Dan Peluso

Software Engineering Joys: One of my favorite things as I’ve grown in my career is the ability to jump between programming languages as I find them suitable for the current task. At my old gig, I would often go back and forth between Python, Go, and SQL. It was fun because they felt different. We used Python for a lot of our production code, and I used Go for personal tools. I loved the power and simplicity of Go, and I like hacking data pipelines in Python. I also love its ability to prototype. Currently, I’ve spent the majority of my time over the last two days in Python and Bash, and I find it so cool how quickly I’m able to iterate and script in these languages. Having spent two days in these languages, I miss C++! I miss the power and expressiveness of it. I love the fact that adding debugging symbols can make the program too slow to keep up with data. I’m amazed at how quickly data can move through the GPU. It’s an awesome language with access to so much! Each of these languages has taught me something different, and I find the variety and pace of each refreshing when I haven’t worked with them in awhile. If you are still learning your first language, that’s great! Keep it up! If you are considering learning a second language, do it. That was the one that felt like it unlocked the door for me. After I learned two I knew I could work with any. Keep at it, and be thankful people have dedicated so much time to making it enjoyable for us to solve (create?) problems on computers. If you like my content, feel free to follow or connect! #softwareengineering #languages

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If you're #opentowork; the biggest challenge is getting your resume seen and for it to stand out. If you're free in 25 minutes; join Cody Marshall as he shares everything he's learned after looking at thousands of resumes: https://lnkd.in/gpnGNEac Bring your resume and questions! EDIT: Moved to Google Meet: https://lnkd.in/gpnGNEac

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Recently I was interacting with some NY state government website forms and had to categorize my software engineering work. Unfortunately, the only category even close was, as usual, "IT". I have done IT tasks decades ago, but it's not a good fit for what I do now as a Software Engineer, because the work and the whole set of goals are qualitatively different from software engineering tasks. This was ON a website. Selecting the categories WITHIN a piece of software. Since the people building it were certainly software engineers themselves, you would think they would have ensured that their own category of work was included. Even beyond that, what about people operating in some way that defies easy categorization? It seems shortsighted to imagine that 20 to 100 categories could be created that would actually cover the infinite possibilities of people doing work. Yet these categorizations persist mostly unchanged for a century, and never include an "other" category.

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I'm proud to have been involved in the work behind this recent announcement from Instagram on improvements to a safety tool called "Limits". This tool was originally created to help creators, but we found that teenagers also had need for similar modes of protection as well. For creators, the Limits tool is used to reduce interactions from a sudden onrush of non-followers or new followers during a moment of increased attention. For teens, we found they sometimes need similar limits to interactions with a smaller subset of people then what creators need. To address this we introduced the ability to limit interactions only to those accounts on your close friends list. Further, we added limits to additional modes of interaction that teenagers use such as tagging and mentioning. IG Reel announcing the feature: https://lnkd.in/gh3nG48a Coverage from the verge: https://lnkd.in/gKir3sb5 Big shoutout to everyone who worked on this! Always fun when we get the chance to speak more publicly about our work! On a personal note I feel like I have really gotten into the rhythm for the process of developing these types of improvements within a big company like Meta (and specifically within the safety/integrity space). Six years in to working at Meta I have come to really appreciate the product development process and how to work efficiently and effectively within such an environment.

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Some advice to new grads joining the tech industry :) 1. Be patient (avoid burnout). It's so easy to take on 4 projects at once. At Palantir, I've found that there's interesting problems, both business and technical, everywhere you look and no-one will stop you from taking on more than you should. However, you'll often perform better on 2 tasks than you will on 4. It's so tempting, especially as a new grad or a young engineer, to work at 100% capacity all week every week. That means evenings and weekends. The whole concept of 100% capacity means unsustainability. Yes you will need to burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines but you can't do that every week. Even taking time off can't exactly fix burnout. Pace yourself, and growth will come. 2. Collaborate and get signal. It's very tempting to just dive into a technical problem that you think will meet a need. To spend dozens of hours coding and perfecting a solution. If you're trying to learn a skill, that's great, but if you're trying to build something for other people to use, make sure you get validation before you invest your time. Make a write-up, collaborate with potential users or someone who can help decompose the problem faced by potential users. 3. Don't just take on random tasks. When you're junior, it's tempting to take on small, random tasks in the hope of impressing people or getting recognition. It doesn't work like that - getting reward comes from owning something over an extended period of time. Taking on random tasks certainty helps with learning or building credibility within your team, but it may not have the impact you hope for. 4. You'll find yourself be pressed to make decisions that you don't feel equipped to make. The most important thing is that every decision you make should have a reason - tech can be a high stress environment but this shouldn't lead you to be randomly clicking buttons. Have a reason behind each click. You sometimes cannot afford to spend months doing research into what the best solution is. Getting feature requests in or making an emergency bug fix may lead to tight deadlines - sometimes you can only make a best effort attempt at gathering information, and go forward with a decision from that. But always have a reason. Good luck, and Palantir Technologies are hiring!

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People keep sending me this https://lnkd.in/eVWCt_c4 and ask me questions about my commute, so I thought I would make a post a FAQs. Yes, I live in Brooklyn, New York. Yes, I work in Wilmington, Delaware. No, I don’t drive. Yes, I take the train (and the subway and a bus). Yes, it’s hybrid. No, it’s not 2 days a week (it’s 3). Yes, I wake up at 3:10 in the morning. No, I don't leave Delaware before 5 (most times it's until after 10:00 pm). Let me know if I missed any or if I should make this into a medium article. #SuperCommuter #RemoteWork #HybridWork #TrainCommute #BrooklynToWilmington #WorkLifeBalance #Commuting #EarlyRiser #PublicTransport #WorkJourney #PotentialMediumArticle #FAQ

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I never considered the mental overhead of loyalty program points on the customer, most of the times its just a surprise discount; not allowing the customer to appreciate the reward as much. Rewarding the customer on their birthday/special occasions definitely makes a much larger perceived impact than rewarding them based on a tally of some points. In addition to this, incentivizing a purchase might have a negative impact on brand value. So loyalty points may be a good idea for grocery chains but not for companies with higher brand values. Any points in favor of loyalty programs?

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Imposter Syndrome doesn't magically disappear forever. I'm well past my twenties now and a decent way into my career. I've been managing engineering teams for over a decade. But imposter Syndrome still shows up. I was having a review about my first paid course that I released to the public. There was lots of feedback for me. And if you're like me, the thought of getting feedback is both scary as hell but powerful. It's like this mixed fear of dread and opportunity because you know you'll be able to improve. So I get the feedback... And it's all super actionable. Mostly technical things that can be tweaked and easily improved. But partially out of fear and partially because my Imposter Syndrome was running high I had to ask: "But... was the teaching style okay? Did anyone complain about it being bad?" I've been doing some form of tutoring or teaching since I was 14. That's over 20 years of my life (yikes, that sucks to write). I've even recently volunteered at a high school to help with computer science. I should feel CONFIDENT teaching concepts. But here I am, an imposter. Am I good enough? Did people hate me? Do I even know what I'm talking about? Why did I ever sign up for this? I'm embarrassed now. All thoughts that were running through my head waiting for feedback. "No! I haven't heard anything like that. I think the teaching style was on point." (not a direct quote but paraphrased) ... and in the moment I get a bit of relief from external validation. But we always need to keep pushing the self doubt out of our minds. I share Imposter Syndrome scenarios because I find my imposter syndrome subsides more when I hear that other people go through it as well. I hope this helped you realize you're not alone when these thoughts creep up. ---- 📨 Sign up for my email newsletter! 🗣️ Share with your network! #ImposterSyndrome #ImpostorSyndrome

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I've been rereading Paul Graham's essay, "How to Do Great Work." I do this every few months to check-in with myself, and answer the question "Am I doing great work?" The great thing about Paul's essays is that not only are they superbly written, but they're at that level where it could be applicable to his intended audience, startup founders, but also applicable to folks not starting startups. One of my fav lines... "There's a kind of excited curiosity that's both the engine and the rudder of great work. It will not only drive you, but if you let it have its way, will also show you what to work on." What a fantastic line! "...both the engine and the rudder...". This essay is dense, and filled with wisdom that can apply to anyone doing anything hard. Find a cozy chair and give this a read. - https://lnkd.in/dB7vH3hH

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A few weeks ago I broke my (dominant) wrist. It sucked. It still sucks. It's hard-to-impossible to type. I'm improvising to find ways to contribute when I was supposed to be hands-on-keyboard creating a new, impactful pilot at USDS. More strategy, less code. More using my experience in civic tech, less code. So what does a good engineer do? Find new ways to get it done. 1. Voice to text is pretty fantastic these days, how can I use that more? 2. Change your keyboard shortcuts on your laptop. This is hard, so much muscle memory, but some of it is worth it. 3. Is one way of typing easier? New keyboard? On your phone? 4. AI coding help It's the last one I want to share. I enlisted chat GPT help to write a message formatter. It was all the fun parts of writing code: thinking about a problem, envisioning the solution, putting it together in my head, but then AI did the work. To be clear, it wasn't great code but it was a good start that I could modify one-handed. In the end I uploaded it to GitHub in case someone else wants to use it. Check it out in the comments!

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Career changes are tough, but your experience is an asset, not a liability. It’s your X factor to stand out → To optimize your resume and portfolio for a front-end dev role, your goal is to convince hiring managers that you’re: ✅ A Quick learner: Able to navigate through unfamiliar domains. ✅ Versatile: Capable of adapting to challenges. ✅ A V-shaped talent: Bridging gaps within the team. To achieve the goal, follow this simple 2-step guide to transfer your skills: 1. Identify your strengths: Start from your comfort zone and pinpoint your core skills (your X factor). 2. Create a project: Develop a website or app that highlights your X factor. It’s straightforward because there’s always a connection between a front-end project and your domain knowledge. For example: • Data analysts → Showcase your expertise by building interactive dashboards. • UI designers → Demonstrate your skills through meticulously designed components. • Filmmakers → Focus on enhancing video performance on websites. That’s it. Making a career shift is a bold and challenging move. Identify, refine, and transfer your valuable X factor to your new journey in front-end development. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you! Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog: https://lnkd.in/gaz6zzE2

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This is a great lesson from Andy Greenwell for Engineers but also Managers. Both sides need to come to the table to make sure there is a shared understanding around the expectations for promotions. Especially as you climb higher, there are variations in what the path can look like. There are so many ways to be a Staff engineer for example. As an engineer, make sure you validate your assumptions and have a shared plan with your manager. One of the biggest barriers I see for engineers is doing amazing work, but at the level you're at. If you want a promotion, understand the next level and do that work until you build confidence with leadership that you can consistently perform there *without burning out*. For managers, do you know which of your team are looking to promote and which ones are okay to stay where they are? For the ones that want to promote, do you think they fully understand the expectations? Do you understand their plan? If they execute on it, is that enough? And if not, have you communicated that more than once? As Software Engineers level up, more and more expectations are put on them to drive the process. For my most junior engineers, I will essentially give them the path to the next level. Once they hit senior, it's more of a choose your own adventure. I'll give guidance and I'll validate your plan, but I'm not making it for you. Part of being at that level is being independent and holding others (like your manager) accountable.

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The Niners losing yesterday was not the worst part of the super bowl for me. Seeing the Temu ad 3 times frustrated me to no end. Partly because the ad was annoying but more importantly because of what it promoted. Companies like Temu, Wish, and SHEIN, represent what is wrong with consumerism today. Our buying mindset is naive: we buy now and we buy cheap. It’s hard not to when you see items on these sites at extremely discounted rates. The downfall, however, is in the items design. They are manufactured to only work in the short term and to promote future purchasing on the site. This is called planned obsolescence, a term too prevalent these days. The larger issue at play, however, is environmental. Although in the US the waste system is mostly obfuscated from the public, our trash still goes somewhere. So that $7 massage gun you bought a month ago, and all the carbon that was emitted because of it, is now sitting in a landfill. We need to resist the urge to buy cheap and invest in the future. #plannedobsolescence #sustainability #temuad

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Decided to take a stab at writing! We’re creating a series that will walk you through what it really takes to build an MVP from start to finish. Hope you enjoy! 🥳 #entrepreneurship #tech #womenintech #yyc #softwaredevelopment

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Please message me or post here if anyone knows of links that I can include in the "Job Listings for Older Adults" or "Business Ideas for Older Adults" or "Advice to get a Job for Older Adults" topics for https://GreyWillpower.com

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Options in a start up are often referred to as paper money, a lottery ticket, or otherwise suggesting a lack not just of liquidity but of worth. Through the last three startups I've gotten my value back. One was an ESOP (shares repurchased over time), one was fully sold (traditional m&a), and one was a buy back. Point being, my view is skewed the opposite way to see significant value in options. How do you view and value options in a start up?

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“You’re leaving software engineering to start a paper straw company??” Jordan and I came up with the idea of creating the world’s best paper straw in early 2019. I was working as a Senior Software Engineer and always thought I’d start a SaaS tech company — not a physical product one. We officially incorporated SOFi Products in March of that year, but it was still just an idea. Jordan focused on product development, while I had to manage aspects that were new to me: Supply chain and logistics. Exactly eight months later, we launched the SOFi straws in November, taking our idea to market. We went through countless iterations during that time but ran into a new challenge. On the one hand, we had this product that lasted for hours, didn’t get soggy, or tasted like paper; on the other hand, we now had to sell it. How do you stand out in a crowded sea of straws claiming to be “compostable”? Most entrepreneurs say, “Build it, and they’ll come” — the truth is not so straightforward. We had to learn sales. I felt like we were really scrambling until I came across a book called Predictable Revenue. The author outlines a systematic approach to generating leads, prospecting, and structuring teams for success in the book. A quote from the book that completely transformed our sales was, “No is just a future yes.” You will face rejection on a daily basis and you need to become comfortable with rejection if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur. Fast forward five years, and we’re present in every Canadian province and 47 US states!

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I’ve spent my last four and a half years at Brex. Joining back in January of 2020, a lot has changed between myself, the company, and the world. Over my time at Brex, I’ve seen or experienced: - Rolling out career ladders, working towards a staff engineer promotion, and moving into management - Onboarding hundreds of engineers, resulting in the growth of the company from under fifty engineers and three hundred employees to over a thousand employees - Surviving three different rounds of layoffs, and countless numbers of re-organizations - Moving from a product engineer helping to build and launch Brex Cash, to an internal platform tech lead focused on developer productivity for a rapidly scaling organization, back to working on product as an engineering manager helping to re-launch our Bill Pay product integrated into our expense management software Since 2023, I've been writing down some key learnings from my time at Brex. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eXRV8NNz #TechCareer #SoftwareEngineering #Fintech #StartupLife #CareerGrowth #EngineeringManagement #ProductDevelopment #DeveloperProductivity #TechInsights #Scalability #OrganizationalGrowth #TechLeadership #Brex #TechLearnings #EngineeringJourney

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Stand Up! I am still looking for a job. If anyone has their sights on a full stack and/or frontend role, please keep me in mind. Yesterday, I largely dedicated myself to the job hunt. Every time I do something -- including coding -- I feel a supreme about of guilt for not applying to more jobs, even though I've applied to 138 in the past 2 weeks... Having said that, I did set up the pipeline to interact with system files in Electron. The safest solution is to define a promise in the main directory -> invoke the promise in the preload directory -> and trigger the invoked promise via event listener in the renderer. Since main, preload, and renderer all instantiate at different times, this works via string reference, so it's important to componentize said string and import it when needed. Today, I'll wrap up CRUD to interact with .md files in root and devote any extra time to styling changes in the Frog management and custom interval dialogs. Follow along! https://lnkd.in/dh7w6RHg

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