Swizec's articles in the "book" 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 85 articles filed under book
. Enjoy β€οΈ
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails π on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. π"
Atoms, molecules, organisms
Here it is: 20+ years of programming experience distilled into 378 words. From the book I'm writing.
Smart core, thin interfaces
Here's an approach to writing code that I've been using for years and couldn't quite put into words until now. One of those _"This feels wrong but I can't explain why"_. Now I can!
Empirical evidence for code modularity
Few of your engineering decisions matter long-term. Software is soft. You can change your mind. But how you structure your components is here to stay.
Finding modules in a big ball of mud
Pulling modules out of a big ball of mud is like grabbing a slice of cheesy pizza. It's kinda separate but also not really.
Why you need observability more than tests
Here's a short and sweet story about a Friday deploy. I love Friday deploys.
The swarm doc
Here's a doc I like to use to structure the pre-work design chat that makes later code review a breeze.
Big Ball of Mud βΒ the world's most popular software architecture
Forget Gang of Four, here are the 7 architectural patterns real programmers use:
Why software only moves forward
At scale there are no rollbacks and no cut-overs. Your software only moves forward.
"Yes caviar is great, here's a ham sandwich"
Why do some projects ship and others seem to drag on forever? You need 3 people to get this right.
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.
Why software projects fail
5 common themes
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% π€
DRY β 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".
6 books engineers should read
Here are 6 books I'd buy every engineer who joins my team, if I ran a team. You might like 'em too.
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.
Itβs 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.
The best engineering books get good 5 years into your career
The best engineering books aren't those you read at the start of your career. It's the ones you appreciate 5 years in.
Architecture is like a path in the woods
You're doing too much. Sit back, relax, see how people *want* to use the code. THEN build the abstraction.
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.
Onboarding to a new team
People are starting to cheat in interviews using ChatGPT. It's obvious, doesn't work, and wouldn't even be cheating if you did it right!
Ask me a question
Swizec is writing "Scaling Fast", a book about his journey in a 20x hyper-growth startup. Questions?
What I learned from Do Hard Things
Do Hard Things is a recent book from an author of my favorite book about burnout (Peak Performance). It talks about why our traditional view of toughness is wrong.
Halfway there
Realizing I'm statistically halfway through life at 36. Time is the one thing you can't get more of
What I learned from Team Topologies
You can't escape Conway's Law. Might as well use it for good.
Insights for interviews from Kahneman's Noise
everything people say is bad about modern tech interviews is actually good π€―
What I learned from Staff Engineer by Will Larson
Staff Engineer was one of the more impactful books I've read in recent months. Went through the audiobook soon after becoming tech lead so the timing was perfect.
The Passion Paradox
burnout doesn't work the way you think
What I learned from Software Engineering at Google
When I first picked up Software Engineering at Google I thought it was another one of those FAANG books full of lessons that make no sense at human scale. I was surprised, lessons apply to teams as small as 5.
Serverless Handbook coming Mar 31st
Serverless is the future. New book coming out Mar 31st and it's looking bomb
Different medium, different mindset
Ever wondered what it's like to make a physical book? It ain't as easy as shipping code lemme tell ya π
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails π on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. π"