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My First BillG Review (2006)
In the olden days, Excel had a very awkward programming language without a name. “Excel Macros,” we called it. It was a severely dysfunctional programming language without variables (yo…
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The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 467 posts.
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Senior engineers are living in the future
I magine for a moment that, by some quirk of the universe, you are sharing your workspace with a time traveller. Specifically, yourself from 1 year in the future. How will you react to your new co-worker? 1 [ 1 If you find this exercise difficult, try instead imagining how your past self of a year ago would react to…
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Don't compare yourself to other entrepreneurs
Everyone says don't compare yourself to other people. It can be easier said than done. I'm going to run through how I avoid comparing myself
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A development process to ship features fast
Here are 9 specific steps founders can use to ship features faster, keep their product team aligned and build what their users really want.
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What makes a senior engineer? Writing software vs. building systems
Junior Engineers care about writing Software. They value code quality, employ best practices, try to adopt cutting-edge technologies. They invest a lo
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‘Return to the office’ rhetoric needs to end
Disclaimer: I know not all jobs can be done from home. This article is aimed at the ones that can be done remotely yet have ‘management…
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One-on-ones with executives
Often when an organization is going through some turmoil, executives think to themselves, “Ah, I should have some one-on-ones with the team so they can hear how we’re handling this.” On the other side, I frequently hear from folks who get nervous when they get these meeting invites, “The CEO/CTO/CPO/etc just scheduled…
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Build your career on dirty work
The Dirty Work Theory: The lamentable work that many people avoid are great places to look for high impact, low hanging fruit.
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On my resignation as regulator of the Dutch intelligence and security services
I’ve seen some mediocre automated translations of my Dutch language resignation statement go round. To prevent any confusion, please find the story here in English: Until today I was one of the three members of the board that checks warrants for the Dutch intelligence and security services. This board is called…
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Why public chats are better than direct messages
Open team communication means fewer distractions and more shared context. Why we default to public channels over DMs, and why it isn't just noise.
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The Lost Art of System Administration
I spent a good chunk of my adolescence learning Linux systems administration. I attribute some of my success as a software engineer to the scripting and systems knowledge I picked up while installing, maintaining, and...
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So you want to be a writer?
if it doesn't come bursting out of you
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Is engineering management bullshit?
Gather all of the authority, none of the accountability
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What Should You Work On?
David shares how to make the best choices of what to work on in your life. Read here.
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A Message from Signal's New President
On September 12 I’ll be stepping into the role of Signal’s President, a new position created in collaboration with Signal’s leadership. I am thrilled, and I can’t think of a more meaningful use of my time, or a greater honor. I’ve been a friend, admirer, and champion of Signal since it was RedPho...
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How to present backend demos
Made in Notion, the connected workspace where AI agents and teams organize docs, projects and knowledge together.
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Useful engineering metrics and why velocity is not one of them
Hot takes and cold truths on software, startups, and the lies we tell ourselves.
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Questions to ask a prospective employer during a job interview
Question : Do developers in your organization have full admin rights on their own computer? Rationale : While blocking admin rights might ma...
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Less is more agile
Dave Farley and Allen Holub are two people that I respect hugely when it comes to Software Development. I’ve been following them on twitter for quite a while, and am always taken in about their takes on driving continuous delivery and “lowercase agile” forward. So when both came together for Dave’s Engineering Room…
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From Prison to Programming
I believe that getting underrepresented groups into software development is a good thing. This is not a controversial opinion until you start talking about felons. Today's guest is Rick Wolter. He's an iOS developer who served 18 years in prison for second degree murder. Rick killed somebody and for some that's all…
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Master Foo and the Recruiter (2016)
A technical recruiter, having discovered that that the ways of Unix hackers were strange to him, sought an audience with Master Foo to learn more about the Way. Master Foo met the recruiter in the HR offices of a large firm.
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Want to found a startup? Work at one first
Research shows start-ups with experienced founders are more likely to succeed, and build more valuable companies too. But if you want to found a company, how do you get that experience? My experience says the fast-track is joining an existing start-up and riding that wave, taking the opportunities that come with…
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Software engineering research questions
I have been collecting random software engineering research ideas from friends and colleagues for more than a decade. These are the questions I’ve been asked since I started taking notes ten years ago. I apologize for not keeping track of who wanted to know, but if you’re working on any of these, please get in touch…
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Be good-argument-driven, not data-driven
Why software organizations should prefer genuinely good arguments to weak arguments dressed up with data and metrics.
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Becoming a Systems Architect
Unknowingly I’ve become what I always wanted, but couldn’t even name it. I have a short story to tell, about how I got here, and where I want to go.
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Why are you so busy?
Thoughts and more by Tom Lingham