Knowledge shared by our community

The art of Happiness

Happiness is a choice, but it can be difficult to achieve due to our upbringing and environment. Self-awareness is the first step in the journey, and Acceptance is the first step in the happiness journey. The techniques mentioned in the article are inspired from the book “The Happiness Trap” written by Russ Harris, which focuses on psychological flexibility. The 6 pillars of ACT are Diffusion, Expansion, Connection, Observing Self, Values, and Committed Action. Make happiness a habit by learning and incorporating these techniques into life.

A 3 tier approach to more effective recruiting

Recruiting is a necessary part of any organization, but there are alternatives to the traditional methods. These include focusing on recruiting, academic sourcing, and community engagement. Academic sourcing involves reaching out to schools, colleges, and universities, while community engagement involves sharing work openly with experienced voices and creating a culture of feedback and improvement. With these methods, organizations can reduce their reliance on paid sourcing and create a backlog of engineers who know the company and its environment.

Managing remote first organization

This article discusses the challenges of managing a remote first team and the actions taken to address them. These challenges include communication, collaboration, building trust, and time management. To address these challenges, the team implemented video meetings, pair programming/design sessions, team building meetings, and flexible working hours. Regular check-ins and in-person meetups were also used to foster a sense of community and lead the team successfully.

V2 infrastructure project

Multi-year infrastructure overhaul (V2) projects are complex and require a clear business driver and customer-facing value. The engineering leader needs to work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to ensure there is consensus on making the long-term investment. The team needs to go through a prototyping phase to identify components that need refactoring/re-architecting, risks associated with the proposed architecture, and the resources/time required to deliver the project. The engineering leader must also decide how to organize the team for success, either by embedding the V2 team in the V1 team or by spinning up a new V2 team. The project plan should include deliverables, budget, resources, and time, and the team should identify risks early and have mitigation plans. The team should also set KPIs and OKRs and celebrate small victories and demos to stakeholders.

Myth Busting

Metrics are a key tool to help teams identify what to focus on and measure progress. They should be used to help with continuous improvement and provide a fast feedback loop, but should not be used as a stick for adherence. Leadership should remove impediments and empower the team to take ownership. Data should lead the narrative, not be data driven. Measure only what is important to improve the current state.

Starting a Ph.D. level career in AI/ML

This article provides advice for a successful career in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It covers topics such as preparing a history of impact for job interviews, building relationships, staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and developing a strong technical foundation. It also discusses the importance of having a broad skillset and passion, finding a mentor, taking risks, and reinventing oneself every 3-4 years. Finally, it emphasizes the need to have a supportive and talented community.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

So, you want to be a manager?

This article provides advice for new managers on how to transition from engineering to management. It discusses how to try out management tasks before committing to the role, how to manage interns, and the responsibilities of being a manager. It also provides resources for developing new managers in product management.

Software Development as a Martial Art

Web technologies are constantly changing and evolving, making it difficult to stay up-to-date. Self-taught learning can lead to roadblocks and burnout, so it is important to develop a growth mindset and learn from mentors and mentees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a great example of how to learn from others and develop a growth mindset. The key is to be open to knowledge and to realize that no one knows everything.

The Not-So-Easy Guide on How to grow and develop an Amazing A-Team

This article provides advice on how to create an effective team environment, including assessing the team and goals, introducing new team members to the company culture, and providing feedback and coaching. It also discusses the importance of communication and psychological safety, as well as how to motivate a team and encourage debate and disagreement. Finally, it suggests taking a course on leadership and provides a short-cast/blinkist on the topic.

DevSecOps: Why, Benefits and Culture Shift

DevSecOps is a combination of development, security, and operations that enables organizations to quickly and securely deliver applications. It is characterized by speed, scale, safety, simplicity, and stewardship. Business benefits include early identification of risks, faster time to market, faster feedback loop, lower cost of change/delivery, and evidence of compliance. Principles for building a DevSecOps culture include short and frequent development cycles, incorporating and automating security, leveraging technologies, wider collaboration, frequent communication, lesser hand-offs, influencing culture shift, and practicing what is preached.

The Growth Mindset in Modern Product Engineering

In today's world, people and organizations need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. This requires a higher degree of personal ownership and accountability for the quality and success of the outcome. Trust is essential for healthy relationships, and communication is key to understanding the audience and reaching an agreement. Ownership and accountability make people "match ready" as proactive leaders, and continuous learning and improvement are necessary to ensure success.

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

Engineering productivity is the measure of how efficient and effective an engineering team is in delivering value. It is important to measure engineering productivity in order to prevent technical debt buildup and to experiment with various approaches to improve throughput and efficiency. Metrics such as cycle time, release frequency, number of bugs, and review to merge time can be used to measure engineering productivity. Additionally, context switching should be avoided as it is a major productivity killer.

How to improve engagement and retention in remote engineering teams?

Employee retention is an important focus area for managers and people leaders. To retain employees, it is important to understand their sources of motivation, which can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Gathering employee feedback through surveys, 1-on-1s, and team meetings can help identify pain points and provide insight into how to improve motivation. Taking action on two or three focus areas such as compensation, meaningful work, and recognition can help engage and retain employees. Additionally, breaking down silos and providing opportunities for team bonding can help foster teamwork and collaboration.

Mindsets of High Performance team

High performing teams prioritize team interest over self interest, hold each other accountable for behaviors and delivery commitments, and acquire and use the right set of skills. They are open to different viewpoints, accountable for results and behaviors, and don't triangulate or accuse. They depersonalize feedback, structure decision making, and are on time. These eleven behavioral attributes create a culture of accountability and team first mentality that leads to success.

How I failed at my startup

Eguruvu was a company founded with the goal of helping students better prepare for college preparatory tests. The founders ran into several missteps in execution due to personal bias and lack of market research. They attempted to sell the product to private boards & institutions and government agencies, but ran into operational challenges and lack of commitment to adopt the new system from administrative staff. The lack of experience in selling and go-to-market cost them the company. The two main takeaways from this experience were to never do it alone and to roll out and develop products incrementally.

High Performance Team in Action

A high performance team is composed of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce superior results. The team shares the same mindset, is aware of their roles, has agreed upon rules of engagement, and has open lines of communication and trust. They have a clear strategy, follow great processes, and have a sense of ownership and accountability. They also have a clear decision making leadership mechanism, conduct monthly retrospections, and hold themselves and others accountable.

Developing an Early Career Program in Technology Organizations

Companies should invest in early career programs for a variety of reasons, such as building diversity, low cost of acquisition, and access to new ideas. When building the program, companies should have a timeline of schedule, hire a consultant or train existing recruiting staff, and adjust the meet/greet protocol in the interviews. The assessment rubric should be reworked and the offer process should be quick and engaging.

Strategies for Hiring

This article discusses the various steps involved in the hiring process, from sourcing to on-boarding, and strategies to tackle each step. It emphasizes the importance of having a diverse pipeline, investing time in sourcing, having a healthy pipeline of candidates, preparing the candidate for the interview, presenting the offer with respect to growth opportunities, and having an active engagement with the candidate after the offer signing and start date. It also suggests having a designated on-boarding mentor and a check list of items with daily and weekly breakdown.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.

The art of Happiness

Happiness is a choice, but it can be difficult to achieve due to our upbringing and environment. Self-awareness is the first step in the journey, and Acceptance is the first step in the happiness journey. The techniques mentioned in the article are inspired from the book “The Happiness Trap” written by Russ Harris, which focuses on psychological flexibility. The 6 pillars of ACT are Diffusion, Expansion, Connection, Observing Self, Values, and Committed Action. Make happiness a habit by learning and incorporating these techniques into life.

A 3 tier approach to more effective recruiting

Recruiting is a necessary part of any organization, but there are alternatives to the traditional methods. These include focusing on recruiting, academic sourcing, and community engagement. Academic sourcing involves reaching out to schools, colleges, and universities, while community engagement involves sharing work openly with experienced voices and creating a culture of feedback and improvement. With these methods, organizations can reduce their reliance on paid sourcing and create a backlog of engineers who know the company and its environment.

Managing remote first organization

This article discusses the challenges of managing a remote first team and the actions taken to address them. These challenges include communication, collaboration, building trust, and time management. To address these challenges, the team implemented video meetings, pair programming/design sessions, team building meetings, and flexible working hours. Regular check-ins and in-person meetups were also used to foster a sense of community and lead the team successfully.

V2 infrastructure project

Multi-year infrastructure overhaul (V2) projects are complex and require a clear business driver and customer-facing value. The engineering leader needs to work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to ensure there is consensus on making the long-term investment. The team needs to go through a prototyping phase to identify components that need refactoring/re-architecting, risks associated with the proposed architecture, and the resources/time required to deliver the project. The engineering leader must also decide how to organize the team for success, either by embedding the V2 team in the V1 team or by spinning up a new V2 team. The project plan should include deliverables, budget, resources, and time, and the team should identify risks early and have mitigation plans. The team should also set KPIs and OKRs and celebrate small victories and demos to stakeholders.

Myth Busting

Metrics are a key tool to help teams identify what to focus on and measure progress. They should be used to help with continuous improvement and provide a fast feedback loop, but should not be used as a stick for adherence. Leadership should remove impediments and empower the team to take ownership. Data should lead the narrative, not be data driven. Measure only what is important to improve the current state.

Starting a Ph.D. level career in AI/ML

This article provides advice for a successful career in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It covers topics such as preparing a history of impact for job interviews, building relationships, staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and developing a strong technical foundation. It also discusses the importance of having a broad skillset and passion, finding a mentor, taking risks, and reinventing oneself every 3-4 years. Finally, it emphasizes the need to have a supportive and talented community.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

So, you want to be a manager?

This article provides advice for new managers on how to transition from engineering to management. It discusses how to try out management tasks before committing to the role, how to manage interns, and the responsibilities of being a manager. It also provides resources for developing new managers in product management.

Software Development as a Martial Art

Web technologies are constantly changing and evolving, making it difficult to stay up-to-date. Self-taught learning can lead to roadblocks and burnout, so it is important to develop a growth mindset and learn from mentors and mentees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a great example of how to learn from others and develop a growth mindset. The key is to be open to knowledge and to realize that no one knows everything.

The Not-So-Easy Guide on How to grow and develop an Amazing A-Team

This article provides advice on how to create an effective team environment, including assessing the team and goals, introducing new team members to the company culture, and providing feedback and coaching. It also discusses the importance of communication and psychological safety, as well as how to motivate a team and encourage debate and disagreement. Finally, it suggests taking a course on leadership and provides a short-cast/blinkist on the topic.

DevSecOps: Why, Benefits and Culture Shift

DevSecOps is a combination of development, security, and operations that enables organizations to quickly and securely deliver applications. It is characterized by speed, scale, safety, simplicity, and stewardship. Business benefits include early identification of risks, faster time to market, faster feedback loop, lower cost of change/delivery, and evidence of compliance. Principles for building a DevSecOps culture include short and frequent development cycles, incorporating and automating security, leveraging technologies, wider collaboration, frequent communication, lesser hand-offs, influencing culture shift, and practicing what is preached.

The Growth Mindset in Modern Product Engineering

In today's world, people and organizations need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. This requires a higher degree of personal ownership and accountability for the quality and success of the outcome. Trust is essential for healthy relationships, and communication is key to understanding the audience and reaching an agreement. Ownership and accountability make people "match ready" as proactive leaders, and continuous learning and improvement are necessary to ensure success.

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

Engineering productivity is the measure of how efficient and effective an engineering team is in delivering value. It is important to measure engineering productivity in order to prevent technical debt buildup and to experiment with various approaches to improve throughput and efficiency. Metrics such as cycle time, release frequency, number of bugs, and review to merge time can be used to measure engineering productivity. Additionally, context switching should be avoided as it is a major productivity killer.

How to improve engagement and retention in remote engineering teams?

Employee retention is an important focus area for managers and people leaders. To retain employees, it is important to understand their sources of motivation, which can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Gathering employee feedback through surveys, 1-on-1s, and team meetings can help identify pain points and provide insight into how to improve motivation. Taking action on two or three focus areas such as compensation, meaningful work, and recognition can help engage and retain employees. Additionally, breaking down silos and providing opportunities for team bonding can help foster teamwork and collaboration.

Mindsets of High Performance team

High performing teams prioritize team interest over self interest, hold each other accountable for behaviors and delivery commitments, and acquire and use the right set of skills. They are open to different viewpoints, accountable for results and behaviors, and don't triangulate or accuse. They depersonalize feedback, structure decision making, and are on time. These eleven behavioral attributes create a culture of accountability and team first mentality that leads to success.

How I failed at my startup

Eguruvu was a company founded with the goal of helping students better prepare for college preparatory tests. The founders ran into several missteps in execution due to personal bias and lack of market research. They attempted to sell the product to private boards & institutions and government agencies, but ran into operational challenges and lack of commitment to adopt the new system from administrative staff. The lack of experience in selling and go-to-market cost them the company. The two main takeaways from this experience were to never do it alone and to roll out and develop products incrementally.

High Performance Team in Action

A high performance team is composed of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce superior results. The team shares the same mindset, is aware of their roles, has agreed upon rules of engagement, and has open lines of communication and trust. They have a clear strategy, follow great processes, and have a sense of ownership and accountability. They also have a clear decision making leadership mechanism, conduct monthly retrospections, and hold themselves and others accountable.

Developing an Early Career Program in Technology Organizations

Companies should invest in early career programs for a variety of reasons, such as building diversity, low cost of acquisition, and access to new ideas. When building the program, companies should have a timeline of schedule, hire a consultant or train existing recruiting staff, and adjust the meet/greet protocol in the interviews. The assessment rubric should be reworked and the offer process should be quick and engaging.

Strategies for Hiring

This article discusses the various steps involved in the hiring process, from sourcing to on-boarding, and strategies to tackle each step. It emphasizes the importance of having a diverse pipeline, investing time in sourcing, having a healthy pipeline of candidates, preparing the candidate for the interview, presenting the offer with respect to growth opportunities, and having an active engagement with the candidate after the offer signing and start date. It also suggests having a designated on-boarding mentor and a check list of items with daily and weekly breakdown.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.

The art of Happiness

Happiness is a choice, but it can be difficult to achieve due to our upbringing and environment. Self-awareness is the first step in the journey, and Acceptance is the first step in the happiness journey. The techniques mentioned in the article are inspired from the book “The Happiness Trap” written by Russ Harris, which focuses on psychological flexibility. The 6 pillars of ACT are Diffusion, Expansion, Connection, Observing Self, Values, and Committed Action. Make happiness a habit by learning and incorporating these techniques into life.

A 3 tier approach to more effective recruiting

Recruiting is a necessary part of any organization, but there are alternatives to the traditional methods. These include focusing on recruiting, academic sourcing, and community engagement. Academic sourcing involves reaching out to schools, colleges, and universities, while community engagement involves sharing work openly with experienced voices and creating a culture of feedback and improvement. With these methods, organizations can reduce their reliance on paid sourcing and create a backlog of engineers who know the company and its environment.

Managing remote first organization

This article discusses the challenges of managing a remote first team and the actions taken to address them. These challenges include communication, collaboration, building trust, and time management. To address these challenges, the team implemented video meetings, pair programming/design sessions, team building meetings, and flexible working hours. Regular check-ins and in-person meetups were also used to foster a sense of community and lead the team successfully.

V2 infrastructure project

Multi-year infrastructure overhaul (V2) projects are complex and require a clear business driver and customer-facing value. The engineering leader needs to work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to ensure there is consensus on making the long-term investment. The team needs to go through a prototyping phase to identify components that need refactoring/re-architecting, risks associated with the proposed architecture, and the resources/time required to deliver the project. The engineering leader must also decide how to organize the team for success, either by embedding the V2 team in the V1 team or by spinning up a new V2 team. The project plan should include deliverables, budget, resources, and time, and the team should identify risks early and have mitigation plans. The team should also set KPIs and OKRs and celebrate small victories and demos to stakeholders.

Myth Busting

Metrics are a key tool to help teams identify what to focus on and measure progress. They should be used to help with continuous improvement and provide a fast feedback loop, but should not be used as a stick for adherence. Leadership should remove impediments and empower the team to take ownership. Data should lead the narrative, not be data driven. Measure only what is important to improve the current state.

Starting a Ph.D. level career in AI/ML

This article provides advice for a successful career in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It covers topics such as preparing a history of impact for job interviews, building relationships, staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and developing a strong technical foundation. It also discusses the importance of having a broad skillset and passion, finding a mentor, taking risks, and reinventing oneself every 3-4 years. Finally, it emphasizes the need to have a supportive and talented community.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

So, you want to be a manager?

This article provides advice for new managers on how to transition from engineering to management. It discusses how to try out management tasks before committing to the role, how to manage interns, and the responsibilities of being a manager. It also provides resources for developing new managers in product management.

Software Development as a Martial Art

Web technologies are constantly changing and evolving, making it difficult to stay up-to-date. Self-taught learning can lead to roadblocks and burnout, so it is important to develop a growth mindset and learn from mentors and mentees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a great example of how to learn from others and develop a growth mindset. The key is to be open to knowledge and to realize that no one knows everything.

The Not-So-Easy Guide on How to grow and develop an Amazing A-Team

This article provides advice on how to create an effective team environment, including assessing the team and goals, introducing new team members to the company culture, and providing feedback and coaching. It also discusses the importance of communication and psychological safety, as well as how to motivate a team and encourage debate and disagreement. Finally, it suggests taking a course on leadership and provides a short-cast/blinkist on the topic.

DevSecOps: Why, Benefits and Culture Shift

DevSecOps is a combination of development, security, and operations that enables organizations to quickly and securely deliver applications. It is characterized by speed, scale, safety, simplicity, and stewardship. Business benefits include early identification of risks, faster time to market, faster feedback loop, lower cost of change/delivery, and evidence of compliance. Principles for building a DevSecOps culture include short and frequent development cycles, incorporating and automating security, leveraging technologies, wider collaboration, frequent communication, lesser hand-offs, influencing culture shift, and practicing what is preached.

The Growth Mindset in Modern Product Engineering

In today's world, people and organizations need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. This requires a higher degree of personal ownership and accountability for the quality and success of the outcome. Trust is essential for healthy relationships, and communication is key to understanding the audience and reaching an agreement. Ownership and accountability make people "match ready" as proactive leaders, and continuous learning and improvement are necessary to ensure success.

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

Engineering productivity is the measure of how efficient and effective an engineering team is in delivering value. It is important to measure engineering productivity in order to prevent technical debt buildup and to experiment with various approaches to improve throughput and efficiency. Metrics such as cycle time, release frequency, number of bugs, and review to merge time can be used to measure engineering productivity. Additionally, context switching should be avoided as it is a major productivity killer.

How to improve engagement and retention in remote engineering teams?

Employee retention is an important focus area for managers and people leaders. To retain employees, it is important to understand their sources of motivation, which can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Gathering employee feedback through surveys, 1-on-1s, and team meetings can help identify pain points and provide insight into how to improve motivation. Taking action on two or three focus areas such as compensation, meaningful work, and recognition can help engage and retain employees. Additionally, breaking down silos and providing opportunities for team bonding can help foster teamwork and collaboration.

Mindsets of High Performance team

High performing teams prioritize team interest over self interest, hold each other accountable for behaviors and delivery commitments, and acquire and use the right set of skills. They are open to different viewpoints, accountable for results and behaviors, and don't triangulate or accuse. They depersonalize feedback, structure decision making, and are on time. These eleven behavioral attributes create a culture of accountability and team first mentality that leads to success.

How I failed at my startup

Eguruvu was a company founded with the goal of helping students better prepare for college preparatory tests. The founders ran into several missteps in execution due to personal bias and lack of market research. They attempted to sell the product to private boards & institutions and government agencies, but ran into operational challenges and lack of commitment to adopt the new system from administrative staff. The lack of experience in selling and go-to-market cost them the company. The two main takeaways from this experience were to never do it alone and to roll out and develop products incrementally.

High Performance Team in Action

A high performance team is composed of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce superior results. The team shares the same mindset, is aware of their roles, has agreed upon rules of engagement, and has open lines of communication and trust. They have a clear strategy, follow great processes, and have a sense of ownership and accountability. They also have a clear decision making leadership mechanism, conduct monthly retrospections, and hold themselves and others accountable.

Developing an Early Career Program in Technology Organizations

Companies should invest in early career programs for a variety of reasons, such as building diversity, low cost of acquisition, and access to new ideas. When building the program, companies should have a timeline of schedule, hire a consultant or train existing recruiting staff, and adjust the meet/greet protocol in the interviews. The assessment rubric should be reworked and the offer process should be quick and engaging.

Strategies for Hiring

This article discusses the various steps involved in the hiring process, from sourcing to on-boarding, and strategies to tackle each step. It emphasizes the importance of having a diverse pipeline, investing time in sourcing, having a healthy pipeline of candidates, preparing the candidate for the interview, presenting the offer with respect to growth opportunities, and having an active engagement with the candidate after the offer signing and start date. It also suggests having a designated on-boarding mentor and a check list of items with daily and weekly breakdown.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.

The art of Happiness

Happiness is a choice, but it can be difficult to achieve due to our upbringing and environment. Self-awareness is the first step in the journey, and Acceptance is the first step in the happiness journey. The techniques mentioned in the article are inspired from the book “The Happiness Trap” written by Russ Harris, which focuses on psychological flexibility. The 6 pillars of ACT are Diffusion, Expansion, Connection, Observing Self, Values, and Committed Action. Make happiness a habit by learning and incorporating these techniques into life.

A 3 tier approach to more effective recruiting

Recruiting is a necessary part of any organization, but there are alternatives to the traditional methods. These include focusing on recruiting, academic sourcing, and community engagement. Academic sourcing involves reaching out to schools, colleges, and universities, while community engagement involves sharing work openly with experienced voices and creating a culture of feedback and improvement. With these methods, organizations can reduce their reliance on paid sourcing and create a backlog of engineers who know the company and its environment.

Managing remote first organization

This article discusses the challenges of managing a remote first team and the actions taken to address them. These challenges include communication, collaboration, building trust, and time management. To address these challenges, the team implemented video meetings, pair programming/design sessions, team building meetings, and flexible working hours. Regular check-ins and in-person meetups were also used to foster a sense of community and lead the team successfully.

V2 infrastructure project

Multi-year infrastructure overhaul (V2) projects are complex and require a clear business driver and customer-facing value. The engineering leader needs to work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to ensure there is consensus on making the long-term investment. The team needs to go through a prototyping phase to identify components that need refactoring/re-architecting, risks associated with the proposed architecture, and the resources/time required to deliver the project. The engineering leader must also decide how to organize the team for success, either by embedding the V2 team in the V1 team or by spinning up a new V2 team. The project plan should include deliverables, budget, resources, and time, and the team should identify risks early and have mitigation plans. The team should also set KPIs and OKRs and celebrate small victories and demos to stakeholders.

Myth Busting

Metrics are a key tool to help teams identify what to focus on and measure progress. They should be used to help with continuous improvement and provide a fast feedback loop, but should not be used as a stick for adherence. Leadership should remove impediments and empower the team to take ownership. Data should lead the narrative, not be data driven. Measure only what is important to improve the current state.

Starting a Ph.D. level career in AI/ML

This article provides advice for a successful career in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It covers topics such as preparing a history of impact for job interviews, building relationships, staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and developing a strong technical foundation. It also discusses the importance of having a broad skillset and passion, finding a mentor, taking risks, and reinventing oneself every 3-4 years. Finally, it emphasizes the need to have a supportive and talented community.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

So, you want to be a manager?

This article provides advice for new managers on how to transition from engineering to management. It discusses how to try out management tasks before committing to the role, how to manage interns, and the responsibilities of being a manager. It also provides resources for developing new managers in product management.

Software Development as a Martial Art

Web technologies are constantly changing and evolving, making it difficult to stay up-to-date. Self-taught learning can lead to roadblocks and burnout, so it is important to develop a growth mindset and learn from mentors and mentees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a great example of how to learn from others and develop a growth mindset. The key is to be open to knowledge and to realize that no one knows everything.

The Not-So-Easy Guide on How to grow and develop an Amazing A-Team

This article provides advice on how to create an effective team environment, including assessing the team and goals, introducing new team members to the company culture, and providing feedback and coaching. It also discusses the importance of communication and psychological safety, as well as how to motivate a team and encourage debate and disagreement. Finally, it suggests taking a course on leadership and provides a short-cast/blinkist on the topic.

DevSecOps: Why, Benefits and Culture Shift

DevSecOps is a combination of development, security, and operations that enables organizations to quickly and securely deliver applications. It is characterized by speed, scale, safety, simplicity, and stewardship. Business benefits include early identification of risks, faster time to market, faster feedback loop, lower cost of change/delivery, and evidence of compliance. Principles for building a DevSecOps culture include short and frequent development cycles, incorporating and automating security, leveraging technologies, wider collaboration, frequent communication, lesser hand-offs, influencing culture shift, and practicing what is preached.

The Growth Mindset in Modern Product Engineering

In today's world, people and organizations need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. This requires a higher degree of personal ownership and accountability for the quality and success of the outcome. Trust is essential for healthy relationships, and communication is key to understanding the audience and reaching an agreement. Ownership and accountability make people "match ready" as proactive leaders, and continuous learning and improvement are necessary to ensure success.

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

Engineering productivity is the measure of how efficient and effective an engineering team is in delivering value. It is important to measure engineering productivity in order to prevent technical debt buildup and to experiment with various approaches to improve throughput and efficiency. Metrics such as cycle time, release frequency, number of bugs, and review to merge time can be used to measure engineering productivity. Additionally, context switching should be avoided as it is a major productivity killer.

How to improve engagement and retention in remote engineering teams?

Employee retention is an important focus area for managers and people leaders. To retain employees, it is important to understand their sources of motivation, which can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Gathering employee feedback through surveys, 1-on-1s, and team meetings can help identify pain points and provide insight into how to improve motivation. Taking action on two or three focus areas such as compensation, meaningful work, and recognition can help engage and retain employees. Additionally, breaking down silos and providing opportunities for team bonding can help foster teamwork and collaboration.

Mindsets of High Performance team

High performing teams prioritize team interest over self interest, hold each other accountable for behaviors and delivery commitments, and acquire and use the right set of skills. They are open to different viewpoints, accountable for results and behaviors, and don't triangulate or accuse. They depersonalize feedback, structure decision making, and are on time. These eleven behavioral attributes create a culture of accountability and team first mentality that leads to success.

How I failed at my startup

Eguruvu was a company founded with the goal of helping students better prepare for college preparatory tests. The founders ran into several missteps in execution due to personal bias and lack of market research. They attempted to sell the product to private boards & institutions and government agencies, but ran into operational challenges and lack of commitment to adopt the new system from administrative staff. The lack of experience in selling and go-to-market cost them the company. The two main takeaways from this experience were to never do it alone and to roll out and develop products incrementally.

High Performance Team in Action

A high performance team is composed of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce superior results. The team shares the same mindset, is aware of their roles, has agreed upon rules of engagement, and has open lines of communication and trust. They have a clear strategy, follow great processes, and have a sense of ownership and accountability. They also have a clear decision making leadership mechanism, conduct monthly retrospections, and hold themselves and others accountable.

Developing an Early Career Program in Technology Organizations

Companies should invest in early career programs for a variety of reasons, such as building diversity, low cost of acquisition, and access to new ideas. When building the program, companies should have a timeline of schedule, hire a consultant or train existing recruiting staff, and adjust the meet/greet protocol in the interviews. The assessment rubric should be reworked and the offer process should be quick and engaging.

Strategies for Hiring

This article discusses the various steps involved in the hiring process, from sourcing to on-boarding, and strategies to tackle each step. It emphasizes the importance of having a diverse pipeline, investing time in sourcing, having a healthy pipeline of candidates, preparing the candidate for the interview, presenting the offer with respect to growth opportunities, and having an active engagement with the candidate after the offer signing and start date. It also suggests having a designated on-boarding mentor and a check list of items with daily and weekly breakdown.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.

The art of Happiness

Happiness is a choice, but it can be difficult to achieve due to our upbringing and environment. Self-awareness is the first step in the journey, and Acceptance is the first step in the happiness journey. The techniques mentioned in the article are inspired from the book “The Happiness Trap” written by Russ Harris, which focuses on psychological flexibility. The 6 pillars of ACT are Diffusion, Expansion, Connection, Observing Self, Values, and Committed Action. Make happiness a habit by learning and incorporating these techniques into life.

A 3 tier approach to more effective recruiting

Recruiting is a necessary part of any organization, but there are alternatives to the traditional methods. These include focusing on recruiting, academic sourcing, and community engagement. Academic sourcing involves reaching out to schools, colleges, and universities, while community engagement involves sharing work openly with experienced voices and creating a culture of feedback and improvement. With these methods, organizations can reduce their reliance on paid sourcing and create a backlog of engineers who know the company and its environment.

Managing remote first organization

This article discusses the challenges of managing a remote first team and the actions taken to address them. These challenges include communication, collaboration, building trust, and time management. To address these challenges, the team implemented video meetings, pair programming/design sessions, team building meetings, and flexible working hours. Regular check-ins and in-person meetups were also used to foster a sense of community and lead the team successfully.

V2 infrastructure project

Multi-year infrastructure overhaul (V2) projects are complex and require a clear business driver and customer-facing value. The engineering leader needs to work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to ensure there is consensus on making the long-term investment. The team needs to go through a prototyping phase to identify components that need refactoring/re-architecting, risks associated with the proposed architecture, and the resources/time required to deliver the project. The engineering leader must also decide how to organize the team for success, either by embedding the V2 team in the V1 team or by spinning up a new V2 team. The project plan should include deliverables, budget, resources, and time, and the team should identify risks early and have mitigation plans. The team should also set KPIs and OKRs and celebrate small victories and demos to stakeholders.

Myth Busting

Metrics are a key tool to help teams identify what to focus on and measure progress. They should be used to help with continuous improvement and provide a fast feedback loop, but should not be used as a stick for adherence. Leadership should remove impediments and empower the team to take ownership. Data should lead the narrative, not be data driven. Measure only what is important to improve the current state.

Starting a Ph.D. level career in AI/ML

This article provides advice for a successful career in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It covers topics such as preparing a history of impact for job interviews, building relationships, staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and developing a strong technical foundation. It also discusses the importance of having a broad skillset and passion, finding a mentor, taking risks, and reinventing oneself every 3-4 years. Finally, it emphasizes the need to have a supportive and talented community.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

So, you want to be a manager?

This article provides advice for new managers on how to transition from engineering to management. It discusses how to try out management tasks before committing to the role, how to manage interns, and the responsibilities of being a manager. It also provides resources for developing new managers in product management.

Software Development as a Martial Art

Web technologies are constantly changing and evolving, making it difficult to stay up-to-date. Self-taught learning can lead to roadblocks and burnout, so it is important to develop a growth mindset and learn from mentors and mentees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a great example of how to learn from others and develop a growth mindset. The key is to be open to knowledge and to realize that no one knows everything.

The Not-So-Easy Guide on How to grow and develop an Amazing A-Team

This article provides advice on how to create an effective team environment, including assessing the team and goals, introducing new team members to the company culture, and providing feedback and coaching. It also discusses the importance of communication and psychological safety, as well as how to motivate a team and encourage debate and disagreement. Finally, it suggests taking a course on leadership and provides a short-cast/blinkist on the topic.

DevSecOps: Why, Benefits and Culture Shift

DevSecOps is a combination of development, security, and operations that enables organizations to quickly and securely deliver applications. It is characterized by speed, scale, safety, simplicity, and stewardship. Business benefits include early identification of risks, faster time to market, faster feedback loop, lower cost of change/delivery, and evidence of compliance. Principles for building a DevSecOps culture include short and frequent development cycles, incorporating and automating security, leveraging technologies, wider collaboration, frequent communication, lesser hand-offs, influencing culture shift, and practicing what is preached.

The Growth Mindset in Modern Product Engineering

In today's world, people and organizations need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. This requires a higher degree of personal ownership and accountability for the quality and success of the outcome. Trust is essential for healthy relationships, and communication is key to understanding the audience and reaching an agreement. Ownership and accountability make people "match ready" as proactive leaders, and continuous learning and improvement are necessary to ensure success.

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

Engineering productivity is the measure of how efficient and effective an engineering team is in delivering value. It is important to measure engineering productivity in order to prevent technical debt buildup and to experiment with various approaches to improve throughput and efficiency. Metrics such as cycle time, release frequency, number of bugs, and review to merge time can be used to measure engineering productivity. Additionally, context switching should be avoided as it is a major productivity killer.

How to improve engagement and retention in remote engineering teams?

Employee retention is an important focus area for managers and people leaders. To retain employees, it is important to understand their sources of motivation, which can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Gathering employee feedback through surveys, 1-on-1s, and team meetings can help identify pain points and provide insight into how to improve motivation. Taking action on two or three focus areas such as compensation, meaningful work, and recognition can help engage and retain employees. Additionally, breaking down silos and providing opportunities for team bonding can help foster teamwork and collaboration.

Mindsets of High Performance team

High performing teams prioritize team interest over self interest, hold each other accountable for behaviors and delivery commitments, and acquire and use the right set of skills. They are open to different viewpoints, accountable for results and behaviors, and don't triangulate or accuse. They depersonalize feedback, structure decision making, and are on time. These eleven behavioral attributes create a culture of accountability and team first mentality that leads to success.

How I failed at my startup

Eguruvu was a company founded with the goal of helping students better prepare for college preparatory tests. The founders ran into several missteps in execution due to personal bias and lack of market research. They attempted to sell the product to private boards & institutions and government agencies, but ran into operational challenges and lack of commitment to adopt the new system from administrative staff. The lack of experience in selling and go-to-market cost them the company. The two main takeaways from this experience were to never do it alone and to roll out and develop products incrementally.

High Performance Team in Action

A high performance team is composed of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce superior results. The team shares the same mindset, is aware of their roles, has agreed upon rules of engagement, and has open lines of communication and trust. They have a clear strategy, follow great processes, and have a sense of ownership and accountability. They also have a clear decision making leadership mechanism, conduct monthly retrospections, and hold themselves and others accountable.

Developing an Early Career Program in Technology Organizations

Companies should invest in early career programs for a variety of reasons, such as building diversity, low cost of acquisition, and access to new ideas. When building the program, companies should have a timeline of schedule, hire a consultant or train existing recruiting staff, and adjust the meet/greet protocol in the interviews. The assessment rubric should be reworked and the offer process should be quick and engaging.

Strategies for Hiring

This article discusses the various steps involved in the hiring process, from sourcing to on-boarding, and strategies to tackle each step. It emphasizes the importance of having a diverse pipeline, investing time in sourcing, having a healthy pipeline of candidates, preparing the candidate for the interview, presenting the offer with respect to growth opportunities, and having an active engagement with the candidate after the offer signing and start date. It also suggests having a designated on-boarding mentor and a check list of items with daily and weekly breakdown.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.

The art of Happiness

Happiness is a choice, but it can be difficult to achieve due to our upbringing and environment. Self-awareness is the first step in the journey, and Acceptance is the first step in the happiness journey. The techniques mentioned in the article are inspired from the book “The Happiness Trap” written by Russ Harris, which focuses on psychological flexibility. The 6 pillars of ACT are Diffusion, Expansion, Connection, Observing Self, Values, and Committed Action. Make happiness a habit by learning and incorporating these techniques into life.

A 3 tier approach to more effective recruiting

Recruiting is a necessary part of any organization, but there are alternatives to the traditional methods. These include focusing on recruiting, academic sourcing, and community engagement. Academic sourcing involves reaching out to schools, colleges, and universities, while community engagement involves sharing work openly with experienced voices and creating a culture of feedback and improvement. With these methods, organizations can reduce their reliance on paid sourcing and create a backlog of engineers who know the company and its environment.

Managing remote first organization

This article discusses the challenges of managing a remote first team and the actions taken to address them. These challenges include communication, collaboration, building trust, and time management. To address these challenges, the team implemented video meetings, pair programming/design sessions, team building meetings, and flexible working hours. Regular check-ins and in-person meetups were also used to foster a sense of community and lead the team successfully.

V2 infrastructure project

Multi-year infrastructure overhaul (V2) projects are complex and require a clear business driver and customer-facing value. The engineering leader needs to work closely with business leaders and stakeholders to ensure there is consensus on making the long-term investment. The team needs to go through a prototyping phase to identify components that need refactoring/re-architecting, risks associated with the proposed architecture, and the resources/time required to deliver the project. The engineering leader must also decide how to organize the team for success, either by embedding the V2 team in the V1 team or by spinning up a new V2 team. The project plan should include deliverables, budget, resources, and time, and the team should identify risks early and have mitigation plans. The team should also set KPIs and OKRs and celebrate small victories and demos to stakeholders.

Myth Busting

Metrics are a key tool to help teams identify what to focus on and measure progress. They should be used to help with continuous improvement and provide a fast feedback loop, but should not be used as a stick for adherence. Leadership should remove impediments and empower the team to take ownership. Data should lead the narrative, not be data driven. Measure only what is important to improve the current state.

Starting a Ph.D. level career in AI/ML

This article provides advice for a successful career in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It covers topics such as preparing a history of impact for job interviews, building relationships, staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and developing a strong technical foundation. It also discusses the importance of having a broad skillset and passion, finding a mentor, taking risks, and reinventing oneself every 3-4 years. Finally, it emphasizes the need to have a supportive and talented community.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

So, you want to be a manager?

This article provides advice for new managers on how to transition from engineering to management. It discusses how to try out management tasks before committing to the role, how to manage interns, and the responsibilities of being a manager. It also provides resources for developing new managers in product management.

Software Development as a Martial Art

Web technologies are constantly changing and evolving, making it difficult to stay up-to-date. Self-taught learning can lead to roadblocks and burnout, so it is important to develop a growth mindset and learn from mentors and mentees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a great example of how to learn from others and develop a growth mindset. The key is to be open to knowledge and to realize that no one knows everything.

The Not-So-Easy Guide on How to grow and develop an Amazing A-Team

This article provides advice on how to create an effective team environment, including assessing the team and goals, introducing new team members to the company culture, and providing feedback and coaching. It also discusses the importance of communication and psychological safety, as well as how to motivate a team and encourage debate and disagreement. Finally, it suggests taking a course on leadership and provides a short-cast/blinkist on the topic.

DevSecOps: Why, Benefits and Culture Shift

DevSecOps is a combination of development, security, and operations that enables organizations to quickly and securely deliver applications. It is characterized by speed, scale, safety, simplicity, and stewardship. Business benefits include early identification of risks, faster time to market, faster feedback loop, lower cost of change/delivery, and evidence of compliance. Principles for building a DevSecOps culture include short and frequent development cycles, incorporating and automating security, leveraging technologies, wider collaboration, frequent communication, lesser hand-offs, influencing culture shift, and practicing what is preached.

The Growth Mindset in Modern Product Engineering

In today's world, people and organizations need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. This requires a higher degree of personal ownership and accountability for the quality and success of the outcome. Trust is essential for healthy relationships, and communication is key to understanding the audience and reaching an agreement. Ownership and accountability make people "match ready" as proactive leaders, and continuous learning and improvement are necessary to ensure success.

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

Engineering productivity is the measure of how efficient and effective an engineering team is in delivering value. It is important to measure engineering productivity in order to prevent technical debt buildup and to experiment with various approaches to improve throughput and efficiency. Metrics such as cycle time, release frequency, number of bugs, and review to merge time can be used to measure engineering productivity. Additionally, context switching should be avoided as it is a major productivity killer.

How to improve engagement and retention in remote engineering teams?

Employee retention is an important focus area for managers and people leaders. To retain employees, it is important to understand their sources of motivation, which can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Gathering employee feedback through surveys, 1-on-1s, and team meetings can help identify pain points and provide insight into how to improve motivation. Taking action on two or three focus areas such as compensation, meaningful work, and recognition can help engage and retain employees. Additionally, breaking down silos and providing opportunities for team bonding can help foster teamwork and collaboration.

Mindsets of High Performance team

High performing teams prioritize team interest over self interest, hold each other accountable for behaviors and delivery commitments, and acquire and use the right set of skills. They are open to different viewpoints, accountable for results and behaviors, and don't triangulate or accuse. They depersonalize feedback, structure decision making, and are on time. These eleven behavioral attributes create a culture of accountability and team first mentality that leads to success.

How I failed at my startup

Eguruvu was a company founded with the goal of helping students better prepare for college preparatory tests. The founders ran into several missteps in execution due to personal bias and lack of market research. They attempted to sell the product to private boards & institutions and government agencies, but ran into operational challenges and lack of commitment to adopt the new system from administrative staff. The lack of experience in selling and go-to-market cost them the company. The two main takeaways from this experience were to never do it alone and to roll out and develop products incrementally.

High Performance Team in Action

A high performance team is composed of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce superior results. The team shares the same mindset, is aware of their roles, has agreed upon rules of engagement, and has open lines of communication and trust. They have a clear strategy, follow great processes, and have a sense of ownership and accountability. They also have a clear decision making leadership mechanism, conduct monthly retrospections, and hold themselves and others accountable.

Developing an Early Career Program in Technology Organizations

Companies should invest in early career programs for a variety of reasons, such as building diversity, low cost of acquisition, and access to new ideas. When building the program, companies should have a timeline of schedule, hire a consultant or train existing recruiting staff, and adjust the meet/greet protocol in the interviews. The assessment rubric should be reworked and the offer process should be quick and engaging.

Strategies for Hiring

This article discusses the various steps involved in the hiring process, from sourcing to on-boarding, and strategies to tackle each step. It emphasizes the importance of having a diverse pipeline, investing time in sourcing, having a healthy pipeline of candidates, preparing the candidate for the interview, presenting the offer with respect to growth opportunities, and having an active engagement with the candidate after the offer signing and start date. It also suggests having a designated on-boarding mentor and a check list of items with daily and weekly breakdown.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.