I keep blowing past my own estimates, and I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get more accurate. Every time I think I've scoped something out, the actual work takes way longer than I planned. What's helped you close the gap between what you think something will take and how long it really ends up being?

My manager keeps pressuring me to go for a promotion, but the payoff is terrible. I was passed over last year, so now I feel good about my decision to resist. It's basically endless paperwork and corporate politics for a tiny bump in salary. I'd much rather continue writing code remotely, do my job, and stay under the radar. Is it okay to resist the push to move up?

Is anyone else nervous about getting pushed out of tech as you age? I love software engineering and can’t imagine doing anything else, but I worry the industry won't love me back in ten or fifteen years. Is this a realistic fear, or is it just standard mid-career anxiety?

How are your daily standups run? Yeah, some people throw in blockers here and there but it’s really just people talking about how productive they were the day before by listing their accomplishments. It’s not the time or place for that. I think stand ups should just be revised to “is there anything stopping you from during your work that the entire team needs to know”?

Do you think that engineers who receive 700k total compensation packages are worth that much? I think it’s ludacris to have that many high paid roles regardless of what you do…. I’m clearly not one of those folks but I also don’t think I want to be.