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Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

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Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#101

Post by pmiller2 »

stickfigure wrote: post #51

I boil it down to two things: #1 Rapidly Climb Learning Curves The ability to quickly learn enough about new subjects to be useful. New technologies or APIs; new algorithms; mathematical or statistical subjects; and most importantly, your problem domain. Some of this ability is a skill, "knowing how to learn", which covers google-fu, reading comprehension, prioritization, time management, etc. Some of this ability co…

That’s a rather poor attitude you have toward your colleagues if any of them dare suggest they need a little training.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#102

Post by acd »

Key to good app performance starts at the data structures used in the app. If those algorithms have good run / insert time the app will run good. Cache layers is another key to good app performance.

It is important to test the code base.

The central bank system is making every day people poorer as they print new debt. They got wage inflation imported from cheap globalized goods wrong. This part is annoying to know since most do not understand this flow fully. It’s engineering but financial such. New printed money is flowing to automation and are deflationary. Understanding other engineering areas other than your own field and seeing strength/weaknesses in those.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#103

Post by erikpukinskis »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #70
bob33212 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a grey area where a non-technical manager wants to make a decision without understanding the long term impacts of that decision. Is the good engineer submissive here and go with the flow or does the good engineer put their foot down and suggest that that is not a good idea?

No, of course not. Humility doesn't mean you become completely submissive. There's a fine difference between a great engineer blurting out "THAT WILL NEVER WORK, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYING!?" and... "Hey, Jim, I think that's a reasonable proposal, however, I have some concerns ..." which do you think sounds like the professional / good engineer, and which one sounds like a Junior whose ahead of themselves? I've met peo…

Yeah, I do think it's a superpower to, even if you "know" something is right or wrong, to put it in the form of a question about a risk. You frame the other party as possibly having information you don't.

It opens up two new good paths: 1) the other person actually having important perspective you don't, and you learning that in a civil way, and 2) the other person recognizing the problem, adapting the plan accordingly, and still feeling ownership over the plan.

It also opens up a new bad path: 3) the other person being ashamed of not having this perspective and digging in on the bad plan.

But if you're seeing #3 regularly, that's a job you need to quit ASAP.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#104

Post by ropman76 »

bpodgursky wrote: post #55
AllegedAlec wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My personal heuristic: if it is worth doing, and it takes less than an hour -- just do it now. Sure, but that doesn't mean you can't create a ticket for it. It just means that you have tickets which fall outside your sprint planning flow.

My point is that the overhead of writing up a ticket description becomes a significant fraction of the total work involved. Write a commit message if you want it documented. There's no need for a ticket for small tasks, unless you are being evaluated on number of tickets closed (which is a separate problem)

Like all things in life it depends on the team and workflow. I have my PM’s make tickets because many times I am in the middle of a different feature or bug and don’t want to have to have the mental load of remembering what the issue was. Secondly I work with very solid PM’s who document the ticket very well and it saves me time having to reproducing the issue. My team does have a lot of tickets but we make it work for us and our process flow.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#105

Post by tehpsalmist »

pmiller2 wrote: post #101
stickfigure wrote: post #51

I boil it down to two things: #1 Rapidly Climb Learning Curves The ability to quickly learn enough about new subjects to be useful. New technologies or APIs; new algorithms; mathematical or statistical subjects; and most importantly, your problem domain. Some of this ability is a skill, "knowing how to learn", which covers google-fu, reading comprehension, prioritization, time management, etc. Some of this ability co…

That’s a rather poor attitude you have toward your colleagues if any of them dare suggest they need a little training.

I think the author is thinking more of someone who is insisting they cannot proceed without being given training, versus someone who is doing everything they can to keep up and could benefit from some training to stay on top of things.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#106

Post by rasengan »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #81
rasengan wrote: post #52

Code all day and all night.

For the most part, no. That's what wannabes do, trying to prove they're top engineers. Most top engineers quit when they're tired, because they know that if they keep going when mentally tired, they create more problems than they solve. There are a few top engineers that get bored when they're not coding, rather than getting tired after doing it too long. But that's kind of orthogonal to whether they're a top enginee…

You just said I was right lol

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#107

Post by franzwong »

# Prefer simple or replaceable solution. Avoid unnecessary layer of abstraction. If you can't explain to others within a few words, you will forget how it works and it will be unmanageable few months later.

# Prefer un-opinionated framework. This comment is opinionated. From my own experience, opinionated framework only looks good in the first 5 minutes. You always need to implement a more difficult solution to solve problems afterwards.

# Offload your task to your subordinates People can only gain experience by failure. It won't become a serious problem if you can give guidance and review. The major benefit is you can spend more time on anything else.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#108

Post by m_ke »

The most impressive engineers that I've worked with were great at focusing on the task at hand and finishing them without getting distracted by other issues that they came across in the process. They didn't optimize things prematurely or try to come up with new abstractions for things that might come up in the future. They didn't get into stupid arguments over minor details and were focused on completing and shipping features.

Re: Ask HN: What do top engineers you know do that others don't?

#109

Post by AnimalMuppet »

rasengan wrote: post #106
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the most part, no. That's what wannabes do, trying to prove they're top engineers. Most top engineers quit when they're tired, because they know that if they keep going when mentally tired, they create more problems than they solve. There are a few top engineers that get bored when they're not coding, rather than getting tired after doing it too long. But that's kind of orthogonal to whether they're a top enginee…

You just said I was right lol

Wrong. Doubly wrong, in fact. Wrong in your first post, and wrong now. I did not say you were right, no matter how you try to spin it.
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