/Career Advice

The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up Code

- Kent Beck tl;dr: “Tidying up works through a series of small, safe steps. In fact, Rule #1 is If it’s hard, don’t do it. I used to do crossword puzzles at night. If I got stuck and went to sleep, the next night those same clues were often easy. Instead of stressing about the big effects I want to create, I am better off just stopping when I encounter resistance.” Kent shares his approach. 

featured in #551

On Being A Senior Engineer

- John Allspaw tl;dr: 13 characteristics of senior engineers: (1) They seek out constructive criticism of their designs. (2) Understand the non-technical areas of how they are perceived. (3) Do not shy away from making estimates and are always trying to get better at it. (4) Have an innate sense of anticipation, even if they don't know they do. (5) Understand that not all of their projects are filled with rockstar-on-stage work.

featured in #551

On Being A Senior Engineer

- John Allspaw tl;dr: 13 characteristics of senior engineers: (1) They seek out constructive criticism of their designs. (2) Understand the non-technical areas of how they are perceived. (3) Do not shy away from making estimates and are always trying to get better at it. (4) Have an innate sense of anticipation, even if they don't know they do. (5) Understand that not all of their projects are filled with rockstar-on-stage work.

featured in #550

You've Only Added Two Lines - Why Did That Take Two Days!

- Matt Lacey tl;dr: (1) Because the issue was reported with a vague description of how to recreate it. (2) Because the reported issue was related to functionality, I'm not familiar with. (3) Because I took the time to investigate the real cause of the issue, not just looking at the symptoms. (4) Because I investigated if there were other ways of getting to the same problem, not just the reported reproduction steps. 

featured in #550

Good Software Development Habits

tl;dr: “This post is not advice, it's what's working for me. It's easy to pick up bad habits and hard to create good ones. Writing down what's working for me helps me maintain any good habits I've worked hard to develop. Here's an unordered list of 10 things that have helped me increase speed and maintain a respectable level of quality in the product I'm currently developing.”

featured in #550

Intellectual Honesty

- Wes Kao tl;dr: “Intellectual honesty is the foundation for pretty much all professional and personal growth. If you want to improve at your craft, if you want to become a stronger and wiser operator… Wes discusses what this is and how to tell if you’re being intellectually honest. Ask yourself: Is this true? What evidence do I have for and against this? Am I telling myself a certain narrative to avoid facing a truth I don’t like? How might I recognize the truth in a neutral, objective way?”

featured in #549

Good Software Development Habits

tl;dr: “This post is not advice, it's what's working for me. It's easy to pick up bad habits and hard to create good ones. Writing down what's working for me helps me maintain any good habits I've worked hard to develop. Here's an unordered list of 10 things that have helped me increase speed and maintain a respectable level of quality in the product I'm currently developing.”

featured in #549

Making Progress On Side Projects With Content-Driven Development

- Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya tl;dr: “In the last couple of years, I stumbled into a way to avoid getting stuck midway in my projects. It's not just about productivity: this also lets me let go of things when I reach a good stopping point. It helps me figure out what that stopping point should be.”

featured in #549

The Art Of Finishing

- Tomas Stropus tl;dr: “This cycle of enthusiasm, struggle, and disappointment has become all too familiar. It’s the Hydra Project Effect: no matter how much progress I make, new challenges always seem to sprout in their place. But while this pattern may seem unbreakable, I’m determined to find a way to tame this beast. In this post, I’ll explore strategies for breaking out of this cycle of endless beginnings and unsatisfying middles.”

featured in #547

Willingness To Look Stupid

- Dan Luu tl;dr: “The benefit from asking a stupid sounding question is small in most particular instances, but the compounding benefit over time is quite large and I've observed that people who are willing to ask dumb questions and think "stupid thoughts" end up understanding things much more deeply over time. Conversely, when I look at people who have a very deep understanding of topics, many of them frequently ask naive sounding questions and continue to apply one of the techniques that got them a deep understanding in the first place.”

featured in #546