I happened to chat with an old-timer at Square who was leaving soon. They shared a backstory on how our engineer leveling changed over time and what pain points it has. All companies have their internal struggles, so hearing this wasn’t upsetting or anything. But I started thinking about how this trend will impact how I manage my team.

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Software Engineering ⚙️

Updating React at Etsy

I was surprised to read that Etsy decided to migrate from React 15 to Preact 10 instead of React 16 or beyond. I don’t know how Etsy got stuck with a five-year-old version of React. But a decision to migrate with a React-compatible library, not React, will have long-term ramifications, the risk I would avoid.

The Time Value of Shipping

Since I started working at larger companies, I ran into many projects that dragged on a couple of years since their inception. Given that context, the article taught me two things: we need to anticipate how our customers will change in the coming years and stop the project if we miss the window.

How I Discovered Thousands of Open Databases on AWS

The author found 337+K IP and port combinations open to the general public with a simple set of tools, and many were actual vulnerabilities (some were already victims of ransomware). Security through obscurity isn’t enough. Configuration is messy.

Tools for Fast (and Less Furious) Frontend Development

I liked that this team introduced debugging facilities to their internal framework to speed up their development (see “4. ‘Observability’”).

People ❤️

Career Advice Nobody Gave Me: Never ignore a recruiter

I am guilty of ignoring recruiter emails or just outright rejecting them. If we know what we want to learn about the market and prepare to get the information, recruiters can provide great signals about the market.

Titles

I was curious why Square does not have titles like a “Director” or a “VP” and was pointed to this article. While I don’t hold the idealized view such as this article (I can still see how large of an org someone manages, which affects my perception of their work), I think Square found the right balance to provide a structured growth path while somewhat protecting against HiPPO.

Red Light Green Light

Where we sit changes what we see. When we disagree with someone, the disagreement usually comes from different vantage points.

Business 💰

Sony buying Bungie for $3.6 billion

Game platform companies are gobbling up studios to take dibs on their IPs, betting on the future expansion into other media or their metaverses. Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, and now Sony bought Bungie. Some companies, such as Riot Games, have leveraged their IP incredibly well, but many failed. As a gamer, I’d love to see these IPs pan out, but I am not holding my breath.