/Career Advice

What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial?

- Murat Demirbas tl;dr: “Entrepreneurs think and act differently from managers and strategists. Entrepreneurs use effectual reasoning, the polar opposite of causal reasoning taught in business schools. Causal reasoning starts with a goal and finds the best way to achieve it. Effectual reasoning starts with available resources and lets goals emerge along the way. Entrepreneurs are explorers, not generals. Instead of following fixed plans, they experiment and adapt to seize whatever opportunities the world throws at them.”

featured in #595


The Software Engineer Spectrum: Speed vs. Accuracy

- Ben Howdle tl;dr: Over the years, I've spotted a pattern: all engineers exist on a spectrum between speed and accuracy. Some lean towards speed, optimizing for fast iteration and progress, while others prioritize accuracy, ensuring long-term maintainability and scalability. Neither end of the spectrum is "better" than the other, but knowing where you sit — and understanding what kind of engineer your company actually needs — can be the difference between thriving in a role or feeling completely out of sync.

featured in #594


How I Know I'm Working With A Strong Engineer

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “I realised the other day that I actually have a straightforward heuristic for this. I count the number of times I have this thought:“Oh nice catch, I didn’t think of that!””

featured in #594


How I Know I'm Working With A Strong Engineer

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “I realised the other day that I actually have a straightforward heuristic for this. I count the number of times I have this thought:“Oh nice catch, I didn’t think of that!””

featured in #593


Gaining Years Of Experience In A Few Months

- Marc Gauthier tl;dr: “My takeaway is that, when you get the chance to be faced with an opportunity that could get you in the “fast growth” zone, it’s very important to focus and make the most of it. Projects that can challenge you this much do not always appear, so when they do and you are in the right place to handle them it’s a great opportunity.”

featured in #593


Gaining Years Of Experience In A Few Months

- Marc Gauthier tl;dr: “My takeaway is that, when you get the chance to be faced with an opportunity that could get you in the “fast growth” zone, it’s very important to focus and make the most of it. Projects that can challenge you this much do not always appear, so when they do and you are in the right place to handle them it’s a great opportunity.”

featured in #592


Judge Your Coworkers

tl;dr: “One of the most counterproductive things that companies do is coach people to not judge their coworkers. Having an understanding of your coworkers’ performance means that you understand what they do, and understanding what they do is critical to making sure you collaborate with them effectively. This is especially important if you’re in a leadership role or a cross-functional team. Also, raising the alarm on peer underperformance can be both necessary and highly impactful.”

featured in #592


To Avoid Being Replaced By LLMs, Do What They Can't

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “It’s a strange time to be a software engineer. Large language models are very good at writing code and rapidly getting better. Multiple multi-billion dollar attempts are currently being made to develop a pure-AI software engineer. The rough strategy - put a reasoning model in a loop with tools - is well-known and (in my view) seems likely to work. What should we software engineers do to prepare for what’s coming down the line?”

featured in #592


My Approach To Building Large Technical Projects

- Mitchell Hashimoto tl;dr: “I've learned that when I break down my large tasks in chunks that result in seeing tangible forward progress, I tend to finish my work and retain my excitement throughout the project. People are all motivated and driven in different ways, so this may not work for you, but as a broad generalization I've not found an engineer who doesn't get excited by a good demo. And the goal is to always give yourself a good demo.”

featured in #591


To Avoid Being Replaced By LLMs, Do What They Can't

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “It’s a strange time to be a software engineer. Large language models are very good at writing code and rapidly getting better. Multiple multi-billion dollar attempts are currently being made to develop a pure-AI software engineer. The rough strategy - put a reasoning model in a loop with tools - is well-known and (in my view) seems likely to work. What should we software engineers do to prepare for what’s coming down the line?”

featured in #591