Career
9 articles in Career.
Staff Engineer Layoff Survival Guide: Lessons from 2008, 2020, 2023 — and Now
I've survived three tech recessions. Lost my job in one, held the axe in another. Now it's 2026 and the AI boom changed the rules. Here's the updated playbook.
The Principal IC Playbook Nobody Shares With You
Reaching principal is the first rung of a new ladder, not the last rung of the old one. Here is what nobody told me about the ownership-autonomy paradox, how leverage actually works at this level, and the charter model I wish I had from day one.
The Three Things Exceptional Engineering Leaders Do (And the One They Stop Doing)
Most engineering leaders excel at one of three pillars — providing direction, removing obstacles, or foreseeing change — and quietly fail at the other two. After 12 years and more management mistakes than I care to count, here's what I've learned about building strength across all three.
Three Ways to Know If Your Career Is Actually Growing
Normal career metrics — title, pay, team size — tell you how you're doing relative to others. They don't tell you whether you're growing. Here are three that do.
Time vs. Timing: The Career Framework I Wish I Had Earlier
I've made bets that paid off because of timing and bets that paid off because of compounding. Confusing the two is how careers stall.
From Contractor to Consultant: The Mindset Shift That Changes Your Income
Contractors sell time. Consultants sell results. After 12 years in AI and ML, I learned that distinction the hard way — and the moment it clicked changed how I price, position, and pick clients.
Agency Beats Intelligence: How I Now Hire (And Evaluate Myself)
Raw intelligence is abundant and cheap. The engineers thriving in the AI era are the ones with agency — the ability to set goals, act under uncertainty, and self-correct. Here is how I changed my interview process to find them.
You Are No Longer a Coder: The Shift from Execution to Direction
After 12 years of building systems by hand, I stopped writing most of my own code. Here is what changed, what I delegated to AI, what I found it cannot do, and why the hardest part of the transition had nothing to do with technology.
The Async-First Engineering Team: What Actually Works (And What Doesn't)
I went async-first with my remote engineering team. Productivity went up. Culture took a hit. Here's the honest accounting of what changed, what broke, and the specific practices that made it worth it.