2022

This month I want to highlight an article, 3 underrated things great developers do, by Nick Van Nieuwenhuyse. This article is brief, however it surfaces three core competencies that strongly correlate to high quality software engineering. We write code to solve today’s needs, but can morph to accommodate next year’s features. Good enterprise software engineers…

This month I want to highlight an article, From Stolen Laptop to Inside the Company Network, by Dolos Group. This article walks through how a security research group turned a company laptop into corporate network access, without any inside information. This article is fascinating because it discusses several potential security vulnerabilities in the hardware and…

This month I want to highlight an article, 11 Laws of Software Estimation for Complex Work, by Maarten Dalmijn. The author recounts a challenging situation he encountered as a Product Manager, and then describes 11 truths about software estimation that apply in any scenario. The word “estimate” means “to determine roughly the size, extent, or…

This month I want to highlight an article, How to Prevent or Recover from Developer Burnout, by Anastasia. At Amazon, we constantly try to achieve continuous customer value in an increasingly complex environment. Doing so requires creative thinking, as well as plenty of rote execution. Burnout is commonplace in software development; this article goes deep…

This month I want to highlight an article, 15 Fundamental Laws of Software Development, by Matthew Jones. Matthew briefly explains 15 different human behavioral tendencies turned into named laws, such as Occam’s Razor, the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and Hofstadter’s Law. Most of these laws are amusing because they scratch at the core behavioral tendencies present in…

This month I want to highlight an article, Things You Should Know About Databases, by Mahdi Yusuf. What struck me about this article was the simplicity with which the author describes core relational database behaviors and patterns. It reminded me that no one is an expert in everything, and oftentimes a simple refresher on our…

This month I want to highlight an article, The Developers Dilemma — The Skill Trap, by Ben Hosking. Ben examines the dilemma developers face when determining whether to go deep or wide on their technical skill set. Do they continue to invest in their current skills to improve their expertise, or do they branch into…

This month I want to highlight an article, The technological case against Bitcoin and blockchain, by Luke Plant. Luke presents a well-sourced lesson on the intention behind blockchain, Bitcoin, and other decentralized technologies and products. He makes the case that every technological goal is not being met. Decentralized proof-of-work transactions are in fact centralized, only…

This month I want to highlight the recent launch of Apple’s M1 Ultra chip via their press release, Apple unveils M1 Ultra, the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer. M1 Ultra is the fusion of two M1 Max chips, which includes an innovative way to connect the two chips such that each chip…

This month I want to highlight an article, Becoming a Better Writer as a Software Engineer, by Gergely Orosz. Gergely notes the importance of writing as a tool to durably communicate our thoughts, and presents a primer on how to practice and improve your writing. As my Amazon VP is fond of saying, “clarity of…