Overcommitted | Software Engineering and Programming Insights

Summary

In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Jonathan, Brittany, and Erika reflect on their goals for the second quarter, sharing successes and challenges. They discuss lessons learned, personal growth, and strategies for improvement. The conversation also touches on their personal interests and hobbies, culminating in an exciting announcement about the launch of the new tech book club.

Takeaways

• Setting specific goals can lead to increased productivity.
• Tracking progress helps in achieving reading goals.
• Adapting to life changes is crucial for maintaining focus.
• Defending personal boundaries is important for mental health.
• Finding joy in productivity can enhance overall satisfaction.
• Engaging in community activities can foster personal growth.
• Exploring new hobbies can lead to unexpected interests.
• Creating a routine can help in managing commitments.
• Reflecting on past goals can provide insights for future planning.
• Collaboration and discussion can enhance learning experiences.

Links

• Feel good productivity book
• Sam Who.Dev
• The Mind Illuminated
• Tech book club Repo
• Overcommitted Discord

Hosts

• Overcommitted.dev⁠⁠
• Bethany Janos
• Brittany Ellich
• Eggyhead
• Jonathan Tamsut

Summary

In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, the hosts discuss the intricacies of pull requests, focusing on the reviewer mindset, crafting effective pull requests, and managing the review workflow. They share insights from Brittany's recent conference experience and delve into best practices for both reviewing and creating pull requests. The conversation highlights the importance of communication within teams, the impact of reviews, and the balance between thoroughness and efficiency in the review process. The episode concludes with a light-hearted discussion on pet peeves and positive aspects of PR reviews.

Takeaways

• The impact of a review is more important than personal preferences.

• As a reviewer, focus on unblocking colleagues and improving code quality.

• Automate style checks with CI to streamline the review process.

• PRs should be as small as possible to reduce cognitive load.

• Include context in PRs to aid understanding for reviewers.

• Set clear expectations with your team regarding review timelines.

• Use PRs as a learning opportunity for both reviewers and contributors.

• Document decisions and discussions within PRs for future reference.

• Encourage a blameless culture around PR approvals.

• Positive feedback in reviews fosters a supportive team environment.

Links

• The Balanced Engineer Newsletter: Code reviews - A how to guide: https://archives.balancedengineer.com/archive/code-reviews-a-how-to-guide/ 

• The Balanced Engineer Newsletter: Code reviews - Writing good PRs: https://archives.balancedengineer.com/archive/code-reviews-writing-good-prs/

• The Balanced Engineer Newsletter: Code reviews - Managing review workload: https://archives.balancedengineer.com/archive/code-reviews-managing-review-workload/ 

• Erika’s PR Template: https://github.com/eggyhead/obsidian-public/blob/main/templates/pr-review-note.md 

• Ben Balter: How I manage GitHub notifications: https://ben.balter.com/2020/08/25/how-i-manage-github-notifications/ 

Hosts

• ⁠Overcommitted.dev⁠

• Bethany Janos: ⁠https://github.com/bethanyj28⁠ 

• Brittany Ellich: ⁠https://brittanyellich.com⁠ 

Summary

In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Jonathan Tamsut, Brittany Ellich, Bethany, and Erika delve into the predictions made by the AI Futures Project regarding the future of artificial intelligence by 2027. They discuss the potential for AI to self-improve, the implications of an AI arms race, and the importance of regulation in ensuring safe AI development. The conversation also touches on the risks of AI misalignment with human values, the future of work in an AI-driven world, and the influence of corporate interests on AI regulation. The hosts conclude by assessing the probability of existential risks posed by AI, known as P-Doom, and the need for a code of ethics in the tech industry.

Takeaways

• The AI Futures Project predicts significant advancements in AI by 2027.

• AI models may train themselves, leading to recursive self-improvement.

• Regulation is crucial to prevent potential risks associated with AI.

• Misalignment of AI with human values poses serious risks.

• The future of work may shift towards managing AI agents rather than coding.

• Corporate interests may hinder the safe development of AI technologies.

• The concept of P-Doom assesses the existential risks of AI.

• A code of ethics for software developers could be more effective than government regulation.

• The conversation highlights skepticism towards aggressive AI predictions.

• The hosts express concerns about the implications of AI on society. 

  
  

Links

• AI 2027

• Scaling laws for neural language models

• P doom website

• The next big idea podcast

• The illusion of thinking paper

Hosts

• Overcommitted.dev

• Bethany Janos: https://github.com/bethanyj28 

• Brittany Ellich: https://brittanyellich.com 

Summary

In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Brittany Ellich, Jonathan Tamsut, Bethany Janos, and Erika discuss their experiences with tech events, including how to choose which events to attend, strategies for networking, maximizing time at conferences, and the value of speaking and volunteering. They share personal anecdotes and tips for making the most out of these opportunities while also addressing the challenges of social anxiety and the importance of setting boundaries. The conversation wraps up with some light-hearted unpopular opinions about tech events.

Links

• ⁠Gophercon

• Microsoft build

• All things open

• Defcon

• Epic Web Conf

• GopherconEU

Takeaways

• Choosing the right tech events is crucial for personal growth.

• Networking can be approached with prepared questions to ease anxiety.

• It's important to recognize that everyone at events wants to connect.

• Setting boundaries at conferences can help manage social fatigue.

• Leaving a talk that isn't engaging is perfectly acceptable.

• Collecting swag is a fun part of attending conferences.

• Speaking at events can provide unique opportunities for travel and learning.

• Volunteering at conferences offers valuable insights into customer perspectives.

• Finding a balance between attending talks and networking is key.

• Enjoying yourself at events should be a priority.

Hosts

• overcommitted.dev
• Bethany Janos: https://github.com/bethanyj28
• Brittany Ellich: https://brittanyellich.com
• Eggyhead: https://github.com/eggyhead
• Jonathan Tamsut: https://infinitely-fallible.bearblog.dev/

Summary

In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Brittany, and Erika discuss their experiences with the book 'Thinking in Systems' by Donella Meadows. They explore the concepts of systems thinking and its applications in software engineering, team dynamics, and societal issues. The conversation delves into the importance of feedback loops, user experience, and the impact of organizational structures on individual performance. The hosts also reflect on their book club experience, sharing insights on how to foster engaging discussions and learning opportunities.

Links

• Thinking in Systems⁠
• ⁠The point of the system is what it does - Anil Dash⁠
• Just for fun⁠
• Changelog episode about COBOL⁠

Takeaways

• The book 'Thinking in Systems' is approachable and easy to read.
• Systems thinking can be applied to various fields, not just software engineering.
• Feedback loops are crucial in understanding how systems function.
• Understanding the goals of a system can help identify problems.
• Organizational systems can be challenging to change compared to software systems.
• The book club format enhances learning and engagement.
• It's important to recognize the motivations within a system.
• Technical discussions can be enriched by diverse perspectives.

Hosts

• overcommitted.dev
• Bethany Janos: https://github.com/bethanyj28
• Brittany Ellich: https://brittanyellich.com
• Eggyhead: https://github.com/eggyhead

This week the crew chats with Hirsch Singhal, Staff Product Manager at GitHub, about effective collaboration between product and engineering.

Links

• Hirsch Singhal's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hpsin.net
• Hirsch Singhal's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirsch-singhal/
• Domain-Driven Design: https://www.amazon.com/Domain-Driven-Design-Tackling-Complexity-Software/dp/0321125215

Hosts

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠Overcommitted.dev⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Bethany Janos: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://github.com/bethanyj28⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Brittany Ellich: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brittanyellich.com⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Eggyhead: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://github.com/eggyhead⁠⁠⁠
• Jonathan Tamsut: ⁠⁠https://jtamsut.substack.com⁠⁠

The crew chat about what we're learning right now and how we learn.

Links

• PARA: https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/

• The Art of Visual Design: https://www.artofvisualdesign.com/

• Math Academy: https://www.mathacademy.com/
• Deep Learning from scratch: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/deep-learning-from/9781492041405/
• Kaggle competitions: https://www.kaggle.com/
• A Philosophy of Software Design: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/a-philosophy-of-software-design-review/
• The Feynman Technique: https://fs.blog/feynman-technique/
• The Bradfield School: csprimer.com
• Execute program: https://www.executeprogram.com/

• NotebookLM from Google: https://notebooklm.google.com/
• The Software Engineer's Guidebook: https://www.engguidebook.com/
• Pachinko: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34051011-pachinko
• Piranesi: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50202953-piranesi
• Thinking in Systems: https://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Mathematical-Princeton-Science/dp/069111966X
• Algorithms to live by: https://algorithmstoliveby.com/
• The Chaos Machine: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58950736-the-chaos-machine
• Cosmos by Carl Sagan: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55030.Cosmos

• How to Solve it: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192221.How_to_Solve_It
• The little book of aliens: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123018903-the-little-book-of-aliens
• Designing Data Intensive Applications: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23463279-designing-data-intensive-applications

Hosts

• ⁠⁠⁠Overcommitted.dev⁠⁠⁠
• Bethany Janos: ⁠⁠⁠https://github.com/bethanyj28⁠⁠⁠
• Brittany Ellich: ⁠⁠⁠https://brittanyellich.com⁠⁠⁠
• Eggyhead: ⁠⁠⁠https://github.com/eggyhead⁠⁠
• Jonathan Tamsut: ⁠https://jtamsut.substack.com⁠

The crew chat about what tech debt is and how we have prioritized it in the past.

Hosts

• ⁠⁠⁠Overcommitted.dev⁠⁠⁠
• Bethany Janos: ⁠⁠⁠https://github.com/bethanyj28⁠⁠⁠
• Brittany Ellich: ⁠⁠⁠https://brittanyellich.com⁠⁠⁠
• Eggyhead: ⁠⁠⁠https://github.com/eggyhead⁠⁠

The crew chat about how we make decisions and prioritize things as software engineers.

Links

• ⁠Clean Architecture
• One-way vs. Two-way door decisions
• Sam Altman: "The most important thing is deciding what to work on"
• Architecture Decision Records
• MoSCoW Prioritization

Hosts

• ⁠⁠Overcommitted.dev⁠⁠
• Bethany Janos: ⁠⁠https://github.com/bethanyj28⁠⁠
• Brittany Ellich: ⁠⁠https://brittanyellich.com⁠⁠
• Eggyhead: ⁠⁠https://github.com/eggyhead⁠
• Jonathan Tamsut: https://jtamsut.substack.com

The crew chat about our current toolset for building things as software engineers. Tips and tricks for staying on track and building things with our teams!

Links

• Jaeger
• Visual Studio Live Share
• ⁠Overcommitted on Bluesky⁠

Hosts

• ⁠Overcommitted.dev⁠
• Bethany Janos: ⁠https://github.com/bethanyj28⁠
• Brittany Ellich: ⁠https://brittanyellich.com⁠
• Eggyhead: ⁠https://github.com/eggyhead⁠