Erin J.

I don't think enough developers realize just how much easier coding becomes when they put version control in the front seat. For much of my coding career, Git (and formerly TFS) were just a way to share changes with my collaborators. I only checked in my code when I need the other people to run it. Now, I commit changes for every micro-task. Variable name change? Committed. Migration code? Committed. A mega-feature? Broken down and committed bit by bit (with unit tests to accompany each slice). I no longer need to keep track of what changes I made, when, why, and how. It's all in the history. EDIT: Squash merging PRs is actually amazing. It's how you should merge them and people who say otherwise are wrong.

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Signs and wonders If there was ever any doubt in the last month about the changing nature of our industry and the role of an engineer within it, those have been cast aside. The Seattle Times published this article today https://lnkd.in/gpSetTJ3. LeadDev asserts that interviewees might be penalized for not using AI https://lnkd.in/ggNsGqSx.  All of this points to such a drastically changed landscape from even 2 years ago that we all have to loop AI into our processes as we look for work and query those in a hiring position.  I don't necessarily see these positions as new, or very eye opening from opinions I have been forming over the past month. And certainly there are no lack of opinions surrounding AI. But they do buttress the idea that, as job seekers, we are hobbling ourselves if we don't know how to use these new tools. LeadDev even says we will have a hard time getting in the door.   One quote stuck out to me in that Times' article though. "Writing code is more fun than reading code". This points to the assertion that we still need that developer in the loop; we still need that head check to make sure what our AI is spitting out is still workable. As I have been working on new projects & side hustles this month, I spent some time vibe coding and put up https://lnkd.in/g7W3J4WJ. It's a fun remix studio that remixes your audio mp3s in the styles of several iconic producers: J.Dilla, Steve Albini, Scott Burns. It's an idea generator for your mixes if they sound flat or you are just trying to get them to sound different and don't know which way to go.  But and so anyway, AI mostly did that. And AI mostly messed it up. From not understanding memory management, to screwing up the integration from the front end to the backend. Were it not for the developer in the loop there would be just a bunch of UI that doesn't go anywhere and a bunch of backend code that errors out. It is hard to not get frustrated with a tool that gets you 70% of the way to a working solution, but chokes on the last 30%. Keeping in mind though that if I were to have done this from the ground up without AI, that solution would have taken more than a week of dilligently coding and researching. And whereas that seems like the way to get to a holistic solution where bugs are found early and workarounds are smoothed out to actual paths, the payoff; the proof of concept would have been a long way off. With AI it took 4 hours. What is missing here though is the high level thinking of the solution. For instance, as developers our coding always always always generates more ideas. What other ideas did I miss in letting AI take control?  

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Reaching senior engineer isn’t usually about writing better code. It’s about getting better at the intangible skills. Throughout my career, the engineers I looked up to were fast and competent coders, but they did so much more than just code. They mentored others through code reviews and design docs. They jumped in quickly to help answer questions or debug issues, both within and across teams. They explored multiple alternatives and reasoned through tradeoffs. They simplified other people’s designs and projects. They proactively looked for ways to improve the team. They executed autonomously when given the right level of scope and clarity. As a new grad or SWE II, it can be hard to see the difference between levels. But if you look toward the engineers you trust and respect, you’ll notice patterns of specific habits or traits that make them stand out. Identify those skills and emulate them. Confirm with your manager if you are unsure. The best engineers I’ve worked with not only had a great technical foundation but were curious and cared deeply. Are there other traits or habits you think are the sign of a senior+ engineer?

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For my remote work friends: Would you be interested in a spreadsheet of remote-work-friendly locations (WiFi speed, noise levels, etc)? I've cataloged ~30 cafes to date in/around the greater Seattle area, and I find it's very useful for deciding where to meet up with new folk to work with. If I may share my top 5: 1: A Muddy Cup (Wallingford) - 9.5 2: Boon Boona (Renton) - 9 3: Patcha Collective (Greenlake) - 8.5 4: SBP West Wall (Atlantic) - 8 5: Cafe Jaiiya (Edmonds) - 8

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Recently I gave a talk at SF Ruby about a library we built (and recently open-sourced!) at AngelList called Zaxcel. Why'd we build it? Excel is the lingua franca of finance, but most programmatic Excel generation libraries force you to think in coordinates and formula strings. We took a different approach: model the workbook as a directed graph where data flows through named objects. Let the library handle coordinate resolution and formula composition. The result is a DSL that actually makes sense: you write formulas as Ruby expressions, reference things by name, and the type checker catches mistakes at compile time. It's revolutionized how we build financial statements. What used to take weeks now takes hours (and with AI agents - only minutes!), empowering thousands of workbook deliveries a quarter. Read how we went from nightmare refactors to 100x productivity: https://lnkd.in/es2aTttR Open-sourced repo (you can use it today!): https://lnkd.in/ecKRwcaW

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My SWE class has been one of my all-time favorites. With 70% of the grade being project based, I think it does a decent job simulating real-world projects. Teams, spec docs, evolving requirements, confusion, problem-solving. The vibe? Pretty close to what I’d imagine working in industry feels like. What I’ve learned so far: Specs matter. Like, really matter. As a busy student, it’s tempting to skim the documents and jump straight into code. But every time I do that, I end up spending hours building the wrong thing. Painful lesson, but an important one. I’d say this week included 5 extra hours of work because I neglected the 30 minutes of reading. Now, I’m treating spec docs with the same focus I give a tricky LeetCode problem: • Slow down. • Read carefully. • Gather thoughts. • Then code. It’s saving me time, headaches, and teaching me a skill that’s clearly critical outside the classroom too. For those of you in industry, do you find spec docs as tricky (and important) as I’m finding them in class? #SoftwareEngineering #LearningByDoing #StudentLife #CareerGrowth #LeetCode #ProjectBasedLearning

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When you're waiting for your coding agent be done, I'm genuinely curious, what are you doing? Are you watching it run, working on something else, or on social medias? It feel silly to wait 20-30 minutes, but we all know how inefficient context switching can be.

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Excited to share a career milestone. 🚀 My interest in engineering began early, inspired by seeing my dad’s work as an engineer and the real-world impact it created. In many ways, this recently came full circle when I went on my first on-site client visit last week. Speaking directly with users helped me understand how they actually use the product, where their real pain points lie, and how assumptions can quietly break down in enterprise environments. A few key takeaways for me:  1. Testing beyond the happy path - across OS, browsers and identity providers is non-negotiable. 2. Preparation matters as being ready for cross-questions with relevant examples changes the quality of the conversation. 3. Enterprise systems come with unique operational constraints. 4. Clear pre-adoption onboarding is critical for customers to understand core workflows before using the product. 5. Post-release communication matters as feature changes can disrupt workflows if customers aren’t informed in advance. 6. Earlier customer engagement leads to better outcomes, real usage surfaces gaps and bugs sooner. This was my first-hand experience of seeing how Adapts products are creating impact for customers and helping organizations navigate complex legacy code-bases. Grateful to Adapts, and thanks to Vivek Sheel and Sharad Agrawal for this exciting opportunity!

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If you're a Senior Engineer looking to move up, the next role will likely be a Staff Engineer. And in this guide, Shruti shares tips from her own experience of getting promoted to Staff Engineer at PayPal and Slack. She talks about what Staff Engineers do (and how it's different from Seniors), why you might not be getting promoted, and how to take that next step. https://lnkd.in/g58dnFEG

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If you're trying to break into SWE and are still "figuring it out", this is probably for you. Most people treat recruiting like a checklist: resume -> apply -> grind leetcode -> pray 🙏 But the people who actually get offers actually understand there's a system to it: - how to network intentionally 🤝 - how to frame projects in terms of impact 📊 - how to prioritize prep instead of doing everything at once 🎯 - how interviewers actually evaluate you 🧠 🚀 Leland is hosting a FREE Software Engineering Recruiting Week (March 16 - 19) with 8+ virtual sessions covering the full recruiting process. Former hiring managers from companies like Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and more are breaking down what actually matters at each stage. If you're recruiting for internships or new grad roles, it's worth checking out: https://lnkd.in/eqB4ByAR

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A surprising amount of what made me a better senior software engineer did not come from software engineering. It came from theater and dance. From rehearsals where something breaks right before go time. From tech week problem-solving. From learning how to recover when a cue is missed. From building trust with a group of people trying to create something bigger than any one person could make alone. For a long time, I thought my life in tech and my life in the arts were separate. Now I think they have been teaching me the same lessons all along. Theater taught me that great work depends on the ensemble. Not just individual talent, but timing, communication, preparation, adaptability, and trust. Dance taught me that precision matters, but so does the experience. You can hit every mark and still miss the feeling. That is true in software too. A product can be technically correct and still feel confusing, frustrating, or inaccessible to the people using it. Both parts of my life have taught me that being senior is not just about having better answers. It is about creating greater clarity, steadiness, and trust. It is about helping the whole team do their best work. Less ego, more ensemble. Less proving, more supporting. I still write code. I still care deeply about craft. But the older I get, the more I see that some of the most important skills in engineering are deeply human ones. I’m curious what other people have found... What is the non-tech part of your life that has made you better at working in tech? #SoftwareEngineering #SeniorEngineer #Leadership #Theater #Dance #Collaboration #UserExperience

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There have been a lot of layoffs lately—and it’s tough on everyone. But I want to take a moment to talk about how especially hard it is for software engineers. When most people get laid off, they can focus 100% of their time and energy on applying to new jobs. For software engineers? It’s a different kind of grind. Not only do we have to apply and network—we also have to study. LeetCode. System design. Technical interviews. Coding challenges. It’s like prepping for an exam while trying to find a job, often under intense financial and emotional pressure. So if you know an engineer who was recently laid off—check in on them. Send them a referral. Offer a mock interview. Even just a word of encouragement goes a long way. It’s rough out there. Let’s support each other however we can.

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