Engineering Excellence Standards

You’ll never become a great software engineer if you’ve never maintained production services. Building features is easy. But maintaining them in production, where customers actually use and break your services, is where you grow. Being a great engineer isn’t about how much code you write. Or how many features you ship. Or what you can deliver in a sprint. There’s so much more to it. Design, planning, communication, mentoring, and more all matter. But one of the key parts is Operational Excellence. Because when code hits production, speed alone isn’t enough. Customers expect reliability. Teams expect judgment. Systems demand resilience. This is even more important now with the rise of AI assisted vibe coders. Start focusing on Operational Excellence if you want to grow as an engineer: It’s seeing and learning from customer behaviour. It’s how you communicate trade-offs and prioritisation. It’s balancing speed, reliability, and risk. It’s adding features without breaking what’s already there. It’s managing technical debt. It’s performing migrations safely. It’s learning from incidents. It’s streamlining developer experience. It’s improving performance and reliability. It’s taking ownership of operational procedures. It’s redesigning systems when assumptions fail. Maintain. Own. Improve. That’s how great engineers deliver systems customers can trust. #softwareengineering #devops #aws #operationalexcellence

Most young structural engineers learn these lessons the hard way. I wrote them down so you do not have to.    1 -Design like no one will ever proofread your work Own the responsibility for your calculations and drawings. Check them properly. Take a break. Go for a walk or sleep on it. Then come back with fresh eyes and review again. Treat every design as if you are the last line of defence, not your senior. 2. Burnout is not fixed by only lying on the couch Sometimes you need rest. Other times you need to move your body and do something physical. Go to the gym, train jiu jitsu, walk outside. Being in your body often clears your head better than another Netflix episode.   3. Everything worth doing feels hard in the beginning Your first steel frame calcs will feel hard. Your first wind load calculation will feel confusing. That does not mean you are not “meant” for this. It just means you are at the start.   4. Take one tech free day each week No YouTube, no social media, no emails. Read a physical book. Walk around looking at real buildings. Sketch a structure in a notebook. Let your brain breathe. New ideas will sneak in when you stop forcing them.   5. Most of your mistakes will not end the world You will mislabel a beam, miss a small note, or forget a dimension. Learn from it, fix it, and move on. Take responsibility without beating yourself up for weeks.   6. You probably do not need more hours. You need more focus Two hours of deep work on a single example, drawing, or application will move your career more than eight hours of half distracted “studying” with your phone next to you.   7. Decide your plan for the next 30 days. Then stick to it Choose the standards you will study, the examples you will complete, the firms you will contact. Write it down. Then follow it even when you do not “feel like it.” Momentum beats motivation.   8. People matter more than projects At the end, you will not care how many beams you designed. You will remember the mentors who helped you, the colleagues you laughed with on site, the younger engineers you encouraged. Do not sacrifice relationships for “one more hour of work” every time.   9. Do not let fear run your career decisions Fear of rejection, fear of speaking up, fear of looking silly in front of others. Ninety nine percent of those fears never become real. Ask the question anyway. Send the application anyway   10. When you feel lost, do smaller projects Do not try to learn all in one month. Pick one thing you can finish in a week. A carport. A small retaining wall. A simple wind example. Complete it. Then pick the next thing.   Hope that helps. Cheers, Gabe

 Once you’ve worked as a software engineer long enough, you realize:  # 1. Thinking about business impact matters more than just writing code  Your cool design and code doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t solve a real problem - Engineers who understand business-needs build things that actually matter. - Spending time to perfect the code without thinking about how will it be used is a waste of effort # 2. Being a multiplier makes you irreplaceable The best engineers don’t just solve problems, they help others do the same.   - Teach what you know, mentor juniors, and document everything.   - The fastest way to grow is by making those around you better.  # 3. Getting things done beats being perfect  An unfinished project delivers no value. - Ship early, iterate, and refine: progress is better than perfection. - Striking the right balance between quality and efficiency is what truly matters. # 4. Working alone is a career limiter  Lone wolves burn out and limit their impact.   - Collaborate, share ideas, and involve others in your work.   - Big projects require alignment, not just technical brilliance.  # 5. Taking ownership sets senior engineers apart  The best engineers don’t wait to be told what to do.   - Keep stakeholders informed, flag blockers early, and drive execution.   - Leaders take responsibility before being asked.  # 6. Focus is your greatest asset  Deep work separates good engineers from great ones. – Reduce distractions, keep meetings minimal, and protect your time for high-value tasks. – One uninterrupted hour of focused work can achieve more than five hours of scattered effort. # 7. Feedback is your best shortcut to growth  Growth comes from iteration, not just experience. – Actively seek feedback, apply it quickly, and treat it as a learning tool. – The best engineers improve through adaptation, not just years on the job. # 8. Communication is as important as technical skill Even the best ideas fail if you can’t explain them clearly. – Write well, simplify complex topics, and drive meaningful discussions. – Great engineers don’t just build, they influence, collaborate, and lead. # 9. Learning never stops  If you don’t actively learn, you’ll become outdated—fast.   - Build side projects, contribute to open source, and read industry trends.   - The ability to adapt is more valuable than any single skill.  # 10. Teaching is the highest form of mastery  If you can’t teach it, you don’t understand it well enough.   - Share knowledge, mentor others, and document processes.   - Teaching scales your impact beyond just your own work.  — P.S: I’m starting a new mentorship program for software engineers where I’ll do a Live Q&A. I’ll be taking batches of 5-10 people per session. My LinkedIn DMs always have more requests than I can answer. This is a good way to talk to everyone. If you’d like me to answer your questions in this small group, fill this form for more details: https://lnkd.in/g7dp8Z-H

If you're a junior engineer, here's advice that took me 6+ years to learn the hard way. These lessons won’t just make you better at coding — they'll make you someone every team wants to work with. 1 Code is a liability, not an asset. Every line you write is something the team has to understand, test, and maintain. Writing less—but clearer—code is the true superpower. 2 Start by solving problems, not by choosing tools. Frameworks come and go. What doesn’t change is understanding the actual problem, user pain, and business need. Let that guide your stack, not trends. 3 The easiest way to gain trust on a team is to be reliable. Not the smartest, not the fastest—just the person who consistently delivers what they commit to, communicates well, and makes others’ work easier. 4 Logs are your second monitor. Well-structured, searchable logs will save you in ways you can't imagine—especially at 2AM when a random service breaks and no one knows why. 5 Comments are like tattoos—don’t write them unless you’ll be proud of them a year from now. Write self-explanatory code instead. When you must comment, make it count: why, not what. 6 The cost of abstraction is paid in bugs. If you can't explain how the abstraction works under the hood, it will bite you when things break. Always understand the layer beneath you. 7 Testing isn't optional once real users depend on your system. Even a flaky test today is better than realizing next week that your feature silently broke production. 8 Learn to read code like a detective, not just write it like an author. Most of your career will be spent reading code you didn’t write. Practice understanding systems fast—it’s a superpower few prioritize. 9 Production is where the real learning begins. You’ll never know how good your code really is until it faces real traffic, edge cases, and failures. Treat production like a mentor, not just an environment. 10 Be curious about the “boring” stuff. Things like DNS, HTTP headers, caching layers, file descriptors—they seem dull until they cause real-world fires. Then they’re everything. 11 The best engineers aren’t heroes. They’re builders of systems, habits, and tools that prevent the need for heroics in the first place. Good engineers write code that works. Great engineers build systems that keep working—even when they’re not watching. Let me know which of these hits hardest for you. 👇

One of the best perks of working at Google? You get to learn from some of the most talented engineers in the world.  Here’s the advice that changed how I approached system design:  ○ 1. Start with the Systems You Already Work On  You don’t need to build the next Google-scale system to learn system design. Start with what’s in front of you. - Study the architecture of the systems your team maintains.   - Ask senior engineers why certain design decisions were made.   - Try to understand trade-offs, +why was SQL chosen over NoSQL?  +Why is there a cache?  ○ 2. Get Involved in Design Discussions  Even if you’re not leading the discussions, listen, observe, and ask questions.  - How does the team decide on a database?   - What factors go into choosing between microservices vs. a monolith?   - What happens when something fails, and how is it mitigated?  ○ 3. Learn to Think in Trade-offs  System design is never about finding a perfect solution, it’s about understanding trade-offs.  - High availability vs. consistency   - Performance vs. cost   - Scalability vs. simplicity  Engineers who understand why something works a certain way are the ones who stand out.  ○ 4. Read and Reverse-Engineer Real Systems  Reading about distributed systems is great, but reverse-engineering existing architectures is even better.   - Read engineering blogs from Netflix, Meta, Uber, and Stripe.   - Study open-source projects to understand their system design.   - Look at case studies of real-world scaling challenges.  ○ 5. Build Small Projects and Simulate Failures  Designing a system on paper is one thing, running one is another.    - Try deploying your own API and scaling it.   - Experiment with load balancing, caching, and database sharding.   - Simulate failures: What happens if a server crashes? How does the system recover?  ○ 6. Teach Others What You Learn   The fastest way to internalize system design concepts? Explain them to others.  - Write blog posts breaking down technical concepts.   - Mentor junior engineers and help them understand architecture decisions.   - Share what you learn with your team in tech talks or discussions.  You don’t gain experience in system design by just watching YouTube videos or reading books.   You gain it by getting involved, asking questions, experimenting, and building. 

The advice I gave my son on day one... After graduating, my son started his first corporate job this week. On day one, I sent him a short note with the following advice: • 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. Do what’s asked - on time and to a high level. If you say you’ll do something, it gets done - no follow-up required.  • 𝗚𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱. Look for the extra 10–20% that actually adds real value.   • 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄. Don’t assume experience always equals the best answer. Being new, you’ll see things others may not. Share ideas with respect, curiosity, and confidence. • 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵. Be simple, concise, and timely. Keep people informed - before you’re asked. People trust what they can see and understand. • 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀. Take a genuine interest in people. Help them succeed. The value of this compounds over time. • 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲. Stay positive, coachable, and solution-oriented, especially when things don’t go your way.   • 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆. Stay curious and ask questions. Choose roles, projects, and teams that stretch you.      • 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. Pay attention to what leadership cares about. Work that supports those priorities gets noticed. • 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸. Ask for feedback regularly. Don’t defend it. Say thank you, then use it to grow.   • 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Act with integrity in everything you do. Do the right thing, even when it’s hard. Your reputation is built on decisions and actions you think no one sees. They do. At the start of a career, it’s easy to focus on titles and trajectory. What really matters is building a strong foundation - capability, relationships and reputation. What advice are you giving young people as they head into the workforce?

I’ve been leading SWE teams for over a decade now. As a Principal EM, I have one cardinal rule: The failures of my team are my failures. A strong engineering team doesn’t just happen, it’s built deliberately over time. To evaluate progress and level up, I focus on three core pillars that define a high-performing engineering team. Let’s break them down: 1. Delivering Value: The “Why” Behind the Work Your team exists to solve problems, ship features, and provide value. - Are we consistently delivering measurable results? - Are stakeholders confident in our output? - Does every sprint feel aligned with business goals? Value doesn’t mean just “shipping.” It means shipping the right things that move the needle for the business. 2. People Growth: Build for Today, Invest for Tomorrow Your team isn’t just delivering code, it’s a living system of people with potential. Ask yourself: - Are individuals engaged and growing? - Are we creating opportunities for junior engineers to step up? - Do team members feel empowered to share ideas and take ownership? High retention, strong morale, and skill growth are signs you’re on the right track. 3. Sustainable Quality: Long-Term Wins Over Short-Term Gains Shortcuts may feel tempting, but tech debt always comes knocking. - Are we balancing speed with quality? - Is technical debt under control? - Are we investing in processes and tools to sustain long-term success? The best teams create systems that grow with them, not against them. My role an Engineering Manager isn’t just to manage tasks. It’s to elevate the entire system—people, processes, and outcomes. When your team excels in all three pillars, you’re creating a high-performance team that can adapt, grow, and thrive. If you’re a developer, remember: Your work is more than just the lines of code you push. When you focus on delivering value, growing as a person, and maintaining quality, you’re not just leveling yourself up, you’re helping your entire team succeed. Keep asking questions. Keep learning. And most importantly, keep building.

Struggling to keep your software projects on track? 😕 Misunderstandings in the early stages of development can send even the best teams into costly cycles of rework. Imagine a process where everything is clear from the get-go. Right at the outset, QA teams, including automation engineers and manual testers, can craft test cases in plain English. This approach isn't just about efficiency, it's about setting your project up for success from day one. By establishing all crucial functionality early, this method dramatically streamlines the entire development cycle. It eliminates the chaos and keeps everyone aligned on the project goals. With clear and detailed specifications from the start, engineers receive a roadmap that significantly reduces the need to backtrack and rewrite. This not only saves time but also conserves valuable resources. The payoff? You could see up to a 𝟑𝟓% 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, thanks to a drastic reduction in misinterpretations and overlooked details. Let’s rethink the effectiveness of our initial development stages. What could your team achieve with all that recovered time? #SDLC #QualityAssurance #SoftwareDevelopment #AITestingTools

You don’t build excellence by giving a better speech—you build it by designing better systems. That idea runs against a lot of leadership instincts. We love motivation. We love the rally cry, the offsite, the keynote that gets people fired up. And motivation matters… for about five minutes. But excellence—the kind that lasts, scales, and survives leadership transitions—doesn’t come from hype. It comes from engineering. That’s something Walt Disney understood deeply. Disneyland didn’t become exceptional because Cast Members were more inspired than everyone else. It became exceptional because excellence was intentionally designed into the experience. Here are five practical ways you can engineer excellence—without relying on constant motivation: • Design the Environment to Support the Behavior Disney didn’t just tell Cast Members to be friendly—he designed spaces that made friendliness the default. Clear sightlines. Intentional guest flow. Backstage areas that reduced stress. If your people need constant reminders to do the right thing, that’s not a motivation problem—it’s a design problem. Ask yourself: Does our environment make excellence easier or harder? • Build Standards That Remove Guesswork At Disneyland, excellence isn’t subjective. There are clear standards for cleanliness, guest interaction, safety, and storytelling. People don’t guess what “great” looks like—they’re trained into it. Leaders often say, “I trust my team to figure it out.” Trust is good. Clarity is better. Excellence accelerates when standards are obvious and shared. • Engineer for Consistency, Not Heroics Disney didn’t want great days only when the best Cast Members were on shift. The goal was consistency—every guest, every day. That meant systems, processes, and redundancies. If your organization depends on heroic effort to succeed, you don’t have excellence—you have burnout waiting to happen. Engineer systems that produce good outcomes even on average days. • Train for Judgment, Not Just Tasks Disney training wasn’t only about what to do—it was about why it mattered. Cast Members were taught how to make decisions aligned with the guest experience when the script ran out. Executives often over-index on procedures and under-invest in judgment. Excellence shows up when people know how to think, not just what to execute. • Treat Excellence as a Design Discipline At Disney, excellence was never accidental. It was reviewed, tested, refined, and protected over time. Details were debated. Trade-offs were intentional. Many organizations talk about excellence as a value. Disney treated it as a discipline. The question for leaders isn’t, Do we value excellence? It’s, Have we designed for it? Motivation can spark effort—but only engineering sustains excellence. Where are you still trying to motivate what actually needs to be designed? The Walt Disney Company Disneyland Resort Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney World Disney Institute

𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 Launching a new plant is challenging. How do you ensure success? Here’s how DES delivers excellence through the LAUNCH Framework: Learn, Analyze, Unify, Navigate, Create, Harness 𝟭. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲 DES starts with understanding every detail Gather Data: Collect accurate inputs on processes, resources, and capacities Study Dependencies: Map out how systems interact Identify Risks: Pinpoint potential bottlenecks and inefficiencies Knowledge is the foundation of a successful launch 𝟮. 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲: 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 DES allows you to predict outcomes and solve problems in advance Run Simulations: Test workflows under different conditions Evaluate Performance: Measure throughput, cycle times, and resource use. Optimize Capacity: Ensure production meets demand without overloading. Analysis removes guesswork and reduces costly mistakes. 𝟯. 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗳𝘆: 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 DES fosters collaboration and integration. Connect Platforms: Integrate DES with ERP and MES for seamless operations. Share Insights: Use simulations to align stakeholders on goals. Encourage Collaboration: Involve cross-functional teams in decision-making. Unified efforts ensure smooth implementation. 𝟰. 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲: 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 DES simplifies even the most complex setups. Visualize Processes: Create clear models of production flows. Adapt Quickly: Adjust plans in response to new challenges. Prioritize Solutions: Focus on high-impact changes for better results. Navigation is easier when complexity is simplified. 𝟱. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲: 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀 DES helps create layouts that maximize efficiency. Streamline Movement: Minimize material and worker travel. Balance Workstations: Prevent bottlenecks and idle time. Maximize Space: Make every square foot count. An optimized design is key to operational excellence. 𝟲. 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 DES ensures readiness for day one and beyond. Validate Workflows: Test processes to eliminate inefficiencies. Resolve Issues Early: Identify and fix problems before launch. Plan for Growth: Ensure scalability for future demands. Harnessing DES prepares your plant for long-term success. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗛 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 The LAUNCH Framework shows how DES transforms plant startups Learn to gather critical data and insights Analyze workflows to solve problems before they occur Unify teams and systems for smooth alignment Navigate complexity with clear strategies Create layouts that optimize efficiency Harness insights to ensure readiness and scalability With DES, plant startups are no longer a gamble—they’re a calculated success. - Insightful ? ♻️ Repost and inspire your network!