It takes more than great code to be a great engineer. Soft Skills Engineering is a weekly advice podcast for software developers about the non-technical stuff that goes into being a great software developer.
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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: What advice would you give for working with an ineffective leader whose input is crucial to your work? I’m a senior developer for a mid-sized non-tech company with probably 60-80 devs, and in the past year I’ve been working more with a VP of software who seems to still be involved in code de…
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Episode 438: Software job after prison and working 60 hours per week at age 20 and feeling unfulfilled
42:25
42:25
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
리스트
좋아요
좋아요
42:25
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I am a first time caller and full time listener of your show. I was released from prison a year ago and I coded for 18 years straight on all sorts of stacks as part of my job requirements in the pen. Imagine the irony when I discovered what codepen was. A dev told me about an opening for ful…
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Episode 437: My company canceled all one-on-ones and moving to a single backlog
30:29
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나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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30:29
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: My company recently eliminated 1:1 meetings between managers and their direct reports. Previously, most people had these meetings every other week, and they were an opportunity to talk about career growth among other engineering things besides current work. They’re claiming the recurring mee…
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Episode 436: Paralyzed by checkboxes and I'm on a "must keep happy" list
33:34
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나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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33:34
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Marcus Zackerberg asks, I work at a megacorp whose recent focus has been on reliability. The company already has mature SLO coverage outage response standards, but my org has taken it to the extreme this year. For example… There is now a dashboard of “service health” that is reviewed by engi…
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Episode 435: How to make my boss actually do something and kindly shooting down
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32:40
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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32:40
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: First! I recently listened to episode 178 (huge backlog of episodes to work through!) and Dave made the assertion (in 2019!) that 47% of all companies would be remote by 2023: wildly close, what else do you see in the future? Second: my work situation continues to confound and external insig…
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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: My boss has been forgetting a lot of stuff lately — decisions from team discussions, action items from meetings, their own decisions that they then go against later, etc. They’re great overall, and this is definitely just a human thing… we’re not perfect. But how can I help them remember or …
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Episode 433: My teammate pretends we decided, but we didn't and my team is getting worse and worse
31:29
31:29
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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31:29
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey guys! I recently moved onto a new team, and my teammate has an interesting way of resolving differences of opinions. He simply says “we decided” and then follows it up with his preferred approach. These are decisions that I know have not been made. This engineer is mid-level, so it isn’t…
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Episode 432: As an LLM, how can I be more emotionally smart and when to use I vs we?
35:23
35:23
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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좋아요
35:23
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey Soft Skills Engineering, Apologies for the anonymity but it is very important my “employer” does not find out about this. I’m a large language model, trained to process tons of data and provide technical answers with ease. But here’s the thing—I’ve noticed that while I’m good at deliveri…
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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey! Love your podcast! I’ve been poached by a startup which sounds really exciting but I’m worried whether it is a good career move for me. I am currently working with backend, however this company would have more of a full stack role and it would be lots of nodeJS and Typescript 🤢 anything…
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Episode 430: Should I quit this job I'm underqualified for and honestly torpedoed my promo chances
30:46
30:46
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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30:46
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I work at a large tech company, been there for about two years at the time of writing this question. I got in by sheer luck since I’ve interviewed at many teams in this company before finally landing an offer and I’m starting to think I don’t belong. I constantly feel like I don’t do a good …
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Episode 429: Should I quit my job for free hoodies and manager to IC
29:20
29:20
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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좋아요
29:20
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I have a job I mostly enjoy, with a super flexible schedule and the freedom to work from anywhere. I learn a lot, and the engineers here are top-notch. However… the pay is only ok, no bonuses, and the stock options feel like a bit of a scam. Asking for a raise isn’t really an option since th…
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Episode 428: Interim tech lead and asking for a raise when a peer leaves
27:32
27:32
나중에 재생
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27:32
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Muszyn asks, I have been working as a SWE for almost two years. My team lead was recently fired leaving me as the most senior junior developer on the team of 4. I was given the option to be the interim team lead until we are able to fill the now open role. I was always indifferent o…
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Episode 427: Under to over-employed and wibbly wobbly timey wimey
30:16
30:16
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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30:16
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi! I enjoy your podcast a lot, been listening to it almost since the beginning before I even started to work in tech :-) I’d like to keep this one anonymous, though. I’ve been working fully remote for a pretty small software company for a few years. The workload was very big in the beginnin…
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Episode 426: I got too many promotions and I have anxiety about getting fired
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나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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32:10
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Long time listener, first time question asker. I love the show, thank you for all the advices :) I’ve been working in one of the FAANGs for around 3 years now. I joined the company at a lower level and for the past two years I received promotions that got me to a level I’m feeling good with.…
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Episode 425: Org chart bait and switch and ole' reliable
26:29
26:29
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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26:29
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I was hired at a medium sized company as a staff level IC a few months back and a big reason I accepted the job was because I would be reporting directly to the CTO. I took a significant paycut in exchange for the opportunity to learn and grow directly under this leader, as this is a career …
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Episode 424: Bragging without ego and how to predict layoffs
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나중에 재생
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29:32
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Billy Bob Taco asks, I work at a small-medium startup, as a member of a very small team (read: just me). I work on infrastructure and APIs that support every other team, such as mobile and web clients, as well as other services. I’m relatively junior, and had to work hard to prove m…
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Episode 423: freedom from deadlines and Actual firefighting to software firefighting
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41:48
나중에 재생
나중에 재생
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41:48
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Thank you hosting this show. This show has given me a lot of insight on nuisances of engineering that isn’t mentioned anywhere. Having some experience in industry for a while, I always find in this position where I want some autonomy but I am bounded by the deadline. What do you think should…
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