Learn the mindset of a true senior engineer

Do you ever feel like your brain is full and there's so much going on you can barely keep up? Me too.

I've been doing hiring manager screens lately. Here's a few tips.

A reader asks how do you find time for technical cleanup work. If OKRs and bugs take priority, when will you make improvements?

A project is something you do, a product is something you own.

Whenever I talk about sprints, someone mentions Shape Up. So you have 9 week sprints – what's the difference?

For the past few months I've been introducing sprints into a chaotic startup that's been growing so fast everyone's got whiplash. Since August, 5 engineers turned into 12. I think it's starting to work.

Debate less, ship more.

It takes about 3 years to experience the consequences of your own decisions.

Let go of your legos and let others do the work.

Going from Big Vision to Series of Executable Steps is a key skill for senior+ engineers. PMs can help but they don't know everything.

3+1 quick book recommendations to help you think about next year

Life is a hill-climbing algorithm

Without reading their resume, you'll see if a candidate is fresh or has been doing this a while. And you'll know their blind spots and their strengths

Your favorite way of doing things may just be an expression of tech limitations at the time

Why do some projects ship and others seem to drag on forever? You need 3 people to get this right.

Is the job to get things done or to memorize trivia and solve cute coding puzzles?

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

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

Quick note today to plant the seed of an idea I've always loved: The Tour of Duty.

5 common themes

The way you interview changes as you go through your career. If you're grinding leetcode 10 years in, something's wrong.

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

When you see a unicorn, you gotta hop on

Making small changes in large unfamiliar codebases is the job. That's what engineers do all day.

Here are 6 books I'd buy every engineer who joins my team, if I ran a team. You might like 'em too.

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

Doing the work is not the same as getting things done

Discover why coding is more like a boxing match, focused on delivering results rather than perfect technique. Learn how to navigate economic upheaval and prioritize business needs in this unexpected comparison.

The best engineering books aren't those you read at the start of your career. It's the ones you appreciate 5 years in.

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

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

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

Agile is something you are, not something you do.

Is your resume a tech bingo card? Not great.

Talk about today, not yesterday

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!

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!

The blue sweater scene in 'Devil Wears Prada' is a masterclass in expertise

The Buxton Index measures an entity's planning period and explains many of your work dynamics.

A reflection on engineering through The Hockeystick

Software engineering salaries come from one of 3 budgets. Which budget pays your salary shapes your day-to-day and influences your career trajectory

I asked engineers how they keep a high quality culture. These are the takeaways

Askers vs Guessers: the culture clash that explains half the conflicts you've ever had

Want an engaged engineering team? Let juniors speak first.

Position yourself as an expert and stand out in the job market

Transitioning from Senior to Lead Engineer isn't just about technical prowess, but strategic thinking, soft skills, and going beyond your role. And remember, strong individual contributions matter!

Solve the problem at hand, not the one you imagine might come next. A simple fix now often beats a complex one later.

Success in your career doesn't come from relying on the market or job stability. It comes from trusting your own wings - having a clear vision, treating work as a value exchange, leveraging your skills, and owning your path

A strong partnership with product is key to an enjoyable engineering life

Different lenses, different worlds. Your perspective is shaped by your experiences. Even in debates, all sides can be right in their own context.

Aa few readers wrote in with questions and objections to last week's Ownership makes careers email. Here's a few clarifications.

Own shit. At least put your name on things. Yes, before it's successful.

Focus on solving problems, not just doing work or writing code. Think creatively, question existing processes, and prioritize effective outcomes

Unlock the secret to guiding your career with a powerful positioning statement. Learn to stand out in the job market and attract opportunities that align with your expertise and values.

Invest in your career growth. Seize the moment to develop new skills and prepare for a brighter future

Efficient problem-solving in engineering with a shift in perspective – focusing on user outcomes can lead to innovative solutions and change your approach to system design.

everything people say is bad about modern tech interviews is actually good 🤯

Behind the scenes of a vendor migration project. What senior+ engineers do so you can focus on the code.

Swiz shares why he's not making the big bucks at a tech giant, from the soul-crushing grind of corporate to the funny money of tech compensation.

You can achieve more with your career by leveraging your experience, advice, and ability to clear blockers, rather than just working hard. This approach of "force multiplying" your team can create more value than working alone

Learn why squash merging is your friend - from hating it to loving it! Squash merging helps you keep moving and focus on the work instead of recording the work.

Merging finished work straight to main and deploying to production right away, scales to teams of thousands. This approach is counterintuitive to many engineers who may be used to working on their own

Here's an idea that can take the pressure off your career: Yes, you can stay a senior software engineer forever. But how?

if you've been following tech news lately, things feel ... 😖 Between the layoffs, hiring freezes, investors suddenly caring about revenue, and whatever the heck stock markets are doing, we're in for a rough time. BUT!

how do you catch a critical deadline that cannot be missed? We're talking external stakeholders, millions on the line, and it all hinges on *your* team getting it done on time. No overtime

New members on our team invariably say 2 things: 1. Wow I've never seen a team move this fast 2. This approach feels weird. I'm uncomfortable Teams like this are not common.

Chatting about teaching and learning complex technical skills with an engineer I'm mentoring. She's a former chef. We shared the same frustration with online resources.

If your approach works so well, why isn't every team doing this?

How do you react when you don't like The Process at work? Most programmers complain on social media, make a wry joke, and ... suffer. Not great

Keep getting the guilt, that I'm not able to code, just running around for discussions and solving other issues, managing people. Any idea to manage all the fronts and get rid of this guilt?

My favorite mistake to make when I'm in a hurry is to think that I _have to_ build new features the sloppiest way possible. Find the quick fix and move on. But that's not true.

In 2015 a group of researchers asked 59 experienced engineers at Microsoft "What makes a great software engineer?". Here's what they found.

Wherein I use a silly example to show why you need more than small reusable single purpose functions to write good software.

How do you stand out as an expert amid tech layoffs?

Programming translates fuzzy understanding into exacting specifications. That’s why it’s hard. The Illusion of Explanatory Depth reigns supreme

You cannot make something good until you understand who you're making it for.

it’s the leader, not the team

Writing software is a playful process of exploration and discovery. Like a game of kick the can on a Sunday walk.

"Every product org should have a senior+ engineer whose job it is to run around and make everyone else more productive" 🤔 That IS the role of a senior+ engineer

My entire career I've never seen a sprint finished on time. The new manager said "Oh I think we can fix that" ... 18 months later he proved me wrong

Timing changes everything. Who do you think has better engineers? The team that built Google from 9 million daily searches in 2000 to 1 billion in 2009, or the team that launched Google's 10th chat app last year?

Feedback can save an airplane from crashing, or upset everyone around you. But for you personally, honest feedback is the fastest way to become a better engineer. Fixing what you're bad at is where the gains hide.

because if you go to bat for the team, the team goes to bat for you

What are system design interviews for anyway?

How can you know you're succeeding if you don't know where you're going?

Brand helps your career in subtle ways.

No it's not a wrong answer or floundering with algorithms. Not even being nervous or shy or having a language barrier. Culture fit is the least of your worries if you make this mistake.

What slows you down the most when you're coding or doing software engineering? I think it's how fast you make decisions

Not all overtime is bad overtime

wanna see the strangest looping construct I've found in production code?

Interviews are terrible. Stressful, time-intensive, loosely correlated with on the job performance. They're the least terrible way we have to hire.

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?

Defensive coding is an important lesson and over time and engineers it leads to massive bloat, if you're not careful.

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.

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. 🙊

When you're in a company desperately trying to meet demand, *ship*. You'll have money, time, and professionals to fix code later. Even if you start with jQuery.

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.

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.

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.

Profit is not what's left after expenses, expenses are what's left after profit.

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.

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?

It might. What's your job? If you're in the *"write code to exact specifications"* business ... now's a good time to start leveling up. The AI's not ready yet.

The best skill you can learn is ownership. The second best is to let go.

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

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

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

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

Here's a comment that resonated yesterday and you might like. It's about how to maximize the opportunity in your work.

The hallmark of a true expert is understanding about the pros and cons of your technical decisions.

What slows you down most while coding? It's not lack of skill. It's not lack of ideas. It's uncertainty. Fear.

Write functions, mostly magic.

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

Wanna learn boxing? Join a gym, find a coach. Tennis player with a kink in your game? Find a coach. Software engineer with a missing skill? Google, random blogs, fun newsletters, dubious podcasts, noise on twitter 🤨

You're not asking for a job, you're selling a service. The true question behind every interview is "How can you help us?"

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

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.

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 ☹️

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. 🤔

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

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

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.

All that once was new is old again