This presentation resonates: Being Glue It's a pretty long read, but the high-level gist is that software engineers are, more often than not, evaluated primarily on hard technical chops. You know: the typical stuff that you find in technical interviews, to sit down and produce code and architecture that addresses some notion of...
I've written about promotions before, particularly in contrasting the differences between prescriptive and descriptive promotions and generally favoring the latter. In quick summary, the former rewards excellence with current responsibilities by showing confidence in a broader assignment, while the latter is a lagging acknowledgment of solid execution at the next level. It'...
It's 2023, but the layoffs in tech continue unabated from last year, impacting some of the biggest companies in our industry. Fortunately, reports suggest that workers are able to find new jobs within a couple of months of a layoff, as their skills remain in demand amid short supplies of talent. For those...
In engineering management circles, a common question that gets asked—in podcasts, in job interviews, and sometimes in peer coaching sessions—is whether managers should stay technically proficient, and if so, how and how much....
We just went through a performance review cycle at Kiddom, which got me to thinking about people systems that align incentives between employees and the business. The goal is to encourage folks on the team...
Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion is a book published back in 2006 on the mentality of competing and winning at the highest levels, framed around a trifecta of dorky games: Street Fighter, Chess, and...
