Karan Kalra

While there are certainly individual variations in skill and experience when discussing modern software development the story is much more nuanced than pure individual effort.  * software development is a team sport -- individual performance is heavily impacted by the system in which they are asked to operate in.  * we pair skill and experience to this model of understanding performance by expecting people to be able to influence and adapt in direct proportion to their seniority, aka the more senior you are the more responsible you are for the outcomes of your work, the less senior you are the more your manager and management chain are responsible.  * humans want to succeed, we're social animals who derive purpose from demonstrating skill, and working collectively. All of which is to say there is no way you have over 1000 people underperforming at your company without senior leadership deeply implicated in.  If nearly 10% of your company is failing, versus just having the market move against you, you need to fire the CEO.

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I'll fully accept that sometimes CEOs need to make very difficult decisions, but this explanation from Intuit's CEO below is truly atrocious. It is frankly impossible that they've suddenly noticed 1500 of their staff are not meeting expectations and, if it was possible, that would very much be a failure of the CEO for allowing the situation to get that bad. No matter how you look at it, the magnitude of the layoffs forces one to conclude only thing thing - it's a larger problem, the buck therefore stops with the CEO and, as such, one would expect a level of compassion and contrition as the CEO dishes out consequences to much-less-powerful people who aren't them. Gergely summarises the rest far better than what I can, but I really think those who have influence in a company should pay attention to what he writes with regards to what the CEO gains from making such a statement. When you're writing an explanation for lay-offs, ask yourself why you're writing it. Then read the statement from the perspective of your laid-off staff, from your surviving staff, and from the average member of the public. If you come across worse than you would do if you said nothing, then why release those words as they are? In doing so you destroy all possible benefits from writing a statement in the first place and it results, as we say in Germany, in a Verschlimmbesserung (google it, it's a great word). And for heaven's sake, don't introduce a fantastical projection of blame on 1500 people by suggesting you're giving them "the respect and compassion they deserve". That just makes it ripe for a @bestoflinkedin Instagram post.

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Check out our blog post with Fengyu Zhang and Birjodh Singh Tiwana on how we are incorporating dwell based signals to improve feed experience for LinkedIn members. Thanks to Siddharth Dangi, James Sorenson, Allison Liu, Hailing Cheng, and Yafang Yang for their discussions, data analysis and prior work. https://lnkd.in/gmkSzPWn #linkedin #deeplearning #ai #feed

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When I left Apple, I got a 50% pay raise, and unknowingly left millions of upside on the table… After getting laid off from my first full time job in tech, I was very excited and relieved to land at Apple, a company I had long admired. It was my first job in BigTech and I learned a lot about company culture during my time there. My salary there was a bit smaller than my prior role. But, on the perks/benefits side of things, the company was very generous. Google was just emerging from the garage phase of life, so the whole BigTech compensation arms race hadn’t really started yet. My former director from my first job recruited me to the company she had joined, which was a younger public tech company that seemed to be doing pretty well, and had survived the dotcom bust. She was looking for a tech lead for the web team, which was working on the corporate web site, the marketing lead-gen system and the customer support portal - lots of stitching internal systems together in the database layer. After going through technical interviews with the team members, she made me an offer - one I seemingly couldn’t refuse. It was 33% more salary, 50% more bonus and more stock options annually. Topping that off, she wanted to support my growth as a team lead and eventually provide an opportunity to try out management. So, I decided to go. There were many reasons for me to make the leap - fantastic manager, growth opportunity, and compensation. But, the main point of this post is that compensation can be tricky to gauge head-to-head. If I had only gone for the compensation, it would have been the wrong decision. It turns out that the Apple stock options I left behind would have been worth multi-millions by the end of the vesting schedule. After I left, the stock split and then split again after a short time and continued to go up quickly in value. Stock compensation in a public company with a solid track record is almost as sure as cash. No, it is not certain, and you have to make your vesting cliffs. But, it is vastly different from pre-IPO shares. And, if you get RSUs that are vesting quarterly or monthly, that is basically cash compensation. The good news is that I took that 50% pay raise and used it to start building wealth. I did not change my standard of living, but instead increased and diversified my stock market investments, maxed out my retirement accounts (401K and IRA) and started on an accelerated pay-down of my home mortgage. Had I finished 5 years at Apple, I likely would have been financially independent early in my career. Instead, I had a very fun job for a few years, got the career development I was looking for, and learned financial discipline.

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All conversations start with how my profile/ EB1 application looked. Here's a brief review of what I think worked. https://lnkd.in/g3pTgc4P More blog posts are on the way as I break down the conversations I have been having. And, as always, find a time to chat here: https://lnkd.in/gJ2eyCGP #EB1 #EB1A #immigration #profile

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𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁? Meet Pooja, a Product Lead who moved to the U.S. in 2008 for her master’s. After graduation, she landed her first job in Boston, but her initial employer didn’t file for her green card. She later switched to a Fortune 500 company, which filed her EB2 in 2012. Now, over a decade later, Pooja is still navigating the H1-B renewal cycle. Meanwhile, junior colleagues who arrived years after her are securing green cards through EB-1. Feeling stuck, she’s considering EB-1 herself but isn’t sure if the process is worth it. What Pooja doesn’t realize: ➡️ Her profile may already be EB1-worthy. ➡️ She likely meets the Critical Role and Salary criteria. ➡️ Her contributions, speaking engagements, and professional growth over the years all count. With a few targeted efforts, she could have an EB1-ready profile within a year, port her 2012 priority date, and get her green card in 12-18 months. Now, Pooja has two choices: Option 1: Take control with EB-1. Option 2: Hope the EB2 backlog advances and gamble on the wait. If you were Pooja, what would you choose? PS: If Option 1 feels like your path, consider joining our EB1 Slack Community(link in comments)! Every month, we help at-least five people accelerate their EB1 journey with the right strategies and tools.

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Here is how I use ChatGPT and LLMs to be a better Engineering Manager. 1. Whenever there is a birthday or work anniversary (we call them Yelpiversaries) I will hop over to ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion and generate a card catered to that person. It's a small investment from me, and usually sparks some joy! I might generate a few to get something interesting. Almost everyone else will search for gifs or memes, which are a great alternative. In either case, I will also try to write something meaningful and personal (I don't use ChatGPT for this, but you could ask for ideas if you feel stuck. Tell the LLM a bit about the person and ask it to construct a concise message. Use that as inspiration, don't copy paste, it will come across cheap). 2. Understanding new concepts quickly. I had never heard of RAPID before, and when I did a Google Search I had to deal with a bunch of really weird websites and bad explanations. I asked ChatGPT to explain RAPID to me, and then I asked it to be explained for a software engineer. It was fantastic. For deep research and understanding I wouldn't just use an LLM, and I'd be careful to double check, but for well known concepts it does really well. I didn't need to be a grand master at RAPID, I just wanted to know what the heck these Product Managers were talking about. 3. Helping format data. Sometimes I want to invert a table. Passing ChatGPT a markdown table and asking it to invert it has worked out really well. I usually carefully scan to make sure it didn't change values, but so far hasn't failed and saves me a bunch of work. 4. Helping me quickly write bash or python scripts to do different tasks. As a manager, I don't write production code. But sometimes I pull down data and want to process it. For example, looking over all of our incoming support requests we have on Slack (we support a lot of internal teams). I can use an internal API to take someones slack handle, and determine their team or department. In that way I can see how much support requests we had this month from a particular area which is useful data to see how we can better support the organization. 5. Rubber ducking. Talking through problems. In general I prefer to get feedback from a human, but mentors are busy creatures, and our schedules don't always mesh up. If I'm working through a difficult problem, chatting it through with an LLM has been very helpful. I keep out personal details because paranoia, but I describe the situation and how I'm thinking about it. That's the important part that helps; forming my thoughts. Rarely is the actual output from the LLM helpful, although I can't say it never has been. People get really hung up on LLMs/ChatGPT not just solving things for them 100%, and I think these people are going to be left behind. It doesn't need to be perfect, it can even give you the wrong answer and you still benefit. But it can help get your brain looking at lots of answers.

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Disclaimer - This post is not meant to justify or criticize Amazon's 5 day return to office policy. I am just sharing how this policy affected my decision making. As I come to terms with giving up a house deal I had nearly finalized, I’m experiencing a mix of emotions. The decision was not easy, but it has ultimately led me to reflect on my priorities and the future I envision for myself. The house was a perfect fit in many ways—great location, ample space, and the promise of a cozy home. However, with Amazon’s 5 day return to office policy looming, I realized that my current lifestyle and work dynamics would need to adapt. The thought of commuting 2+ hours daily and adjusting to a more rigid work schedule made me reconsider my choice. While it’s disappointing to let go of a deal I was excited about, I’m trying to view this as an opportunity rather than a setback. It gives me the chance to reassess what I truly want in a home, particularly in light of my work situation. Perhaps there’s a better option out there that aligns more closely with my new routine and professional commitments. This change also encourages me to explore different areas that might offer a more convenient work-life balance. I’m excited about the prospect of finding a place that not only meets my needs but also enhances my overall lifestyle. Ultimately, while I’m sad to step away from this deal, I’m hopeful about what lies ahead. This is a moment to realign my goals and find a home that will support my journey as I navigate this new chapter in my career.

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Check out the latest in our "Debuggability" blog series! This blog is authored by Kevin Downey Jason Johl and me and talks about how we built a Debuggability Paved Road at Intuit using Ephemeral Containers and Argo Workflows. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Also, what tools do you build as-a-platform to help debug service, compute and network issues in Kubernetes at scale? #intuit #kubernetes #debug

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💺 If they won't give you a seat at the table, make your own table. This has been my mantra for most of my career. I wanted to be a software engineer, but didn't have the time or money to get a degree. So I studied on my own, applied for jobs. 💥 Nobody wanted to hire me. So I hired myself. I continued my self-taught journey and started my own software consulting company. I ran that company for 6 years and worked with dozens of companies and even helped a startup gain $35M in VC funding. The experience lead to me landing senior+ roles in product and engineering at Expedia Group, Microsoft, Salesforce, Twitter, and Peloton Interactive. (All without applying for any of those roles.) I learned so much about how to land roles, how to build internal reputation, what areas to focus on, what I believed "good leadership" looked like. I wanted to share and help people avoid wasted years of effort. I tried to start initiatives at the companies I worked at, but not a lot of interest. Its hard to quantify the value of mentorship and benefit to a company, so most companies prioritized other things. But in my experience, mentorship is everything. Its the key to reducing attrition, amazing culture and support, relationships, knowledge, and even referrals and other job opportunties. So again, I decided to do it on my own, and Mentor Mesh was born. 💣 Four years later, 6000+ members, 2 accelerators, 2 bootcamps, the MMX Seattle Conference, and dozens of amazing success stories like Will Ragan, Heaven H., Devina Mendez Ragan 💻, Chelsea Gray, Shaquan T. Virgil, Phuong Cooc and so many more. If you want to be in tech, hire yourself. If you want support, build a community. If you want to be a leader, mentor others. You don't need anyones permission or endorsement. Get to work. You need support? Message below and I can invite you to meet my community. #mentormesh

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** Unfortunate Experience with Amazon: Seeking Guidance ** On March 30, 2024, I placed an order with Amazon for a Boat neckband and Boat earbuds. While the neckband arrived in good condition, the earbuds turned out to be defective upon receipt. Naturally, I initiated a return order, and the defective earbuds were collected on April 19, 2024. However, over a month later, I'm still awaiting my refund. Each time I reach out to customer support, I'm told an investigation is ongoing, and worse, I've been accused of potentially returning a different item. Despite their agent verifying and collecting the item, I continue to face delays and blame for an issue that's beyond my control. I filed a complaint on the consumer portal, only to receive a response stating that the product wasn't returned, despite confirmation from their own agent. Here's an excerpt from their communication: "Dear Sir, On review of your complaint and on the information received from the third-party seller we find that you have not returned the product delivered to you vide Order Id 403-8363294-1083540. Accordingly, neither refund nor replacement order can be initiated. Please note that the seller initiates refund only after receipt of the original product as per return policy. Further, it is submitted that our role is limited to that of an intermediary and we are not the seller/manufacturer of the products listed on our e-commerce marketplace. The products listed on our e-commerce marketplace are sold by independent third-party sellers. In view of the above, the issue stands closed. Thank You." I find myself at an impasse and seek your guidance. What steps would you recommend I take next in this scenario? Your insights and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. #CustomerService #AdviceNeeded #AmazonExperience #boat

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It’s been 1.5+ yrs since I started working at Google and several individuals from my LinkedIn network asked me some common questions - “How are you adjusting to the cultural shock between Amazon vs Google ”? I waited for 1.5 yrs since I needed some data to calibrate my journey and share answer in a professionally responsible manner. Also, the tech industry has endured tremendous turbulence in the last 2 years and I had to adjust my surfing gears more than ever. Let me start with - yes, I had cold feet when I stepped outside my 9 yrs old “Amazon” home. But, I can also assure you this decision was not impromptu and took ~5 months of mental exercise. Here are some things that I practiced to weather the change and get acclimatized.   (1) Set right expectations: This is probably the most important one to avoid mental stress and fatigue. Like any trade, there are risks when stakes are high. I spent nearly 2 months finding the trade offs and compromises of my choices which led me to build the plan to address my own concerns.    (2) Build career strategy: With expectations set, I put a methodical structure to accelerate my journey. First 4 months, I was 100% hands-on with SDE-1 and 2s to understand the builder tools (yes, they know the best!), server frameworks, development and deployment best practices. Then I scheduled 50% of time on project delivery, 30% on identifying top engineering problems and 20% time working on the 3 years vision. (3) Stay original and authentic: My strategy was to fight all of my inner urge to practice Amazonian traits at Google (all though some part of me was screaming inside). That said, I did not throw any Amazon leadership principles and instead moderated the tone in the new world, while embracing the Googlyness. (4) Respect what came before: I put a self note on my desk to fight all urges to be judgmental and opinionated about all prior organizational and engineering decisions. Instead, I scheduled meetings and spent several months absorbing what came before and internalizing the vision. (5)Developed my professional network: “Earn trust” is table stakes if you want to grow in your career. Building trust and network is a huge time investment and takes careful planning. Frequent 1:1 with mentors and leaders in my organization definitely paid off to seed the right network structure at the early stage. (6) Learn and be curious: For a builder, it is not fun to throw away familiar tools. pick up new ones and accelerate.  But, here is one thing that helped. I stopped burdening myself with the idea that I am missing my old tools, instead motivated myself to learn technologies those power planet scaled software. Success metric to share: Today I Am driving ~100+ SDE organization as the tech lead. Achieved code review bar raiser in two programming languages Became chaos testing ambassador in Google Ads.  Led a performance improvement objective in Google (won Bronze tier) Launched 2 critical features.

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When I first thought about moving out of India as a software engineer, I was conflicted.   (I know you've felt this way too 😅)  Back in the day, it seemed like everyone I knew was packing their bags for higher studies abroad. Meanwhile, I was sitting pretty at Oracle, raking in a salary that made my wallet smile 💸. I wanted to enjoy that money and live a little! Plus, my parents had other plans—they really wanted me to stay in India. So, staying was an easy choice.  But the real adventure started when I moved from Bangalore to Gurgaon. Now, mind you, I had no idea what Gurgaon was like. All I knew was Delhi, and Gurgaon was... well, just a side note 🤷‍♀️.  Having grown up in a defense background, I was no stranger to moving around every 3 years. Change? It was basically in my DNA. But settling in Gurgaon? That was new territory.  Then I met my now-husband, who’s pretty much set on living in Gurgaon. His motto: "I’m not moving out of this place"—and trust me, he means it. Fast forward, we got married, had kids, and now I’m here, raising my little ones while leading my team as a manager 👩‍💻👶👶.  But every now and then... I can’t help but think: What if? What if I moved abroad for a few years? Lived a different life? Experienced the world beyond these city limits? 🌍✈️  I occasionally fantasize about working in Silicon Valley (who doesn’t, right? 😎). Maybe I’d get to wear hoodies and have fancy coffee meetings. Maybe even have a robot deliver my lunch 🛸🍕 (okay, maybe not).  But then, reality hits. I think about the family I’ve built here, the career I’ve grown, and the incredible support system that surrounds me. I’m here, and this city, this life—it’s home. And with two kids in tow, there’s no place I’d rather be 💖.  So, what’s the takeaway from this? Sometimes, the *what ifs* are exciting, but the *right now* is what matters. I’m counting my blessings: the career growth, the children’s milestones, and the endless opportunities I never even thought about when I was busy chasing that “abroad dream.”  No matter where life takes us, we make the most of it. After all, it’s not just about the destination—it’s the journey that counts 🚀. And for now, I’m loving the one I’m on.  Do you ever think about leaving your comfort zone and trying something new? Or are you like me, wondering if it’s worth the leap? Let’s chat in the comments! 💬  P.S. Have you ever felt like you missed out on something because you stayed where you are? I used to feel that way. But now? Not so much. What about you? 😏  #CareerJourney #LifeChoices #SoftwareEngineer #FamilyFirst #GlobalOpportunities #GrowthMindset #MovingForward #EmbraceTheJourney

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✨ 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗘𝗕𝟭 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 ✨ When it comes to the EB1 visa process, one piece of advice I often share is: Don't copy someone else's profile. While it might seem tempting to replicate the approach of someone who succeeded, your story, achievements, and contributions are what truly set you apart. The EB1 criteria are designed to highlight your extraordinary abilities—not a cookie-cutter version of someone else’s journey. Immigration officers evaluate the originality and impact of your work, which means a one-size-fits-all approach often falls flat. So, how can you make your profile unique? ✅ Reflect on Your Journey: What problems have you solved? What innovations are tied to your name? ✅ Showcase Your Expertise: Think about the awards, recognitions, or key projects that demonstrate your influence. ✅ Build a Compelling Narrative: Connect the dots between your accomplishments to tell a cohesive, authentic story. Every EB1 recipient’s profile is as unique as their fingerprint. By staying true to your strengths and achievements, you not only increase your chances of success but also build a case that genuinely reflects who you are. 💡 Looking for support on your EB1 journey? 1️⃣ Join our EB1A Slack community, where we share insights, strategies, and inspiration to help you craft a winning profile. Join here: https://lnkd.in/gdcxCU7U 2️⃣ Book a personalized consultation with me to get tailored guidance and actionable feedback. 📅 Book a call here: https://lnkd.in/gCgsKfix Let’s make your EB1 case as extraordinary as your story. 🚀

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I found this post pretty insightful (in terms of qualifying the differences), though I think it misses what the difference actually is When you're interviewing someone for 45 minutes, what kind of data can you get? Can you really conclude this person is going to be a good leader? Or are you simply measuring how well the person can bullshit? Coding & problem solving, on the other hand, cannot be bullshit They are a good predictor & signal of actual real-world performance (at least, how good of a coder & problem solver the person is) Whereas if you interview someone & they "seem to be a good leader", what you're actually probably measuring is that they're a really good bullshitter If I had to assign probabilities: A) Probability that a "leadership interview" leads to a hire which is: A good bullshitter: 90% Competent: 20% Hardworking: 20% A good leader: 20% B) Probability a technical/problem-solving interview leads to a hire which is: Competent: 90% Hardworking: 50% A good leader: 20% A good bullshitter: 20% I'll take (B) any day

In this world of ongoing layoffs, companies going against the grain to build highly customized in-house tech stacks that don't track to the skills and expertise engineers need for their past and future jobs will find themselves becoming a black hole devoid of talent. The ones who are good enough to leave will, and the ones who aren't will feel stuck because their work isn't advancing their skills in a way that adds to their value as an employee.

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🚀Hi Folks, I'm Taking on the Product #Teardown_Challenge along with Arindam Goswami! 🚀 As part of an exciting challenge by Product Space, I’m stepping into the role of Senior VP of Product at #Zepto Quick Commerce! Zepto’s already crushing it with 10-minute deliveries across 30 cities in India, but there’s so much more potential to unlock! 💡 Here’s the mission: ➡️ Increase Zepto’s Average Order Value (AOV) to ₹600 🛒 ➡️ Boost product discovery and engagement to encourage bigger, more frequent orders 🔍 ➡️ Elevate the purchase experience to keep customers coming back for more 🔄 And I need YOUR help to make it happen! 🙌 🎯 Your insights on quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are key to shaping these strategies. I’ve put together a short survey, and your feedback will be crucial in tackling this challenge! 💥 Thanks for your support—let’s crack this together! 🙌 Link to the form - https://lnkd.in/g5v2y4wR #ProductTeardown #QuickCommerce #ProductManagement #ProductSpace

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In the end, the issue here is abuse of low cost labor (not skilled + low cost — just low cost). I’ve worked with plenty of companies who have made this mistake and suffer for it (Nissan is a BIG one). This isn’t something anyone should be encouraging. It’s not about “competition”. This is a conversation on extortion.

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