/Career Advice

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

Engineers Who Won’t Commit Force Bad Decisions

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “Some engineers think it’s a virtue to remain non-committal in technical discussions. Should our team build a new feature in an event-driven or synchronous way? Well, it depends: there are many strong technical reasons on each side, so it’s better to keep an open mind and not come down on either side. This strategy is fine when you’re a junior engineer, but at some point you’ll be the person in the room with the most context (or technical skill, or institutional power). At that point, you need to take a position, whether you feel particularly confident or not.”

featured in #590

The Economics Of Being A Founding Engineer

- Daksh Gupta tl;dr: “The economics of being a founding engineer are peculiar. You're essentially taking a pay cut and accepting illiquid equity in exchange for a lottery ticket - but it's a lottery ticket where you get to thoroughly inspect the odds beforehand. While most founding engineers will end up with worthless equity, the ones who choose wisely and join the right startup at the right time can see returns that are simply impossible to achieve as an employee at a public company. It's a high-stakes game of calculated risk-taking, where thorough due diligence and strong conviction in your assessment can help tilt the odds in your favor.”

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How Do You Spend Your Time?

- Marc Brooker tl;dr: “You thought you were productive, and getting a lot done, but they weren’t the things you, or your manager, thought were most valuable for your project and team. You’re busy, you’re productive, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s a problem I’ve faced before, which I think I’ve mostly solved for myself. Here’s some thoughts on what worked for me.”

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Software Development Topics I've Changed My Mind On After 10 Years In The Industry

- Chris Kiehl tl;dr: Things I now believe, which past me would've squabbled with: (1) Simple is not given. It takes constant work. (2) There is no pride in managing or understanding complexity. (3) Typed languages are essential on teams with mixed experience levels. (4) Java is a great language because it's boring. (5) REPLs are not useful design tools (though, they are useful exploratory tools). And more. 

featured in #588