because if you go to bat for the team, the team goes to bat for you
February 16th, 2022

Not all overtime is bad overtime
December 11th, 2021

Engineers *hate it* when you say it doesn't matter how good they are because a team will outcode them any day. But it's true, you can't build something big on your own.
October 15th, 2021

Boo meetings, yay code, right? There comes a time in your career when coding is no longer your highest impact contribution. Might even be holding you back. 🙊
October 1st, 2021

Earlier in my career when I thought I was god's gift to engineering but wasn't, I failed one of those stupid interview questions that "have nothing to do with the work". It was a great question.
September 9th, 2021

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

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

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

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.
July 16th, 2021

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

High value experts use positioning statements to say what they do for whom. Most engineers don't have one. 🤨
May 14th, 2021

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

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

July 31st, 2020

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

February 21st, 2020

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

April 15th, 2019

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

October 17th, 2018

October 5th, 2018

All that once was new is old again
October 19th, 2017