In this video, I sat down with Sajad (joining from Virginia, visiting Seattle for Microsoft Build) to break down what it actually takes to get ahead of 99% of engineers. We talked through his career journey—from being a math tutor making $10/hour, to a $12/hour data engineering internship at 17, to software engineering internships (including Amazon at $45/hour + a $6,500 housing stipend), and finally landing a full-time role with total comp in the $250K–$300K range (stock-dependent). I also asked him about speed-running his bachelor’s + master’s—he finished in three years using AP credits, dual enrollment, and overlapping master’s electives, which is honestly one of the best “money hacks” for reducing tuition. Then we got into the real “top 1%” playbook. Sajad shared three things: (1) “peacocking” (do great work, but make it visible—demos, updates, leader awareness), (2) supercharging your workflow with AI because people who use AI will replace those who don’t, and (3) posting your accomplishments online so opportunities come to you (founders literally DM people on Twitter when they can see the proof). We also covered practical AI hacks like turning a conference PDF schedule into a Google Calendar CSV using ChatGPT, and using Warp.dev as an AI-native terminal to set up environments and debug dependencies in plain English.