Problem Solving

Have you ever joined a new team with a new tech stack, with a new process, and a production issue already waiting for you? Here is how I ramp up fast: I zoom out before I zoom in. The Problem: Everyone Hunts Where They’re Comfortable During my consultant gigs, I am constantly dropped into an unfamiliar environment. New teams, new architecture, new tech stack, new development process, new deployment process, it’s always new. The question is always the same: how do you stay on top of it? ...

“So, what kind of engineer are you?” “I’m a Python engineer.” Every time I hear this, I cringe a little. Not because Python isn’t amazing—it absolutely is. But because somewhere along the way, we’ve started defining ourselves by our tools instead of our craft. I’m sure you’ve heard it too: “I am an AWS engineer,” “I am a React developer,” as if the tool has become their entire professional identity. ...

Have you ever been in a meeting where people just keep putting band-aids on problems but don’t discuss how they came to that point? Let me talk about the decision chain mindset. Understanding the Decision Chain Picture this: You make a decision, or someone makes a decision at a high level. Let’s call this Decision A. Based on this decision, another decision is made. Let’s name it Decision B. And based on that, now you have to make another decision. Let’s call it Decision C. ...