Transitioning from Manager to Individual Contributor

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A software engineer reflects on their journey from being a manager to an individual contributor, emphasizing the role of managers in boosting productivity, the importance of training and mindset in managing open source projects, the significance of code formatting, and the challenges and process of creating a code formatting tool. The chapter also covers the success of various open source projects like Prettier, React Native, Galadraw, and Yoga, all created by the guest, and their focus on making projects successful in the long term by setting the right foundation and constantly seeking inspiration from various sources.

Scott and Wes sit down with Vjeux from Meta to dive deep into the origins and evolution of Prettier, the widely-used code formatter. They discuss the challenges faced, the decision-making process behind its features, and what the future holds for this indispensable tool in the developer’s toolkit.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:45 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
02:19 New swag!
03:25 Who is Vjeux?
06:56 Is management the key to successful projects?
08:50 The genesis of Prettier.
12:08 Why other JS formatters didn’t work.
16:56 Focusing on edge-cases.
17:41 The goal for Prettier.
- Prettier Philosophy.
18:31 Next step, integrations.
19:37 Should you run Prettier on save or commit?
21:34 Does Prettier’s limitations lead to higher adoption?
- Prettier Config.
25:01 What was the most controversial default setting?
28:14 Does Facebook use semicolons?
29:18 Getting approval to devote 6 months to Prettier.
31:42 Working with Mark Zuckerberg.
32:43 Was there ever consideration to augment ESLint instead?
- Prettier vs. Linters.
35:34 What are your thoughts on the Rust-based alternatives?
36:44 Prettier’s $10,000 bounty.
39:32 What is the future of Prettier?
44:54 Prettier is available in almost every language.
47:59 Advice for other open-source maintainers.
53:26 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs.