For the past few years, we have seen a lot of discussions around the concept of the Software Supply Chain. These discussions started around the time of LeftPad and escalated with multiple incidents in the past few years. The problem of all the work in this domain is that it forgets a fundamental point.
A step by step guide for solving a difficult organizational problem, including notes on single stack ranks, team interdependencies, building consensus, reducing work in progress, and how to move your company towards better priority management.
Sometimes you see a headline or a Youtube video “How I got into tech without a C.S.
Belts in Karate are ordered from white to black. This is of course a new invention. Originally, new colored belts were not given upon arbitrary levels of attainment, a white belt was given at the beginning of one's training and you just never washed it. Over the years...
I’m taking some time away from comma. In some ways, I feel like it’s all planned out, it only remains to see if it works or not. I rewatched my first Lex Fridman and realized I hadn’t said much new on the self driving front for the past couple years. My two part blog post from 2019 remains a true description of the…
Several stories about one of the hardest maxims to put to practice in business.
Thoughts and more by Tom Lingham
Genomics needs more talented software engineers—here's why you should consider joining the field.
This is not a post on a technical topic, but rather on a common pitfall for engineers – we like to point out something wrong the moment we see it. Understandably, we are very good at it. We are basically trained for it. When it comes to code reviews, or design reviews for complicated distributed system protocols, we…
Sam Julien is the Director of Product at CopilotKit, building open-source infrastructure for AI agents and generative UI. He writes about product strategy, developer experience, and the practical microskills that help you grow as a builder and leader.
AWM #91: I wanted to clarify the tech work landscape for myself and instead I wrote this (??) 🪞
Most career ladders define a single, uniform set of expectations for Staff Engineers. These career ladders attempt to identify the commonalities across many folks performing similar roles in their organization, but in the end these ladders are a tool that apply better against populations than people. In the case of…
Developers are dropping out of the profession in large numbers despite efforts to grow the number of computer science graduates and software engineers.
Managing teams has taught me a lot about my own behaviors and motivations. For example, I overworked for a long time. This left me continually teetering on the brink of burnout, and I had no energy left to absorb the typical sorts of organizational changes that happen at any company. Despite doing good work, I handled…
What happens on the other side of the acquisition doesn't get much startup press
After a 23-year career at Microsoft, Facebook, and a Gates Foundation nonprofit, Philip Su burned out and found unexpected recovery working as an Amazon warehouse associate.
Being swamped — overwhelmed by stuff to do — is the default state of being within a startup. There's always more to do than time to do it, and the list keeps growing. Everyone else working at every other startup feels this too. Even if it doesn't look that way
Very few companies even consider this option, and that's a mistake
At this past weekend's CFAR Workshop (about which, by the way, I plan to have another post soon with less whining and more serious discussion), someone mentioned that they were uncomfortable with pauses in conversation, and that got me thinking about different conversational styles.
Hello, everyone. I’m going to be taking an extended break from kottke.org, starting today. I’ve been writing here for more than 24 years, nearly half my life —
Sorry, I have opinions again.
A correspondent who wishes to remain anonymous points us to this article in Technology Review , “Why Meta’s latest large language model survived only three days online. Galactica was supposed to help scientists. Instead, it mindlessly spat out biased and incorrect nonsense.” Here’s the story:
In this video I thank the Free Software Foundation for the award and stress the importance of the community.
An interview should be a two-way street. Here are some questions you can ask the company during a software engineering interview.
We were magicians and the web was our magic
Jun 02, 2024 - I dive into best practices, targeting, creatives, landing pages, channels, and examples from the best developer-focused companies.
I think it was due to overwhelming boredom with the RFP process that I once partnered with my sales leader to say Yes to every single requirement on every RFP bid during the summer of 2020. We called it The Summer of Yes.
