Engineering Craft Series

Software engineering best practices for working engineers: how strong engineers read code, run reviews, stay consistent, and build disciplined habits.

15 min read

How I Work as a Software Engineer

When I started out, I thought productivity meant speed. Ship fast, fix fast, move fast. Working in startups taught me something different. When everything around you changes con...

8 min read

Java Developer vs. Software Engineer

Java developer vs. software engineer is discussed quite often, especially among programmers trying to define what truly separates a coder from an engineer. One of my friends kep...

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...

6 min read

Essential Engineering Principles

Engineering principles give teams a practical foundation for how to build and operate software. They guide decisions, shape behaviours, and help groups stay aligned even as syst...

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...

7 min read

Before You Import That Library

Software development depends a lot on open source projects. From operating systems to editors, we use open source software everywhere. Nevertheless, we should be careful about w...

7 min read

On Writing Wrapper Libraries

A wrapper library is a thin layer of abstraction around an existing library, dependency, or functionality. A wrapper library offers a better and cleaner interface or rather hide...

3 min read

A guide for Code Reviews

Code reviews shouldn’t be about ego. Still, every time you send one, you’re putting yourself out there. You want your work reviewed but at the same time it makes you vulnerable....

6 min read

Consistency Matters

When I look back at the projects I’ve worked on, the most peaceful moments were always when the code felt consistent. Everything lined up. Names made sense. Files looked familia...

4 min read

Code Author

Throughout the years I have worked on many software projects. In most of them, the code header included the authorʼs name. At first, it seemed natural to have the authorʼs name....

4 min read

Duplicate code isn't that bad

Duplicate code isn’t something we usually want in our code for various reasons. The most obvious one is maintenance. When you change a piece of logic, you have to find every pla...