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Salary Transparency
Xe Iaso's personal website.
Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 467 posts.
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No-one knows what they are doing
When I was a child I assumed that all the adults running the world knew what they were doing. Now that I am an adult, I am under no such illusions. Just look at the current British government. They…
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DevOps is a failure
It’s probably difficult for most people to recall the first time they heard a word, but I remember hearing the word “DevOps” for the first time. I was having a
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The silent majority in software
I was re-reading Nixon’s 1969 “silent majority” speech last week (Smithsonian ran a good breakdown in 2017), mostly because YouTube’s algorithm
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Being on call sucks
Disclaimer: this post represents my own views and it is not endorsed by my employer.
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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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The Curse of Systems Thinkers
Somewhere between 15 and 20 years ago, I worked for a company. It was a very prestigious company, and it was a glorious and frustrating time. The company did amazing things. Literally unbelievable achievements - from my point of view anyway. But this was coupled with levels of chaos that led
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How to get the most out of your 1:1s
As a Director of Engineering, I have monthly 1:1s with all of my direct reports. A 1:1 (one-on-one) is a recurring meeting with no set agenda between a manager and one of their reports. The internet is full of valuable insight into how to run them from my perspective, (ex. The Update, The Vent, and The Disaster) but…
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On leaving Mapbox after 12 years
It’s been about nine months since I left Mapbox and the circumstances of my exit didn’t offer much opportunity for closure. I feel a combination of gratitude and resentment that I’m still sorting out. Last week was the one year anniversary of the Mapbox Worker’s Union going public, the event that lead to my departure…
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Why long-term plans don't work and how to fix them
Hot takes and cold truths on software, startups, and the lies we tell ourselves.
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I spent two years trying to do what Backstage does for free
Absent a time machine, telling others how to avoid my mistakes is the best I can do.
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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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The road to success is paved with rejection letters
Let's get this out of the way up front. I'm a successful academic. I have one of the best jobs in academia (Max Planck director). I've been able to do work that I care about, with great colleagues and students, and it's been recognized by my community. I'm white, male, and straight. I was raised by educated, caring…
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Downturn career decisions
When I joined Yahoo in 2008, I received a small number of options. I don’t remember how many–it was very few–but I do know my strike price was roughly $16. I don’t remember that because my strike price was particularly lucrative, but rather because some of my coworkers would complain about their underwater strike…
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How big tech runs tech projects and the curious absence of Scrum
A survey of how tech projects run across the industry highlights Scrum being absent from Big Tech. Why is this, and are there takeaways others should take note of?
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Master’s Degree in Computer Science
I’m currently applying for a master’s degree in computer science (MSCS). I thought I might share my experience here for other people in the same boat as me. My boat is that I’m a …
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Is engineering management bullshit?
Gather all of the authority, none of the accountability
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The trimodal nature of software salaries in the Netherlands and Europe (2021)
This article is part of a 3-part series on trimodal compensation: * Part 1: The trimodal nature of software engineering salaries in the Netherlands and Europe (2021, this article) * Part 2: The trimodal nature of tech compensation revisited (2024, this article) * Part 3: The trimodal nature of tech compensation in
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Things I learnt doing stand-up comedy
Coming on Stage for my Set. From March to April 2022 I took part in a 6 week stand-up comedy course for beginners at The Comedy St...
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The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling
It will take about three minutes to read this column. Whether it’s worth three minutes depends on me, of course. I will do my best. But it also depends on you, on your attitude to time and, perhaps…
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Wasting time in tech interviews
TL;DR This is me ranting about crappy tech interview experiences
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I'm retiring from the engineering profession
To protect our advocacy work against future harassment from the Minnesota licensing board, Strong Towns President Charles Marohn is retiring as a professional engineer.
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From Belonging to Burnout, Five Years at Airbnb
Airbnb brands itself as creating community and fostering belonging. Today, former Airbnb software engineer Sahil describes how “Airfam” ignores internal inequi…
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How to present to executives (2021)
Have you presented to company executives about a key engineering initiative, walking into the room excited and leaving defeated? Maybe you only made it to your second slide before unrelated questions derailed the discussion. Maybe you worked through your entire presentation only to have folks say, “Great job,” and…
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The Machine Learning Job Market
I was on the job market recently, open to suggestions on what I should do next. I'm deeply thankful to all those who reached out and pitched their companies, and also to people who shared their wisdom of how they wanted to navigate their own careers.
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“Laws” of software estimation for complex work (2021)
Wrong estimates aren’t your fault, but they are definitely your problem