/Career Advice

Playing Defense: How To Control The Narrative If Your Work Is Being Questioned

- Wes Kao tl;dr: “You’ll learn how to respond when stakeholders question your decisions or misunderstand you. We’ll cover: (1) Defending your thinking is normal. Embrace it. (2) Your response will either diminish or build your credibility. (3) Case study #1: A colleague from another team questions your decision. (4) Case study #2: Your CEO questions your strategy.”

featured in #532

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 #532

Notes For New Hires

- Clinton Blackburn tl;dr: “I’m onboarding new engineers at Vori, and finally took some time to write a few ideas I’ve been kicking around and sharing internally. I have personally found these practices helpful over the past few years, and think others might, as well. This isn’t applicable to only junior engineers, or new hires. I didn’t learn some of these lessons until I was eight years into my career as a tech lead at edX, or a couple years later at Stripe.”

featured in #531

Notes For New Hires

- Clinton Blackburn tl;dr: “I’m onboarding new engineers at Vori, and finally took some time to write a few ideas I’ve been kicking around and sharing internally. I have personally found these practices helpful over the past few years, and think others might, as well. This isn’t applicable to only junior engineers, or new hires. I didn’t learn some of these lessons until I was eight years into my career as a tech lead at edX, or a couple years later at Stripe.”

featured in #530

How I Plan My Week As A Senior Engineer In Big Tech

- Jordan Cutler tl;dr: Today, I’ll share the system that has allowed me to: (1) Finish nearly everything I set out to achieve each day. (2) Plan the most important work to accomplish my goals. (3) Have a record of what I accomplished to reflect, update my manager, and add to a brag doc. 

featured in #530

How I Plan My Week As A Senior Engineer In Big Tech

- Jordan Cutler tl;dr: Today, I’ll share the system that has allowed me to: (1) Finish nearly everything I set out to achieve each day. (2) Plan the most important work to accomplish my goals. (3) Have a record of what I accomplished to reflect, update my manager, and add to a brag doc. 

featured in #529

My Programming Beliefs As Of July 2024

- Evan Hahn tl;dr: This is a collection of things I believe about computer programming as of today. It’s based on my own experience. Evan discusses: (1) How to approach tasks. (2) How to design software. (3) Nitty-gritty coding details. (4) Interpersonal dynamics. (6) High level / career topics. 

featured in #529

The Gifts Of 40

- Julie Zhuo tl;dr: Life lessons learned: (1) For whatever action scares you, remember this surefire way to eliminate the fear: do it 100 times. (2) Taking advantage of youthful invulnerability is like taking out a loan. Over decades, your body eventually comes to call the debt. (3) The dimension of time explains why you are not your thoughts, your emotions, or your capabilities. None of these persist against the ticking of the clock.

featured in #528

I Finally Figured Out How To Take Notes!

- Sam Rose tl;dr: “I had some requirements in mind: (1) I want to tag notes, track things like date, who was there, what the key topics were, and be able to search based on tags. (2) Create action items, and be able to ask “what action items have I not yet done?” (3) It has to be super easy. I want to be able to jump into a meeting and have my meeting notes ready to go.”

featured in #528

I Finally Figured Out How To Take Notes!

- Sam Rose tl;dr: “I had some requirements in mind: (1) I want to tag notes, track things like date, who was there, what the key topics were, and be able to search based on tags. (2) Create action items, and be able to ask “what action items have I not yet done?” (3) It has to be super easy. I want to be able to jump into a meeting and have my meeting notes ready to go.”

featured in #527