Writing on Saturday, I just came back from the shop. I needed a milk for my morning coffee and some juice for tonight. Editing on Sunday getting ready for a bike ride.

I made it out of lockdown in 2025.

If you told me I'd do this 2 years ago, I wouldn't believe you.

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The joy of solitude

I loved the early 2020s.

I got food from Deliveroo, gadgets from Amazon and entertainment as a service. I could spend weeks and months without leaving my house. So I did.

It built up to social anxiety. This fear of meeting people when I have seen nobody in real life for long enough and I kind of forgotten how it is. Why risk disappointment when I can avoid the problem and meet people on Zoom (if I have to)?

It turned out I became the victim of the loneliness epidemic.

I isolated myself first because of the virus, but then I continued because of convenience and playing into old habits.

How to become a loner

In my practice, I like to discover how the old systems work before I go to fix them.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

Loneliness is a mind system that has a valuable function, according to the brain.

The first question - is in nature or nurture? Nature is a hardware problem. Nurture is a software issue.

Humans are social monkeys. We live in communities; it's in our nature. It's not hardware.

Then the system must come from nurture. I had learned lo be a loaner. I did it in my childhood from my mother and with some help from the bullies at school.

How it worked for me:

- I try to speak with other people

- I get rejected for opening my mouth

- I fear it will happen again

- It happens over and over

- I repeat that pattern for 20 years

- My brain learns that connection is not safe for me and stops trying

Then the smart adults will have labels for me. They are smart, so I will start to believe in them and they become my identity. I've been called many things:

- Shy

- Introverted

- Excentric

- Antisocial (my favourite)

Now I have decades of practice and identity coming from experts (every adult seems to be expert when you're a child, even when they're not) that provides a perfect explanation for what's happening to me.

With lockdown and working from home, I can now enjoy "being myself" (sic!) for once in my life.

Happy ending? Not according to the WHO (World health Organisation) and other health researchers across the world:

> The effect of social isolation and loneliness on mortality is comparable to that of other well-established risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity.

It costed me dearly:

- Lost friends

- Lost fob opportunities

- Broken 5 year relationship

- Estranged the little family I have left

- I got fat (eating takeaways all week)

- Anxiety went off the scale

- I felt depressed

It was so bad I had to do something about it, or else.

## Loneliness is a skill

I got very good at being a loner.

My experience was that being alone was better for my survival than connecting with other people. My brain (like any other) repeats what it knows works. The algorithm is simple - if it causes pain, the brain will avoid it and if it causes pleasure, the brain will do more of it.

If you don't believe me, look at TikTok, McDonalds and the beauty industry.

Even if it's a short-term win and a destructive habit in the long term, the brain will repeat it forever.

To change myself, I need to teach my brain the opposite of what it knows - going out and connecting with others is the better survival strategy than staying home and eating fast food.

Simple to say, tough to execute.

The 3 rules that got me out

I could tell you to get out and touch grass, but it's BS.

There are two ways to find your answer: 1) Do what you enjoyed in the past and you have good memories of (it's the easier path) or 2) try to test new things and see what will work.

I'll tell you what worked for me and why and I'll ask you a question that can lead to finding the answer that will work best for you.

Do what works for you

What works for me is hiking and cycling.

It's true for me, because as a teenager I loved hiking in the mountains and cycling in the local forests. If I met a hiker in the middle of a trail or in the mountains - everybody was kind and said hello. The same on the bike - when I met other cyclists, they will say hi or wave to each other on the road just like bus drivers do.

Those experiences made it easier to get out and do it because I build on top of past good experiences.

What did you enjoy in the past that involved an activity and getting out of the house?

Start small

Crawling, walking, and running before flying.

Many times in the past, I tried to go "all in" just to burn out. Even with cycling, 8 years ago I got a mountain bike and went on the trail and I loved it. Until I wanted to do too much and I smashed my hand on the tree riding Leith hill, difficult track way beyond my level.

What worked now was 10 minutes’ long walk to the local park once a month. Then I went for 15 minutes, then after a few months I went for 5h hike. Now I go for over 2h long bike rides or all day hiking adventures.

When I started I built wins that built up my resilience so I can persist over a bad day or week.

What's the smallest thing, no matter how small, you can do today to make the 1st step?

Find (or buy) your support structure

PSA: You can't learn to connect sitting alone in the room.

That was the toughest part for me because I have little family or friends. One because of circumstances, the other because of my doing. I solved that by finding my therapist.

Having someone to talk regularly is the key. Since I started meeting my therapist every week, I have been more optimistic about other people. I've also built a habit of speaking and thinking about myself without a judgement.

It's basically the rubberducking version of fixing my mental health.

Who can you reach out to talk with them every week about life and what's going on in your life?

I just want to point it out if one of you, readers, is in this situation - there's always someone who will listen even if you don't have family and friends. If you want help to find them, send me with DM and we'll figure it out.

How does it work so far?

I'm a social monkey and the social wiring in my brain gets the TLC it lacked in the past.

From not seeing anybody for months, I meet people every week. Even if I won't meet a friend, I get out to the shop, like today, instead of ordering online. I ride a bike at least twice a week; I lost weight; I got stronger and my diet is the healthiest ever.

I feel happy.

I don't think I've ever thought like that until now.

It's never too late to start

It feels cringe when I think how basic I had to get to even begin getting better.

I read and head about people doing great things, riding 200k in a day, hiking in amazing places or landing their best job ever. 10 min walk in the park feels lame. How a 38 guy could feel proud of it?

For over a decade I felt it's too lame for me.

Everyone has their own story and is in their place on the journey. The reality doesn't care where I am, only I do. I may not be 100% responsible for what happened to me in the past, but I'm the only one who can change it now.

If it's a small and lame step, I need to take - I'll do it and I tell you about it, because we need to talk about the small silly things we do the get ourselves better.

What I learned and I wish you to discover soon - the growth happens quick from the moment you take the first step.

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It's Saturday and I'm leaving for a ride in 3 hours. It's a first bike ride away from the local paths. 30km on the beautiful British south coast from Eastbourne to Hastings - a part of my South Coast Epic where I do 200 miles from Littlehampton in Sussex to Faversham in Kent.

I'm scared.

The usual train connection doesn't work today. I don't really know where I'm going. It's my longest single ride so far.

A month ago I would find a reason to skip it.

Today I have a plan and I'm preparing to go as I write this article.

Because I climbed a hill. Twice.

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The Seven Sisters Hike

Two months ago, I went for a hike over the white British cliffs.

The coast may seem flat, but it's a constant climb from one cliff to another. Steep one. This is the view from the last descend close to Eastbourne and there are like 10 of them on the route.

I wasn't that fit, so after the first 3 climbs, I struggled. "FFS, another climb." - I thought. I was too stubborn, and I persisted through the climbs.

Until the one when something clicked.

I stopped bitching about yet another climb like I'm a victim.

The thought became "I own this hill".

The hill didn't change; it was as hard to climb as before, but my perspective changed.

It got easier.

The Addington Climb

Addington is a town in south London with a steep 500m climb.

Going for a ride last week, I was planning to avoid it. It was my first long distance bike ride after a long break, so I wanted to keep it flat. It was all good until my GPS put me at the bottom of this hill.

I thought I'm too weak. I thought I won't make it. I thought I will be too tired after the climb to continue.

Then it happened again. I remembered the previous climb. The determination kicked in - "I own this hill".

It was tough. I had to take a break at 3/4 when I bonked - I lose all the steam. My legs were shaking, I was panting like St Bernard's and my heart was racing at the max speed. But I got back up, and I ground it up to the top.

I owned the hill indeed.

I got a drink and a snack at the top and I collected a fun 30 mph 50 km/h descent, but the biggest reward is the memory.

Fitness Imposter

My hill experience is a fitness imposter syndrome.

I don't trust myself that I'm good enough to make the climb, so I either do a minimal effort just to survive or I skip it altogether. I will then rationalise. For safety, or to preserve energy for later, or to not look silly amongst other hikers and riders.

I won't do what I wanted and I feel good because I had a good reason after all.

I'll repeat that behaviour, and it becomes a pattern.

I repeat making excuses for a long enough time and it becomes a habit.

That's how the brain works. Through experience and repetition. If it worked, if I felt good after, it must be the right thing to do.

It's because the brain doesn't work for my success - it works for the preservation of the species.

The Win Stacking Strategy

The good news is that the brain learns the same way, either it's a good or bad habit - by experience and repetition.

The process is simple, but not easy.

If you struggle with imposter syndrome at work, or in any other area of your life, you need to experience courage. The great thing is that the brain is stupid, and it doesn't distinguish between types of experiences. Fear is fear.

The goal is to change how you react to it.

1. Pick a small, but meaningful challenge

The first goal is to win. Even if it's so easy, it doesn't feel like a big deal.

My first wins were literally walking in the park. The first change was from having to do them to going out with intention. If you don’t want to do it, no amount of forced discipline will help.

If you're an engineer and you want to become a leader in your company, but you struggle with speaking up in the meetings the first step can be just going to all the meetings you can and surviving through them until you build up an intention of showing up.

When the feeling change from "I must do it" to "I want to do it" you made the first step.

2. Focus on winning

Celebrate every win, no matter how small it can be.

I will feel cringe and silly to begin with. I remember I thought "it's not a big deal, why should I be happy about 15 min walk?". I was comparing myself to the standards of others, not to myself. For me, a 15 minute’s walk was a monumental win after 7 years of sitting on the sofa.

I celebrated with a good, fat burger. (My diet changed since then and for another reason. If you want to hear that story - let me know in the comments.)

If you're not joining the meetings and you don't feel your opinion matters and you answered someone's question - celebrate speaking up. You opened your mouth and spoke about the problem. Put the judgement aside, celebrate the act of speaking.

It sounds cringe if you compare yourself to others, but it's the step they took a long time ago before they got confident and you're following in their footsteps. The only difference is that you do it consciously, when 99% of people don't know how they got their skills.

3. Challenge, Win, Repeat

Two experiences are coincidence, three make a habit.

From a walk in the park to coastal hikes to cycling in the park to cycling away from home. I'm slowly ramping up the level of challenge. Slowly is the keyword and the main reason I failed in the past.

I went too big too early.

The Win stacking is about building momentum.

When I was trying in the past, I was too impatient and wanted to jump before I could walk. I didn't have the confidence that I can constantly win. Big failure put me off for months.

Failures happen, and you need to build enough wins to budget for setbacks. If you just started playing, every loss hurts. If you won 100 times already, one loss isn't significant.

Back to our meeting example - be shy and quiet, answer questions and speak up once in a while, celebrate the win. Repeat what's easy for you. Don't risk a failure until you build enough confidence to withstand criticism or rejection.

Be patient

I can't stress it enough.

I looked for the opposite of patience for 20 years. I wanted a revolution, the magic pill that will change me overnight. I wanted speed.

My fitness change I described is a year of work. Walks spread over multiple weeks. First big hike in September 2024. First big ride in May 2025.

Change takes time.

I don't feel the change I make day-to-day. I had a few a-ha moments, but most of it is invisible at the day. If I look a year back - I'm a different person over 365 unnoticeable changes.

The genuine change happens in the unconscious - you can’t logic yourself through it.

Rising to the challenge

It's Sunday morning, I can feel yesterday's 20 miles / 30 km in my whole body, but I’m happy I did it.

I was worried about going on the train with the bike. I messed up platforms changing the trains, and it was chilly and I didn't pack an outer layer. I was worried my whole way to Eastbourne and I thought multiple times about turning back, but.

The habit of riding won because it had a higher level than the sum of worries I had.

If you really want to change, stop reading and start living.

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PS: What’s your story?

What's your story? Are you dealing with Impostor Syndrome or anxiety? Or maybe you want to vent how hard it is to change? Or maybe you're ok and want to get better?

I want to speak to you. I'm curious about what worked and didn't work for you. Use this link or reply to this email and let’s chat.

Hi, I'm getting 39 today, and with the big number coming, I decided to get fit before that happens.

After the last five years I spent on the sofa or in front of a screen.
After a couple of years of living on fast-food takeaways.
After getting fat, weak and grumpy.

I began my warm-up a couple of weeks ago. I realised I'm not as fit as I remember. The memory of riding 60km on a whim in my early 20s is precisely that - a memory.

As much as I like speed, it doesn't like me back. I get exhausted quickly, and I pant like MF after every hill. Not what I expected, but it's a reasonable starting point after 10 years of drinking, smoking and sitting on my ass all day.

I can't change it and can accept where I am today. It's my Truth Today. I can only move forward.

What's the plan?

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My 3 goals for 40

In the next 365 days, I want to finish:

The South-East Coast Epic

Travel the 200 miles of the coastline of Sussex and Kent from Littlehampton to Faversham, bit by bit, every Sunday, to build my endurance for the main event of 2025. I did the part from Seaford to Eastbourne over two hikes, and the rest will come on the bike.

The London to Brighton charity ride on 14th September

A 55-mile (89km) ride from London to Brighton through great English countryside and the South Downs. I hear the climb is brutal, but I want to do it to support a mental health charity. Which one? I'll update you in May.

The South Downs Way

A 100-mile ride over three days from Winchester to Eastbourne through the beautiful landscapes of the South Downs. (It includes nearly 10,000 ft of climbs along the way). It will be my 40th birthday gift.

That being said, I don't think about them every day, but they are my guides to ensure I am moving in the right direction.

Goals vs Systems

My goals do not differ from "having a six-pack for summer" on the 2nd of January.

That's why I take what I learned from neuroscience of learning and focus on building systems to get me to the finish line. Those are habits that will help me complete my challenges. They will also keep me going after I reach my goals.

There are 3 core elements to make them work:

1. Fun

It has to be fun, and fun comes from success.

Neuroscience shows that people stop when they face failure in the early stages of learning. I must keep winning to keep it going, especially in the beginning.

I track my recovery and ensure I won't overtrain in the first 3 months.

2. Accessibility

It must be easy to execute, even if I don't like it.

I have a bike just behind me in my living room, and I have a fallback in hiking if I feel like having a change. I can pick up and leave in less than 10 minutes.

3. Social pressure

We do more for others than for ourselves.

That's why I am writing this post, and I will go on a charity ride in September. I have additional leverage when I hit a wall, and I know I will sooner or later. I told you what I'm doing, and I'm doing it for other people with mental health issues.

It's all about momentum, not the destination.

The goal is not the destination. The goal is to keep moving.

The 3 lessons I learned so far

I used my old hobby instead of searching for a new one. I loved cycling in the past. It's easier to pick it up again than start a new one.

I focus on winning. I repeat this because getting overexcited has caused me to fail repeatedly. The old truth holds: undercommit and overdeliver.

I watch and trust the data. If my Garmin tells me to rest, I rest. Gains happen when you let your body and mind recover. If I don’t fail, I will win by default.

Onwards and forwards

The best time to change your life was 10 years ago; the second-best time is now.

I picked a steep hill to climb (or cycle up), but only tough things are really worth doing.

It sounds tacky, but ask yourself: What made you happy in the past? For me, the happiest moments came from overcoming struggle and winning against the odds.

This happiness comes from systems working well, and systems make it look easy.

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What are your fitness goals? Are you trying to change? Let me know in the comments.

Today is about the 3 most significant discoveries I made last year and what I feel can help you in your life and career.

Every year, I post about the grind and how I understand the journey of content creation, business, and career.

The first started as the outcry of doing more. The second was still looking for answers. Today, it’s about focusing inward.

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1. If you’re going through hell, keep going.

Few of you will know, but in therapy, I realised I suffer from severe anxiety.

Sometimes, I would sit paralysed in an endless loop of thoughts, unable to do anything productive. Sometimes, I would go out to meet a friend and run away soon after because I felt an irrational fear of I don't know what. Sometimes, I would force myself to work and then suffer from exhaustion for weeks.

Shit happens, and before, I felt terrible about it.

The change happened nearly immediately when I accepted and recognised what was happening. Support from my therapist and friends, who knew, helped as well. It broke the loop of doom.

I became okay with having a panic attack. I could speak about it, recognise when it's happening, and what leads to it. I could improve.

It sounds easy, but it took me a year after 20 years of hell. I kept going; I'm still going. Some problems not only require answers but also time to get solved.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

2. There's no new and better Truth.

On my journey, I looked everywhere.

Eastern philosophies, personal development, hustle culture and ignoring all the above. I watched videos of people living the lives I wanted to live and tried to do what they did. It makes sense that I will get what they have if I do what they do.

Wrong.

It works for them because of their life history and the experiences they had so far and it’s okay.

I’m not them. I grew up in a different place, in a different culture, with a different family. No silver bullet will work for me the same way.

If it does, it's a coincidence.

I tried weights and yoga to improve my health. Both lasted a few weeks until the yoga mat and dumbbells started gathering dust on the shelf. They work, but they aren't the right solution for me.

Looking for inspiration on YouTube didn't work, so I went the other way - asking myself what I liked to do in the past.

Two straightforward answers came to my mind: hiking and mountain biking. I love exploring forests and mountains off the beaten track; the wind shimmering in branches, and watching the waves crashing on the beach when walking along the coast. I love the freedom it brings and the endless horizon that relaxes my eyes after endless days of looking at the screen.

I lost it because I sought newer and better options instead of sticking with what worked.

I'm happy now that I learned there's no new and better Truth.

3. Instead of building up, remove the blockers.

Content creation changed my life, but the way most creators talk about it.

Since I moved from coding to management, I noticed a change. The work became hard on multiple levels. Content creation in the same way didn't work as the success stories say.

Engineering and people are two parallel skill sets with only a few transferrable skills. Writing content wasn't natural for me, and it still isn't, though I'm making progress. It showed me I'm not consistently good at it.

Yet again, I went out and started learning. I read books, watched YouTube, and bought courses. I learned a lot, but it still didn't work. Just like with health, the answer wasn't where I was looking.

I got the knowledge, but anxiety and my mindset kept me from good writing.

Knowledge is rarely the problem. With ChatGPT, I can learn anything in under a day. What stops me is the way I think about it.

You can call it habits, discipline, or whatever else. I wanted the new ones but didn't reflect on what I have now. I learned about negotiation and networking, but it's worthless with raging social anxiety.

So, I put a hold on everything but my mental health. I went hard on figuring it out and improving it. The result is that I'm happier and clearer about who I am and what I do than ever before.

It didn't stop my plans; it put them in the correct order, solving for the root cause first.

That's how work and life have become as easy (or close enough).

Instead of building up, remove the blockers.

No more Grind, then?

Nah.

Correcting mistake I made - yeah.

Grind brings tension. Life, career, business, and training are all grinds.

All bring tension, and for the last twenty-odd years, I have focused on increasing the power. I missed removing the friction. The Grind needs a balance of both to work.

The Grind never ends.

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Last week, I wrote docker swarm is the best solution for early-stage infrastructure, and Kubernetes fans came into the comment section telling me I was wrong.

Soon after that, I went to configure my Jenkins instance to enable CI/CD for JustRM and realised the docker swarm extension hadn't changed in 4! years. It also has a vulnerability reported, and nobody fixed it.

I tried Kubernetes for science. My definition of done is having a service exposed with a configured Let's Encrypt TLS certificate.

I completed it in 2 days, while Swarm took me 2 weeks. Was Docker Swarm a mistake in 2025?

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Software Maturity

It’s the risk of how much of a problem a library or 3rd party service will cause in the future.

The last GitHub commit or public release is a starting point. If what you want to use hasn’t changed in 4 years, like the Swarm Jenkins Plugin, it's a clear sign to avoid it. There won't be anybody to help with bugs or security issues.

A good sister metric is commercial support for open-source projects. If a company makes money from the software, it has a good reason to maintain it. Look at Confluent and Kafka, RabbitMQ and VMWare Tanzu or Spring and Broadcom.

Another perspective is the ecosystem of libraries and tooling. Does your new tool integrate with popular and sometimes niche partners? Java can integrate with anything in 10 ways, whereas for younger languages, integrations are missing. Take SOAP, for example. It is critical for the finance systems (still), yet hip languages don't have libraries for it. Good luck writing your own.

Last but not least is community. Do people actively publish articles and YouTube videos about the software they use? How easy or hard is it to find knowledge? Docker swarm is old, and there's little new material about it. Everyone talks about Kubernetes. The chance someone solved your problems in the past with Kube is way higher than with Docker.

There are others, like code quality and culture, but the four I mentioned should give you a good idea of maturity.

Levels of maturity

The next step is to rate the project's maturity, and I use a three-step scale to do so.

The Hype

Something engineers love—new tools straight from the minds of brilliant engineers. It's a lot of fun, but it's hazardous for business. Every problem is a fresh problem to solve and you need to figure it out yourself. There’s also no guarantee that the product will still be on the market in 3 months.

Projects at this stage are suitable for home lab or PoC in your company to see how they work. I know enough people with high-risk appetites can do the verification work for me. But, if you are a technologist and you thrive in the chaotic market of new technologies, it’s a great place to be.

For me, even with AI, I adopted it over a year after the first LLMs released. When I saw they were here to stay. I can't say the same about Web3.

The Stability

The most boring category is when software works.

When projects have regular new releases and there's a commercial supporter with an excellent reputation in the market. There are plenty of stable libraries and add-ons, and there's a YouTube tutorial published every hour.

It's what you want to use in production to keep the tech out of the way of your product. You pick product problems to invest in. The technology problems are solved, making it easy to build new features and hire for your tech stack.

There's a very low risk that something will go wrong.

The Abandonment

This one is tricky when established and popular technologies lose support over time.

You can't avoid it if your company has been on the market for a decade, but you can make smart choices today. It won't be visible first in the core project, but when you look at tooling and community, you will see the engagement dropping. People lose interest; eventually, all that's left is the few companies who invested enough that they can't get out.

A great example is VMware and VirtualBox, which were titans of small-scale virtualisation. However, because of docker and questionable commercial decisions, nobody remembers their existence today.

The lifecycle

The path from birth to abandonware isn't linear, and context matters a lot.

Even Java was a hyped new technology one day. C developers said it was a fluff that would never last, and nobody would want to run a heavy JVM when they could have a small and efficient binary. They were wrong.

Eventually, Java became popular. Even browsers had Java applets. It was the technology for everything.

Today, it lost a lot of the market. And for a good reason. The context where it excels is pretty narrow. It stays relevant in corporate engineering with a focus on integration.

Eventually, every technology will be forgotten, and a new one will take its place, but it will never fully die. Fortran and Cobol are still present and maintained by a few organisations because they can't just shut down critical systems using them. It's like this one server in your company that only a few older engineers know about, which Karen uses in accounting, and nobody can touch.

The software doesn't die; it loses its relevant context. Sometimes, it never reaches wide adoption but stays strong in what it excels. More often than not, it's a context of Fortune 500 companies to get you vendor-locked after following the hype.

Avoid those like fire; they are the worst. They are fully featured, extremely attractive, and easy win with all problems solved, but they aren't here to help you; they want your money.

NewRelic and VMware are great examples. Both were on the market for decades, but with commercial interest, they raised prices so that only the biggest and most profitable companies could afford them. They left the popular space in favour of the commercial support niche.

Docker

Docker is going in a similar direction.

Kubernetes swept it out of container orchestration, and they changed their license to stop free commercial users. Recently, I learned Kubernetes dropped Docker as their runtime in favour of containerd. I also discovered they changed the container build process for a "better one".

Based on my experience, Docker will join the commercial support niche, which you must pay to use.

It's not all bad, though. Every time a company pulls out of the market, it opens the door for new solutions to gain popularity. It's a decade or two long process, but technology doesn't like vacuum. Containerd takes space from Docker, and solutions like Colima and Rancher have time to shine.

My tech stack

Docker swarm isn't suitable for new production workloads. Weird moves from Docker, abandoned libraries, and a lack of community support signal the upcoming end of support.

Kubernetes is the way, but not in its pure form. I went with K0s, although there are plenty of other third-party lightweight distributions. It was the most mature and compatible with the original stack.

Compared to my swarm setup, I got a declarative CD, local console access, GUI to monitor the cluster in IntelliJ, an active community of people, and tools I can use when I need them. All of that in 10th of the time it took me to set up the Swarm.

It is more complex; it has a learning curve, but it's the right thing to learn in 2025.

Should you follow my philosophy?

I enjoy boring tech. You can love fresh challenges or the comfort of old tools you spent life with. There's no correct answer; it is only the context in which we use software.

What I like is terrible for startups wanting to bank investments on current AI hype. They live on the bleeding edge of technology and pave the way for the rest of the community to use what's best in new.

Folks who stick to their old software are great because they keep the lights on for the world to keep going. I may not believe in mainframes, but I'm grateful I can make payments daily, and a team of Cobol devs is making it happen.

I live in a space where the boring works best, and I spend time on making customers happy, not engineering the most hyped solution.

Know yourself, know your business, and pick the maturity that fits you best.

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PS

If you’re an engineer or a contractor and you struggle with keeping up with your network and you’re tired of CRMs with 1000s of features aimed at big sales teams:

I’m working on JustRM - a simple CRM that does only what networkers, contractors need - help you stay on top of your network without the noise of corporate CRMs.

If it’s something you’d like to try - the waitlist is open NOW and it’s the best way to learn about Beta release coming late in spring. Sign up today.

In December, I wondered, "What will I do in 2025?" I like to create content, but I'm also great at coding. So, I asked myself how to do both and make the world a better place.

My biggest issue was keeping track of the people I networked with: fellow creators, engineers, potential clients, and good recruiters with 10,000 followers and 10s of messages.

I tried popular CRMs but failed to configure them, and I had to fill out 10 fields to add a single contact. I only need a name, a LinkedIn URL, and a note.

That's how JustRM came to live. No big corporate sales pipeline fluff. Only what I need to stay in touch with my network because less is more.

If you find it hard to stay on top of your network and don't have time to configure CRMs, or you're overwhelmed by the noise of the 50 fields to fill, JustRM is here for you.

If it's something you are looking for, join the waitlist at https://justrm.com and get notified about updates and when public beta launches.

Launch out of the way - let's talk about how I have built it so far.

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AI and coding

There are 3 main reasons I used AI to build JustRM.

The most important one was the lack of time. My 9-5 job took my focus and energy, leaving me with little time for learning. I didn't want to learn; I wanted to get things done.

Secondly, I wanted to check if AI is taking over engineers' jobs. Google said AI writes 50% of their code—is this right? Or is it marketing BS?

Last, I wanted to validate the value of introducing AI to my team's developers. Should I invest in bringing it in, or is it just noise?

The good

AI Code in the new No Code.

I'm astonished at how quickly I could build prototypes and test ideas with AI. Instead of learning a new CSS framework and days of trial and error, I pushed page after page in minutes. If I didn't like the result, I did it again, better, in 5 minutes.

The next great thing was filling out the repetitive code. With JetBrains AI scanning the project and adding relevant files to the prompt, I added new features in seconds when needed.

I saved most of my time writing tests. I knew what tests I wanted, and I had the code done. All I had to do was add the files and tests were done.

AI saved me weeks of work in the last 2 months.

The bad

Every LLM behaves like an overeager intern. Trying hard to look smart even when it has no idea what it's talking about. It was great with Python but failed when I moved to the infrastructure.

Code quality is poor. Although this wasn't a factor in building early MVPs, it's not negotiable in live products. The code "works," but it's naïve.

LLMs are trained on public data, and most of the code published is written by junior-mid engineers who document their career progression (and it's fantastic).

Advanced code stays private, and AI won't have the chance to learn it.

Basic CRUD in Python was 99% accurate, while the Docker Swarm configuration dropped to 50% because there are little to no articles about it.

The Ugly

The US Air Force had to design the seats for the pilots while building one of its fighter jets. They measured everyone and averaged the dimensions to fit average pilots. The result was that the seats didn't fit anyone because no pilot was of average size.

AI faces the same problem—there are no average answers to coding problems.

The issue is in data (again). AI got smart because of Stack Overflow and engineers answering questions. Now, AI answers itself, and the average quality of the answer plummets. Engineers write blogs with AI answers, which AI then consumes to train new models.

The endless circle of Garbage In, Garbage Out, automated.

Last but not least, the issue is time. Training models take weeks, and the tech market changes every hour. When deploying infrastructure, every proposed version of the component was behind. Sometimes, even a major version.

AI is slow to stay current and will never get creative in finding solutions like an engineer can.

The verdict

JetBrains AI was the best of the LLMs I used.

It was tailored to coding problems, and the answers were accurate enough to get context from the project files.

Second was Claude Sonnet 3.5, which generated HTML and iterative changes well. However, I was not a fan of 3.7, which was released in the last few days of my work. It became chatty and felt like it tried too hard.

Last is GPT 4o. I had too many problems with it, hallucinating the answers, and I didn't trust the line of code it outputs. I keep it for generic prompts and brainstorming when I don't need accurate details.

What can you do?

If you're a junior-mid engineer, avoid AI.

You get quicker today, but you're losing your career. Build good habits early. Learn how to code before you start automating your work.

If you're a senior, use it for mundane work you can do, but it wastes your time. Teach it to build code you want to see and automate repetitive tasks. Use it for things you don't want to learn but must get done.

If you want to build something quickly and don't care about learning because you have the basics, go for it. AI is best at automating what you already know.

Mobile phones made everyone a photographer. Only a few are good.

AI makes everyone a coder...

The best part for engineers: everyone will generate crap code to begin with, and there always be a market for people who can fix it.

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I sat in my reading chair yesterday reading a book and thought about a new feature for a SaaS I’m building over weekends.

I saw a mental image of all data structures, endpoints, and a slightly fuzzy state structure for React components in a split second. No drawing, no diagramming; I had a solution straight away. I could begin coding right there and now.

It reminded me of how I learned English as my second language 10 years ago.

The breaking point was when I began to think in English.

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Engineers are translators

Building software isn’t much different from being a translator.

I visited my auntie in Poland a few years ago with my ex. My auntie didn’t know a word in English, and my ex didn’t know a word in Polish. I was the translator, allowing them to talk to each other, which would have been impossible otherwise.

As an engineer, I gather words told and written by stakeholders and translate them into a language that computers understand, from flesh and blood to silicon and electricity. It’s my job to ensure that the code I write reflects well what I’ve been told business needs. Without engineers, it wouldn’t have been possible, or at least it would have been horribly inefficient.

Engineers are translators.

Engineers think in tech

Business is a collection of people — leaders, managers, workers.

Each position succeeds through a different way of thinking and effective communication. When a CTO thinks like an engineer, the company will need help, and when engineers think like CTOs, they will get in trouble. The structure exists for everyone to excel at what they know best.

1. CEO thinks in general strategy

2. CTO thinks in technical strategy

3. COO thinks in operations strategy

4. Head of engineering thinks in department efficiency

5. Team Leaders think in their team's efficiency

6. Engineer thinks in the tech they build

Running a business is too complex for one person to handle. There are 100 (probably more) specialisations. Some think about business, some think about customers, and some think about getting bananas for Thursday.

Engineers think in tech.

Practice enables thinking

It took me 3-4 years in London to begin thinking in English.

At that time, I first thought about my sentence in Polish, then translated it into English in my mind before I could speak. Because of that, my grammar wasn’t good, and I often used Polish grammar. I could hear how bad it sounded.

But what does it have to do with tech? You may ask.

Engineers-translators face the same challenge of flawed grammar.

You see it when features are implemented precisely as described, ignoring the fact that software design rules differ from spoken English (or any language you communicate with). This leads to crude designs and teams waking up one day with a terrible “ball of mud” in their editors. They write programs in spoken language grammar.

How do you begin thinking in tech?

Thinking in English took me years of speaking in English.

Thinking in tech takes speaking tech. You do this by creating software. The magic trick is to learn the basics and balance coding with thinking.

My preferred way of thinking initially involved a pencil and 500 sheets of printing paper. I picked a problem that interested me and tried to solve it by drawing classes, methods and how they can communicate. Drawing is 10x quicker than coding.

Next, I implemented the best design I could. Often, it wasn’t as great as I thought, and implementation proved me wrong. This was good because I discovered a design that didn’t work.

Do it intentionally for 3 years, and you’ll see the results.

Note the goal is to create the best design. You want to limit-test your understanding of software architecture. The value is in the process, not the result itself.

Practice enables thinking.

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Thinking in tech

Hello, I’m Dariusz, and I had a break from writing a newsletter for about a year now.

I believe there are no silver bullets or magic pills in engineering. Every business has unique issues, and no one solution fits all. AI and ever-growing tech doesn’t make it easier.

In 2025 (and beyond), software engineering needs more (Critical) Thinking in Tech.

This post marks the end of Code.Lead.Succeed. Next week, you’ll hear from me in the Thinking in Tech Newsletter.

Have a great weekend, Thinkers!

The last five years have been wild. We have had a pandemic, a working-from-home bubble that burst into layoffs, and a looming recession. A lot has happened in a short time.

The market never sleeps and ever changes.

Today, I will show you how the Software Engineering market has changed over the last 20 years, where I see it now, and what I expect is coming our way.

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Before we begin

Together with , and we wanted to create something more than posting on LinkedIn or weekly newsletter.

We’ve created a Discord Community for everybody to hang out and learn together.

Come and get your questions answered, and join meetups and events. Or organise your own.

Everybody is welcome

Join the Discord Comunity

The early 2000s

The golden era for self-starters like me.

I learned to code simple websites and Pascal in mid-school. The only person I knew who could code then was my uncle, a teacher, not a coder. Being a computer nerd wasn’t winning popularity contests as well.

Software Engineering was a basement discipline. The IT Crowd makes fun of it, but it’s not far from the truth. Before Software was cool, we sat at home for hours, read code, and dressed in checker shirts.

OG engineers were cool before hipsters.

2006

The first time I made a career choice.

To give you context—I lived in a small-ish town in the south of Poland. I had a difficult family situation at the time and little to no money. I couldn’t afford free college level of poor.

This removed Java from the list because big corporations required college. I was a mid-level in Delphi, but the language was dying, so that was also off the table. What intrigued me was the “Web” and how PHP was growing in popularity.

I had to take any job I could because of my food addiction, but I was set on becoming a web developer.

2011

It took me 5 years of learning after hours to land my first full-time gig.

I made many mistakes in the process. I worked a few crap jobs, and I did work with the failed idea of a news site. Then, in late August, I got an offer to work for free to prove I know PHP as well as I say I do.

By this time, I had just under 10 years of coding experience. There weren’t many people with that experience at the time. I finished the week of work early, and I had Friday to rest.

It was hard to find the first company, but getting through wasn’t a problem.

2020

I moved to London, switched to Java and then the pandemic hit.

It didn’t change my career, but it did change the market. Over the past decade, software has left the basement, and people have seen the success of Facebook and Google. Everybody wanted to build a social network and learn about the great software engineering careers that exist.

Working from home, the great salary and the industry's openness got everybody on the bandwagon. Instead of becoming a lawyer or doctor, everybody has software engineering in their sights. The pandemic kept us all at home with plenty of spare time, and everybody started learning.

Bootcamps made a lot of money on the outdated promise.

Today

It worked until people were spending pandemic support money.

During the pandemic, Tech hired many people. As markets grew, so did the teams. Until the government money ran out, and we entered the era of layoffs we’re in today.

We have an oversupply of developers, with millions switching careers or entering the market after college. We have the market on the edge of recession, and corporate spending and VC funds are growing cautious about how they spend their money. Businesses realise code isn’t the silver bullet and expect more from developers before hiring them.

Today, communication skills are close to saturation.

6 years earlier, I could find a job under a week, even after switching from PHP to Java. I was a terrible communicator back then. It didn’t stop anybody from hiring me because strong code and system design skills were important for growth.

Today, growth is on hold. Every company looks for ways to optimise their teams and eliminate everything that slows them down. Elon has proven this by firing most of Twitter's staff and keeping the platform running as it was.

The focus shifted to efficiency, and communication was the greatest leverage when coding skills became a commodity.

Into the future

Engineering left the basements and can communicate; there is no way back.

There won’t be less developers. Today’s engineers will get better and better over time. I don’t see the market speeding up any time soon.

You may shrink hearing that. It’s tough, but every problem brings an opportunity. With coding and communication skills becoming the new baseline, there are other areas you can explore to stand out. I call it adjacent skills.

What you’re interested in beyond code will make you stand out in the market.

The three areas I can see you can win today as a software engineer are domain, business and deep understanding of code.

1. Domain

I see it in FinTech today—you need FInTech knowledge to land a job.

I expect other industries to follow soon. When hiring managers realise that they can skip part of the onboarding by hiring people who have already worked with a similar tech stack and solved similar problems, they will prioritise those with experience.

You can get ahead by focusing on the problems you’re solving today rather than code.

2. Business

Organisations look for devs who understand the big picture.

Every business's primary goal is to make money. Developers who understand how their work impacts revenue or lowers costs are always needed. This is the deepest level of alignment.

The best place to start is reading Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman to learn all the basic terms and mechanics of business.

3. Deep understanding of code

My project manager knows JavaScript and Python, and the engineering bar is rising.

As an engineer, you will need to have a deeper knowledge of the technology than creating a CRUD and saving data in a database. Your code will need to get better, and you’ll need to know why it’s better. Saying that someone on the internet said it’s the best way won’t cut it.

To go beyond the basics, learn how the languages, libraries and frameworks work under the hood.

Is Software Engineering doomed?

It may feel that way looking at today’s market.

I don’t think it’s “doomed”, but changing. The software industry is becoming a teenager. Developers have left the basements and are now in the spotlight of the mainstream.

Neither you nor I can change it, but we can observe and adapt because the market never sleeps.

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PS

If you are a software engineer and want to start your career in finance.

I’m creating a FinTech Fundamentals course to get you started.

Join the waitlist, and I’ll keep you updated about the launch

Join the waitlist now

Hey Readers!

The summer is here, and some changes are coming to the newsletter.

This post is to get you up to speed!

Today in 5 minutes or less

→ I will tell you about my strategy for the rest of 2024
→ What content can you expect (and where)
→ Why I’m ”soft leaving” Substack

Before we start

The Summer of Growth is here

If you’re a busy Engineering Manager interested in building efficient systems for yourself and your teams:

I offer a FREE coaching session for you to kickstart this summer.

Reply to this email, DM me “SUMMER” on LinkedIn or contact me on my website to learn more today.

The 2024 Strategy

You’ve probably noticed that I’m not as active on Substack as before.

It’s because I spent last month creating my website, where I plan to post my long-form content. It gives me more freedom and options than Substack. I also like to own my platform.

I’m also switching focus from writing for fun to growing my coaching business. This means intentionally approaching what I post and where the content is published. Owning a platform gives me more ways to deliver better content.

I’ll stay active on LinkedIn as I have over the last year because I love the platform and the friends I made there.

Code.Lead.Succeed will not be gone. I keep the newsletter as my personal space. I’ll keep posting a monthly article about the philosophy of Software Engineering and more personal updates.

DarSadowski.com

My website will be dedicated to Engineering Leadership (including a new Newsletter)

I considered exporting the list of subscribers but decided against it.

I respect your privacy and your interests. You signed up for specific content on my substack. If you’re interested in Engineering Leadership, I invite you to join the new newsletter.

Head to my website and sign up today.

Over the following months, you’ll get updates about new articles, exclusive content for subscribers and special offers limited to newsletter subscribers.

Why am I “soft leaving” Substack?

Substack is still great for writers, but the platform’s direction doesn’t align with my goals.

In the past, I wasn’t a fan of how closed Substack is for external integrations. Last year, I thought it was an issue with the platform's maturity. Certain features weren’t done yet.

Looking at this year’s changes, I see it’s a strategy. Substack has become increasingly a social network platform rather than a tool for writing newsletters. The lack of integrations, Twitter-like posts, and push for followers rather than email capture are clear signs it’s the case.

I always wanted to own my work, and vendor lock-in Substack aims for that, but I’m not comfortable with it.

That’s just my opinion, though, and I can still recommend it if you want to write newsletters for people to read.

What’s my stack now

I spent the last three months deciding what tools to use. Here’s what I decided to use.

Website—Wordpress.com—I’ve been using WordPress for nearly 20 years now so it’s an easy win for me. I went for a managed solution because I don’t have time to manage servers, and I want to focus on content. It’s also the most popular platform, and I get the freedom and flexibility I want.

Newsletter and mailing lists—ConvertKit—Their new Newsletter plan offers up to 10,000 subscribers free, grown-up email marketing capabilities and integrations, making it a match made in heaven. It’s a marketing platform first, so I own my data, and I can always switch to a paid plan if I wish to use more features.

I keep posting on LinkedIn and use only two tools for the rest, keeping it as complex as necessary.

See you soon

Substack articles will come now every month. Stay tuned!

If you’re a busy Engineering Manager interested in efficient leadership - head to my website and join the list today. The first article will come later in July.

Have a great weekend!

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I’ve been working in software for 23 years, and I spend a lot of time reading and doing trial and error. I repeatedly created new Zend Framework (PHP) projects in the early days because I wouldn’t say I liked the directory structure.

I also did a lot of dry design. My favourite activity in the evening was taking a sheet of paper and drawing diagrams of how different components interact. I spent 10 times more on practice than I did on reading.

That’s why I hear I’m good at designing systems; I have always been doing it.

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The nature of soft skills

Soft means the skills are personal; it’s about how you do things, not what.

Communication is a great example. Everyone communicates; the difference is in the style. Some people are better than others, and it heavily depends on context—you communicate differently with your parents than in the office.

As a teenager, I hung out with my friend when my mother called me. I was speaking with my friend in the standard Polish dialect. The second I picked up the phone, I switched to Silesian, a regional language used in Southern Poland. I wouldn’t have known that if my friend hadn’t made fun of it for the next hour.

Another way of describing Soft Skills is the inability to measure them. It’s nearly impossible to objectively test someone’s soft abilities because of the number of personal and external factors involved. Someone can be a great communicator but fail to present it in the interview process because of their stress and anxiety.

Software Design is a lot like this.

The Software Design skill

How do you decide if the software design is good?

You can say the code is readable. I’ll show you the assembly I wrote for microcontrollers as a teenager. It gave me good grades at school.

You can say it follows good code practices. I’ve seen a company with a codebase beyond help (independently proven by a consulting agency) sell for over £600M, making many people rich.

You can say it’s any code that works. I’ll show you the army developers fighting their way through ancient monoliths. They are frustrated, burned out, and feel stuck in their careers.

You can say it’s using TDD. I’ll show you the number of startups that failed while using it. Does it mean that great code leads to failure?

I could go on with examples forever. The answer changes with each person you ask. Some trends signal good practices, but each one can be invalidated by adding more context or being proven right at the same time.

Software Design has a lot of characteristics of Soft Skills. It heavily depends on context. The judgement of the result depends entirely on the judge's experience. The value of design can also be heavily outweighed by external factors.

Software Design is a Soft skill.

What does it mean for you?

1. You learn by doing

You can learn how a particular design works, but the real value lies in the implementation. You can only learn it by doing and making mistakes. You can speed up your learning by mentors and listening to stories about other’s successes and failures.

2. You focus on context

The best design fits the circumstances. Learn more about business, psychology, and leadership. Understanding the company and people around the software you build will give you more insight than another design pattern.

3. Your skills are your toolbox

You won’t use a hammer for screws or a screwdriver for nails. You may have to if all you have is one of them. Think about your skillset as options added to the repertoire of solutions you can create.

There is never a single good answer

I realised that any time I’m right and wrong at the same time.

Every solution I have ever made was made to the best of my abilities and understanding. It has never been perfect because there were more details that I learned later in the process. It taught me always to expect to be partially wrong and compensate for it.

How would this approach work for you? Would you be less frustrated with “bad design”? Would it overall improve the software you create for your clients and employers?

Respect the context, and it will reward you. The context is king.

You’ve been learning and building software for a while now — one year or two decades. This article will show you how to become a software engineer differently.

In 23 years of my career, I have met many people who love software, just like you do. These talks and my experience show me a new way to grow in this field. It’s different from the usual path on job boards, where you start as a junior and become a senior.

The path has three steps:

1. Coder

2. Developer

3. Engineer

These three steps will help you understand where you are, where you're going and how to navigate the path.

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Step 1: Coder

In the beginning, you're happy with what you wrote works.

That's how you learned to code. That's how I learned programming. I wrote what was in the tutorial into an editor window and spent the next day finding typos I made.

As you remember more from tutorials, you start writing your code. You run it to test it, and it's probably a mess, but it works. That makes you happy, so you keep going.

If you work as a coder, you're getting paid for the lines of code you do, not for the quality of the solution. There are a lot of companies working this way, so be careful. There is a risk that you get stuck at this level for a long time.

The way forward is to keep on learning how to deliver good code so you can move to the next step.

Step 2: Developer

Developers write code like builders follow blueprints made by architects.

In that stage, you grow as a specialist. You have your favourite technology and strong ideas about why it’s the best for making software. You are a believer, and that drives your progress.

Your favourite type of work is where the work is well specified. You believe in Agile and perfect process, so you teach everybody about the "right way". You've spent years discovering the best solution, so why not use it?

This can lead to two types of frustrations. First, there are companies that don’t care about doing things the right way; that’s where coders work. Second, there are companies that do things differently and don’t always choose perfect solutions.

I've been there myself and seen talented developers struggling with it.

The Senior Trap

I call it a trap because it felt terrible at the time.

You are frustrated because you know how to deliver the best solution, but nobody is listening. You teach and preach, and nothing changes. I’ve been there - I felt stuck and couldn't figure it out for at least five years.

You'll start switching jobs until you find the one that does things the right way. Each time, you put your 100% into the process to realise the same thing—the process isn't perfect. The cycle will repeat.

Until you realise the real issue - it's not them, it's you. There is no perfect software and no single best solution. You were wrong, and as it's scary for a specialist - it will free you.

That's how you advance to the third level.

Step 3: Engineer

You question everything you know, and it builds your understanding of “why”.

You stop knowing how to deliver software. You begin understanding how software can be delivered. You become a tailor who knows all the solutions and picks the best for the job.

Engineers know the best solution for the problem. They use this knowledge to improve the teams and software they work on, but they are okay with leaving some elements out. They understand that change doesn't happen overnight.

Engineers work for impact and without judgment. If the biggest change is in team dynamics, they will learn how to communicate better to make it happen. They don't get frustrated; they find ways to solve problems at all levels.

The focus changes from delivering the best software to the best possible.

How do you advance to the engineer?

First - you don't have to.

You can have a fantastic career as a developer and a bit less as a coder. If it's something that you enjoy and wake up happy about each day, keep on going. If you feel you want more, then Engineering is for you.

If you want to advance, the fastest way is to meet other engineers. The best is to see how they think, communicate, and solve problems. Getting their feedback about your ideas is invaluable.

By the way, I'm starting a community to make it easier for you to become an engineer. I'm looking for the founding members. You'll find more about it at the end of the article.

If you're learning alone, you branch out of what you know. You learn a new programming language or a tool you haven't used before. You must also learn soft skills to understand how you deliver software with your teams.

To become an engineer, you treat every solution as if it were a new problem to solve.

Wrapping up

Each developer is a coder, and each engineer is a developer.

This framework will help you understand where you are, where you want to be and how to get there. It's also one of many valid perspectives on career progression in software engineering. As an engineer, I know this is only one of the correct answers.

No matter what you call it, we all want the same thing: to deliver the best software we can.

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P.S.

You're an ambitious software engineer. You read newsletters and learn every day. You know that the best way to learn fast is by doing and with other engineers.

I'm launching a private community to enable you to do that.

• Connect with other engineers

• Learn engineering by doing and feedback

• Practice soft skills by using them

If you think it would help your career, I gather early feedback about the project. From the people who submit it, I pick the founder members who join me in the private launch early in the summer.

If you'd like to be one of them, please complete the survey and leave your details.

You’ll get to meet and learn from some great engineers who have already shared their ideas.

There are only a few founding member seats available, so complete it today!

If you have any questions - DM me COMMUNITY on LinkedIn.

I remember learning to code in the early 2000s. I had one book I read maybe 50 times until it dissolved into a packet of pages. I didn’t know English, and I didn’t have access to the Internet, which was the standard at the time.

Knowledge was costly. Not everybody could get it. Having it was an asset.

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Google and GPT

In a decade, broadband internet became common and cheap enough that nearly everybody could get it and Google whatever they needed. This was the first time knowledge had been devalued.

If you knew how to find information, you didn’t need it in your brain.

We discovered LLMs in 2023. AI can answer any question, and it will give us the knowledge we need. The release of OpenAI is the single event that wiped any value out of “knowing”.

Today, you don’t need to know how to find knowledge - you only need to ask questions.

Both Google and AI radically shifted how knowledge work works.

If not knowledge, then what?

When knowledge was scarce, finding a job as an engineer was easy. All I had to say was, “I can code,” and I got five offers. Looking at the market today, knowing how to code is required, but it has little to no value.

As the technical skills lost value, two areas have been pushed up in the rankings.

First are soft skills like communication and leadership. In my first jobs, it didn’t matter if someone was rude or a solo player as long as they could deliver the code. Today, if you communicate your values and ideas better, you win with those who can’t.

Second is what I call understanding or implementation. The accessibility and amount of knowledge became problems on their own. Filtering and deciding what knowledge is relevant at any given time became the most essential skill for everybody to learn.

Today's gold is knowing what you must learn and how to apply it.

How can you learn it?

Both soft skills and understanding have one thing in common - they are unteachable.

That kind of skill can be learned only by practice and feedback. It’s like learning how to ride a bike. You can read all the books, but they won’t teach you how to balance on the bike.

The only way is experience. For software engineering, which is also a soft skill, you need to spend time building applications and systems and figure out what worked and what didn’t. For communication skills, you need to get out and speak with people.

There are two ways to gain experience.

Do it yourself

It’s an easily accessible path. You trade the time you spend on side projects and exercises for the understanding of what you do. The downside is that a day has only 24 hours, and deciding what to focus on can be challenging.

Do it with others

You can gain experience by speaking and working with people who have done it before. This can be a mentoring program with other developers or a community you join to exchange your experience with others. This can save you years of figuring out what works and what doesn’t because someone with more experience made this choice in the past, and they know the results.

Doing it yourself will get you started; doing it with others will keep you going.

Less knowing more doing

I’ve cut off some of the knowledge I consume. I no longer need to validate whether I know design patterns; I must practice how and when I use them.

This paradigm shift is also one of the reasons why I moved out of the individual contributor role. I bet that soft skills, leadership, communication, and experience in how and when to use technology will help me more in the future than the raw skill of writing code.

It is a bet because I don’t know the future. It’s a pattern I notice in the industry. Noticing patterns and trends is another exciting skill, but that's for another article.

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The Engineering by Doing Community

That’s why I binned the last three months of work I spent creating a course.

I realised it won’t deliver the value that’s needed.
I realised I needed to take a different route to teach what I felt was necessary.

That’s how the idea of a community has been born.

It’s a perfect platform to practice leadership, communication and engineering with other engineers. It’s a place to share your experiences and learn from other’s mistakes. It’s where you can attend interactive workshops that get you to do things instead of just watching videos on a screen.

The community is early in the making, and I need your help.

I’m gathering information on what you’d like to gain from it and who would be interested in joining. I’ve created a 5-minute survey, and I would be grateful if you could give me your feedback.

Fill the survey

Thank you!

There is a common understanding that working full-time is all about meeting the bare minimum criteria for what is expected. Keep it quiet, do your job and get paid every month. It works if that’s all you want to do.

And it’s okay. Not everybody is ambitious and wants to deal with the stress and challenges of showing off outside their box. The beauty of software is that we all work together in harmony (usually 😄)

I like to do more than I’m expected to. It served me well over the two decades I pent writing code. The Underpromise-Overdeliver mantra carried me through my career.

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Underpromise

In a time when social media is everywhere, it’s easy to look at people and be amazed by their success. At the extreme, you see the influencer with Lambos and expensive watches travelling to exotic places all year round. The separation between you and them allows them to build that image.

In the workplace, where you see people day in and day out, it’s way harder to show off in a rented car and wear a rented expensive watch throughout the year. It’s way more straightforward.

You either do what you say or you don’t.

That’s why I don’t say much. I stick to what’s within the scope of delivery. That’s a promise.

As an Engineer, I know first-hand how the cockiness and enthusiasm can cloud my vision. Many projects “that will take a week” ended up in a month or more of work. Now, I stay grounded and would rather be pessimistic.

It’s fair for both sides. I’m less stressed about overambitious goals, and stakeholders have realistic data against which they can plan their next steps.

Overdeliver

The most critical part of over-delivery is delivering what’s expected.

We love fancy solutions and working with new technologies, especially in tech. I’ve been in a place where novelty took priority over the basics. I made the mistake (many times) of thinking I was overdelivering when, in reality, I was way under.

Overdelivery is not about being cute. It’s all about being so good at the basics that they take less time and effort. Then, you spend what you saved on going beyond expectations.

Interior design doesn’t matter if the house has a weak foundation and collapses.

The path

The first step is to start saying no.

It felt weird at the beginning to say no to additional features and focus on the most necessary code that must be delivered. There is the feeling of greatness I felt when I felt I could say I could deliver everything. It had short legs, as all lies have and fell over when the deadline approached.

Also, under pressure, the technical debt becomes the get-out-of-jail card. Hack this and that, and it will work, and we don’t have time now to fix it. I’ll fix it later (usually means never; sometimes, it’s when it causes so many problems you’re forced to fix it.

The most crucial first step of overdelivering is defining the basics and getting them right.

You know it already because everybody speaks about the Most Valuable Product. We know it at the product level and can use it for features. Instead of looking at the greatest solution, ask yourself: What’s the most impactful part of your work today?

You will deliver less at the same time. It enables you to deliver better code. As you practice you get faster.

The result

You’ve made your own time.

You can use it to learn, improve projects, or solve technical debt. You can also take time to rest and relax. Whatever you choose, it’s a win for you.

Now you’re known as the engineer who delivers on time and with quality. You also have time to better yourself, help others or recharge to start new tasks with positive energy.

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Decision-making is one of the unteachable skills. It’s impossible to learn it from a book; the only way to learn is by doing.

That being said, prompts and questions can help you sharpen your thinking. It’s an indirect way I can show you how you can tackle the challenge. I use them daily when trying to figure out other people’s ways of thinking.

The premise is that every decision is good in the eyes of the person making it. The difference comes from the amount of knowledge and experience, which is why different people differ so widely in their opinions.

What are the questions you ask yourself to make better decisions?

1. What is the outcome?

Einstein said that if he had 100 hours to solve a problem, he’d spend 99 on defining it. Bad decisions usually result from a lack of detail about what needs to be done. Every decision I made that went sideways was based on assumptions rather than provable data.

Look for the critical pieces of information that are forcing the decision. Are they based on facts and commonly agreed upon? Or are they assumptions made by a few? Return to the drawing board and flush the reality out if it’s the latter.

2. What are the constraints?

This is a trap I see many engineers fall into; I’ve been there for years at the start of my professional career. It’s a case where you assume everything is possible and aim for the best solution you can imagine, and you read it works at Netflix. Each company will have its limitations—the size of the team, technology stack, or budget—all of which must be considered before making a decision.

The prime example here is the introduction of new technologies. I’m a big advocate for the best tool for the job, but now I understand that introducing new language impacts hiring, budgeting and overall team satisfaction. From the need for specialists, the company will need polyglots, and that’s way more difficult and possibly not worth the value that new tech brings.

Look around you for what’s possible and what’s not. If you’re not sure - ask around. It will significantly narrow your pool of potential solutions and make decisions easier.

3. What are the options?

In gaming, it’s called “The Meta” - the best solution for most players, offering the best combination of stats. In software engineering, we call it hype-driven development. It’s still microservices today, whereas SOA was the answer a decade or two ago. The trick is to not only know the leading solution but also its pros and cons, the same as the alternatives available on the market.

Instead of finding one solution, consider options. Find at least three for each problem you’re trying to solve. Only when you have them lined up can you analyse which one is right for your situation.

+1 The Agreement vs Insight perspective

The last distinction I’d like to give you is that, by default, most people look at the world from the agreement perspective. They either agree and continue to be happy with the decision or disagree, get frustrated, and fight it. The third way is to look for insight into any situation.

What can I learn from it?

What were the knowledge and circumstances of the people making the decision?

How can it be a good decision, and for whom and why?

The last question is about decisions you disagree with. Observing the results is one of the best learning points. You can safely test other people’s points of view and see whether they were right and brought success or failure.

To sum it up

Naval Ravikant, in his Almanach, calls it Judgement.

The more decisions you make and observe, the better you get at it.

There is no other way around it. I hope the questions I presented and the insight perspective will help you make decisions in the upcoming weeks.

P.S.

I’m back to writing after turbulent times and on the market looking for a Senior Engineering Manager/Head of Engineering/VP role in tech. If you know someone who needs a helping managerial hand, has a passion for system design, and has seen it all in over two decades in the industry, let me know.

I wrapped up work for 2023 yesterday. My first year as an Engineering Manager is over, and I have two weeks of Christmas time to rest. Thinking back, I realize it was a crazy year!

Today in Code.Lead.Succeed Newsletter: a look back at the last 12 months.

👉 Early days as a manager

👉 Starting as a content creator

👉 The strategy where both work together

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Why manager

I've been coding for over 20 years, from freelancing while working in car factories to big corporations.

Contrary to popular belief, I learned from the good and the "bad" experiences I had as an engineer. I learned how to do things well, but it is equally important to know what not to do and when it leans that way. What I learn defines the value of the lesson, not the experience itself.

What makes me ’s problems make me happiest - I find them more fun and complex. Code is simple and stays the same, whereas each person and team is different, keeping it fresh and exciting. There is a parallel to gaming because a long time ago, I realised I couldn't play single-player titles because of the lack of unpredictability that comes from playing with humans.

Technology is fun but becomes predictable after some time. People are the ones who keep things interesting.

Content Creator

I started the year in grief after my relationship went bust after 5 years and numbed myself with fair amounts of alcohol and gaming each day.

After my birthday, I had had enough and decided to build something for myself. I had no idea what I would do or how to do it. I knew that being on social media would be one of the ingredients. I posted my first post on LinkedIn.

I started on the new path without knowing where it would take me. It's a journey of self-discovery, and results come with time. If you want to start, there is no better time than now.

On that journey, I met many amazing people and learned a lot.

Manager and Creator

It’s like having two jobs at any given time - managing during the day and writing in the evenings.

Writing alone made me a better Engineering Manager. I had to learn to express myself and write better. Training that skill dramatically improved how I communicate during office hours.

My day job experience feeds my content in return. I write about what I know, what I have learned, and what I feel can be valuable to the community in their leadership careers. Reading about others' experiences has helped me immensely in becoming a better leader.

By design, I chose a path that would lead to a flywheel effect and incorporate both work and content.

Coach

In the last quarter, I have found alignment - a skill that glues together my career and newly found mission.

I mentored engineers for the last decade, but I realised it ultimately doesn’t work in teaching soft skills. I had heard about coaching before but considered it a more indirect version of mentoring. You can guess the lesson here is I was wrong.

Coaching changed my leadership over the last quarter. I learned that guiding through change produces better results than simply passing on information. Especially in the era of AI, where knowledge is abundant, guidance becomes the top skill to master as a leader.

Because leadership is teaching - helping the people you lead to grow.

What’s next?

Changes are coming to my content and the newsletter.

I lacked focus, and it’s okay. I started without a plan, with a plan to figure it out as I move forward. I feel the time has come when I know what I want to achieve in the following years.

More about that next week, when I’ll let you know what’s coming up in 2024.

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Today you’ll learn:

👉 What is strategic thinking?
👉 The 3 Pillars of Strategic Thinking
👉 What skills to focus on to get better at Strategic Thinking

After a short break, Code.Lead.Succeed Newsletter is back!

I wrote it two weeks ago, and through writing it, I realised it’s what I practised for a long time in my career but lacked in my writing. I had to rethink the “whats” and “whys” you’ll learn about today. Lead and succeed will stay the main focus point, and the focus will be on bridging the worlds of technology and people skills.

More fun will come in the upcoming months, but let’s return to Strategic Thinking.

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What is strategic thinking?

It’s an ongoing thought process focusing on the “what” and “why” of work.

It’s continuous work on decisions, problem-solving and processes supporting your software. Goals and requirements change; you must revise and adapt to new information. It’s an iterative process of getting more and more clarity as you learn more about the problem you solve.

It’s looking forward to three steps ahead.

The 3 Pillars of Strategic Thinking

Technical skills

You need to be excellent at your craft.

Every technical solution depends on the context it’s used in. Your technical knowledge of a variety of solutions allows you to adapt to new challenges coming up every day. What you’d like to avoid is to be the developer with a hammer, seeing every problem as a nail.

The goal is to expand your technical knowledge of new technologies and contexts in which the technology is used.

Problem-solving with a sprinkle of creativity

Strategies are the overarching principles guiding tactical decisions.

Strategy is not a solution; it’s a theme that fits a theme of similar solutions, keeping open to innovation. Strategy tries to guess tomorrow's problems and use this knowledge to find solutions for today. It narrows the possible ways from everything to the narrow few that will last for a long time.

Strategy is about narrowing the possible options so decisions are easier to make.

Analytical skills

For a good strategy, you need quality data.

To think about the future, you must know what will happen in the software and the business. You also pay attention to the constraints of the system and organisation. Time and money often eliminate the perfect answers, forcing you to think again.

The less you assume designing your strategies, the more solid they are.

How can you learn it?

Observe and listen

Get curious about what’s happening around you.

Start listening for insight instead of agreement. When you hear an opinion you disagree with, ask what’s behind it. It will provide you with the data to build your strategy.

If you feel you’re missing something - start asking around.

Continuous learning

Start hunting for insights from people who did it again.

Every book, course and YouTube video can teach you something. Find new creators and points of view that can open more options for your future decisions. Focus on people you disagree with and who you find uncomfortable to listen to.

You’ll grow into a generalist mindset with infinite possibilities.

Coaches and mentors

Find someone who has already done it.

A one-to-one conversation about a problem is the best source of new points of view. Experienced coaches and mentors will also know how to spot the barriers in your thinking that are invisible from the inside. They will also be a source of wisdom and mistakes you can learn about without the time and punishment of making them.

Learning decades of mistakes in one hour is the best leverage.

Conferences

If you struggle to find a mentor, the next best thing is conferences and meetups.

Listen to people explaining how they solved particular problems, the context, and how they implemented their changes. It is even better when they mention the challenges and failures of their approach. Even if they are at a high level, you can put yourself in their shoes when a similar scenario happens to you.

You can stay at home and watch all of them on YouTube.

Try it out

Strategic thinking is a skill like any other. You master it by practice and feedback. Next time you face deciding by yourself or within the team, ask yourself the following questions.

1. What’s the goal?

2. What’s the today’s problem?

3. What are the constraints?

4. What are the possible options?

5. What’s needed now?

6. What seems to be the best long-term option?

7. What part of it can be done to solve today's problems?

8. If impossible - what’s the next best option?

It will take a moment to practice and get used to the new way of thinking, but it will make your decisions last the scrutiny of time.

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PS: Let’s have a chat

If you’re an aspiring technical leader or you’re one already.
If you value learning new things every day.
If you’re ambitious and strive to win big.

Let’s have a chat about how we can support each other.

No sales
No pitching
No products

Just a conversation between technical leaders.

Reply to this email or DM me on LinkedIn.

Have a great weekend!

Today in Code.Lead.Succeed Newsletter in 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

👉 How the economic models changed in the last 50 years
👉 How did that lead to Sam Altman leaving OpenAI
👉 The 5 ways I prepare myself if that happened to me

And to celebrate 1000 subscribers, I have a special gift for you at the end!

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Capitalism 101

Adam Smith was the founder of capitalism. He believed in the social responsibility of businesses. He thought that businesses’ role is to create goods and services that meet the needs of society.

Contrary to that, in 1970, Milton Friedman wrote an essay: “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”. The main takeaway was the shift in thinking about the business. Its primary responsibility was to meet shareholder's interests through profit.

You can see the vast difference in approaches. The classical way puts communities and the social value of business first. The “modern” practice focuses on the interests of the few.

How CEOs get fired

Sam Altman is an excellent example where the founder's vision doesn't matter. The same has happened to Steve Jobs in 1985. Investors' interest took priority over the founder's vision.

That’s also the reason why Elon Musk took Twitter/X private. He couldn’t have a board of investors in his way to get his vision realised. His vision is greater than short-term profits for a few.

Companies following Friedman’s model put profit for shareholders above everything else. If their goals aren’t met, they execute any strategy necessary to fix that.

There is a good chance you’re also working in that kind of company. There is a good chance you experienced layoffs. I hope it explains them. It’s nothing personal. It’s a profit margin.

The 5 ways you can prepare

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

I have an exit strategy

At any point in my career, I knew what to do if I got laid off that day. I don’t fear it daily, but I am prepared for the situation.

I keep an eye on who’s currently hiring in my area. I see who has open positions. I look at what skills they need to get the job.

I have an action plan: what would I do, and who would I call if I had to find a new job tomorrow.

I keep an emergency fund

A part of an exit strategy is to keep a cushion I can land on in case something unexpected happens.

I save some money each month and can cut my expenses. This way, I buy myself time to find a good job and not take the first one that will land on my desk.

It’s up to you how big it is. The smallest for me is 3 months. I hear people have up to a year of expenses covered.

The riskiest play is to have none.

I audit and diversify my skills

Market changes, economics change. What you know today may not be valuable tomorrow.

Continuous learning is the best safety net. Book as little as 15 minutes daily to read an article or a chapter in a book. As you look at available jobs, you’ll get insight into what you can learn next.

Like building your savings, it’s a long game of small moves that will keep you ahead of the changing conditions.

I diversify my income

There is a truth that the only guaranteed employment is in the company you own.

The easiest way of starting for you as a Software Engineer is through writing. Start posting on LinkedIn about what you know. Start a Substack writing once a week about what you’ve learned in that time.

You don’t need money or a business plan. All you need to do is to open your LinkedIn and write your first post. The rest you can figure out later. It will also help with the following strategy.

I build my network

The easiest thing you can do is be nice to recruiters even if you’re not looking for a job.

Instead of attacking them for spamming your inbox, reply with “Thank you”. You’ll be the one they’ll remember, which can put you on top of the pile of CVs.

Building your network of like-minded people will also help your growth as an Engineer. In case you need a new job, you’ll have plenty of friends worldwide to assist you in finding it.

Putting it all together

Putting those strategies to work will bring safety to your career progression. You can see how all five work well together and how you can use them together.

You’ll also learn many helpful off-meta skills. This will change your outlook on career progression. I did learn a lot about business and myself since I started writing 6 months ago.

And if you feel it’s too late for you. The last best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The next one is now. Time will pass anyway. What you do with it is your choice.

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P.S.

The Code.Lead.Succeed reached 1000 subscribers! Thank you all 🫶

I’ve also reached 1 MILLION impressions on LinkedIn 💙

Thank you to all of you for your support!

To celebrate, I decided to give you 10 free career coaching sessions (worth £200 each)!

So:

👉 If you want to find clarity on your career goals for 2024
👉 If you struggle at your current job and are looking for answers
👉 If you want to become a Technical Leader in 2024

Reply to this email or DM me on LinkedIn with “10for1k” and get your career going!

Today in Code.Lead.Succeed Newsletter you’ll learn:

👉 A new model of defining seniority
👉 How it applies to specialist and generalist
👉 How you can use it to progress your career

It all started with my dissatisfaction with a T-shaped engineer. It’s semi-accurate for specialists and doesn’t fit those with general knowledge. I feel a good model should cover both.

Last week, I read a great book, “Immunity to Change”, which, in the beginning, described a knowledge model that was new to me. It’s based on the complexity you can attach to a given topic.

I see it as playing Doom at 320x200 pixels and having an immersive experience. It’s the junior level. I enjoy the game even if I do not see all the details. Fast forward to today and playing in 4k+ with photorealistic detail. It’s the same thrill, but there is a vast difference in what I can see on the screen.

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Junior vs. Senior Engineer

Let’s jump straight into an example. We’ll use three skills: code (Blue), software design (Red) and people (Green).

For a Junior, each skill will be level 1:

For a mid, they all are at level 2 and Senior at level 3. We assume it’s a balanced Engineer growing equally in all aspects simultaneously:

What I discovered is that the common models needed more depth.

It becomes interesting if you look at the difference in the surface area of knowledge. Junior’s is 3, whereas Senior’s is 9. Senior’s surface area of expertise is three times larger than Junior’s.

Looking at the surface area also allows us to describe the T model of expertise. If 9 means seniority, we can look at an example of a developer who’s an expert in code and system design but lacks some people skills.

They are just as senior as their balanced colleagues, just in a different way.

Specialists and generalists

The last Engineer can be considered a specialist with strong technical skills. We can ramp it up even more and meet someone with incredible talent in writing code in their favourite language.

They are certainly specialists.

For generalists, we extend the list of skills horizontally. They will still be decent at code and people skills but also know project management, leadership and domain.

They are just as Senior as the Specialist is. Their surface area of knowledge is big enough to warrant their position.

Learning for Surface

How do I increase the surface? As I mentioned in the preface to the article - it’s all about increasing the pixel density of your skills.

I heard an anecdote that Eskimos have 8 words for snow. They use it for building their houses and various other purposes. They are snow experts. As an engineer coming from a novice, you increase the details you recognise doing the same task.

1. Text file

2. JavaScript file

3. Express backend file

4. Express file with queries to a database

5. Express file with queried to database using Active Record pattern

6. I shouldn't use JavaScript for the Backend 🙃 and Active Record for databases

As you learn, you see more details, and it takes you less time to notice the small details.

The caveat is in the law of diminishing returns. It’s easy to split a pizza, but not with atoms. The higher the complexity you can see, the more time and effort it will take you to reach another level.

It’s the Specialist path. You invest in discovering details others can’t see; over time, you see more than anybody else.

For Generalists, diminishing returns means adding a narrow bar to the graph with each additional. I’ve learned 15 programming languages to at least mid-level, and I can say that learning 16th won’t change much in the value of my skill set now.

Designing career for Surface

1. Identify your expert skills

It’s usually what you like to do the most. It’s where you’ll push through the diminishing returns and become the go-to person.

As a Software Engineer, programming and system design will be your primary skills. Secondary are communication, problem-solving and technical leadership.

2. Balance out with the secondary skills

Learning them increases your surface level faster than sticking to technology when you reach a certain point of diminishing returns. After you get them to a reasonable level, switch back to your expert skills.

As a generalist, ensure the next skill you’re learning adds long-term value to your skill set. Competitive Knitting can teach you about consistency and winning but may not add the most to your knowledge surface.

3. Plan, test and iterate

Every quarter, check where you are, what skills are serving you the best and what can be the best way of increasing your surface of knowledge.

Keep a long-term vision of yourself as your North Star metric and align it with your current role.

The equaliser of skills

Looking at the boxes earlier, you can spot them as an audio equaliser. You dial up specific frequencies louder than others. Each song will sound better with different EQ settings.

Frequencies are skills, your life is the song, and the goal is to get the right bars green.

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You made my day today! We hit 900 subscribers!

To all and each of you - Thank you! 🫶

Today in Code.Lead.Succeeed Newsletter in 12 minutes or less

• I share the 12 lessons from my 12 years of career

• What I learned from my mistakes

• What led me to my successes

Enjoy the read, make sure you’re subscribed and have a great weekend!

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Own your career

I believe in extreme ownership. I hold myself accountable for the career choices I make. I celebrate when they work; I make changes if they don’t.

Ownership means power.

Ownership means freedom.

Family and friends want what they think is good for you, but only you’re the expert at being you and what is the best for your life.

The magic happens when you become selfish about your choices. You become happy, fulfilled and lead by example. You’ll lead people around you by example.

The more you focus on yourself, the more you can give to others.

Plan long term

Since my blue-collar times, I planned for the long term — a decade, at least.

I always prioritise learning over money. The next job is always more important than what I get today. The more I know, the more it compounds into the future.

I’ve seen it going badly. People spend a decade in well-paid jobs working on ancient technologies. Then they wake up one day, a decade behind the market.

Going for quick and easy wins may be tempting, but you’ll still be working 20 years from now.

Code is just the tip of the iceberg

Don’t lead your career like a Titanic. Getting attracted to the small surface-level skill of coding.

Everybody makes this mistake. Some learn from it.

I was focused on code for over a decade. I understood that a better engineer equals a better coder—nothing further from the truth.

Code is crucial, but it’s just a foundation. Communication, problem-solving, project management, leadership and many other skills make a real difference.

Communication is the core skill

I’ve been frustrated for years that I had sound solutions, and I’ve been ignored.

Solutions weren’t the problem. How I communicated them was.

The game changer in my career was focus on communication.

Communication is how you interact with others, but also:

• Sales

• Marketing

• Coaching

• Negotiations

It’s not about just being well-spoken. It’s to know how to speak in a given context.

Meta skills have the best ROI

Yesterday I had a chat with my friend. He stated that domain knowledge is the most critical aspect of a Senior Engineer.

I agree it’s essential, but the ability to learn the domain fast is even better.

Going one step deeper can feel like premature optimisation, but if you plan long-term, it’s not.

You trade a month of learning the basics for years saved over the decades.

Always look for options

I keep “It depends” at the back of my mind. There is never a single best solution.

I now ask the magic question - “And what else?”. It’s a powerhouse of creativity.

I don’t move forward until I have three viable ways to solve a problem. It reduces the stress of the first one having to work. If the first idea fails and I’m under pressure, I already have two more solutions.

Context is the king. What works for Netflix probably won’t work for you. Keep your options relevant.

Be contrarian

I’m an old punk. Going against the system is in my blood. But contrarian doesn’t mean being always against the world. It’s all about getting as close to the objective truth as possible.

If someone gives you a single truth, like TDD is the best way to deliver software, ask the magic question - “And what else?”.

Singular truths are biased towards the person preaching.

If you take it as gossip, you are not an expert but an acolyte. Question everything, and look at each solution from different angles.

It’s not glass half-empty or half-full - it’s both.

Leave when it feels like leaving

I made this mistake too many times. I stayed with a company when I knew deep in my heart it was over. I valued the relationships with people and places more than myself.

It always ended badly for everyone. I got burned out, and somebody else decided for me.

This behaviour cost me one or two years of stagnation and regression. I was damaging myself.

It’s hard to lose people you care about, but it’s even harder to get depressed.

Work hard but also smart

There is a gory of martyrdom of hard work. People are working hard and getting nowhere.

Contrary to common belief, there are also no participation rewards.

Have a vision. Have a plan. Make sure you invest time into your goals.

It doesn’t matter how hard you row if you’re in the wrong boat and going in the wrong direction.

Happy people build good code

This I’ve seen change over 20 years. Developers were rare; software was simple.

Today, software is built by teams of people.

The health of the team is equal to the state of the software.

If software struggles, the only way to fix it is to help people who make it.

It’s people who build the software. Making people better is the easiest way to improve software.

If you’re the smartest in the room, you’re in the wrong room

I’ve always had an enormous ego. I liked to be the smartest.

It’s a good driver for growth.

What I didn’t realise was that the goal I was chasing was my demise.

If you’re the most competent person in the room, you can’t learn.

If you don’t learn, you stagnate (at best).

It’s the positive side of deciding to move on. You outgrew your environment, and it’s okay.

Trust yourself

The one I ignored for way too long. I trusted advisors more than my gut.

I even lied to myself to convince myself reality wasn’t what it was.

I got bored of code a while ago. I didn’t want to admit it and accept what I love the most now is helping people in their careers.

Trust your gut, explore options and go for it. Life’s too short not to do what you love.

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P.S.

When everybody is preparing their New Year’s resolutions, you can do better!

Start today.

Who you’d like to be at the end of 2024?

And go for it. You can do it.

And if you want to know how it feels to have 12 more years of experience in carving your career path, I have an offer for you.

I launch my new and improved career coaching program, and I want you to get your career obstacles removed before the New Year begins.

If you want to
✅ Gain clarity of your career goals
✅ Improve your communication skills
✅ Transition from Individual Contributor to Leader

Reply to this email or DM me on LinkedIn “2024 Challenge” today!

Today in Code.Lead.Succeed Newsletter in 10 minutes or less

• You learn how the information has changed in the last 30 years

• You learn the value of knowledge

• I give you my five knowledge strategies

Let’s go!

What’s the difference?

Information is any content you consume.

• Books are content

• This article is content

• Lecture at university is content.

Knowledge is applied information. It emerges when you can verify the accuracy of information in your life.

Early days

In the mid-90s in Poland, when I was growing up, the information could have been more abundant and often outdated.

I remember walking to the nearest bookstore 2km from my house (uphill both ways, through the snow and lava lakes) to look at books. Information was there, but most books needed to be updated. They also weren’t cheap. Writing, translating and distributing a book takes time and a lot of money upfront.

With the scarcity of information, its value was close to that of knowledge.

Information Era

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Comparing it to the money and effort necessary to print a book, it’s nearly free.

That’s how the content economy emerged.

Millions of people share millions of pieces of advice every day. This creates the white noise of information we consume every day.

Finding Knowledge

So how can you figure out if what you read will make you better (Knowledge) or if it’s just information?

Here are the five strategies I use every day:

1. Question everything

It’s not about disagreement but getting as close to objective truth as possible.

Build your judgement.

With this article:

• How much does it cost to publish a book?

• Is it applicable to your life and experience?

• Does the change in access to information over the last 30 years make sense to you?

2. Judge by experience

My favourite are 19yo posting advice about lasting marriage.

The advice can be sound, but what’s the chance it’s a repeated gossip?

I listen only to content creators who made it outside of content creation in the areas I’m interested in. I’ll double-check with my friends about their experience to see if they had similar results.

3. Crosscheck

One person having an opinion is information.

Multiple people with proven results repeating the same advice increases the chance of real value.

4. Test, test and test again

The only way to be 100% sure if the information is knowledge is to apply it.

Only if you try it out you learn and verify the information.

5. Align with your goals

If you’re a Software Engineer wanting to become an Engineering Manager, knowing competitive knitting won’t help you.

Audit what you consume and if it’s for your pleasure or learning. There is nothing wrong with fun content. Don’t mistake one for another.

What’s next?

Information is cheap, and it will become even more affordable. Analytical skills lose their value.

The emerging industry comes from synthesis - the ability to gather information freely available, filter it and transform it into knowledge for yourself and others.

Today, learning is about processing the information rather than about acquiring it.

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P.S.

It’s about a year since I switched my role to Engineering Manager and found my passion in helping Software Engineers build their careers. I spent hours helping the 50 engineers I manage, and now I offer 1:1 coaching to everybody.

✅ If you want to build a clear career vision for 2024
✅ If you want to build your communication skills
✅ If you want to become an engineering leader

I have 3 coaching spots for you to get personalised support in your career!

Reply to this email now or DM me on LinkedIn with CAREER, and let’s chat about your 2024 success.