Published in Entrepreneur's Handbook·PinnedMember-onlyWhy I Quit a $450k Engineering Job at NetflixPlaying it safe is the riskiest choice of all — I thought I was going to stay at Netflix forever. Top of market pay. Freedom and responsibility. Unlimited PTO. What more could you ask for? So when I quit Netflix in May 2021, everyone thought I was crazy. My parents objected first. Coming from cultural revolution China where they barely…Software Engineering8 min readSoftware Engineering8 min read
2 days agoMember-only3 Ways to Create Luck in Your CareerIt’s more important to get lucky than to work hard. — I got into Netflix by going to the gym. When I worked at Amazon in Seattle, I noticed a guy at the YMCA on the same workout schedule as me. Over time we started talking, and eventually I invited him to my birthday party. It was at this birthday party…Careers8 min readCareers8 min read
Dec 6Member-onlyReflections on Turning 30 — 3 Profound Life Lessons from My 20'sLife advice from a Millenial to Gen-Z — Birthdays give me anxiety. Every time my birthday rolls around, I start to question all my life decisions. “Did I squander my youth?” I wonder. “Am I living my best life?” I ask. So when I turned 30 recently and meditated on the question, “What are my biggest learnings in…Life7 min readLife7 min read
Nov 29Member-onlyWhy You’re Struggling to Grow Your Following (and how to fix it)Not all social media platforms are created equal — The most important decision you can make when building a following online is deciding which social media platform to focus on first. Many people build the wrong channels and burn themselves out. This is due to a misunderstanding of how social media works. In this article, I discuss why you…Business8 min readBusiness8 min read
Published in Level Up Coding·Jul 13Member-onlyThe Best Engineers Think Like Investors, Not BuildersYour approach matters more than the technical details — I lived in the library during college. “The more textbook theory I studied, the better an engineer I would become,” I thought. Yet when I started working, I noticed that the best engineers in the industry didn’t necessarily know more theory than new grads. …Programming8 min readProgramming8 min read
Published in Entrepreneur's Handbook·Updated Dec 4Member-onlyBuild Your Brand, Not Your BusinessEveryone is a brand. Yes, that means you! — I wanted to be a billionaire. So I did what everyone in Silicon Valley does — start a startup. Then this happened: I quit my job I spent 6 months building a product I launched it I got 0 customers Suddenly I was running out of cash, and I had…Startup7 min readStartup7 min read
Mar 21Member-onlyWhy You’re Not Getting Promoted (as an Engineer)It’s not technical skills you’re missing — Engineers often try to get promoted by focusing on their technical skills. Like writing more unit tests. Or learning a new programming language. After all, the best engineers get promoted. Right? Being good at your job is different than advancing in your career. The people who get stuck only do…Technology8 min readTechnology8 min read
Feb 8Member-onlyHow to Be a 10x Software Engineer3 common mistakes junior engineers make. Are you making them? — The best engineers are 10x better than an average engineer. Like a one man army, they deliver more value, faster, by themselves, than a team of junior engineers combined. But how could that be? Isn’t more always better? In my time as an engineering lead at Netflix and Amazon, I’ve…Software Development6 min readSoftware Development6 min read
Feb 1Member-onlyThe Next Big Thing in Crypto is DAOsAn beginner’s guide to DAOs (and their explosive growth) — What do these situations have in common? student-athletes not getting paid Facebook disregarding privacy concerns banks paying no interest on checking accounts For starters, all of these situations are not fair. And all of these situations involve a rent-seeking middleman — the university, the corporation, the banks — keeping all the value that its customers generate for…Cryptocurrency14 min readCryptocurrency14 min read
