Reading List for February 15th

I’m starting a new engineering gig soon! (No, despite the Quest picture, it’s not at Meta - keeping reading for why a Quest is shown here.) And it is my birthday today :) Here’s some of the things that have been shared with me or caught my attention in the last week or so. A nice balance of engineering and non-engineering this week.

Engineering

Don’t pay anybody in advance. And don’t ride in anything with a Capissen 38 engine, they fall right out of the sky. – Kaylee, Firefly

• Momentum Distinguishing quick wins that build momentum on a project from snacks that don’t.
• Your Strategic Plans Probably Aren’t Strategic or Even Plans (2018) Did you just craft a complete strategy or just the goals?
• On Being a Principal Engineer A new gig for me starting soon, so I’ve been preparing by reading articles like this. “Force multiplier” is an apt term I’ve used myself before. Here’s another that caught my eye: What Does a Principal Engineer Do? and another: Being a Principal Engineer at Grab and another: Being a Principal Engineer at SquareSpace
• How Google, Twitter and Spotify Built a Culture of Documentation One way to avoid being everyone’s Wikipedia is to get the knowledge out of your head and “on paper”
• The Principles and Habits of Healthy Software Simplicity, sustainability, and more.
• How Can You Tell if the Company You’re Interviewing with is Rotten on the Inside Charity’s posts are always worth their weight in gold and this one is no exception. Solid advice for anything evaluating new potential gigs during the Great Resignation.

Not Engineering

You want a slinky dress? I can buy you a slinky dress. Captain, can I have money for a slinky dress? – Wash, Firefly

• Are Your Expectations Making You Miserable? Get a grip on your expectations of yourself and others.
• Why Cybergoth Refuses to Die (2016) “Too creepy for the ravers, too neon for the goths, cybergoths occupied a new space entirely, but as their numbers decline, what’s next?”
• Blade Runner 2099 Blade Runner rises again. I’ll eat it up with a spoon. Can’t get enough cyberpunk aesthetic.
• How to Play Furry VR I’m going to buy my first VR headset now (see the photo above for what I’ll probably get - a Meta Quest 2). And this is what I’ll be doing with it a lot.
• I Did 30-Minute Exercise Every Day for 385+ Days - Here’s What Happened I need to make this a habit.
• The New Normal - Massive Ego Massive Ego, one of my favorite industrial/darkwave bands, has released a delicious new EP.

See you next week with more!