someone on tiktok said, “we’ve got 7 lex luthors and no superman,” and i can’t stop thinking about it

This article really resonates, Gergely. I was a director at a scaleup ‘19-‘22. Decided to switch to IC for all the reasons mentioned. It was tough. And, just as I was hitting my stride as a dev I was laid off. Now I’m an SEM asked to manage 10-12 ICs, project manage 2-3 teams, and more 😬.

My Dad immigrated to the US in the 80s. Always talks about the racism he faced trying to establish a life for himself. Today, my Dad is against H1Bs. He believes it takes opportunities away from Americans like his son (me). This is a VERY common opinion among naturalized Americans of my Dad’s age.

On race & immigration convos: don’t shame people for their views, no matter how wrong you think they are! Be patient and assume folks can change their opinions. Shaming doesn’t work.

I’m curious, what do you mean by “no PE” and what’s the reason behind it?

For my flounder mode crew #floundermode here's how I measure the company's workload

Level 1: people are idle
Level 2: product dev is at full pace
Level 3: operational needs are clobbering product dev
Level 4: operational needs are clobbering operational needs

When groups meet to brainstorm, good ideas are lost. People bite their tongues due to conformity pressure, noise, and ego threat.

A better approach is brainwriting: generate ideas separately, then meet to assess and refine.

Group wisdom begins with individual creativity.

Coincidentally, at my company we had two of our biggest milestones/launches of the year on Wednesday! Pretty much what you wrote about cooling down for the end of year + the rush to reach big goals before the year’s end.

People anchor performance expectations to those around them. A side effect of someone senior underperforming is that others start wondering if they should be promoted, even if they're objectively not ready for it.

The 7 tracks I really like from GNX in order:

1. Wacced out murals
2. Luther
3. Reincarnated
4. Tv off
5. Man at the garden
6. Gloria
7. Heart pt 6

Zencoder (I think part of Brightove now) or Mux

Get rich slow by investing in yourself.

I like this metaphor for eng teams and tech debt! Reminds me also that when you’re late and in a rush it’s less likely you’ll choose to be in Group D. True for the airport or an eng team. Good planning creates the space for leaving things better than you found it.

For EMs out there that have managed a large number of ICs (10+) what have you done differently compared to when you managed 5-8 engineers?

I love it so much because it will bring so many different types of people into that neighborhood. Young professionals working in DC, older folks, young families looking for starter condos and townhomes, and of course the existing middle class families that already live there.

I recently discovered a treasure trove of development projects on Arlington's website. This one's particularly exciting. A proposal to turn a bunch of parking lots into multi-family rentals, condos, eldercare, and townhomes. All while keeping the older and cheaper existing housing. ❤️ ♥️

Hi there! I’m Sagar. Engineering manager by day. Still a backend dev at heart. Interested in tech, startups, economics, and urbanism.

Long time New Yorker, currently in DC

Love that! But also, is that an orange tree on the street corner!?

Slack is a well built product that’s fun to use. But maybe that’s the problem? In my experience it can make an org less efficient, especially on the things that matter. You gain speed but lose focus and space for deep thinking.

My wife left a startup to work at a BigCo. Went from Slack to Teams in the process. She absolutely loves it. No sense of FOMO on convos. Also seems to prevent bad etiquette, like excessive cc’ing.

That’s true! In b-school we learned about generic trademarks, or when a brand becomes so widely used it’s synonymous with something more generic. Think Kleenex == tissues. Def seems to apply to Leetcode, and maybe Coderpad. But, not HackerRank

A coach once asked me to make a “resilience resume”. Basically framing successes through the lens of the challenges along the way. It was such a great exercise! We fight through a lot more than we think.