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It takes more than great code to be a great engineer. Soft Skills Engineering is a weekly advice podcast for software developers about the non-technical stuff that goes into being a great software developer.
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Host Mary Wesley takes you behind the caller's mic to explore perspectives from the people who choose to stand in that curious place between the band and a roomful of dancers. Featuring conversations with callers of American social dance forms (contras, community dances, trad squares). Why do they do it? How did they learn? What is their role, on stage and off, in shaping our dance communities?
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In each episode Adam interviews somebody who works in the web world as a designer, developer, manager, advocate, or founder. These are people who have built something awesome or are experts in something awesome. Together we're all building the web of tomorrow.
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See the From the Mic website for great bonus content, including pictures and audio, transcripts, and more. Click here to download the transcript directly. Sound bites featured in this episode (in order of appearance): Maia Calls the dance Playground Stomp by Julian Bee with music by Not Enough Fiddles at NEFFA 2017 in Mansfield, MA Maia Calls A Dan…
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Episode 416: My boss wants me to build dark patterns and getting promoted without writing code
24:25
24:25
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24:25
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: “I’ve been assigned a ticket to “add more friction to the downgrade process” in order to decrease the amount of downgrades our app has. The proposed change has 4 modals pop up before the user can cancel their paid plan. I would like to push back on this change. Any tips on how to bring up th…
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Episode 415: I got a low raise and merging teams
29:16
29:16
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29:16
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi guys! I’m a technical Data Analyst in a well established Fortune 500 company, in my job I usually work with databases to build queries and prepare reports for our users. In the past 2 years my team and I had a tremendous impact in the business with several successful key projects, and we …
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Episode 414: Hot-headed PM and leaving without downgrading
31:47
31:47
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31:47
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Cool-headed engineer asks, How do you deal with hot-headed project managers? I have a project manager in my team who really likes to criticize me, a project lead. Most recently, I was criticized for asking a dumb question to the users which they already answered a few months ago. They told m…
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Episode 413: Is my interview candidate cheating and my product owner is getting WRECKED by the client
32:00
32:00
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32:00
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: This is my first time conducting technical interviews (most of which have been virtual), and I had one interview where I had a strong feeling that the candidate was cheating. They breezed through the short problems I gave them, and they were able to explain their reasoning. But during the li…
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Episode 412: Work-life-team balance and getting code-sniped
33:16
33:16
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33:16
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Dear Skillet HQ, How would you negotiate a difference in work-life balance between teams? I love my job and my immediate team. We’re a tech group within a larger non-tech business, and it’s a fun problem domain. Our immediate team has some hard-won work-life balance, in part because it would…
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Episode 411: We have a secret org chart and I'm a big fish in a little pond
35:28
35:28
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35:28
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi :-) I work as a Senior Data Scientist, and about half a year ago I joined a start up that was founded by a large corporation. And while this job comes with the perks of a bigger company - like good salary, paid overtime, … , - it also comes with its organizational overhead and politics: W…
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Episode 410: Guaranteed cost-of-living raises and my manager doesn't like me
34:28
34:28
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34:28
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi Soft Skills! I’m writing to you as I look forlornly at my paycheck, unchanged for the last year and a half, and wonder if I’ll ever see market rate again. While I prepare my leetcoding skills for the trek that is your classic Soft Skills Adventure (quitting), I think about future intervie…
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See the From the Mic website for great bonus content, including pictures and audio, transcripts, and more. Click here to download the transcript directly. And the Country Dance and Song Society for information about Contra and English country dance across the continent Sound bites featured in this episode (in order of appearance): Rick calls his ow…
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Episode 409: Fancy title to IC and CRUD is crud
28:27
28:27
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28:27
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Shayne asks, I’m about to start a new gig after 8+ years at a company. I was an early employee at the current company and have accumulated a lot of responsibility, influence, and a fancy title. I’ll be an IC at my new company (also very early stage) but the most senior engineer se…
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Episode 408: Terrible retrospectives and "hard to work with"
33:38
33:38
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33:38
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I am an electrical engineer working on and off with software for about 15 years. From mainframe applications with Cobol and PL/1 to plant floor supervisory systems with SCADA and some.Net along the way. 6 years ago my husband got an offer to move to Europe and I came along. Had to reinvent m…
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Episode 407: I'm too territorial and should I quiet quit?
25:53
25:53
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25:53
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I am a data scientist and have been at my company for 2 years. Each of the data scientists on my team specialize in a different area of the business (growth, marketing, etc). I have developed a reputation for being the expert in my area and have worked really hard to understand my domain. I …
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Episode 406: Acquired taste and limited mentorship
27:54
27:54
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27:54
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Brad asks, I am currently a Senior Engineer with a small software company. I have been developing software for more than 20 years. We were recently acquired by another mid sized company. Since the acquisition, things have been going downhill. It feels like they’re trying to nickel a…
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Episode 405: Scaled agile pain and top-heavy team
34:24
34:24
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34:24
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: One and a half year ago, I joined my current team as a tech lead, in an organisation that uses ‘Scaled Agile’. This was my first time joining an organisation that employed dedicated Scrum masters. In previous organisations, the role of Scrum master would usually fall upon a team member that …
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Episode 404: Interview comedy and talking pay while new
28:25
28:25
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28:25
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: “Hello,Is it considered ok to be a bit funny during an interview?To give more context:In a recent interview, I progressed up to the final cultural-fit round after clearing all technical rounds at a well-known company.One of my interviewer asked how I would deal with conflicts with a peer. In…
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Episode 403: Massaging the software and career never-never-land
31:38
31:38
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31:38
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m a bootcamp graduate working on a career shift from massage to software development. How much of my previous career should I bring into my résumé? I’ve been building projects in public, and doing open source contribution in a part-time capacity for the past two years, but ultimately have …
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See the From the Mic website for great bonus content, including pictures and audio, transcripts, and more. Click here to download the transcript directly. And the Country Dance and Song Society for information about Contra and English country dance across the continent Sound bites featured in this episode (in order of appearance): Cis calling the d…
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Episode 402: It's all on fire and title inflation
32:42
32:42
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32:42
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Happy Birthday Dave and congrats on the 400 episode milestone! Last year I was recruited away from my cushy Sr Dev role at Chill MegaCorp to an exciting technical leadership role at Fast-Paced MegaCorp. It felt like a huge level up since I had always wanted to pick up some of the softer comm…
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Episode 401: I AM the superstar and pro-rated raise
30:24
30:24
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30:24
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: A listener named Metal Mario asks, A few weeks back in Episode 395 you talked about working with a superstar teammate. I feel like for our team, I’m the superstar. We’re a small software team in a large non-software company. I joined a year ago and very quickly took on a lot of responsibilit…
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