Dax Raad, a well rounded engineer, discusses personal opinions on industry practices, scale, financial decisions, infrastructure mistakes, reflections on long-term company commitments, and more!
It's important to understand the trade-offs of using a technology and appreciate its strengths and weaknesses in tech Twitter debates.
Startups should prioritize cultural fit and build a team aligned with their core values to avoid rapid deterioration due to conflicting factions.
When joining or founding a startup, it is crucial to make smart choices, start with a solid foundation, and avoid putting off important decisions expecting to change direction later.
Deep dives
Understanding Both Sides of a Debate
One debate on tech Twitter that annoys me is the discussion around using Tailwind CSS. People often misrepresent the properties and benefits of Tailwind, and they argue against things that aren't even issues with Tailwind. It's important to understand the trade-offs of using a technology and acknowledge that it can still be a valid choice while recognizing its limitations.
Debating Stored Procedures
Another example is the debate around stored procedures in databases. While I personally prefer not to use them, there are instances where they have been used effectively. I worked with a company that had all their business logic in stored procedures, and despite initial skepticism, I could appreciate some of the benefits, such as having a single source of truth for business logic across different entry points in their system.
Lack of Deep Understanding in Debates
Overall, what I find frustrating is that in many tech Twitter debates, people often lack a deep understanding of both sides of the argument. They tend to focus on ranking technologies or approaches rather than appreciating their strengths and weaknesses. It would be more beneficial if discussions involved more nuanced analysis and acknowledged the complexities and context of each technology or approach.
The Importance of Cultural Alignment in Startups
The podcast episode discusses the importance of cultural alignment in startups. The speaker shares a personal experience of a company that faced rapid deterioration and eroding culture due to a clash between the healthcare and engineering/product factions. The speaker emphasizes the need for startups to pick a side and commit, rather than trying to find a compromise that may not work. They highlight the mistake of bringing in people with impressive backgrounds but whose experiences and ideas are not relevant to the company's goals. The podcast suggests that startups should prioritize cultural fit and focus on building a team aligned with their core values.
Learning from Failed Startups and Making Smart Choices
The podcast episode explores the experiences of the speaker and the mistakes often made by startups. They reflect on their years of working in startups, mentioning that most of the startups they have been involved with have ultimately failed. However, they believe that even in failure, it is possible to make money and gain valuable experiences. They discuss the importance of making smart choices when joining or founding a startup, emphasizing the value of gaining responsibility and diverse experiences. Additionally, they caution against the misconception of putting off important decisions, expecting to change direction later once a project becomes successful. They stress the need to start with a solid foundation and scalable solutions from the beginning, rather than attempting major architectural changes later
In this episode, Lane talks to Dax Raad, a well rounded engineer that is currently a developer for SST, a framework that helps people build Full-Stack applications on AWS with ease. Today, they talk about personal opinions on industry practices, scale, financial decisions, infrastructure mistakes, reflections on long-term company commitments and many more!
Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm
Dax's Twitter: https://twitter.com/thdxr
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:51) - Dax's Tweets and Personal Branding
(01:31) - You have to learn to be yourself
(02:56) - Intrusive thoughts
(03:33) - When did Dax become active in the Tech Twitter scene
(06:30) - What was the Zero Interest Rate Phenomenon (ZIRP) in the tech scene
(09:33) - Should people choose fun early in their career?
(12:22) - Lane's take on the expertise when abstracting
(14:15) - SST's Philosophy in regards to abstractions
(16:35) - Merging roles
(19:28) - People don't want to care about the cloud
(21:31) - Less stressed about work = better results
(24:10) - Managers vs leaders
(25:20) - Dax shares stories about managing vs leading
(29:36) - Did Dax ever have users?
(31:24) - Most Startups Fail
(32:09) - Dax's reason for joining startups
(33:25) - Staying at a company for decades
(35:53) - Main downside of staying at an established company for a long time
(36:34) - The World changes, so don't look at how already established companies do things
(37:57) - Scale has a different meaning for different companies
(40:07) - So much goes away when you have less people at the company
(41:51) - Sometimes not saving money is a better option
(43:35) - Moving off Stripe
(46:54) - Rolling your own payment processor
(49:05) - Which debate on Tech Twitter annoys Dax the most
(50:52) - Stored Procedure debate
(53:31) - What's a BIG mistake in the infrastructure space?
(57:31) - Kubernetes
(01:02:58) - What Dax misses from Google Cloud
(01:03:19) - Is Sundar Pichai a bad CEO?
(01:04:51) - Where to find Dax
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