. • My outdoorsy hobbies (biking & hiking in SF were S tier).• Pleasant weather (NYC weather hurts my face).• Money (my rent doubled). In exchange, my social life reminds me of college. Worth it so far. What I mean:.
11
4
157
How can one Distinguished Engineer (E9) at Meta be worth $3,251,000 per year? That is 7x the amount a Senior Eng (E5) gets paid 🤯. The answer is simple: leverage amplifies their efforts. There are three ways E9s have leverage:
4
21
151
The longer you work as a software engineer, the more you realize that writing code is rarely the hard part.
10
19
146
In 2022, the average tenure at Google was about 1.1 years. Even if you don't switch that often, you'll have to ramp up many times in your career. After helping many engineers onboard successfully there's two things I'd keep in mind:. 1. "A Career Cold Start Algorithm" - Andrew.
0
15
143
Software engineers don’t hate meetings. They hate:. • Status updates that could’ve been async. • Focus time interruptions that could wait. • Attending meetings with vague agendas. • Meetings with tons of attendees who don’t need to be there.
8
18
140
Why keeping a "work diary" is helpful for software engineers:. Writing down what you do, useful commands/info, and ongoing investigations expands your memory. This is critical in software engineering since there's so much to remember. Here are a 4 use cases for this diary:.
9
13
145
Common things I've noticed in the top 1% of software engineers:. 1. Understanding of the business ROI of their code.2. High agency and ownership.3. Influence without authority.4. Uplifting others / force multiplying.5. Technical breadth and depth. What else have you noticed?
4
16
141