Professional Programming: The First 10 Years
- Thorsten Ball tl;dr: "The following is a loose, unordered collection of thoughts that come up when I look back on the past 10 years:" (1) Fearlessness is undervalued. (2) You can’t predict the future; try and you might end up in trouble. (3) Nothing really matters, except bringing value to the customer (4) Perfection is unachievable. And more.featured in #318
I Spent 2 Years Launching Tiny Projects
- Ben Stokes tl;dr: "Two years ago, frustrated with a long list of unfulfilled project ideas in my phone notes, I decided to start trying one idea each week in its tiniest form. I never kept to a weekly schedule, but I've kept plodding along since then and launched 8 things. In this post I want to update you on everything I've launched, and share what I've learnt about building lots of these tiny internet projects."featured in #318
Why I Left Google: Work-Life Balance
- Scott Kennedy tl;dr: "Somebody once described balance to me as three buckets filled with water. One for career, a second for physical health, and a third for social and family life. At any point, one bucket might be running low. But as long as the overall water level is high enough, things should be fine," Scott discusses how the events in his life, in this context, guided him to leave Google.featured in #317
Why Success Is Often Elusive At The Highest Echelons
- Cindy Sridharan tl;dr: "Many leaders mould the organization in their image or the image of the past workplace. Engineering leaders brought into embattled organizations tasked with stabilizing the chaos are often heavily incentivized to do this. Many a time these folks, in my experience, tend to fail harder and more often than those who try to learn the organizational ropes and tailor their leadership style to fit the organizational culture."featured in #317
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The Other Kind Of Staff Software Engineer
- Adam Gordon Bell tl;dr: Adam discusses the difference between line and staff software engineers, where a line engineer is core to the mission and staff is a supporting role. Although roles can be similar in either context, this variable is important to consider as it will directly impact your experience. Adam outlines how, as well as pros and cons of both.featured in #316
103 Bits Of Advice I Wish I Had Known
- Kevin Kelly tl;dr: "Today is my birthday. I turn 70... I’ve jotted down bits of unsolicited advice each year...": (1) About 99% of the time, the right time is right now. (2) No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are. (3) Don't ever work for someone you don't want to become. (4) Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you. (5) Don't keep making the same mistakes; try to make new mistakes.featured in #315
How To Chart Your Engineering Career Path: IC, Manager or Technical Founder?
- Amber Feng tl;dr: Underrated traits of the best engineers: (1) Crisp writers and communicators. (2) Aim for the broadest impact. In this post, Amber "guides other engineers up and down the org chart as they weigh their next career moves, leaning on the frameworks and lessons she’s pulled from in her own career."featured in #314
Building Bridges With Difficult Co-workers
- Sally Lait tl;dr: Proactively avoiding difficult situations, especially as a new manager, can be done by asking the following: (1) If we were going to have friction, how do you think it’d be most likely to happen? How can we proactively avoid that? (2) What are the biggest risks of us working together? (3) How do you like to move past problems? And more.featured in #314
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