🕊 Zeke Arany-Lucas

Halt die Klappe, Ich hab Feierabend!

If you are moving to Berlin, becoming a regular at your local Spätkauf is a great way to learn the language (and make some local friends).

Including some self-study, my German was better at 6 mos than my coworkers taking immersion classes.

Berlin is so international, so it's doable with only English (especially in Tech, where jobs require English instead of German).

But I didn't realize the downside. People want to practice their English, so switch right away.

Others have no patience to slow down while I learn.

Berlin's Späti-kultur has an ideal setup.

• Low ambient noise

• Stammtisch = same people daily

• Casual German by default (English optional)

• All Inclusive: newbies and weirdos are welcome

Ich lernte Deutsch in meinem Spati!

You can too!

If you love to write, then digital writing might feel wrong 🚢

For the last two weeks, I have been doing a digital writing cohort class with #ship30for30. The instructors know their domain and the course is highly structured. 

It delivered, but I still struggled to find joy 🧵

I threw myself into the daily work with an immersive orientation.

Assumptions were challenged. Priorities were tested. Foibles were exposed. Skills were upgraded. Dissonance started.

I was not becoming my best writer self, but...

I still love the idea of social writing!

How could I integrate conflicting intrinsic and extrinsic motivations? Tenets help me navigate the tension between competing goal propositions.

Here are 5 tenets for digital writing (which also work for my podcast):

👇

1) Authentic over systematic

One initial goal was to unlearn my corporate voice. While I see the value of being systematic and consistent, this also makes my voice mechanical.

I will prefer an organic voice over an efficient system. 

2) Connection over attention

I am curious to meet some people online. While it's crazy how much dopamine there is from likes and follows (it’s a rush!), I already have too many fast stimulants.

I will prefer to find voice of one over the many.

3) Fine lines over deadlines

I have been enjoying the slow eating in Europe (they don't kick us out). Turns out that I also love editing. While deadlines help me stay productive, this now needs no hustle.

I will prefer more time to fall in love with my words.

4) Effective AND/OR affective

Twitter especially seems to be a weird mix of how-to shortcuts and trolling or flame wars. It’s pretty clear that trolls and 'experts' have a weird ability to suck people in and keep them.

I will prefer a diverse mix of voices in my echo chamber.

5) No percentages

Writing is a decision for clarity. While twitter's conversational tone allows for "90% of people are..." posts, they feel like rug pulls when the rigor is missing.

I will prefer credibility with verifiable claims.

Diversity is tricky for tech, so I am happy to see progress.

After talking to several female developers over the year who found software engineering as a 2nd act, one thing is really standing out from all the learning resources:

@railsgirls is a powerful source for good 🦄

Every time I hear a story about @RailsGirlsSoC or a workshop, these people light up as they relive the excitement of that experience.

It's as powerful as when people tell me about their first Burning Man or Roller Derby match.

They have a new inner fire 🔥

Today, I heard that Ruby is an inclusive language.

She said it focuses on the code reader (over writer) and encourages empathy as part of the syntax. And this aspect of the language becomes part of the culture and community.

I didn't know that code could do that 🤔

Historically, I dismissed dynamically typed languages as toys. I own this bias.

Crockford convinced me to love JavaScript, and now the disciples of @lindaliukas are shining the light on Ruby.

Time to read @hellorubyworld with my inner child 🚀

Engineering leaders:

Don’t automatically split the dev team on code boundaries if you want >2x impact from 2x headcount 🚢

When teams and products are small and slow growing, it's better for everyone to know all the code.

But what happens in rapid growth?

When doubling headcount, each new dev needs to get ramped in and start contributing quickly (without overly distracting the existing team).

This means partitioning the team so that onboarding focuses on building confidence where the growth needs to happen.

The obvious choice is to split the team based on the existing code structure: repos, namespaces, apps, etc.

This works because it's easy to explain how new devs are assigned.

Individuals can onboard and unblock quickly, but that doesn't translate into a more effective org.

Conway's Law states organizations design systems that mirror their own communication structure.

So by organizing around the code base, you start shipping the new org chart as the new product vision.

Instead, organize around your strategy and make the code follow!

Imagine a company (EG) that had some tax filing software and 15 devs. Everyone worked from one common backlog and could solve any issue.

Before they start adding 15 devs, the org must divide into two: X & Y.

Here are 3 ways to allocate headcount instead of code boundaries:

1) Focus on business problems

Take the business goals for the org, and make those engineering units. Uber was famous for doing this.

That also makes it easy to confirm business priorities by sharing the assigned headcount.

EG

• X = Grow customers

• Y = Improve unit profits

2) Protect your expert assets

Isolate the high-value domain knowledge into a team that exposes simplified interfaces.

Derive the other dev work from more generalized software principles.

EG

• X = Tax rules database and validation (domain experts)

• Y = App flows (new devs)

3) Match in/out rhythms

Align engineering to the cadence of specific business activities and SLAs.

EG

• X = Continuous stream of customer support fixes

• Y = Features tied to seasonal marketing campaigns

BONUS) Let them pick

It sounds like chaos, but most Big Tech does self-organizing to varying degrees, by making it easy for devs to move teams.

Leaders have to figure out how to get the gaps filled, and some projects will implicitly die because nobody wants to work on them.

I wouldn't call myself an expert in podcasting.

However, I have spent the last 2 years listening and learning about podcasting.

So far, I have recorded ~20 hrs, published 10 episodes, and even learned to enjoy my voice (sometimes 😂).

🧵🧵🧵

I first got started back in 2020, right before the pandemic hit.

One of my closest friends visited Berlin and said I would be good at it. My wife also supported the idea.

To avoid being intimidated, I recorded my first few episodes before listening to anything.

😳

Podcasting was not a natural fit for me.

I prefer reading to learn new things. I rarely watch videos or listen to audiobooks.

Like so many others, I hadn't liked my voice. I recorded the same bits over and over.

Sometimes it was so frustrating it drove me to tears.

😰

I paused my recording and started listening to podcasts while taking walks instead of commuting (wfh style).

These are still some of my favorites:

• In Depth by FirstRound

• Freakonomics network

• Stack Overflow podcast

🤩

The experience changed after recording my first interview more than a year later.

Ben was a great guest, and self-criticism became less important because the focus was on the dialog and learning what he shared.

It still took a while longer to find my topic, though.

🤔

Then the wild growth of bootcamps and online resources for self-teaching software development caught my eye.

I had to know more stories from this generation of SDEs!

I predict a future tech industry, full of diversity, changed by side-loading unconventional talent.

🏳️‍🌈

So my goal over the next year is to record and publish 24 more interviews to inspire and promote the idea that the best teams are built with diversity.

Along the way, I will improve as a listener, speaker, and writer (and maybe even learn some marketing skills).

🦄

I am ready to become a different writer. 🚢

I don't stress about being perfect, but I absolutely want to be relevant.

So, I recently signed up for Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole's cohort-based course, #Ship30for30. Here are 3 reasons:

1) Unlearning corporate habits

As a principal engineer in big tech, writing was crucial for system design, earning trust, and leading others, but it was externalized.

Now, I will validate my work with metrics more personal than OKRs, QBRs, annual reviews, and scope of impact.

2) Discover authentic promotion

For my podcast, I love interviewing smart people who are just getting into tech without a comp-sci degree, but I struggle with what to say.

Now, I will boost those inspiring signals to help build tech creators as diverse as their users.

3) Re-learn group learning

I switched to self-teaching before graduating. I never went back to formal education, but also I didn't acknowledge what I missed on my own.

Now, I will open and connect with others that are on parallel journeys so that we can accelerate together.

Over the next 30 days, I plan on writing about Building Software, Unconventional Careers, and Boosting Diversity.

Join me on this adventure—and let me know if you have any questions along the way!

I'm excited to start sharing what I know online.

Julia (@coding_hexe) knows that she got lucky, very lucky, in her journey to becoming a software engineer.

For more insights on how to change your luck, listen and subscribe to the Introspective Developer podcast:

Interested in topics of Building Software, Unconventional Careers, and Boosting Diversity? 🚢

Over the next 30 days, I'm writing 30 Atomic Essays as a part of @dickiebush and @Nicolascole77's Ship 30 for 30.

Follow my Social Blog on @typeshare_co 👇

https://typeshare.co/zekearanylucas

Conformity is the smoothest path to promotion. 🧩

Career ladders calibrate rewards with:

💰 Business values

📈 Acceptable evidence

🙏 Trusted channels

Rebels?! Visionaries?! Expect some resistance and misunderstandings.🚦