The Name at the Top of Your Resume
Focus on developing yourself; don't chase FAANG
Before we jump in…
I just want to say thank you for being here so early on my journey — I’m figuring out my writing style and how I can create value in your life, so this content will evolve over time. If you have questions and want my input on your journey, reply to this email and we’ll hop on a mentorship call (for free) — my way of thanking you for being here. 💚
Story Time 🌳
I want to zoom out this week.
I’ve been writing the past couple weeks about how engineers can become better managers. This has focused on one aspect of my career: specifically how I learned management lessons as an engineer.
The full story is that I’m more than just a manager at my job. I handle statements of work, technical reviews, sales efforts… Really anything that I want to work on, I get to work on. I get to see the things I create helping the company every single day. And I’ve got nothing but hard work and luck (and my boss) to thank for that.
It all started in July 2018, when I joined MPC as an early employee (#6 I think) — junior embedded software engineer. I had barely any relevant experience on my resume, and I knew deep down that the only reason I got the offer was because someone — a complete stranger — decided to take a chance on me (thanks to a referral).
I didn’t know how to do anything. I wrote code that crashed and burned. I constantly overcommitted timelines to my boss. I always felt like I was going full speed and was still behind. I didn’t know how to do anything.
There was just one thing I knew I could do. Work extremely hard.
Opportunities presented themselves, and I seized them. I started to go above and beyond my job description, and got creative with my work methods. Always trying new things, iterating, and improving. I also gained an appreciation for the business side of tech: sales, budgets, marketing.
I have spent the last 5+ years building myself up, piece by piece, learning from my mistakes and seeing first hand what it takes to grow a company from the ground up — the good, the bad, the ugly.
It’s now 2024 and we’re a global company with 70+ engineers, employees in three countries, and dozens of successful products shipped. The growth came fast, and with it my personal development too, and I feel to my core that my growth is deeply intertwined with the company’s growth.
And if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it the same way.
Look, I’ve never worked as a direct employee of a massive company. But I’ve had plenty of exposure to folks who have worked at such places, and left when they couldn’t find the creative freedom and the independence that they craved. In fact, many of them left lucrative big-name jobs to work on our team at MPC.
My personal opinion is simply this: if you want to accelerate your career growth, that’s not going to happen by being a tiny cog in the FAANG machine (FAANG is a trite acronym which stands for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google — big tech, basically). It’s going to happen by going somewhere with growth potential, where you can make an immediate impact and shape the future. Somewhere lean and mean, without a bunch of bureaucracy.
Stop chasing FAANG or MAANG or whatever.
The most important name on your resume is the one at the top.
How to apply this 🔎
If you’re young and still in school:
Shift your mindset away from pervasive big tech culture. Try to escape it by joining an entrepreneurial club or getting involved in other activities at your school. Keep an eye out for young, dynamic companies in your city who are building something that you’re excited about.
If you’re currently walking on political eggshells at a massive company:
You can still apply these principles at a smaller scale. For example, if you’re part of a team, then treat the team like your company and obsess over growing it to peak performance. Go outside of your job description, and make a difference.
Of course, if you’d rather leave, you can always go look for a small company on the rise — just make sure you’re ready for the reality of what a fast paced environment actually looks like.
If you’re currently at a small company with big potential:
Keep at it. You’re living the [career growth] dream. More on this soon.
Resource 🔑
A great resource that I came across is Why You Should Join — the authors break down companies that they think are primed for growth. The research goes DEEP.
This is not sponsored, I just think it’s phenomenal.
Workshop ðŸ§
Last week’s workshopMy approach to the scenario I wrote last week is:
I’m always going to put my team first. So this is a case where I would take a stance against my boss, the product manager, the client — whoever — and protect my team from getting burnt out. It’s not a critical feature, and it can more likely than not be rolled into next week’s release. This is a pretty cut and dry scenario in my opinion — the actual execution might be painful but learn to say no to your boss! It’s a valuable and respected skill.
I’m brainstorming a better way to bring you these workshop scenarios — stay tuned.
Lateral Links 👀
Learn from these Lateral Links.
Your parents are getting old, here’s what to do
Shaan Puri, my favorite My First Million podcast host, wrote this light yet deep piece on giving back to your parents. Sometimes I feel slightly judged by those around me for calling my mom everyday. Thanks for writing this for all us mama’s boys out there, Shaan.
There is no #2, and there is no #3. Go read Shaan’s post and do something nice for your parents.
And that’s the end. Remember to always add value.
Special edition coming next week.
—Vigs
I completely understand what you’re trying to convey, but I respectfully disagree. Growth or not has nothing to do with FAANG or whatever company someone works for, in my experience.
As a person who spent time between startups to the largest companies, I’ve experienced the most growth at Google and it was because of the team and organization. Despite the fact that it’s a FAANG.