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Why some engineers get trusted with high-impact work It’s fun and rewarding to work on critical tasks. But there’s only so much important work to go...
3 months ago
56
3 months ago
It’s fun and rewarding to work on critical tasks. But there’s only so much important work to go around. Worse still, the chances to work on…
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Mistakes engineers make in large established codebases Working in large established codebases is one of the hardest things to learn as a software engineer....
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Working in large established codebases is one of the hardest things to learn as a software engineer. You can’t practice it beforehand (no…
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How I got promoted to staff engineer twice At the beginning of 2021, Zendesk promoted me to staff software engineer. At the end of 2021 I...
3 months ago
42
3 months ago
At the beginning of 2021, Zendesk promoted me to staff software engineer. At the end of 2021 I switched jobs from Zendesk to GitHub. In…
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Thinking clearly about software You can go a long way as a software engineer without ever managing to think clearly. The feedback...
2 months ago
42
2 months ago
You can go a long way as a software engineer without ever managing to think clearly. The feedback loop of writing and running code is so…
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What can strong engineers do that weak engineers can't? Right now people are blowing up on Twitter about whether the USA needs to import top talent from...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
Right now people are blowing up on Twitter about whether the USA needs to import top talent from other countries, and if that means that…
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Is it cynical to do what your manager wants? When I suggest doing what your management chain wants, people call me cynical. Is it cynical to...
2 months ago
40
2 months ago
When I suggest doing what your management chain wants, people call me cynical. Is it cynical to deliberately work on things your company…
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Ratchet effects determine engineer reputation at large companies How do engineers become higher-status or lower-status at large tech companies? In other words, what...
2 months ago
38
2 months ago
How do engineers become higher-status or lower-status at large tech companies? In other words, what determines who gets promoted and who…
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Giving pushback to leadership Saying no to leadership is sometimes necessary when you’re at the helm of a project. Whether they’re...
2 months ago
36
2 months ago
Saying no to leadership is sometimes necessary when you’re at the helm of a project. Whether they’re proposing a timeline that can’t be…
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What makes strong engineers strong? As I’ve written about before, what defines a strong engineer is the ability to do tasks that weaker...
2 months ago
36
2 months ago
As I’ve written about before, what defines a strong engineer is the ability to do tasks that weaker engineers can’t, even with near…
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Crushing JIRA tickets is a party trick, not a path to impact Don’t be a JIRA ticket zombie! I think a common experience among ambitious juniors - certainly I did...
2 months ago
35
2 months ago
Don’t be a JIRA ticket zombie! I think a common experience among ambitious juniors - certainly I did this once - is to get frustrated at the…
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Protecting your time from predators in large tech companies If you’re a competent software engineer at a large tech company, your time is in very high demand....
2 months ago
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2 months ago
If you’re a competent software engineer at a large tech company, your time is in very high demand. Lots of people will want you to do things…
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Why are big tech companies so slow? Big tech companies spend a lot of time and money building things that a single, motivated engineer...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Big tech companies spend a lot of time and money building things that a single, motivated engineer could build in a weekend. This fact…
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Writing a tech blog people want to read My blog has gotten a lot of traffic in the last few months. Here’s what I think I’ve been doing...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
My blog has gotten a lot of traffic in the last few months. Here’s what I think I’ve been doing that’s working, and a few things that have…
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What did DeepSeek figure out about reasoning with DeepSeek-R1? The Chinese AI lab DeepSeek recently released their new reasoning model R1, which is supposedly (a)...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
The Chinese AI lab DeepSeek recently released their new reasoning model R1, which is supposedly (a) better than the current best reasoning…
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Why AI labs offer so many different models Major AI labs these days (i.e. early 2025) offer a wide variety of models. Some are faster and...
a month ago
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a month ago
Major AI labs these days (i.e. early 2025) offer a wide variety of models. Some are faster and cheaper, some are smarter, and now some are…
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How I ship projects at big tech companies I have shipped a lot of different projects over the last ~10 years in tech. I often get tapped to...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
I have shipped a lot of different projects over the last ~10 years in tech. I often get tapped to lead new ones when it’s important to get…
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Grifters, believers, grinders, and coasters Why do engineers get mad at each other so often? I think a lot of programmer arguments bottom out...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
Why do engineers get mad at each other so often? I think a lot of programmer arguments bottom out in a cultural clash between different…
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Working fast and slow Some engineers work very consistently, putting in the same hours every day and getting out the same...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Some engineers work very consistently, putting in the same hours every day and getting out the same amount of work. I don’t. Some days I…
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I don't know how to build software and you don't either Are microservices better than monoliths? Should teams set their own technical direction, or is it...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Are microservices better than monoliths? Should teams set their own technical direction, or is it better to have that dictated by some…
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What it's like working for American companies as an Australian For the last ten years I’ve worked for American tech companies as an Australian based in Australia....
2 months ago
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2 months ago
For the last ten years I’ve worked for American tech companies as an Australian based in Australia. First I worked in a satellite office for…
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Are DeepSeek's new models really that fast and cheap? Everyone’s saying that DeepSeek’s latest models represent a significant improvement over the work...
a month ago
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a month ago
Everyone’s saying that DeepSeek’s latest models represent a significant improvement over the work from American AI labs. If they’re not…
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How I use LLMs as a staff engineer Software engineers are deeply split on the subject of large language models. Many believe they’re...
a month ago
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a month ago
Software engineers are deeply split on the subject of large language models. Many believe they’re the most transformative technology to ever…
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Glue work considered harmful “Glue work” is an concept Tanya Reilly came up with in 2019. The idea is that there’s a large amount...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
“Glue work” is an concept Tanya Reilly came up with in 2019. The idea is that there’s a large amount of unglamorous work that every team…
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Good engineers are right, a lot Amazon infamously has a leadership principle where they say “good leaders are right, a lot”. It’s...
a month ago
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a month ago
Amazon infamously has a leadership principle where they say “good leaders are right, a lot”. It’s unclear to me how useful it is about…
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Engineers who won’t commit force bad decisions Some engineers think it’s a virtue to remain non-committal in technical discussions. Should our team...
a month ago
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a month ago
Some engineers think it’s a virtue to remain non-committal in technical discussions. Should our team build a new feature in an event-driven…
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Playing politics is how senior engineers protect their team When I write about doing politically valuable work in big tech companies, I often get comments...
2 months ago
22
2 months ago
When I write about doing politically valuable work in big tech companies, I often get comments accusing me of trying to get ahead at the…
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Using LLMs effectively isn't about prompting When people talk about using language models effectively they mainly talk about prompting: sharing...
a month ago
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a month ago
When people talk about using language models effectively they mainly talk about prompting: sharing great prompts, or lists of tips for…
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Talking to ChatGPT costs 5ml of water, not 500ml There’s a common claim on the internet that ChatGPT consumes half a litre of water for every 5-50...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
There’s a common claim on the internet that ChatGPT consumes half a litre of water for every 5-50 responses. Here are some randomly-chosen…
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Why does AI slop feel so bad to read? I don’t like reading obviously AI-generated content on Twitter. There’s a derogatory term for it: AI...
a month ago
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a month ago
I don’t like reading obviously AI-generated content on Twitter. There’s a derogatory term for it: AI “slop”, which means something like “AI…
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To avoid being replaced by LLMs, do what they can't It’s a strange time to be a software engineer. Large language models are very good at writing code...
a month ago
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a month ago
It’s a strange time to be a software engineer. Large language models are very good at writing code and rapidly getting better. Multiple…
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Lessons on thinking from large language models Large language models have gotten much better at thinking in the past few years. Billions of dollars...
a month ago
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a month ago
Large language models have gotten much better at thinking in the past few years. Billions of dollars have been spent to study how they think…
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Paths through the space of all possible solutions Some things you can’t do because they’re impossible. For instance, if you’re designing a distributed...
a month ago
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a month ago
Some things you can’t do because they’re impossible. For instance, if you’re designing a distributed system, you can’t violate the CAP…
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Blockchain explained simply A blockchain is a distributed database. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin are all different databases....
over a year ago
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over a year ago
A blockchain is a distributed database. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin are all different databases. A blockchain node is a computer with an…
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Building your sense of what's important at a tech company One of the most important career skills in tech is learning to recognize what work actually matters....
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
One of the most important career skills in tech is learning to recognize what work actually matters. Many engineers go through their careers…
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Weak managers In a previous post I made the point that having a weak manager - a manager without political clout -...
a month ago
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a month ago
In a previous post I made the point that having a weak manager - a manager without political clout - is really bad news if you’re an…
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Great software design looks underwhelming Years ago I spent a lot of time reviewing coding challenges. The challenge itself was very...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Years ago I spent a lot of time reviewing coding challenges. The challenge itself was very straightforward - building a CLI tool that hit an…
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Avoiding worry driven development Sofware dysfunction is more often motivated by anxiety, fear, worry and embarassment than it is by a...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Sofware dysfunction is more often motivated by anxiety, fear, worry and embarassment than it is by a lack of technical skill. Engineers…
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Model Context Protocol explained as simply as possible Three months ago, Anthropic released “the Model Context Protocol”, or MCP. In the last few weeks,...
2 weeks ago
15
2 weeks ago
Three months ago, Anthropic released “the Model Context Protocol”, or MCP. In the last few weeks, interest in it seems to have really picked…
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MCTS and LLMs: what's the big deal? Everyone on the internet is recently very excited about large language models and Monte Carlo tree...
9 months ago
15
9 months ago
Everyone on the internet is recently very excited about large language models and Monte Carlo tree search. Going back months, the “Q*” leak…
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Keep incidents boring The internet is full of exciting incident war stories. Tough engineering problems, solved under...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
The internet is full of exciting incident war stories. Tough engineering problems, solved under pressure by sleep-deprived developers. In an…
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Refactoring to understand and "vibe coding" In the last months, the practice of getting a LLM to build your entire program for you (via Cursor,...
a week ago
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a week ago
In the last months, the practice of getting a LLM to build your entire program for you (via Cursor, or Copilot, or just asking ChatGPT) has…
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Writing good technical explanations Software engineering is mainly learning. There is a great demand for technical explanations, and...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Software engineering is mainly learning. There is a great demand for technical explanations, and many thousands of books, talks and blog…
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Refactoring won't save you from a layoff With the recent flurry of US federal firings, many people are pointing and laughing at the...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
With the recent flurry of US federal firings, many people are pointing and laughing at the Trump-voting federal employees who are just now…
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How I know I'm working with a strong engineer There are many ways to judge engineers (lines of code written, how smart they sound, choice of IDE,...
a month ago
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a month ago
There are many ways to judge engineers (lines of code written, how smart they sound, choice of IDE, what projects they’ve worked on). I…
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How LLMs work Over the last few weeks I’ve been playing around with the excellent llama2.c repository, which is...
a year ago
14
a year ago
Over the last few weeks I’ve been playing around with the excellent llama2.c repository, which is basically a simple one-file C…
seangoedecke.com RSS...
Acing the coding challenge How do you write a successful coding challenge? Unlike some nightmare whiteboard interview...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
How do you write a successful coding challenge? Unlike some nightmare whiteboard interview scenarios, typically a coding challenge is not a…
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What's next after the AI bubble bursts? In the mid-1800s, America went mad for rail. Over thirty thousand miles of rail were built in a five...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
In the mid-1800s, America went mad for rail. Over thirty thousand miles of rail were built in a five year period. This was all largely…
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From hours to seconds: AI tools to detect animal calls If you’re currently spending time listening to long audio recordings of birdcalls or animal noises,...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
If you’re currently spending time listening to long audio recordings of birdcalls or animal noises, it’s likely that the last four years of…
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Value over replacement in software engineering There are two ways of assessing how much value you’re providing as an engineer. The first way is to...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks ago
There are two ways of assessing how much value you’re providing as an engineer. The first way is to total up all of the code you’ve shipped…
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Acing the design interview If you haven’t designed an actual system before, design interviews can be tough. Knowing how to work...
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
If you haven’t designed an actual system before, design interviews can be tough. Knowing how to work with a particular web service or…
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Building multiplayer games with socket.io and HTML5 Canvas I’ve been building crappy hobby games on and off for my whole coding life. One of my very first apps...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
I’ve been building crappy hobby games on and off for my whole coding life. One of my very first apps was a Visual Basic game - I was in…
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Porting and hacking Llama2.c for fun and profit Over the last few weeks I’ve been playing around with the excellent llama2.c repository, which is...
a year ago
13
a year ago
Over the last few weeks I’ve been playing around with the excellent llama2.c repository, which is basically a simple one-file C…
seangoedecke.com RSS...
Advice for prompting reasoning models I’ve written about how prompting regular LLMs is not as important as people think. Reasoning models...
a month ago
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a month ago
I’ve written about how prompting regular LLMs is not as important as people think. Reasoning models are different. When you’re using…
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Blockchain for beginners Introduction This is a guide for developers who kinda sorta know what blockchains are for (making...
over a year ago
12
over a year ago
Introduction This is a guide for developers who kinda sorta know what blockchains are for (making distributed crypto-currencies like Bitcoin…
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Learning incident response with problem sets It’s hard to teach good incident response. A good understanding of how the system runs in production...
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
It’s hard to teach good incident response. A good understanding of how the system runs in production is essential, but how do you build that…
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What kind of work I want This article is to help recruiters, hiring managers and myself have a better idea of the kind of...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
This article is to help recruiters, hiring managers and myself have a better idea of the kind of places I’d like to work. The short version…
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Building LLM-driven agents If you want a large language model like GPT-3 to perform a task for you, the simplest way is to just...
a year ago
9
a year ago
If you want a large language model like GPT-3 to perform a task for you, the simplest way is to just ask it. Writing out a single prompt…
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The future of AI is Ruby on Rails Large language models are very good at generating and editing code. Right now, it’s probably the...
a week ago
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a week ago
Large language models are very good at generating and editing code. Right now, it’s probably the “killer app” of AI: the companies actually…
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The good times in tech are over For most of the last decade, being a software engineer has been a lot of fun. Every company offered...
a week ago
7
a week ago
For most of the last decade, being a software engineer has been a lot of fun. Every company offered lots of perks, layoffs and firings were…
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Engineers should state the obvious One surprising thing I’ve learned from writing this blog is that I should worry a lot less about...
a week ago
5
a week ago
One surprising thing I’ve learned from writing this blog is that I should worry a lot less about saying things that seem obvious. A lot of…