Category Archives: Career

Startup Dilemmas

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Siddharth Jain

After running my own startup for a few months there are a few recurring dilemmas I have realized for an aspiring entrepreneur: As with any dilemma there is no right or wrong answer to above. that’s what makes it a … Continue reading →

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First, Break All The Rules

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Siddharth Jain

Recently I came across this AMAZING book on management – everyone should read it whether you are a manager or not. Making some notes so I can refer quickly later on: After this the book says: employees don’t leave their … Continue reading →

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Career Advice

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Siddharth Jain

If you end up working in a non-FAANG industry, you’ll see fewer developers and less support from non-technical staff, but you’ll have plenty of opportunity to add massive value.  Another distinct difference for software engineers is that you’re seen as … Continue reading →

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Decoding the algorithm behind Levels.fyi

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Siddharth Jain

I have been quite impressed with Levels.fyi website which shows a mapping of career levels between companies. E.g., what does a level 66 in Microsoft map to in Uber? How does it do it? How would I do it? Let’s … Continue reading →

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Management Lessons: The Donkey and The Tiger

Posted on March 29, 2019 by Siddharth Jain

_The donkey said to the tiger, ‘The grass is blue.’ Tiger said, ‘No grass is green.’_ _Then the discussion between the two became intense. Both of them are firm in their own words. To end this controversy, both went to … Continue reading →

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Best of Blind

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Siddharth Jain

 

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Tips on Decision Making

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Siddharth Jain

When faced with a difficult decision, making a detailed list of pros and cons between the two choices is a perfect recipe for disaster and prolonged indecisiveness. Scoring the individual attributes in hopes of making a decision based on a … Continue reading →

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How should performance reviews be done?

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Siddharth Jain

I believe that large software companies spend an inordinate amount of time stack ranking employees during performance reviews and fitting a performance curve and then distributing rewards (stocks + bonuses) according to the curve. For the longest time, a bell … Continue reading →

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5 things returning NRIs should know about salaries in India

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Siddharth Jain

In the previous article we saw what kind of salaries NRIs returning to India from the US could expect. Broadly, you could expect 40-70% of your US salary as your salary in India. The next step is to understand what … Continue reading →

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How to give your boss feedback

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Siddharth Jain

http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2010/03/how-to-give-your-boss-feedback.html Working closely with anyone gives you useful insight into her performance. This is especially true of your boss, who you likely see in a variety of settings: client meetings, presentations, one-on-ones, negotiations, etc. But even if that insight could … Continue reading →

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