<![CDATA[Better Every Cycle]]>https://www.bettereverycycle.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pqsi!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faefa2ed2-5de7-418c-b502-45b359e4eb7c_180x180.pngBetter Every Cyclehttps://www.bettereverycycle.comSubstackSun, 10 May 2026 04:00:20 GMT<![CDATA[Notes on Staff Projects, Find your voice, and Never Rewrite]]>https://www.bettereverycycle.com/p/notes-on-staff-projects-find-yourhttps://www.bettereverycycle.com/p/notes-on-staff-projects-find-yourSat, 30 Mar 2024 03:05:46 GMTRead and respond to my notes on a Principal Engineer's thoughts on Staff+ work at Google and the idea that Senior Engineers must complete a"Staff Project" for promotion.

Principal Software Engineer at Google - Adam Bender on staffeng.com

Question for Staff+ Did you do a “Staff Project”? Did it land perfectly or need some refinement?

I talked a little about the experience of my “Staff Project” in the annotated notes in the link above.

TLDR is that Staff Projects are big and ambitious and typically involve a lot of communication, planning, and reflection in hindsight on what could have gone better.

The Best of What I Read Last Week

This is a curated list of reads from last week. It is not exhaustive, in any order, or based on what was actually published last week. This list is content that I consumed and felt worth sharing with people who would read my newsletter.

Last week I was on the Never Rewrite Podcast with Isaac Askew and Jeffrey Sherman discussing scale and quality issues for a CRM SaaS. Check out the chapter list below to jump straight to a topic you’re interested in:

Chapters

  • 00:00 Introduction and Background

  • 01:12 The Current State of the White Label CRM

  • 06:11 Goals and Expectations for the Project

  • 07:54 User Trust and Importance of the CRM

  • 10:44 Focus on Email and SMS Issues

  • 13:30 Importance of User Support and Community

  • 16:36 Email and SMS Deliverability Challenges

  • 19:46 Database Structure and Performance Challenges

  • 20:13 Improving Write Efficiency

  • 21:02 Using SQS and SNS for Message Queuing

  • 22:03 Controlling Flow with Multiple Readers

  • 23:05 Writing to Separate Databases

  • 24:01 Tracking Heavy Queries

  • 25:37 Separating Permissions and Heavy Reads

  • 26:08 Caching with Redis

  • 27:05 Improving Email Service Reliability

  • 29:02 Monitoring and Alerting

  • 30:28 Improving Data Logging and Validation

  • 32:15 Implementing a Defined Process for Email Service

  • 33:09 Recording and Rebuilding Failed Email Requests

  • 35:11 Setting Up Aggregated Logs and Monitoring

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for reading D-Rea's Newsletter! Subscribe for free to hear more about my experience as a staff+ engineer and agency owner.

]]><![CDATA[Will AI End Your Coding Career?]]>https://www.bettereverycycle.com/p/will-ai-end-your-coding-careerhttps://www.bettereverycycle.com/p/will-ai-end-your-coding-careerFri, 22 Mar 2024 15:58:25 GMT

Hi I'm Dustin Rea and this is D-Rea's Newsletter.
A newsletter for humans working in Tech.

At the time of this writing, I am a software engineer working at an AI company and I also operate a software design and development agency that works with SaaS companies, most of which are trying to leverage AI. My opinions are my own.

Not going to lie, I was a little nervous when I first saw Devin AI, as most of you reading probably were as well. That's why my clickbait title worked.

However, I try to keep my future Terminator nightmares at bay by remembering timeless principles about society that date back thousands of years.

TLDR

AI is another advancement that is already shaping the way we work. Notice I said we work. Because someone will need to solve problems, make decisions, or lead others using AI at the very least. Also, people thrive on human connection so I predict entertainment as a profession will be safe for years to come.

a black and white photo of a robot

Healthy Comparisons

The Quantum Computer is also talked about in a similar way to AI. It will fundamentally change what is possible. For some people that is scary, because that means they will have to change what they are doing. Change can be scary and bad.

Change can also be exciting and good. If we didn't have change, we wouldn't have Amazon shipping packages to your door steps in two days, most of the time.

Without change we wouldn't have the internet or the iPhone. Both of which were used to completely change industries. In the same light, they created new opportunities.

Cloud Solutions Architect wasn't a job until the concept of the cloud existed. Mobile App Developer wasn't a type of Software Engineer prior to the iPhone1.

Software Engineer or Clown

My theory is that as long as technology advances, Humans will find more complex problems to solve and better ways to leverage the technology to its limits until a new plateau is reached. The world will always need problem solvers, thinkers, leaders, and entertainers. There are probably a few more but you get the picture.

Subscribe for more writing by an actual human

Keep the MacBook, For Now

I think that even if software engineering is going to fade away as the profession it is today, a new profession for engineering types will pop up. In the meantime, there is a massive amount of work to do maintaining legacy software that keeps the world running. There will be mountains of work to do even with AI helping us to start shifting that software to the new AI paradigm.

black and silver laptop computer beside black computer mouse

Humans don't change overnight, it will take time and effort and we should seize the opportunity, just like every other advancement.

Know a software engineer going through an existential crisis? Send ‘em my way and I’ll try to talk them down from the ledge. Keep Building!

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1

Unless you count Palm Pilot or Blackberry, but they are from relatively the same time period and the point remains.

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