Culture Fit Interview Questions
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I'm not collaborating with Kenneth Reitz
[Content Warning: parts of this post could be triggering for those who have experienced gaslighting or other forms of abuse]
Women: Learn to Program This Summer
As an investor, I've found that one of the reasons there are fewer female startup founders than male ones is that there are fewer female programmers. So this summer I'm trying an experiment to see...
DevOps didn’t exist when I started as a developer
Explore the history of DevOps and its impact on the tech industry from the perspective of a long-time software engineer and developer advocate.
Why you should have a side project
I often advocate people surrounding me to build their own side projects. I believe they can fulfill you in so many ways: for your career, your relationships, or your independence. Buffer, the company I currently work for, was itself a side project. I’ve built myself multiple side projects. The major ones being…
The Sad State of Logging Bugs for Apple
You find a bug in macOS or iOS. Something in the software isn’t working the way it should work. You decide to let Apple know, and head over to http://bugreport.apple.com and login with your Apple ID.... <a class="read-more"…
Blind software development at 450 words per minute (2017)
Insights | Vincit
On Being a Free Software Maintainer
Year is 2013. I learn about a new, alpha-quality project called “GNOME Calendar.” Intriguing.
Microsoft’s Azure DevOps: An Unsatisfying Adventure
As a software developer, I know first-hand how difficult it is to build quality products quickly and cheaply. It’s an art form that we sometimes get right, and other times devolves into something akin to the Obama era healthcare government site. Our level of control over the resulting product varies, and blame for…
Just did the Y Combinator interview: here are my notes
I did the Y Combinator interview. It's for entry to the Winter 2020 batch. I'm excited, but also a bit divided. Here are my notes.
Should I Resign from My Full Professor Job to Work Fulltime on Cocalc?
News and updates about CoCalc
It’s worth spending weeks on research before wasting years on a hopeless project
Launching a product without research rarely leads to success, unless you have 50-plus years experience in the market and in the niche of a product. To those who are not that old and not that wise, the following steps will help to reduce the risk of wasting your efforts.
How Firebase Interviewed Software Engineers
Today, Firebase has a large team with hundreds of engineers. Before the Google acquisition, however, we had a small team of just 24 exceptional people that I firmly believe was among the strongest of its kind in the world. A big part of that success was the way we interviewed software engineers. I’m sharing our…
Burnout
I have burned out twice – once at 26, once at 30. Each time it took months to come back and feel like myself again. Burnout affects everyone differently; it’s only in hindsight that I’ve been able to understand how it affected me, and learned to recognize the signs.
Getting Ahead by Being Inefficient
Inefficient does not mean ineffective, and it is certainly not the same as lazy. You get things done – just not in the most effective way possible. You’re a bit sloppy, and use more energy. But don’t feel bad about it. There is real value in not being the best.
One week of empathy training
I've spent a week cosplaying as a disabled user. And I hate it. A couple of months ago, I attended a private talk given by a disabled colleague of mine. "Everyone should believe disabled people's stories about accessibility problems," she said. "But, given that people don't, here's what I want you to do. Spend one…
Nobody Likes the “Idea Guy”
One time I had a “great” idea for a telephone company. Service would be free—all the calls you want! But you’d have to listen to advertisements before each one. I asked my friend what he thought the idea was worth. His answer: “I don’t know. Telephone companies make a lot of money. Maybe $1 billion?” […]
Thank you, Chris
Thank you, Chris. Chris Beard has been Mozilla Corporation’s CEO for 5 and a half years. Chris has announced 2019 will be his last year in this role. I w
Announcing Startup School 2019
Today, we’re opening up registration for Startup School 2019, our free online course for founders looking to get help turning an idea into a startup. The 10 week course will begin July 22, 2019 and is free for everyone to participate. You can register at Startup School [https://startupschool.org]. We will again be…
Key practices for achieving large professional goals
My hope is that this post will help you reach your own goals in 2020. I attained several long-term professional goals in 2019 and I’d like to share the key practices for how I did that to help you along your way. We’ll return to Cloud, Security, and DevOps topics in the New Year. I
The Machine Learning Software Engineering Interview
Iterations on revealing recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior