Jie(Jay) Xu

If you're a Senior Engineer looking to move up, the next role will likely be a Staff Engineer. And in this guide, Shruti shares tips from her own experience of getting promoted to Staff Engineer at PayPal and Slack. She talks about what Staff Engineers do (and how it's different from Seniors), why you might not be getting promoted, and how to take that next step. https://lnkd.in/g58dnFEG

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If you're a Senior Engineer looking to move up, the next role will likely be a Staff Engineer. And in this guide, Shruti shares tips from her own experience of getting promoted to Staff Engineer at PayPal and Slack. She talks about what Staff Engineers do (and how it's different from Seniors), why you might not be getting promoted, and how to take that next step. https://lnkd.in/g58dnFEG

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Localization is more than translation. Pendo.io just rolled out our first localized experience—in Japanese 🇯🇵—designed for Japan’s fast-growing, AI-driven tech market. Go Pendo.io Japan ! From login screens to product areas, we’re bringing product-led growth to users in their language. Learn how we're doing it—and why Japan was first! 👇

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Several folks in my group are celebrating their anniversaries this week — many with 7+ years at Airbnb — and multiple are entering or able to enter the Decade Club (10 years!). That’s an incredible milestone. It got me thinking: how do people stay at one place for so long and still feel like they’re growing? Especially in Silicon Valley, where it’s common for people to switch jobs every 3–4 years (or even sooner). I’m personally also staying at Airbnb for many years. Staying doesn’t have to mean standing still. In fact, some of the most meaningful growth comes from evolving inside a familiar environment. I’ve been reflecting on this lately a lot and summarized four ideas that I hope will inspire you: ☀️ Iteration, not repetition Repetition keeps you steady, but iteration keeps you moving forward. Growth comes from improving what you already know — whether that’s experimenting with a new approach, improving existing system, or setting stretch goals with your manager that push you just beyond your comfort zone. Iteration is what turns experience into momentum. ("Iteration, not repetition" is from Naval Ravikant, https://amzn.to/3JtJQhU) ☀️ Build systems, not emotions Motivation alone can feel like a rollercoaster. Some days you’re inspired, other days you’re not. Instead, create systems that compound over time: operating procedures, checklists, or workflows that make progress repeatable. When challenges come up (and they always do), use them as signals to strengthen your system instead of letting them drain you. The system evolves - and you grow with it. ☀️ Embrace AI One of the best ways to keep growing is to stay curious about how new tools can reshape your industry. For example, AI is opening up opportunities to solve problems in entirely new ways — from tackling hard security challenges to rethinking old workflows. Learning how AI (and other emerging technologies) can apply to your work keeps you not only relevant, but ahead of the curve. ☀️ Practice gratitude — and make your work visible Taking the time to express gratitude to teamates, peers, managers, builds stronger connections and creates a culture where everyone can thrive. At the same time, don’t let your own work go unseen. Share your impact, collaborate openly, and invite feedback. Recognition isn’t about ego — it’s about making sure your contributions set you up for the next cycle of growth. This week, seeing colleagues approach the 10-year milestone reminded me: growth doesn’t always come from changing companies. Sometimes, it comes from changing how you show up. 👉 If you liked this post, please follow me, hit “like,” and leave a comment — I’d love to hear how you stay in growth mode while staying at the same company. More importantly, stay connected as Airbnb is hiring!!! #GrowthMindset #CareerDevelopment #Leadership #ProfessionalGrowth #IterationNotRepetition #SystemsThinking #AI #WorkplaceCulture #GratitudeAtWork #DecadeClub #SiliconValley #Airbnb

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Exciting Update for Adobe Commerce Merchants! Starting January 2026, Adobe Commerce will adopt a monthly patch release schedule to enhance security for all supported release lines. Here’s what you can expect: ✅ Monthly isolated security fixes for all supported versions ✅ Annual security patches every May (with possible additional patches in November) ✅ Full patch for Adobe Commerce 2.4.x LTS annually in May ✅ Beta patches twice per year (March & November) This change ensures a predictable, proactive, and simple approach to keeping your commerce platform secure and up to date. For more details, check out the official documentation: https://lnkd.in/gGHB_Zbm

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IT HURTS Ask anyone who’s been laid off in tech. And it hurts even more when you start job hunting in the Bay Area. Every second post is about layoffs. Walking through Sunnyvale or Palo Alto lately feels different - the coffee shops are full of founders and engineers rethinking everything. Every job opening gets hundreds of applications. People say, “only the strongest will make it.” But that’s not really true anymore. It’s not about who has the longest resume or who knows one stack perfectly. Today it’s about something else: Adaptiveness. Transition. Reinvention. AI is reshaping roles faster than any previous wave in tech. And yes, that’s uncomfortable. What used to be a specialization is now becoming a moving target. And honestly? That’s the best part! 🔥 Challenges have always been the place where we grow. For engineers and QA, the question is no longer: “What do you know?” It’s: “How fast can you evolve?” The ones who survive this wave won’t necessarily be the smartest. They’ll be the ones who can learn, pivot and rebuild their skillset again and again. Uncomfortable? Absolutely. But this industry was never meant to be comfortable. The good news is that increasing your value in today’s market doesn’t always require years of retraining. Sometimes it’s about high-leverage upgrades that change the game: 🤖 AI-Driven Testing: Not just chatting with GPT, but integrating Codex/Copilot into the IDE to accelerate writing Playwright/Cypress scripts and generating edge-case scenarios. 🤖 Architectural QA: Moving beyond the UI to master API testing (Postman/Newman) and understanding data flows in distributed systems. 🤖 Autonomous Documentation: Leveraging LLMs to transform messy requirements into structured test plans and Gherkin scenarios in secs. 🤖 Shift-Left Mindset: Using AI for early debugging and predictive analysis before a single line of code reaches the staging environment. None of these require burning out for months. But they significantly increase your mobility in the industry. The question today is not: “Will the market stabilize?” The real question is: How quickly can we evolve with it? #Tech #Layoffs #AI #QA #FutureOfTesting #TechResilience #SoftwareEngineering #SiliconValley

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