Monthly Digest — August 📌
Hi there! August is almost over and it's time for our monthly digest!
For all new people who joined recently, this is a special issue I write at the end of each month. I use it to give updates about Refactoring itself, recap the latest articles, and share some great resources.
Let's start! 👇
💥 10,000 Subscribers
We made it!! 🎉
This is just an incredible milestone — Refactoring is less than one year old and I am truly grateful for your trust and support.
It's an amazing privilege (and a big responsibility) to being able to write for so many people.
I have so many ideas on how to make Refactoring better, and I can't wait to show you over the next weeks and months. In the meantime, though, feel free to reach out and let me know how I can improve the newsletter for you!
Are there any specific topics you would like me to cover? Or anything I have done / written in the past that you don't like?
Let me know! 📣
📚 50 Articles
Another milestone! Last week I published the 50th article on Refactoring. We have come a long way since I started last September.
In case you missed them, here are the 5 most popular articles so far:
✍️ August Articles
Finally, here are the three new topics we discussed this month:
📊 The Three Stages of Engineering Teams
Mike Krieger, co-founder & CTO of Instagram, believes there are three major growth stages every engineering team goes through.
These are crucial moments in the wider company evolution, and largely match my own experience at a fast-growing startup first, and a larger company later.
He calls them:
🃏 Generalists
🧱 Platforms
🧩 Products
In this article I wrote about them, together with upsides, downsides, and the impact on the work of your team.
⚔️ How to Win at Hiring against Big Companies
A popular complaint is that it's hard for startups to compete at hiring against big companies, who have deep pockets and enticing career paths.
I believe this is not necessarily true.
Both types of companies have their strengths and weaknesses. As a startup, you can win by playing to your strengths.
There are at least three major strengths you can leverage:
🃏 You can look outside the box
📣 You can do incredible selling
⚡ You can be really fast
This article is about these strategies and how you can apply them for your team.
☀️ Why We Moved to Async Stand-ups
Stand-ups have always been a staple of our team rituals. Over time we shifted from having them in person, to having them in call, to finally having them as async reports.
This last stage has brought several upsides, and a few downsides as well.
This article explores the reasons why we are sticking with them, and how you can do the same for your team.
⭐ Weekly Featured Jobs
Here are the remote engineering jobs featured this week! They are all from great companies and I personally review them one by one.
Pager — Senior Software Engineer — the best way to capture and share your digital life.
Journey — Founding Frontend Engineer — a storytelling tool designed for the internet age.
A Team — Senior Software Developer ($130-190/hr) — professional network for A-Talent to connect and form full-stack teams.
Companion — Senior Backend Generalist — transformative learning experiences for your dog.
Sermo — Senior Backend Engineer / Senior Frontend Engineer— the social network for doctors.
Browse many more open roles (or add your own) on the full board 👇
Hey, I am Luca 👋 thank you for reading this far!
Every week I read tens of articles and draw from my own experience to create a 10-minutes advice about some engineering leadership topic.
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