Archive November 2023

Posts published in November 2023.

4 min read

Bireysel Katılımcılar ve Yöneticiler

İş hayatında sıkça karşılaştığımız yöneticilik(management) ve bireysel katılımcı (BK / individual contributor) rolleri, aslında birer yaşam tarzını temsil eder. Bu iki rol, kişi...

7 min read

Leading from Where You Are

When we were building Areca, a realtime billing engine for Turk Telekom, we were a small team competing against giants like Amdocs. They had the brand recognition, the scale, an...

5 min read

The Subtle Art of Listening

At its essence, leadership is not about big speeches or decisive commands. It’s about listening. I know it sounds like a cliché but think about how many times you’ve sat with so...

5 min read

Coding in Leadership

When you start coding, you start the adventure. It feels like unlocking a new world of logic and creativity. From programming classes where we tried to solve pyramid programs to...

4 min read

The Power of Consistency

One of my friends from primary school didn’t go to high school. At first, it was a bit surprising, but his family was making kebap, and he wanted to run the family business. Bec...

6 min read

The Making of a Leader

Leadership, in my eyes, has always been a blend of natural inclination and learned skills. Reflecting on my own path to becoming a leader, I've realized it's not just about inna...

11 min read

The Path to Leadership

Leadership is not a position. It is a journey that changes how you see yourself and the people around you. You begin as an individual contributor, focused on your own craft. Ove...

2 min read

Embracing TikTok

I've had a TikTok account for a while. I was a passive scroller. But, today I made my first video based on . It's about how building a great team is like cooking a good meal. Yo...

6 min read

Talent Sourcing Journey

Talent sourcing is one of those things everyone claims to understand until they actually have to do it. On paper, it sounds simple: find great people, hire them, done. But anyon...

10 min read

Leading Self Managing Teams

When I first started leading teams, I thought being a good manager meant being everywhere. I felt like checking every ticket, joining every status update and so on. I got exhaus...

6 min read

Cracking Coding Bottlenecks

In software development, we obsess over component benchmarks and algorithmic complexity, chasing milliseconds latency and BigO wins. But, time and after time, I’ve found that th...

7 min read

Quick Reflexes in Decision Making

In the fastmoving world of software development, decisions rarely wait for me to feel ready. I’ve lost count of how many times I wished for more data, more clarity, more time bu...

4 min read

Achieve More by Meeting Less

Meetings are part of leadership. We need them to align and understand. Yet, we often do it at the expense of action. The success lies in the milestones achieved. In essence, "Fe...

3 min read

The Metamorphosis of Iron Mike

Just like everyone else, I know Mike Tyson's for his performance in the ring. I got into martial arts, so I watched videos of Mike. While enjoying him knocking boxers out, I the...

15 min read

Becoming a Rockstar Engineer

In the software development realm, people often debate about 10x engineers or rockstars. But what does that really mean? How can you become one? There isn’t an easy answer, but...

2 min read

A Weekend in Amsterdam

Ender was in Europe for a business trip and wanted to meet, so we picked Amsterdam and made a weekend out of it. We landed on Friday night and went straight to the hotel, droppe...

8 min read

Leadership Archetypes

I’ve had all kinds of bosses over the years. Some of them were visionaries. Some others were quiet geniuses. One thing I’ve learned is that if you want to survive and maybe even...

7 min read

Turning Defensiveness Into Growth

As a leader, part of the job is helping people grow. That usually means giving feedback. And while we often picture feedback as a simple “I share, you listen,” the truth is it o...

6 min read

Silent Guardians of Quality

In the realm of software development, testers are the silent guardians. Their role is often misunderstood and underappreciated, especially when they do their job so well that no...

4 min read

Why You Should Read More Code

In university, I have master students studying software engineering. I often ask them one question: how do authors become authors? Do they suddenly start writing great novels in...