The state of the 2023 tech market (Friends)
Gergely Orosz is back for our annual year-end update on the tech market, writ large. How is hiring? Has AI really changed the game? What about that OpenAI fiasco?
We also talk in-depth about Gergely’s self-published book, The Software Engineer’s Guidebook, which has been four years in the making.
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Featuring:
Gergely Orosz – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter
The Software Engineer’s Guidebook
Anthropic
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
This !insane tech hiring market (Interview)
This week we’re back talking to Gergely Orosz — this time not quite about the insane tech hiring market, but more so the flip side, the 180, the not so good tech hiring market, the layoff market and what you can expect. There’s a lot of FUD out there, so hopefully this show gives you a lens into what’s really going on, and what to really expect. Maybe more so, how to keep your job or find a new job. We come to this topic with great compassion and great understanding, so please…there is a community here for you. There’s a lot of people in our Slack. Call it your home, it’s free to join and everyone is welcome.
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Featuring:
Gergely Orosz – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
The Changelog #464: This insane tech hiring market
PragmaticEngineer.com
Wired.com: Despite Big Layoffs, Tech Workers Are Still in Demand
Layoffs.fyi
Adyen
Fast.co
Which one of these will be the biggest “unicorn” failure ever?
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Leaving big tech to build the #1 technology newsletter | Gergely Orosz (The Pragmatic Engineer)
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.
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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/leaving-big-tech-to-build-the-1-technology
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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/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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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
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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
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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
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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
(TWTR SPC) How To Navigate Tech As An Employee W/ @GergelyOrosz
Gergely Orosz of The Pragmatic Engineer helps us figure out the strategy and expectations of joining a high profile startup, vs. the expectations and reality of joining a FAANG company. Also: the perils and promise and best practices of joining a startup, vs. the perils and promise and best practices of joining a big tech company. Hopefully, if you are a tech worker, an engineer, a designer, what have you, there will be some valuable learnings for you. Oh, and Chris and I try our hand at Elon punditry.
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This insane tech hiring market (Interview)
This week we’re joined by Gergely Orosz and we’re talking about the insane tech hiring market we’re in right now. Gergely was on the show a year ago talking about growing as a software engineer and his book The Tech Resume Inside Out. Now he’s laser focused on Substack with actionable advice for engineering managers and engineers, with a focus on big tech and high-growth startups. On today’s show we dig into his recent coverage of “the perfect storm” that’s causing this insane tech hiring market.
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Featuring:
Gergely Orosz – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
blog.pragmaticengineer.com
The Perfect Storm Causing an Insane Tech Hiring Market
The FB engineering manager interview process
What are ways you can prepare for a software engineering or engineering manager promotion ahead of time?
The Web 2.0 Show #63: Twilio - Telephony in the Cloud
Jeff Lawson and his book Ask Your Developer
Chris Herd on Twitter — “Every time a competitor mentions return to office our recruiters reach out to their people. We’ve hired 15+ of their engineers in the last 2 months.”
The Changelog #422: Growing as a software engineer with Gergely Orosz
Anonymous job search with Djinni.co
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Growing as a software engineer (Interview)
Gergely Orosz joined Adam for a conversation about his journey as a software engineer. Gergely recently stepped down from his role as Engineering Manager at Uber to pursue his next big thing. But, that next big thing isn’t quite clear to him yet. So, in the meantime, he has been using this break to write a few books and blog more so he can share what he’s learned along the way. He’s also validating some startup ideas he has on platform engineering. His first book is available to read now — it’s called The Tech Resume Inside Out and offers a practical guide to writing a tech resume written by the people who do the resume screening. Both topics gave us quite a bit to talk about.
Join the discussion
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Featuring:
Gergely Orosz – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
Gergely’s tweet about the pod we did with Spotify about Backstage
Gergely’s blog
Book #1: The Tech Resume Inside Out
Book #2: The Software Engineer’s Guidebook
My Unforgettable Uber Ride
Gergely’s Indie Hackers post: 14 days, $14K in sales, 1,000 customers and what worked for me
Things I’ve learned transitioning from engineer to engineering manager
The Changelog #415: Spotify’s open platform for shipping at scale
with Jim Haughwout and Stefan Ålund
Spotify’s open platform for building developer portals
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!