Life At Redpanda Introduction I was born in Poland and now live in the Czech Republic. To some, my background is interesting, because I didn’t start out in computer science or an engineering field. Instead, I got my Masters in Cognitive Science. I was always interested in the brain and how our minds work.

Or The Agency Problem Within Engineering Teams. A while back I decided it’s time for a change and went to find my second engineering adventure. As I’ve been enjoying a month off in between the jobs and subjecting myself to the brain dump of Nassim Taleb’s Skin In The Game I realized there’s one main learning I got both out of the job hunt and my first job:

Or how to find interesting jobs if you have no idea where to start. The available job openings and requirements vary heavily depending on the exact market you’re in, sometimes down to a specific city. You want to get some intel before starting the hunt so that you can pick a job that will make you happy.

Or an opinionated guide to using your commit messages to show your work style to others. You may be interested in this post if you are: Thinking of getting a job in the field of web development, software engineering or a related discipline which includes writing code

Or lessons learned from not crashing your boat into the pier at 70 km/h. (The idea to use a phrase “competent team member” comes from Competent Crew, an entry level sailing certification granted by Royal Yachting Association.) tl;dr - Here’s my list if you prefer to skip the story: Pick a single commander and follow their lead, not that of random bystanders.

Or how to develop yourself the hard way. For a long time I’ve been interested in the topic of feedback—learning from others things that allow us to grow and develop ourselves, as well as improve our cooperation with other people. Recently I’ve been wondering why it’s so rare for people in my culture (Central/Eastern Europe) to share feedback—it’s particularly surprising to me when people struggle finding things to praise for.

Or how to decrease the load on your team. Throughout the years, there are things my mentors reported, and some that I observed both while hustling as a junior and managing a team in my past life, which help juniors contribute more, develop faster and save mentoring time (and mentors energy).