/Career Advice

Software Development Topics I've Changed My Mind On After 10 Years In The Industry

- Chris Kiehl tl;dr: Things I now believe, which past me would've squabbled with: (1) Simple is not given. It takes constant work. (2) There is no pride in managing or understanding complexity. (3) Typed languages are essential on teams with mixed experience levels. (4) Java is a great language because it's boring. (5) REPLs are not useful design tools (though, they are useful exploratory tools). And more. 

featured in #588


Five Coding Hats

- Patrick Dubroy tl;dr: The article presents five different approaches to coding, symbolized as "hats": (1) Captain’s Hat: methodical, by-the-book. (2) Scrappy Hat: minimal, straight to the point. (3) MacGyver Hat: results-focused, quick-and-dirty. (4) Chef’s Hat: focused on presentation, aesthetics. (5) Teacher’s Hat: emphasizing clarity, communication. Patrick argues there's no single "right way" to code; instead, different situations call for different approaches.

featured in #588


Picking Your Battles When You Are Hyper-rational

- Wes Kao tl;dr: “When you notice a small mistake or miscommunication, your urge might be to correct your colleague—because you are technically right. But this can derail the main point and cause a distraction. I have to remind myself: Keep the bigger picture in mind. I want to share an example of how this can creep into your work, with email drafts I almost sent vs what I actually sent.”

featured in #587


Working Fast And Slow

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “Some engineers work very consistently, putting in the same hours every day and getting out the same amount of work. I don’t. Some days I only have a few hours of focused work in me, while on other days I feel like I can go on almost indefinitely. I used to feel like this was a problem - that I was either overworking or slacking off - but now I lean into it. Instead of trying to push harder on slack days and pull back on focus days, I accept that I’ll be much more productive on some days than others. There are serious advantages to this working style.”

featured in #586


Working Fast And Slow

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “Some engineers work very consistently, putting in the same hours every day and getting out the same amount of work. I don’t. Some days I only have a few hours of focused work in me, while on other days I feel like I can go on almost indefinitely. I used to feel like this was a problem - that I was either overworking or slacking off - but now I lean into it. Instead of trying to push harder on slack days and pull back on focus days, I accept that I’ll be much more productive on some days than others. There are serious advantages to this working style.”

featured in #585


Protecting Your Time From Predators In Large Tech Companies

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “If you’re a competent software engineer at a large tech company, your time is in very high demand. Lots of people will want you to do things1. You should be very selective about how you handle these requests, and definitely avoid saying yes to everyone.”

featured in #584


Do Hard Things

- Nikunj Kothari tl;dr: “Getting good at these hard things doesn't make life easier—it makes you responsible for harder problems. But that's the point. Everyone faces difficult decisions. The difference is those who built this muscle early get to choose which hard problems they want to solve. Everyone else takes whatever hard problems life hands them. Start before life gets complex—before each new responsibility makes every risk feel heavier.”

featured in #584


Do Hard Things

- Nikunj Kothari tl;dr: “Getting good at these hard things doesn't make life easier—it makes you responsible for harder problems. But that's the point. Everyone faces difficult decisions. The difference is those who built this muscle early get to choose which hard problems they want to solve. Everyone else takes whatever hard problems life hands them. Start before life gets complex—before each new responsibility makes every risk feel heavier.”

featured in #583


How To Give Pushback To Leadership

- Sean Goedecke tl;dr: “Pushing back against leadership has high stakes. Doing it well can actually build your leadership team’s trust in you, even though you’re telling them something they don’t want to hear. Doing it very badly can have serious repercussions for the success of the project or your own career.”

featured in #582


How To Set Boundaries And Stop People Pleasing At Work

tl;dr: “People-pleasing tendencies manifest in many different ways, such as saying “yes” when you really want to say “no,” or by putting other people’s happiness above your needs. While this tendency is often rooted in good intentions, people pleasing can often be a hindrance to our growth.”

featured in #581