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    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 ❀️

    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 – 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.

    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".

    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.

    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.

    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 🀯

    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 πŸ˜…

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