Swizec's opinions articles

Swizec's articles in the "opinions" 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 84 articles filed under opinions. Enjoy ❤️

The programming tutorial SEO industry is dead

20 years ago greybeards laughed at us for Googling. Now they laugh when we ask ChatGPT. But the leverage is 🚀
March 28th, 2023

Reader question: Should you learn the latest hotness?

Great question. Common concern. *What if I get stuck in a technology that isn't hot??* Or worse, burn out re-learning every new thing 😱
September 22nd, 2022

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
November 5th, 2021

Stop SHOUTING = 'shouting'

A hill I will die on 👉 global CONSTANT = 'constant' are bad
September 21st, 2021

How to ask for help

what makes a senior engineer stand out in an interview? No it's not the amount of side projects or their leetcoding speed. It's knowing how and when to ask for help.
August 27th, 2021

Reader question: "When do you fix tech debt?"

Long time reader Phil asks when do you fix the tech debt you used to ship faster. Heroic efforts don't work. The real answer is "always" – a mindset of gardening.
August 17th, 2021

Tech debt is a tool

If your house was on fire, would you mow the lawn first?
August 13th, 2021

Complex vs. complicated

Would you rather work with a complex system or a complicated system? 🤔
August 3rd, 2021

Tips for a fulfilling tech career

When I dropped out of college to focus on freelancing back in 2012, I set 3 ground rules:
July 23rd, 2021

Your career needs a vision

In his book, The Art of Science and Engineering, Richard Hamming says the key to a great career is vision. What does that really look like?
July 14th, 2021

Preventing RSI for programmers

I've been computering daily for 24 years, since I was 9, and managing RSI since high school. People often ask how it never gets bad. This is the article I always wish I had written.
July 9th, 2021

How to own projects like a senior engineer

The best skill you can learn is ownership. The second best is to let go.
July 2nd, 2021

Do important work

Next time you finish a project, ask yourself: *"Might this work be important?"*. Add the polish.
June 19th, 2021

What matters in a senior engineer job interview

Degree matters if you have nothing better to show, consulting and BigTech backgrounds are negative, too many seniors can't code.
May 7th, 2021

Flow good for programming, not engineering

Friend, how good are you at your best? ... Nobody cares. How good are you at your average? What about your worst?
April 24th, 2021

Can you code faster?

What slows you down most while coding? It's not lack of skill. It's not lack of ideas. It's uncertainty. Fear.
February 26th, 2021

"silicon valley is like hollywood"

and I don't mean Silicon Valley the place, I mean Silicon Valley the concept.
January 29th, 2021

What's your code for?

Perfect code that doesn't solve the problem is useless. Perfect metrics that don't serve the user are a distraction.
November 6th, 2020

How I use delegation to get more done

Productivity porn shows you how to pack more into your day. Productivity porn is wrong my friend. You need to remove things to grow.
October 23rd, 2020

Should you take a pay cut for equity

Would you take some % of your salary in bitcoin? The joke is that compared to pre-IPO equity, bitcoin is predictable and has a known value.
October 9th, 2020

Computer science is not software engineering

Wow, college was such a waste of time ... when did you ever invert a binary tree outside of an interview? Honestly I never inverted a binary tree in college either ☹️
October 2nd, 2020

Why senior engineers get nothing done

You start a new job and it's amazing. Code all day, clear objectives, easy guidelines, ship a bunch of features be a hero. Then something happens and suddenly you get nothing done. 🤔
September 11th, 2020

Why Understanding beats Knowledge

Understanding beats knowledge every day. To have a strong career, learn to understand, not just to know.
August 28th, 2020

Tech in 2021 according to a VC

August 14th, 2020

What if engineers were paid like athletes

July 31st, 2020

Why engineers are worth so much

Engineers don't do the day to day work, they build assets the business can exploit for years to come. That's the magic
July 24th, 2020

How to grow as a senior engineer or why I got a new job

June 26th, 2020

Hackers

June 22nd, 2020

Looking for the perfect light work device

May 15th, 2020

What you do while waiting

May 4th, 2020

Don't just wait around

April 24th, 2020

Your dumb ideas often work best

April 23rd, 2020

You don't have ideas, you develop them

April 21st, 2020

"I just need an idea"

April 20th, 2020

Stuck at home? Advance your career

March 19th, 2020

HOW great engineers hack The Process

March 6th, 2020

Why great engineers hack The Process

March 3rd, 2020

Why you should talk about engineering salaries

February 21st, 2020

Ready to build your future?

January 31st, 2020

How can you make an extra $1,000 🤔

January 15th, 2020

What could you do with an extra $1,000/month?

January 14th, 2020

Famous last words: Pfft, that's easy

January 10th, 2020

What makes you a true master

November 25th, 2019

How to recession proof your career

November 1st, 2019

How to succeed as a lead engineer – tactics and mindsets from practice

October 25th, 2019

DO more _work_ less

October 11th, 2019

San Francisco v. Europe part 2

September 16th, 2019

Thoughts on San Francisco after 2 weeks in Europe

September 11th, 2019

The code is not the goal

July 31st, 2019

Better engineer or More Effective engineer?

July 29th, 2019

Friend, go offline

July 12th, 2019

The Principle of Charity in tech

June 5th, 2019

What a hockey legend can teach you about career development

Say your boss gives you $1000 to grow your career. What do you do?
May 9th, 2019

What makes you a senior software engineer anyway?

I used to think a senior engineer was someone who gets a project, understands the context, puts their head down, and gets it done. But no. A senior engineer does so much more than just write code and design systems.
February 13th, 2019