361
Career advice, or something like it
If I could offer you a single piece of career advice, it’s this: avoid negativity echo chambers.
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,747 posts.
362
Rolling the ladder up behind us
Who will take over for us if we don't train the next generation to replace us? A critique of craft, AI, and the legacy of human expertise.
363
In praise of “normal” engineers
The best engineering orgs in the world are not the ones with the most (self-pronounced) "10x engineers", they are the ones where normal engineers can show up every day, do good work, and move the business materially forward. Oh yeah -- this is also the best way to build world-class engineers.
364
How to negotiate your salary package
The complete guide to salary negotiation for engineers and other professionals who think negotiating is morally questionable.
365
College baseball, venture capital, and the long maybe
My son is a college baseball player. One of the singular aspects of having kids is that they open your eyes to facets of humanity that you might not have seen otherwise. I was not a college athlete (and knew little of even baseball until he got the bug at age seven), so I have learned much along the way. You — perhaps…
366
The Tech Job Meltdown
Half a million layoffs? It's all accounting.
367
Microsoft Office migration from Source Depot to Git
Part 7 of my software journey, getting to know developer experience.
368
369
How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not
Every job makes a strong first impression within days. At great jobs, the anxiety is "I hope I can measure up to these amazing people." At bad jobs, it's "oh god I hope this isn't what every day will be like."
370
Dystopian tales of that time when I sold out to Google
I will do something I normally never do here, and make my first ever blog post on the topic of, long sigh: tech. I’ve already talked abou...
371
Startup Equity 101
Startup Equity 101 I am writing this essay because I believe that money is both useful and worth thinking as little as possible about. No one I know joins a...
372
A manager is not your best friend
As people become managers, it's quite common for their team members to want to commiserate with them. This is especially true for friendly, competent, reasonable-seeming managers – people want to commiserate with winners. But commiseration, especially with your direct reports, is organizational poison.
373
Changing Directions
<p>I have two important announcements:</p> <ol> <li> <p>I’m leaving the tech industry. Hopefully “for good”; if not, at least “for now”.</p> </li> <li> <p>As such, the content on this blog is going to shift, perhaps dramatically. I’m going to be writing about a broader range of…
374
If you are useful, it doesn't mean you are valued
The difference can be subtle
375
The rise of judgement over technical skill
As AI removes technical barriers, judgement becomes the key differentiator.
376
Canonicals Interview Process
Personal blog of Julien (jvoisin) Voisin
377
Why we still can't stop plagiarism in undergraduate computer science (2018)
Lessons on incentives and scaling from two years as a teaching assistant
378
379
Design Pressure: The Invisible Hand That Shapes Your Code
Ever had this weird gut feeling that something is off in your code, but couldn’t put the finger on why? Are you starting your projects with the best intentions, following all best practices, and still feel like your architecture turns weird eventually?
380
In defense of shallow technical knowledge
Whenever a new piece of technology comes out (these days, mostly AI) I go to some effort to understand it. Usually I end up writing a post about it, so I can be…
381
AI can't even fix a simple bug – but sure, let's fire engineers
Reddit discovered the funniest thing in tech this week, and it shows exactly how broken the AI narrative is. The newly released GitHub Copilot agent was given permission to make pull requests on Microsoft’s .NET runtime, and the results couldn’t be funnier. The AI confidently submitted broken code, while human…
382
Root for your friends
Heads‑up: The concept of this post might seem trivial, but it can improve your career, happiness, and the people you care about. Proceed without caution. It only takes about 10 minutes to read.
383
Find Your People
Thank you to Bucknell University for inviting me to be this year's commencement speaker. And congratulations to the Class of 2025! Watch the speech on YouTube. Thirty-two...
384
Getting a paper accepted
Page 1 Accepts, the Rest Avoids Rejection
385
Things that have a bigger impact than coding assistants
Here are 5 factors that make a bigger difference to software development outcomes than “A.I.” coding assistants, but teams don’t address because they’re “old news, gra…
386
What makes a good engineer also makes a good engineering organization (2024)
The people who create software generally refer to themselves as software engineers, and yet if they graduate from university, it is typically with a degree in computer science. That has always felt a little strange to me, because science and engineering are two pretty different disciplines – yet ...
387
When a team is too big
What signs to look for and how to increase productivity with all-round skillset
388
Experts have it easy (2024)
Something that’s painfully understudied is how experts are more efficient than novices while achieving better results.
389
Malicious compliance by booking an available meeting room
In 2011, Larry Page became CEO of Google and tried to fix meetings. But his new policies were no match for Google Calendar pedants.
390
I failed a take-home assignment from Kagi Search
I sent my CV for a role at Kagi Search, the description of the role can be found here: