We had PMs for our internal platform team. They wrote specs. Developers built them. Internal users hated them. You can't spec a developer tool effectively if you aren't a developer.
We dutifully conducted exit interviews for 5 years. The feedback was always vague platitudes. Nobody tells the truth when they need a reference. We replaced it with 'Stay Interviews' for current employees.
We promoted our best seniors to 'Staff'. They immediately stopped coding. They became professional meeting sitters. We killed the title and required every engineer to ship code weekly.
We ran quarterly hackathons. Produced 20 cool demos a year. Shipped to production? Zero. Hackathons taught our team that 'hacking' was celebrated while engineering was boring.
We had full-time Scrum Masters. Their job was to 'remove blockers'. In reality, they just scheduled more meetings. We fired them and told Tech Leads to own their blockers.
We hired ex-Google/Meta engineers. They were brilliant. They also failed. They over-engineered simple features for 'scale' we didn't have. We stopped hiring them.
I watched a talented engineer spend 6 months gaming our career ladder. They took on 'visible' projects, avoided risky work, lobbied stakeholders. They got promoted. The work was mediocre.
Sprint retro every two weeks. Same answers: 'Communication could be better.' Same action items. Zero follow-up. We'd been running the same retro for 2 years with no improvement.
Our highest performer was trembling after her 4.5/5 review — fixated on the 0.5 she 'lost.' I looked at our process: 40 hours of manager time, zero correlation with retention, guaranteed productivity dip. We stopped entirely.
A product decision sat in a Slack thread for 48 hours. 15 people weighed in. 2,000 words of back-and-forth. Passive-aggressive emojis. I called a 10-minute Zoom. Resolved instantly. Async had become our religion, and it was killing us.
Our 'unlimited PTO' policy resulted in 8 days average vacation per year. The industry average for defined PTO is 15-17 days. Our 'generous' policy cut vacation in half. We scrapped it.
Every new hire felt like a natural team member. Then I noticed: We'd hired the same person 15 times. Same backgrounds. Same opinions. Same blind spots. Our 'culture fit' filter was actually a 'people like us' filter.
200 people × 1.5 hours × $75/hour = $22,500 per meeting. $270k/year. I surveyed the team: 80% said they'd rather get an email summary. We killed the All-Hands.
I audited my calendar: 47 hours of meetings in a 40-hour week. Meetings overlapped. Real work happened from 6pm-10pm. I declared Calendar Bankruptcy and deleted every recurring meeting.
You learned the languages. You mastered the frameworks. You got the title. Now you are staring at a Jira board feeling... empty. Welcome to the Plateau. Here is how to climb out.
How to transform complex data sets into compelling narratives that drive decision-making and action.
The complexity of Frontend (React Server Components, Hydration, CSS-in-JS) and Backend (Microservices, K8s, Event Sourcing) has grown too deep. A 'Full Stack' dev today is just a Junior at both.
Burnout is not a badge of honor; it's an occupational hazard. A 3,000-word guide on the neuroscience of stress, the 12 stages of burnout, and science-backed protocols for reclaiming your career.
In 2019, I spent $3,000 and 6 months learning advanced Selenium automation. By 2024, Playwright + AI had made 80% of that knowledge obsolete. Here's what I wish I had learned instead.
We tried the 'Mon-Thu' experiment. It failed. Monday became 'Panic Day', culture died, and burnout actually increased. Here is the data-backed case against the 4-Day Work Week.
The 'Pure People Manager' is becoming a luxury. In an era where AI handles coordination, teams need leaders who can actually play the game. Why the best leaders are returning to the code.
In 2024, we stopped hiring juniors. AI made seniors twice as productive. We saved $200k. 18 months later, seniors are burned out, our bus factor is terrifying, and we're desperately hiring juniors again.
The CEO says 'We need better collaboration.' The CFO knows the truth: It's a cheap way to cut 10% of staff without paying severance. Here is the data on why RTO forces your top performers to quit first.
I started a podcast in 2021. I made $47. My HVAC repairman drives a nicer car than me. The 'Creator Economy' lied. The real money is in Boring Services.
Code reviews can be sources of growth or conflict. Understanding the psychology behind giving and receiving feedback transforms reviews from gatekeeping rituals into collaborative learning opportunities.
I used to judge managers who couldn't write immediate sort algorithms. Then I worked for one. Here is why 'Technical Leadership' is often less about tech and more about leadership.
The old status symbol was 'How many people do you manage?' The new status symbol is 'How much leverage do you wield?' We are entering the era of the Infinite Employee.
Actionable tips for professionals looking to enhance their visibility and authority on the world's largest professional network.
My best engineer quit due to burnout. He had taken 0 days off in 2 years because 'Unlimited' felt like 'Undefined'. We scrapped the policy. Now we mandate 15 days minimum.
I've interviewed over 500 engineers. I've never hired someone because they could invert a binary tree on a whiteboard. Here is what actually gets you the offer.
I had the title, the salary, and the stock options. I also had panic attacks on Sunday nights. A personal story of hitting the wall and finding a way back.
I once rejected a 'rockstar' who solved our coding challenge in 8 minutes. I hired the candidate who took 2 hours—but documented everything. That '1x engineer' shipped more value in 6 months than the rockstar ever could.
We hired a 'Fractional CTO' for $18k/month. He dropped links to blog posts and criticized PRs. After 3 months, we had a slide deck and a demoralized team. Here's why you can't rent leadership.
Tips for thriving as a freelancer in an increasingly gig-oriented global workforce.
The recruiter thought I was negotiating. My mom thought I was insane. But sometimes, the 'Golden Handcuffs' are just handcuffs. A 5,000 word manifesto on career autonomy.
Quality is not a gate at the end of a pipeline. It is a culture woven into every line of code, every design decision, and every standup meeting. How QA leaders can build this culture from the ground up.
After promoting our top performer to tech lead, productivity dropped 40% and we lost two senior engineers. Here's what I learned about the dangerous myth that great coding equals great leadership.
I make $350k/year. I've shipped features used by millions. I speak at conferences. And I still Google 'how to center a div' when no one is looking. A confession.
We mandated one day per week with zero meetings and zero tickets. Not '20% for side projects.' Just... nothing. After 3 months, our Innovation Index spiked 10x.
Stop calling it a disorder. In Quality Assurance, the traits associated with Autism and ADHD—pattern recognition, hyperfocus, and lateral thinking—are not bugs. They are high-value features.
A candidate took a $40k pay cut for 0.1% equity, thinking he'd be rich. I showed him the math. He cried. Here is the dark reality of 'Preferred Stock' and why you should take the cash.