Jordan Cutler’s Post

🚨 Last minute call to be a moderator at a HUGE tech conference! I'm partnered with WeAreDevelopers and they have an opening for a moderator next week at their World Congress conference in Berlin. At the conference are some of the worlds biggest tech speakers and companies. • David Singleton - CTO of Stripe • Thomas Dohmke - CEO of GitHub • Scott Hanselman - VP at Microsoft Other companies include: Atlassian, Figma, Nvidia, Google, Red Hat, Meta, and plenty more. If you're interested in moderating and can be in Berlin next week (July 17-July 19), it's a great opportunity to network and meet senior folks from top companies (as someone who has been a moderator before). Comment "I'm interested!" down below if you can make it! If not, a like 👍 or ♻️ is super helpful to spread the word! I'd really appreciate it!

10 newsletters giving you top-notch value every week as a software engineer: 1) Coding Challenges by John Crickett: https://lnkd.in/et9b6VDQ. Level up by building fully functional applications 2) Engineering Leadership by Gregor Ojstersek: https://lnkd.in/eaYUVCSc. Learn how to become a better engineering leader 3) Musings of a Caring Techie by Irina Stanescu: https://lnkd.in/e5qybckA. Build soft skills from an experienced IC, manager, and tech lead. She's done it all 4) Level up software engineering by Caleb Mellas: https://lnkd.in/eMAkGBSj. Learn real-world Senior engineer strategies to level up your career 5) Techlead Mentor by Raviraj Achar: https://lnkd.in/dB7AgsZa. Lessons and reflections on being a better tech lead from a Staff Tech Lead at Meta. For tech leads, I'd also recommend "Level up as a Tech Lead" by Anemari Fiser: https://lnkd.in/eEUbSsEZ 6) Developing Dev by Ryan Peterman: https://lnkd.in/e4JxSQg5. Learn how to level up from a Staff Software Engineer at Instagram 7) Wes Kao's Newsletter by Wes Kao: https://lnkd.in/ej48BXXZ. Actionable, insightful frameworks and advice on many soft skill topics--managing up, giving feedback, etc. 8) Level Up with Ethan Evans by Ethan Evans: https://lnkd.in/eghfHmhz. Insights from an ex-Amazon VP. I'd recommend joining the community. Tons of great recurring events for learning you can't get anywhere else 9) The Software Engineer Weekly - by Kevin Naughton - One of the fastest growing tech newsletters. Tips apply for all levels (https://lnkd.in/eqEVNG5W) 10) Leadership Letters - by Akash Mukherjee - Akash is a Staff Engineer at Apple. He gets into his wealth of personal stories and always shared actionable takeaways (https://lnkd.in/eeEzxjzK) Of course, there's plenty more that I missed. Share in the comments the ones I missed and your favorite!

The 2nd scariest thing for a manager is seeing you fail. The 1st scariest thing is seeing you not learn from it. Time and time again, this is the differentiator I've seen that creates... • Interns who become full-time employees • Junior engineers who become mid-level • Mid-level engineers who become senior In engineering, you see the same issues constantly. They just look slightly different. • Database migrations all look roughly similar • Adding an endpoint to an API • Writing end-to-end tests The list goes on... As you're learning these and more advanced topics going into senior levels, you need to show a willingness to grow and learn. Here are 3 ways I recommend doing that: 1. Proactively ask how to improve like, "I want to make sure I’m consistently meeting or exceeding expectations in <x> areas. What do you see that I should start, stop, or continue doing to get there?" 2. Respond to feedback with, "Thank you for the feedback. I am going to work on that by doing <x>" 3. Follow up on feedback received like, "I tried your feedback and saw <x> results. Thanks again for sharing it with me!" I also recommend asking for feedback more often than the standard once-a-quarter cycle, especially earlier in your career. Waiting for feedback like that results in surprises you can avoid. What else would you recommend? -- This snippet is from my new article on 3 realizations I had about managing up and building a better relationship with your manager. To learn the other 2 realizations, check the full article here: https://lnkd.in/em_shucW

If your manager asks, "What's the status?" then it's already too late. The best thing you can do for your manager is remove uncertainty for them. Most engineering managers were engineers before. They're used to work being in THEIR control. As a manager, that goes away. They need to rely on others and trust that they'll get done what they say. The trick to stand out in your manager's eyes is to make that as easy as possible for them. Instead of making them wonder: • What's the status of <x>? • Did you start like you said you would? • Did you do those action items we discussed? Be proactive. Say what you're going to do. Start doing it and update them regularly. Then tell them when you finished. Over time, they'll worry less about whether you'll follow through on what you say, because you've done it so many times before. That's how you get that trust! Tomorrow, I will share the top 3 biggest "Managing up" realizations I had that will help you build a stronger relationship with your manager and get them constantly trusting you. Screenshots and visualizations will be included too! This one's going to be 🔥 To not miss it, hit the link next to my profile picture above.

I made $5,544 from writing an article. It took me about 10 hours to write the article, make a video, and share it. So my hourly rate is $5,544 / 10 hours = $554 per hour. Technically, that translates to a salary of $1.1million. Now, I'm not making anywhere close to that, and this post isn't meant to brag but to show you what's possible from learning in public. I'll always advocate for sharing what you learn because you'll learn it better. It will challenge your mental models and force massive growth. Here's why you should learn in public: 1. Improve your writing - As a software engineer, you need to write a LOT. Learning in public makes you better on the job. 2. Build a personal knowledge bank - Reference what you wrote about in the past or share it with others. I share curated posts I've written with my mentees to give them a guide to solve a challenge they're facing. 3. Opportunities - When people know about you, you increase your "luck surface area." You come to mind for opportunities they have, like speaking engagements. 4. Relationships - You meet some of the most knowledgeable teachers in the industry. 5. Income - What initially got your attention to read this post 😄. Making this amount of money from an article is rare, but it means a lot when it happens. 6. Inspiring and growing others - You receive messages on how you've helped others overcome the challenges you faced. You make a real difference in the world. You don't need to post on LinkedIn or Substack to start. It can be as simple as sharing a few insights from what you read in a Slack channel. That's how I started. I'll share more bonus resources on how to get started in the comments. What do you like most about learning in public?

July 4th giveaway 🎁! 7 years of career growth insights in 1 hour + more! I'm giving away: • Mini book of 100+ actionable insights to be a better developer and grow your career faster. • Top Communication Library of go-to phrases by leaders • A few High Growth Engineer gift subscriptions Like 👍 for 1 entry, and comment "Career growth!" for 2 entries. Repost for a 3rd entry. This is what one engineer who won the mini-book said: • "Loved it! It covers EVERYTHING I need, from coding skills to leading projects and getting your name out there. The best part? I can actually USE the tips! They're clear, easy to follow, and work for beginners and experienced devs alike." Here are a couple examples from it... Performance reviews: • Make business goals and OKRs the main focus of your review. Show how you directly impacted those • Avoid being overly technical and verbose. State your impact on the business first, then concisely describe what you did to achieve that Technical skills: • Don’t always move past problems right after you get the solution. Take a few minutes to understand why what you did works. Over time, this will compound into making you a much stronger engineer. • Become an owner by taking initiative in underserved areas of the codebase and product. You can do this regardless of your level. Insights are on managing up, presenting and giving demos, influence, leading projects, building a brand, and plenty more. If you've won one of these before, comment to share the value and like to spread the word to those who'd find it valuable!

People are loving the weekly planning template I shared on Sunday! Here are a few messages since I shared it: • "I love the template. I will definitely adopt it. I often found myself doing too much and feeling stressed out. Planning for only 5-6 hours and adding estimations sounds like a more proactive and intentional approach to my work week." • "I liked how you connected org priorities, team priorities, manager priorities, and the role guidelines of your company. Working with all these in mind makes real progress. I'll give it a try to these ideas." • "I liked the most recent one about your planning spreadsheet. I will use that template first thing tomorrow and see how I get on." What I like about the template: 1. Limits how many tasks you can add per day 2. Time estimates to get a real sense of how much you can get done 3. You plan the most important items based on your team and manager priorities, and your goals for the quarter 4. One "highlight" per day. A concept from the book, Make Time 5. There's a space for reflection to constantly improve And plenty more. I made the template through many problems I've faced over time. It's been heartwarming to hear how what I share helps others solve the same problems they're experiencing. Thanks for all your support, everyone! Check the link in the comments to learn more about the template and see a short video walkthrough of how to use it.

Assign clear owners. Good ideas die if they stay at "we should." Does this sound familiar? > "We should tackle <x> problem." > Team: "Yeah, we should! That's a great idea." <crickets> annnd nothing ever happens, or the same thing gets said 3 months later. When brainstorming, retrospecting, proposing an idea, etc. it's common to say things like: • "We should tackle <x> problem." • "We should implement <y> solution." • "Have we tried doing <z>?" The "we" here makes sense because the "team" will tackle the problem. But eventually, the team needs to become a single, clear owner IN the team. Not the AI team. But Alex. Or Alina. A person. So when you notice the idea isn't moving forward, move from "we" to "who" and "when." > "Awesome. I love that we agree its a problem we should tackle. When would be a good time to take it on and would anyone like to own it?" Then, you're one step closer to that good idea not dying!