/Career Advice

Make Things Simpler Than Possible

- Arthur O’Dwyer tl;dr: Donald Knuth presents a particular system in a specific way. “He first presents an oversimplified version of the system — so oversimplified that it is, in fact, incorrect — to give the student the general gist of the system. Seeing a consistent general plan up front, even though it errs in some particulars helps the student understand the final version.”

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How To Be More Concise

- Wes Kao tl;dr: (1) Figure out your main point. (2) Try to state your main point in 2-3 sentences. (3) Avoid explaining events chronologically. (4) Constantly remind yourself to shorten your delivery. (5) Exercise situational awareness. (6) Don’t be too concise. (7) For written communication, use “main point above, context below.” (8) For longer verbal communication, use signposting. (9) Offer to elaborate.

featured in #539

What's Hidden Behind “Just Implementation Details"

- Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya tl;dr: “Here is a quick survey of some of the hard-and-maybe-impossible parts of getting things into production that I've run into in my own work.” Nicole discusses: (1) Getting started. (2) Creating a maintainable design. (3) Making it robust, and observable. (4) User experience and user interface design. (5) Acceptable performance. 

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How I Program In 2024

- Kartik Agaram tl;dr: “I just spent a month of my free time, off and on, rewriting the core of a program I've been using and incrementally modifying for 2 years. I've been becalmed since. Partly this is the regular cadence of my subconscious reflecting on what just happened, what I learned from it, taking some time to decide where to go next.” Kartik discusses his synthesis on programming durable things. 

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How To Understand / Retain Complex Concepts 10x Better

tl;dr: (1) Pretend you’re having an imaginary conversation where you are explaining the concept to someone else. (2) While explaining the concept, focus on making it easier for them to understand. (3) Repeat this over and over, iteratively refining your explanation of the concept to give increasingly compressed and effective explanations. Over several repetitions, you will end up with a significantly simpler understanding of the concept than when you started. 

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Advice To The Young

- Murat Demirbas tl;dr: (1) It is called foundations, not theory. (2) Keep your hands dirty, your mind clean. (3) Ship something, anything, weekly. (4) Cram for the deadlines, put your heart into it. (5) Ask and you shall receive. (6) People skills are very important. (7) Manage the stories you tell yourself. (8) Cultivate deep focus through deliberate practice.

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40 Life Lessons I Know at 40 (That I Wish I Knew At 20)

- Peter Yang tl;dr: (1) Find the torture that you’re comfortable with. (2) Look for the intersection i.e. the work that satisfies what you want, what you’re good at, and what the market wants. (3) Stop waiting for permission. (4) Maximize your luck surface area. (5) Don’t be the best, be the only. 

featured in #535

40 Life Lessons I Know at 40 (That I Wish I Knew At 20)

- Peter Yang tl;dr: (1) Find the torture that you’re comfortable with. (2) Look for the intersection i.e. the work that satisfies what you want, what you’re good at, and what the market wants. (3) Stop waiting for permission. (4) Maximize your luck surface area. (5) Don’t be the best, be the only. 

featured in #534

Fighting With Your Boss

tl;dr: “Fights between a manager and report can be some of the most stressful experiences in life. Sustained conflict can cause years of strain. Here we’ll try to help you navigate these situations, to limit the damage and to maximize the outcome.”

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Lessons Learned In 35 Years Of Making Software

- Jim Grey tl;dr: (1) Do things in the most straightforward way possible. (2) There is no substitute for working software in Production. (3) Relationships matter if you want to advance. (4) Relationships matter if you want to see your vision come to life. (5) Never be invisible. And more. 

featured in #533