Quotes

Frameworks have a high floor, but if you only stick to the framework it has a low ceiling.

The complexity has to live somewhere

Make the change easy, then make the easy change.

Configuration is cowardly — it removes the burden of designing something correctly off maintainers’ shoulders and puts it on users instead

Great chefs taste their food, and great software engineers review their changesets.

Because it works, nobody pays attention to it.

Refactoring has a price. Not refactoring has a cost. Either way, you pay.

CSS is the only language that gets blamed when the author is bad.

Stick to boring architecture for as long as possible, and spend the majority of your time, and resources, building something your customers are willing to pay for.

Good tools make it clear how they should be used.

If you’re on the bleeding edge, you are usually the one bleeding.

Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.

Good documentation is like a love letter to your future self.

“Magic” is just a word programmers use for poetry in code that they don’t appreciate at first glance. I love magic and learning how it works! We’re supposed to be the wizards of the computer.

Ideas are worth nothing unless executed.

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.

The people who are most confident AI can replace writers are the ones who think writing is typing.

The best part about being 90% done with a project is that you’re almost halfway finished!

The most beautiful piece of art is not gonna do you any favors if it blocks the entrance to your house.

If you build a product to solve your own problem, you will have at least one user - more than most startups ever get.

Whoever fails the most wins.

If they can’t understand it, then we’re doing something wrong.

You are only as good as you communicate.

The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.

Don’t be so attached to who you are in the present, that you don’t give the future version of you a chance.

Sometimes the gaps in our knowledge only become clear when explaining things to others.

Just because there is information on the internet, it doesn’t get magically teleported into people’s brains!

People don’t teach because they’re experts. They’re seen as experts because they teach.

We overvalue people we don’t know and undervalue those we do.

Plans are worthless, planning is priceless.

If you want to change your culture, change your reviews. Change the systems that reward and recognize people. The culture will follow.

Being swamped isn’t a badge of honor, it’s something to work on.

Code is never the challenge. Well-rested comfortable people who feel emotionally safe have solved every problem I’ve put in front of them.

The actual company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go.

Helpful criticism is about making the world a better place. Unhelpful criticism is about making yourself feel better.

Great is just good, but repeatable.

If you worry people think X about you, then you probably think X about yourself.

Imagine a slot machine from a casino. It looks like any other slot machine, but this one is magic. This slot machine comes with a guarantee: after 10,000 pulls, it will (not might, will) pay out $100,000.

Do what looks like work to others but feels like play to you.