Interesting note about career textbooks; I've never read a general career book, but maybe if I'd done so five years ago my list of what I wish I knew would be a bit smaller :P

Luck's a huge part of it. I'm lucky I joined my company/team when I did (at an inflection point) and I'm lucky that my personal skill set aligns with the needs of my org.

In terms of why I wanted to come to FAANG, it's been a life-long dream of mine. Maybe it was really good marketing from tech companies? I grew up interested in tech and always knew that one day I'd want to be involved in such a big world transformation. I wouldn't say that I necessarily want to "lure" others here, but I know lots of folks that want to make the leap but aren't sure what they should be doing or what it's like.

As for why I write? I mentioned in this post specifically how much I enjoy mentorship and helping others learn from my mistakes. This is a more scalable (albeit less effective) way of doing the same. It's unfortunate that most people go through their lives and do thousands of things wrong (it happens!), learn from it (perfect!), grow their lives and careers (woohoo!), and then keep those learnings to themselves. This blog is how I broadcast what I've learned.