Hi, this is Ankur from ByteSizedBets with another monthly exclusive edition of the newsletter.
Each month, I write about software engineering, startups, developer tools, writing, career growth and small bets. Thank you for your readership, we hit 4,100+ readers last week 🙏 🎉
In today’s post, I’ll cover.
An engineering career story from Joe who is a former Meta developer and now working as a senior software engineer at Mercury. He shares the story of his career growth.
A complete guide for technical content for SaaS.
A complete in-depth look at React hooks, context API and redux.
Tech Career Stories of Real Software Engineers
Welcome to “Developer Stories” – where every line of code tells a storyof a software engineer.
Each person's story in software engineering is unique and full of challenges and insights, offering a rare glimpse into the personal and professional lives of people who write the software that shapes our world.
Join me on a thrilling ride through the career of a Meta software engineer, from humble beginnings, packed with insider insights and bold industry predictions.
Experience the highs and lows of a Meta software engineer's career, featuring exclusive stories of innovation, and corporate challenges.
Clear writing is an indication of clear thinking, which leads to clear programming. Technical writing is a real job with real work involved.
To make developers write all the documentation is the same management mentality some companies have about hiring “full-stack engineers.”
The flip side of this (from my ~14 years of experience as a developer and 3 years as a technical writer (TW)) is that once you hire a TW the natural tendency is for engineers to relinquish all responsibility for docs.
The happy medium IMO is to put some responsibility for docs in the engineering ladder (not as a nice-to-have for promotion but a legit expectation) and to likewise have an expectation in the TW ladder that they cannot do all the docs themselves but rather need to develop systems/processes for collaborating with engineers.
Because the software engineers are literally writing the source of truth for the docs. They know the information best, even if they aren't necessarily the best at presenting it or doing all of it.
They certainly are the best for forming the rough draft of correct information.
In practice, the real "synergy" happens when software engineers get into the doc creation process early and often.
For example, a writer might create a very rough draft of a guide and ask the engineer to review it for technical accuracy only Or have engineers write the very rough draft themselves and have the TW turn it into a polished document.
Another approach is when the engineer is very motivated to improve their writing, and they take on writing a doc/blog etc..., and the TW works with them step-by-step to polish it into a usable doc/blog.
My hunch is that for any given company especially startups, you'll only have a minority of engineers who want to improve their writing like this, but when it happens it should be prioritized/rewarded/encouraged. One area where it might make more sense for engineers to mostly own the docs is API references.
There should be an expectation that any changes to the API should also require a doc update.
Too many engineers/Developer advocates/ DX people think they do it well but they don't. Kind of like an average dev and their command of DSA.
Every decision matters when you run a SaaS, especially with tight resources. Instead of spending big on paid ads with no guaranteed results, turn to technical content creation. It’s a smart, budget-friendly way to grow your business and position yourself as an industry expert.
Good technical content does more than just market your startup.
It’s the heartbeat of organic marketing and a proven strategy to build brand awareness.
If you’re working as a React developer, understanding how to manage states effectively is key to building fully functional applications.
How you handle data and execute its logic determines how efficient your applications will be.
Therefore, in this tutorial, I will walk you through how to manage states effectively using various methods, such as the useState hook, the useReducer hook, Context API, Redux toolkit, and URLs.
This blog is part of my React bootcamp series, start reading the blog and share your thoughts/comments/questions.
Progress in the React Bootcamp has been more gradual than expected, as crafting high-quality content is challenging. Therefore, I've adjusted my strategy to focus on publishing two blog posts each month that concentrate on React-related topics. You can go to my blog and filter on “Learn React“
I loved this tweet from Naval.
Hype can make the first sale, but you need trust to make the rest.
This is a great reminder for everyone including me that Everything takes longer than you think. it’s easy to game the algorithm but tough to build actual shit and grow your small bets.
Being a successful person and being “popular” on Twitter/X are two very different things. Half the people here are just clout chasers. So please think next time you want to share something offbeat to your audience.
My wife has to travel to India for some personal emergency and for the last 2.5 weeks I’ve been single parenting and damm this is a tough game but TBH it’s great fun we (me and my 10-year-old son ) both ever had.
I slowed down on Twitter/X and on writing long-form posts as not have enough time/energy after doing consulting work, writing posts on my blogs, preparing breakfast, lunch, dinner and multiple home chores, gym, etc… but we both are learning some good things from each other every single day helping each other embrace randomness and spending quality time together and making our bond stronger And just to let you know it’s not I wasn’t doing all these things earlier but it’s a 50/50 work divided between both of us which all of a sudden is 100 for me!
Again a great reminder for me:
The main purpose of my small business isn’t to generate huge revenue (MRR, ARR) etc, but to improve my life.
An example: I don't need anyone's permission to go to a movie or a beach or play tennis/cricket or a long drive or a lunch date with my son on a weekday.
My son playing tennis and I’m watching him and writing at 3:30 PM on Tuesday.
Your fancy big home or your fancy car means nothing to truly wealthy people.
People who achieve true wealth forget dumb status games.
It's great to learn this early on so you don't waste too much money trying to impress your neighbour or your online friends.
The only status symbol worth looking out for is an invisible one.
The degree of control you have over your own time.
It comes with time, financial, and social independence and good life choices.
