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    Swizec's articles in the "ast" category

    I aim to write mindblowing emails with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them.

    Below are 45 articles filed under ast. Enjoy ❀️

    Make mistakes easy to fix

    You can't prevent bugs. You'll burn out. Instead focus on making them quick to fix.

    The Laws of Software Evolution

    Manny Lehman was one of the first to notice that software is never done. It just continues to evolve forever.

    The Series A inflection point

    The Series A inflection point is the most fun time in a startup, if you ask me. Here's what it looks like

    You can side-step a yak, they don't all need to be shaved

    When yaks aren't procrastination, they might be tunnel vision. You're so focused on the right solution, you miss the good enough solution

    Better is good

    A small improvement that lands is better than a large improvement stuck in review

    How big up-front design fails

    A long design phase without shipping kills many software projects. Here's a story from production I haven't shared before.

    Let small fires burn

    You can't fix everything. Focus on the next big thing and let the small fires burn.

    90% of performance is data access patterns

    Removing a single line of code slashed database CPU usage by 66% 🀘

    DRY – the common source of bad abstractions

    Swizec reveals the hidden pitfalls of overusing the DRY principle in coding, leading to bad abstractions. Discover how to write adaptable, efficient code that avoids these common traps.

    Scaling Fast, my talk on lessons from tech startups

    This talk from C3Fest summarizes the key lessons I've learned in the past ~15 years of working in tech startups. It's a high level overview of a new book I'm writing (60% done).

    You can't side-quest a product

    Here's a trap that talented engineers fall into all the time. It creates frustration, burnout, and the genre of tweets that read like "Why don't people care about the amazing work I'm doing".

    The dangers of spurious automation and how to automate anything

    Discover the potential pitfalls of spurious automation and learn a foolproof three-step process to automate any task effectively. Don't miss out on understanding when automation is truly beneficial and when it can become a hindrance.

    It’s okay to just do the work

    Not everything needs to work forever. Start by solving the problem

    Notes for my Scaling Fast talk next week

    Decided to publish my notes because they look pretty useful on their own. Although I hope my stage presence adds a little something something. Enjoy :)

    How to use feature flags

    All the hard lessons learned using feature flags in production. Skips the why and gets to the how.

    Validate your assumptions early

    here's war story from last summer. I've talked about it in workshops but haven't written it down before. It's for a book I'm working on.

    A better roadmap solves many issues

    Many engineering challenges start with your roadmap

    Get us over the water, not build us a bridge

    effective engineering teams should work *with* their product owner/manager, not *for* them

    Coordinating at the end is too late

    When working: sync first *then* async

    Approve with comment

    A shift in your code review process can boost your team's productivity. Empower authors to make the call.

    Code yourself out of the job

    Don't get stuck being a critical member of the team.

    The answer to 5 soloists in a trench coat

    Team dysfunction where everyone's a soloist? Try this fix: Force the team to work on ONE story at a time.

    5 soloists in a trench coat

    Ever felt like your software team is just soloists in a trench coat? You may be right!

    The market always wins

    No amount of growth hacking, investor money, or a/b testing will save you, if people don't want what you have.

    Why you need a regular retro

    Agile is something you are, not something you do.

    5 tips for effective standups

    Talk about today, not yesterday

    Can I get your opinion

    Books start with a detailed outline that's easy to change. That's when they're easy to change and where you can help.

    Ask me a question

    Swizec is writing "Scaling Fast", a book about his journey in a 20x hyper-growth startup. Questions?

    Getting from junior to senior

    The difference in salary between a junior and senior engineer can be orders of magnitude. Many multiples at least. But what's the difference in mindset that gets you there?

    Balancing serious sidehustles and full-time work

    Erik, the author of Developer Hegemony and founder of Hit Subscribe, invited me to chat about balancing sidehustles and full-time work

    Build simple backends with Gatsby Serverless Functions

    Until recently adding a little backend to your Gatsby site meant 2 options: 1. Climbing the AWS learning curve 2. Rewrite with NextJS Now there's an /api directory 😱

    "silicon valley is like hollywood"

    and I don't mean Silicon Valley the place, I mean Silicon Valley the concept.

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