Gergely Orosz writes the #1 technology newsletter at Substack, called The Pragmatic Engineer. He started his career as a software developer in the U.K., spent three years at Skype, and followed that role with four years as an engineering manager at Uber before deciding to leave big tech and work for himself. Gergely began pursuing his newsletter full-time in September 2021 and in just one year has amassed 200,000 subscribers. He now makes more money than he did at his salaried tech job, and with freedom and flexibility. In today’s podcast, Gergely shares why he left his well-paying job at Uber, how he got his first 1,000 subscribers, why this kind of work can be stressful and lonely (but ultimately rewarding), and why it takes hard work to build authority and become a great writer. Working solo can be challenging, and in this episode, both Lenny and Gergely offer tips for structuring your unstructured time and finding your focus.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/leaving-big-tech-to-build-the-1-technology—Where to find Gergely Orosz:• Website: https://www.pragmaticengineer.com/• Newsletter: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gergelyorosz/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Lemon.io: https://lemon.io/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/• Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny—Referenced:• Gergely’s books: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/books/• Centered: https://www.centered.app/• The Pomodoro technique: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryancollinseurope/2020/03/03/the-pomodoro-technique/• Coding Horror: https://blog.codinghorror.com/• How to Achieve Ultimate Blog Success in One Easy Step: https://blog.codinghorror.com/how-to-achieve-ultimate-blog-success-in-one-easy-step/• A Comment Is an Invitation for Refactoring: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/a-comment-is-an-invitation-for-refactoring/• Kent Beck’s website: https://www.kentbeck.com/• Steve Yegge’s famous rant on Google vs. Amazon: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/steve-yegges-famous-rant-on-google-vs-amazon/• Stevey’s Tech Talk: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZfuUWMTtMcC1DZF6HxJhqsGrBXu8Jzi7—In this episode, we cover:(04:32) Gergely’s background(07:19) The Pragmatic Engineer, growth and current subscribers (08:59) Compensation with a subscription-based newsletter vs. his salaried position at Uber(10:55) How the onset of Covid and layoffs at Uber prompted Gergely to start his newsletter(23:10) What he did immediately after leaving Uber(25:41) The day-to-day of writing a newsletter(35:08) Tips for productivity(41:19) Gergely’s favorite parts of entrepreneurship (43:15) The downsides of solo work(50:39) Why Gergely stopped making long-term plans(54:30) How to get started writing a newsletter(1:04:48) Key advice on building a successful newsletter—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Key figure Kent Beck, creator of Extreme Programming, discusses how XP evolved intuitively for rapid delivery. Topics include balancing software design with feature development for team performance, empowering geeks in tech, and challenges of implementing XP in traditional organizations.

Kent Beck, original signer of the Agile manifesto, creator of Extreme Programming, and all-round programming legend, discusses the state of software engineering today, including topics such as agile vs power structures, the return of waterfall, extreme programming & TDD, feedback loops, code reviews & stacked diffs, and AI for writing and engineering.

Kent Beck discusses the importance of technical mastery, extreme programming, the Agile Manifesto, Tidy First inspiration, software design skills, making safe changes, normalizing symmetry, flexibility in design, and advice for young programmers. He also explores experimentation with AI, Rent-A-Kent for software development answers, and the impact of human relationships in design.

Kent Beck, inventor of Extreme Programming and Test-Driven Development, discusses software design and the concept of 'Tidy First?' with SE Radio host. They delve into tidying code, cohesion, coupling, balancing design decisions, and the impact of AI on software development.

Kent Beck, developer and author known for his work on extreme programming and the creation of JUnit, discusses the history and evolution of JUnit, the concept of test-driven development (TDD), applying design principles to test code, and the future of testing. They also explore the usefulness of reusing stuff in unit testing, the concept of JUnitMax as a replacement for the JUnit test runner, and the importance of considering context in moral lessons and future trends of software engineering.

The dataset wars are heating up, Bark is a transformer-based text-to-audio model that can generate highly realistic, multilingual speech as well as other audio, Kent Beck needs to recalibrate after using ChatGPT, the team behind Stable Diffusion release a new open source language model & Mitchel Hashimoto weighs in on prompt engineering. View the newsletterJoin the discussionChangelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today!Sponsors:Sentry – Session Replay! Rewind and replay every step of the user’s journey before and after they encountered an issue. Eliminate the guesswork and get to the root cause of an issue, faster. Use the code CHANGELOG and get the team plan free for three months. Featuring:Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Kent Beck, creator of Extreme Programming and pioneer of Agile Manifesto, shares insights on unlearning, creating a safe work environment, and the power of small experiments. He discusses the importance of trying new experiences, rearranging furniture to foster collaboration, and using Twitter for idea testing. Beck also talks about leveraging technology for customer feedback, critiquing traditional decision-making methods, and embracing fast experimentation in programming to drive innovation.

Get insights into demanding features right after completion, Kent Beck's influence, classic software design blunders, balancing speed with quality in feature delivery, and principles for system maintenance. Join Squirrel and Jeffrey for an engaging discussion on Agile methodologies and improving organizational culture.

Kent Beck, a pioneer in the Agile movement and author of influential texts on Extreme Programming, shares his insights on software development. He discusses the origins of his advocacy for extreme programming and emphasizes the enduring practices that support effective teams. Beck introduces the concept of 'Tidy First,' encouraging incremental software design improvements. He also explores the importance of normalizing symmetry in design, the parallels between software development and baking, and offers invaluable advice for young developers.