Last week I asked if you're playing games you want to win. What does it mean to you personally to achieve the goals you're pursuing? What are your new years resolutions even for? Who are they for?
There's no point in chasing goals just because they're there or because someone else said you should. What do your goals do for you?
Sometimes goals give you something to aim for. A measuring stick or trailing indicator to know how you're doing.
Other times goals are specific achievements that create an unlock in your life. Achieving X makes everything else easier, buys you freedom, creates opportunities, ... only you know. I hope.
Looking back
It's been 3 years since I wrote a year in review. I think that's because my goals changed. Maybe I didn't even realize. Or the playing field changed and the game stopped being fun.
Lots has changed since 2022.
I ended that year with a fresh new greencard, a successful side business pivot, and a book deal. Things were looking great.
The economy
Then the economy changed and people stopped investing in their careers. Companies stopped sending folks to workshops. The downturn and changes in US tax codes hit engineers hard.
Your salary comes from one of 3 budgets and the business expects a return. When putting the same money in a bank account returns 5% and the tax breaks for "research and development" change ... turns out a lot of software engineers could not beat those returns.
Now that interest rates are dropping and the tax rules changed to be more favorable, hiring for engineers is back on full speed (rough for juniors still). Funny how that works.
You can't beat the macro.
Generative AI
Generative AI also changed the game. ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and opened a new frontier in consumer behavior. A land-grab race started between companies hoping to dominate the next big market.
Back in March 2023 I wrote that generative AI killed the programming tutorial industry. That's even more true in 2025.
But yeah an LLM can give you a custom tailored tutorial for your situation specifically and you can ask followup questions. Static content cannot compete
— Swizec Teller (@Swizec) December 29, 2025
Called it back in 2023 :)https://t.co/eVu4JBthgb
Before Google, your edge was knowing.
Before genAI, your edge was synthesis.
Now your edge is taste.
Engineers with good taste will dominate. The tacit experience to know what a good solution feels like. How it shapes your thinking, evolves over time, constrains the business, creates opportunities. To learns this you have to do. Build systems, see what happens.
Content is a bad business
That's why I never became a full-time creator despite ~$500k in lifetime revenue. You can't have good insights without doing the work. And you can't do the work without stakes.
The decisions you make on a research project and the insights you learn will never match the hard reality of shipping a production system that people rely on. Building for prod is a street brawl not poetry. Users don't care about your elegance they only care that it works.
My goal is to share insights from the field. The work comes first, the content is a by-product. That's my promise to you.
So, 2025?
Honestly, 2025 zoomed by like a blur. I fell off my writing wagon and I find writing anchors my memories and insights.
Scaling Fast: Software Engineering Through The Hockeystick launched after 3 years in development. No longer with Manning, restarted from scratch in 2024, and the best most researched writing I ever produced.
5 weeks after launch Scaling Fast is still on the Amazon best seller list. 11th in Software Engineering. My goal was to write a book that lasts and I think this is a good sign. All books launch with a bang then the good books float and the bad ones sink.
I've also become officially a manager. A guy with actual authority not just nudging things from the back. It's pretty stressful! Huge difference between advising a decision and making the call. Skin in the game.
When I shared leadership insights from growing 3x in 1 year at TechLeadConf, they asked me how it feels. It feels confusing. I'm confused all the time. Rapid growth, huge slope, barely keeping up.
Like I said to some friends:
Right now it just feels like I'm failing in this role, don't even know what good looks like, and feel like ragequitting back to my comfort zone half the time
I think that means it's working.
What's next
Since I joined Plasmidsaurus, we 4x'd our revenue, 4x'd the team, and we're on track for unicorn status soon so I think that's going to be my focus.
Take the job that scares you a little.
— Swizec Teller (@Swizec) August 1, 2024
And I hope a Scaling Fast audiobook.
What about you? Hit reply
Cheers,
~Swizec
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