There’s a quote I heard a little while ago that really stuck with me: If you are not a liberal when you are young, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative when you are old, you have no brain. Following up my recent post about politics, I have a complementary version to this: If you are a young engineer who doesn’t hate politics, you have no heart. If you are an old engineer who doesn’t hate politics, you have no brain. ...
Feedback shouldn’t be a one-time or regularly scheduled event. It’s a constant daily process that should happen just-in-time. It should be critical and unemotional. The only rule is that you should praise more than you criticize. In short, remember to praise as often as possible, when deserved, and criticize as soon as possible, when necessary.
One thing I’ve changed my mind on recently is the importance of politics. When I worked as an individual contributor at large companies, I hated the bureaucracy and politics. Don’t get me wrong, I still do. But I’ve come to realize that politics is not a blocker, it’s a lever you can pull. If you can learn to navigate it, it is a lot more powerful than any engineering work. ...
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it. — Alan Perlis