Soft Skills Engineering
Episodes
Episode 108: An Insecure Teammate and Disclosing Past Ratings
13 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: What do I do about an insecure teammate whose insecurity causes them to lash out at othe...
(Rerun) Episode 40: Office Visibility and New Tech
06 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How can I encourage my team to be more visible in the office? How do I learn new techn...
Episode 107: Silence After Interviews and Newsletter Politics
30 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I recently interviewed for a role I was very interested in. I didn’t get the job,and despite several at...
Episode 106: Working From Home Without Rotting and Meetup Etiquette
22 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Since working remotely I’ve noticed a trend to do things like not leaving the house, growing my beard o...
Episode 105: Interviewing for Management and Annoying Noises
12 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’ve been a software engineer for 13 years and would like to apply for a management role. I’ve never ...
Episode 104: Interviews With VPs and Hiring a Tester
06 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I went through the interview process, and as last step I had an interview with the VP of engineering. At ...
Episode 103: Team Dynamics and Bad Code
31 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A listener named Dan talks about ThanksBot, an internal tool at Facebook to support gratitude. Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I became ...
Episode 102: Correcting English and Tyranny of the Urgent
24 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: A teammate is a great developer but English isn’t their first language. Sometimes this results in bad g...
Episode 101: Style In Code Reviews and How To Thank My Manager
17 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: A fellow developer submitted a pull request for me to review. The logic was totally fine, but the spacing...
Episode 99: Developer Health and Whiteboard Interviews
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Do you have any recommendations for maintaining physical health in a software developer role? For example...
Episode 98 (Rerun of Episode 57): Disliking Management and Difficult Co-workers
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’ve been pushed in to doing management tasks I really don’t enjoy. What do I do? How do I handle a...
Episode 97: A Quiet Intern and Hearts and Guts
22 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: We have a great intern, who is smart and has good ideas but is also very quiet. She’...
Episode 96: Teaching Burden and Unknown Unknowns
17 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I know that teaching others is important when working on a team so that the team can grow and g...
Episode 95: Paying For Help and Scared of Recruiters
08 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: When should asking a developer pal for help go from something that is free because you’re pal...
Episode 94: Dodging Recommendations and Full Sleeve Tattoos
03 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: As a “less than ideal” engineer was leaving our team, he asked if he could use me as a job ...
Episode 93: Negotiating Annual Raises and Part-Time Work
27 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: My job doesn’t seem to leave room to negotiate salary or raises for our year-end review. Is t...
Episode 92: Career Death by Friction and New Job Woes
19 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: A previous job involved a coworker who, over time, became very difficult to get along with...
Episode 91: Job Requirements and Teams of Misfits
11 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How often do candidates get hired who don’t match the requirements listed in a job posting? I...
Episode 90: Upper Management Dislikes Me and Undeserved Job Offers
05 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: Upper management has a negative impression of me because of an early manager. How do I manage a...
Episode 89: Departed Engineers and Employment Contracts
28 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How do I deal with co-workers who constantly cite the decisions of engineers who don’t work h...
Episode 88: How To Dress For Interviews and Learning To Interview
22 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How do you dress for interviews? Full on informal beach bum? Smart casual? Formal suit tie? I...
Episode 87: Pushover Coworkers and Productivity Metrics
14 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: My peers give up and say “have it your way” whenever we have technical discussions. How do ...
Episode 86: Sharing Salaries and Offensive Words
07 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: Could you (Jamison and Dave) share some salary information publicly? It would help to know how ...
Episode 85: Annoying Know-it-alls and Company Headshots
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: One of my co-workers is a know-it-all, which is pretty annoying. How do I work with them? A f...
Episode 84: Shy Developers and Outsourced Architecture
23 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I work with a very shy and anxious remote developer. How do I work effectively with them? Our...
Episode 83: Gaps In The Resume and Moving To Business
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I think I’ve saved enough money to get out of the rat race. If something goes wrong and I nee...
Episode 82: Blow Ups and Job Security
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How do I smooth things over after a blow-up between team members? A team mate admits he write...
Episode 81: Unwilling To Grow and Forced Out During Two Weeks Notice
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: A developer on a team I lead doesn’t seem interested in growing. How do I help them engage mo...
Episode 80: New Team Leads and Constant Follow Up
29 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How do I keep up with new tech as a team lead? I manage a team. A manager from a different te...
Episode 79: Story Point Misses and Measuring Productivity
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: It seems like my teams always miss their story point commitments. Is this normal? How do you ch...
Episode 78: Endless Rewrites and Fake Deadlines
13 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: We’ve re-written the project I’m on 10 times without launching. What should I do? I worke...
Episode 77: Boss Wants Me To Speak and The 2% Raise
04 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: My boss wants me to speak at conferences, but I’m very new to software. What should I do? H...
Episode 76: Writing Goals and Firing Jokes
25 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: My organization requires me to set goals for myself. What advice do you have for writing good t...
Episode 75: Self-Promotion For Wallflowers and Moving in a Year
19 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions: What are some good ways for people who aren’t good at self-promotion to promote themselves? ...
Episode 74: Switching Languages Without A Pay Cut and A Missed Negotiation
11 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave will be at the UtahJS Conference on September 18th. See conf.utahjs.com for more info and to buy tickets. Come say hi! This week Jam...
Episode 73: A Rampant Rewriter and Overexplainers
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave will be at the UtahJS Conference on September 18th. See conf.utahjs.com for more info and to buy tickets. Come say hi! This week Jam...
Episode 72: The Micromanaging CEO and The Only Developer
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these questions: My CEO is micromanaging the developers. What do I do? I’m about to take a job as the only developer a...
Episode 71: Informal Leadership and Dealing With Burnout
14 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I’m sometimes an informal lead on project teams. How do I help the team get stuff done as a peer? How...
Episode 70: Appraisal-Driven Development and Meeting Creep
28 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I’m a new team lead with a team member who is very appraisal-driven. How do I deal with them? Have yo...
Episode 69: A Know-It-All Lead and Selling Your Boss on Remote Work
21 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these questions: My supervisor is a know-it-all who needs to be the smartest person in the room. How do I deal with it? ...
Episode 68: Paying Your Dues and Non-technical Hobbies
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these questions: It’s been a year and I still haven’t touched the codebase. What should I do? All my hobbies revolve...
Episode 67: Graduate School and Asking Good Questions
07 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these questions: Should I get a Masters in Computer Science? How do I ask good questions?
Episode 66: Nepotism and Minimum Junior Requirements
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave talk about these questions: My cousin is a manager at my employer. How do I avoid nepotism? I’d like to become a developer. W...
Episode 65: Left In The Dust and Imposter Syndrome
22 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave talk about these questions: I have a great, comfortable job that doesn’t push me very hard. How do I deal with worrying about b...
Episode 64: Negative Peer Reviews and On Call
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave talk about these questions: How direct should I be in a peer review of a coworker who I really dislike? How do I convince devel...
Episode 63: (Rerun) Management Snobs and Two Bosses
08 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave were out this week, so here is a DEEP CUT from the archives. This originally aired as episode 41. How do I deal with someone who...
Episode 62: Many Meetings and Surviving an Acquisition
31 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jamison and Dave answer these two questions: I’m in too many meetings. How do I guard my own productivity? How do I make sure I’m not sideli...
Episode 61: Product Managers and Notifications
25 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We answer these two questions: What should developers know about product management? I have TOO MANY notifications interrupting me all the time....
Episode 60: Office Arrangements and Disarming A Code Owner
17 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We answer these two questions: What is the best seating arrangements for software developers? How do I disarm my CTO who is emotionally attached...
Episode 59: Buying Training and Unrelated Experience
11 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to all the people who pointed us to the Single Level of Abstraction Principle which we obliquely referred to in episode 57. We answer these tw...
Episode 58: Dropping Out and Interview Prep (Rerun)
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison were out this week, so we have a re-run of a DEEP CUT for you. This originally aired as episode 18. We answer these two questions: ...
Episode 57: Disliking Management and Difficult Co-workers
25 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been pushed in to doing management tasks I really don’t enjoy. What do I do? How do I handle a co-worker who I really struggle to get al...
Episode 56: Keeping Meetings On Track and Designer-centric Culture
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How do I keep meetings on track? I work in an agency with a designer-centric culture. How do I make myself heard? Dave and Jamison answer these...
Episode 55: Ng-Conf Live Episode
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a special ng-conf live episode! Dave and Jamison answer these questions in front of a live audience: When you go freelancing, do your codin...
Episode 54: Sneaky Contractors and Job Titles
04 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Our codebase is really bad, and management hired a contractor behind our backs to rewrite it. What should...
Episode 53: Bait and Switch and Informing Your Manager
29 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I was hired for one thing, but ended up doing something very different that I don’t enjoy. What do I do...
Episode 52: Slowness Guilt and I Have No Side Projects
21 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I feel guilty about how slow I’m working. What should I do? I’d like to find a job, but I don’t h...
Episode 51: Junior Scrum Master In Trouble And Jamison Has No Degree
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m a junior developer on a team of seniors, and I’m also the Scrum Master. Our team has lots of prob...
Episode 50: I Didn't Quit and Manager of Zero People
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I didn’t quit my job. Did I mess up? I was hired to manage a team, but it is actually just me. What d...
Episode 49: Candidate Plagiarism and a Tightwad Employer
28 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: What do I do if I suspect my co-worker plagiarized my homework assignment in their own interview? My em...
Episode 48: Quitting a Death March & Am I Underpaid
21 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: When and how do you quit a company that is on a death march? How do I find out if I’m underpaid?
Episode 47: Speaking Up In A New Job and Personal Issues
14 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How soon into a new job is it appropriate to raise concerns? What do you do when issues in your persona...
Episode 46: My New Crappy Job and Youth vs the Status Quo
07 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How do I deal with my new job that turns out to be crappy? How do I know how hard to push back against ...
Episode 45: RAPID FIRE and Micromanagers
28 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s our first RAPID FIRE episode, where we answer a bunch of questions rapid-ish-ly. Why do I get passed up for developer jobs? Should I take...
Episode 44: Discussing Firing and Writing Job Postings
25 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: When I let someone go, should I tell them the reason why? How do I write a good job description? We m...
Episode 43: Internship Costs and CS Interview Questions
16 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dave and Jamison answer these questions: What do internships cost companies? How do you feel about asking hard technical computer science questi...
Episode 42: Bootcamp Job Hopping and Cultural Reliability
02 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Should I switch jobs to my fourth job within two years of graduating from a bootcamp? ...
Episode 41: Management Snobs and Two Bosses
28 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How do I deal with someone who says their job (management) is so much harder than my job...
Episode 40: Office Visibility and New Tech
21 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How can I encourage my team to be more visible in the office? How do I learn new techn...
Episode 39: Brilliant Jerks and One on Ones
12 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How do I deal with engineers who are skilled technically but rude and demeaning? What ...
Episode 38: Going Over Heads and Firing Just After Hiring
05 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: When is it appropriate to go over someone’s head? Should I fire the new engineer tha...
Episode 37: VC Funding and Internal Presentations
29 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How does venture capital work, and how does it affect me? How do I give great presenta...
Episode 36: Unlimited Vacation and Enforcing Best Practices
22 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: What do you think of unlimited vacation policies? How do I enforce coding best practic...
Episode 35: Attracting Talent and Quitting Responsibly
15 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How can I attract talent? How do I quit without burning bridges?
Episode 34: Do Certifications Help and How Can I Avoid Avoidance?
07 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Do certifications help me? How can I solve an avoidance problem?
Episode 33: Damaging Your Credibility and Meeting Potential Employers In School
31 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How can a developer damage their credibility online? How can I meet potential employer...
Episode 32: Why Would You Do Contracting?
26 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer this question: Why would a developer leave a full time job to do consulting or contracting? It just so ...
Episode 31: Going In To Management and Knowing If A Job Is Worth Applying To
17 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Should I go in to management? How do you know if a job is worth applying to?
Episode 30: Reaching Consensus and Code Editing Etiquette
08 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How should you reach consensus on a team? Should you always have consensus? What is th...
Episode 29: What Should I Do When Starting A New Job?
07 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Literally the only episode that the advice “quit your job and get a better one” doesn’t apply. Dave and Jamison answer the question: What s...
Episode 28: How Long Should I Stay At My Job and How Do I Help Junior Developers Improve
26 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 28, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How long should I stay before I quit my job? Two to three years seems fairly normal. D...
Episode 27: Writing Great Resumes and Pushing Back on Non-Engineering Tasks
19 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 27, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How do I write a great resume? Do you really need a resume these days? How important i...
Episode 26: Communicate Your Efforts and I Told You So
12 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 26, Jamison and Dave answer these question: How do you make sure people know about your good work? See Matt Zabriskie’s great post for...
Episode 25: Understanding the Business and Managing Without Being a Developer
05 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 25, Jamison and Dave answer these question: How do I understand the business side better? Analysis of tabs vs spaces How does your ...
Episode 24: Should I be a generalist or specialist developer?
29 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 24, Jamison and Dave answer this question: As a software developer, should I be a generalist or a specialist? This was inspired by a Twit...
Episode 23: Joining a startup as a CTO and asking for a raise
22 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 23, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: You are asked to be a CTO of a start-up. What questions would you ask in order to decide whe...
Episode 22: Health insurance and contributing to open source projects
15 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 21, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: What’s up with all this health insurance jargon? How do I get started contributing to open...
Episode 21: Giving work to interns and dealing with "dead weight" developers
08 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 21, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: What kind of work should interns be given? How do you handle developers who are dead weight...
Episode 20: Stories from people who got fired and doing effective code reviews
01 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 20, Jamison and Dave share some stories from people who have been fired. We also answer this question: How do I make code reviews more ef...
Episode 19: Firing someone for a coding mistake and getting demoted
25 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 19, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: Would you ever fire someone over a coding mistake? For example, should you empathize with ig...
Episode 18: Dropping out of college and preparing for interviews
18 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 18, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I’m a computer science major who still has a couple years of school left. I also have a pa...
Episode 17: Side project ideas and getting fired
04 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 17, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: From listener Greg Harrison: I want to build a side-project, but my lack of coming up with a...
Episode 16: Dealing with recruiters and learning new things without frustration
27 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 16, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: From listener David Renne: What’s the best way to talk to random LinkedIn recruiters, recr...
Episode 15: Working with non-technical people and keeping up with the latest technology (with Brad Green)
20 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 15, Jamison and Dave join Brad Green, engineering director at Google and Angular team manager, to answer these questions: How do I deal w...
Episode 14: Web developer prejudice and legacy code
07 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 14, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: Since I am primarily a web developer, I often find there is a bit of developer prejudice, ag...
Episode 13: Dealing with a 'yes' boss and the difference between contract and permanent positions
30 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 13, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: What should you do about a boss, or in my case ‘solution architect’, who won’t push ba...
Episode 12: Making friends at work and how to be good at being managed
23 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 12, Jamison, Dave, and special guest Ann Harter answer these questions: How do I make friends at work? Should I? I hear a lot about bein...
Episode 11: Negotiating offers and dealing with an oblivious boss
16 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 11, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I’m looking for a new job. How do I negotiate to get a better offer? How do you deal const...
Episode 10: Mentors and Stock Options
09 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 10, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: How about an episode about mentoring? Why is it important, how do we do it, and how do we fin...
Episode 9: Deadlines and Titles
02 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 9, Jamison, Dave, and special guest Layne Mosely answer these questions: As a software developer, is it better to put an aggressive deadli...