March Digest

I’m trying out a new format to summarize some of the noteworthy blog posts, YouTube videos, and books I consumed over the past month. It’s a way for me to reflect on insights I’ve picked up from others and connect them with ideas I already find meaningful. Hopefully, this will also be useful for anyone who resonates with the content.

Blog Posts

Here are some of the noteworthy blog posts I have read:

Applied "Software Engineering at Google"

If you’ve ever read Software Engineering at Google—an open-source book by Google engineers—you might appreciate this blog post I recently came across. While the book outlines many best practices adopted by Google, it isn’t particularly prescriptive about how other organizations can apply those practices in their own context.

That’s where this blog post comes in—it’s a great complementary piece for anyone looking to improve engineering excellence within their team or company. Here are a few highlights that stood out to me:

Cultivate a comprehensive testing culture: Test as much as possible. Automate wherever you can. Start small, and focus on error-prone but high-impact areas.
Establish an effective code review process: Submit smaller changes, ensure timely reviews, design before you implement, and use code reviews as opportunities for learning.
Prioritize comprehensive documentation: Treat documentation like code—version control it, write docs close to the code, and schedule time for upkeep. Write for your users, not just other developers.
Implement disciplined dependency management: Be deliberate. Use semantic versioning, consider long-term maintenance costs, and audit dependencies regularly.
Utilize progressive rollouts and feature flags: Avoid “big bang” launches. Favor staged rollouts and feature flags. Pair them with strong monitoring and reasonable alerting.
Refine incident response procedures: Define clear severity levels and response rules. Run blameless postmortems and follow through on action items.
Manage tech debt strategically: Make tech debt visible. Carve out time for maintenance. Refactor incrementally, and balance short- and long-term priorities.
Cultivate psychological safety: Foster a culture of direct feedback. Encourage people to speak up and normalize admitting mistakes.

Many of these points really resonated with me. As someone on a team that’s actively working to improve our operating model and elevate engineering excellence, I believe every one of these practices truly matters. At its core, software engineering is about managing entropy—code, requirements, users, and teams are constantly evolving. Building for the long term requires discipline, intentionality, and a commitment to best practices. The lessons shared by Google offer a valuable blueprint worth learning from.

Job Market in Technology Sector

This month, I read several blog posts about the current state of the tech job market, and a common theme stood out: unlike the Zero Interest Rate Period (ZIRP), companies today are far more focused on profitability, obsessed with efficiency, and expect every individual to directly contribute to business outcomes. Management roles are falling out of favor, while individual contributors who can ship and drive meaningful impact continue to be highly valued.

This tectonic shift is highly relevant to anyone working in tech. If you’re an individual contributor working in a profit-generating team versus a cost center, it might be time to reconsider how your work contributes to the company’s top and bottom line. If you’re a middle manager, it’s important to recognize that the nature of engineering management roles may be evolving—expectations for first-line managers are shifting toward more hands-on individual contribution. And if you’re an executive, experience in blitzscaling may no longer be as valuable as the ability to run a lean, efficient business. There are many implications to unpack and reflect on.

YouTube Videos

Here are some of the noteworthy interviews that I have watched:

View From The Top with Lisa Su: Chair and CEO of AMD

Lisa Su offers several pieces of advice for students, particularly those graduating at the cusp of the AI revolution, within the larger context of her future outlook and general advice:

Embrace lifelong learning: Su believes students are "super lucky" to be entering the workforce at the beginning of a significant technological wave, the AI revolution. She emphasizes that the only constant will be change, and the pace of progress will continue to be very fast.
Dream big: Su advises students to "dream big" as it is the time to have "a big, bold, audacious dream and follow your dreams. Her leadership at AMD involved making a bold bet on high-performance computing, illustrating the importance of knowing what you are good at and strategically double down on it.
Focus on fundamental skills: She suggests that the value of education lies in learning how to think and solve problems. These fundamental skills will be crucial in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI and technology.
Understand collaboration: Su highlights the importance of collaboration and learning from customers, partners, and industry peers to stay aligned with future trends. She emphasizes the idea of "one plus one is greater than three," where combining expert knowledge with partners' application and end-user capabilities leads to greater outcomes.
Stay focused yet nimble: In the face of constant change, Su advises having a clear roadmap but also being agile and nimble to adapt to new information. This reflects her strategic approach at AMD, where they set a long-term vision for high-performance computing but remained responsive to industry inflections like the slowing of Moore's Law.

No.1 Communication Expert: Vinh Giang

Vocal image, according to Vinh Giang, is the impression you create through the sound of your voice, which transforms initial assumptions people make based on your visual image into firm beliefs. Giang emphasizes that while people often focus on their visual presentation, they frequently neglect their vocal image, even though it significantly impacts how they are perceived. He points out that many believe their voice and communication style are fixed, but this is not the case. Using your voice as an instrument is directly linked to improving your vocal image through the conscious manipulation of five key vocal foundations:

Melody (Pitch and Variety): Melody refers to the different notes you can hit and the variety in your pitch, similar to the melody in music evoking different emotions. Varying your pitch, using techniques like the "siren technique" (going from low to high and back), makes your speech more engaging and memorable.
Volume: Volume is the "lifeblood" of your voice and can be used to create auditory highlights by increasing or decreasing it. Varying volume keeps listeners engaged, whereas a constant volume becomes ineffective, and consistently low volume can signal a lack of confidence.
Rate of Speech: This is how quickly or slowly you speak. Varying your rate can highlight important points by slowing down or convey energy by speeding up. Most people have a default rate, and nerves often cause them to speak too quickly.
Tonality (Emotion): Tonality is the emotion in your voice. Giang suggests using facial expressions as a "remote control" to add emotion, as mirror neurons in listeners' brains will often reflect the perceived emotions.
Pause: Pauses intensify preceding emotions and give listeners time to process information, acting like the silence after a crescendo in music, adding weight to your message.

As a singer, I find many of these ideas highly relevant to singing—but I had never thought to apply them to speaking. It feels like such a natural connection, and yet it’s kind of wild that I hadn’t made it before.

He also discussed extensively how attempting to change one's communication style can be met with resistance from those who know you well, and how finding supportive individuals is crucial for overcoming this challenge. When someone tries to adopt new communication behaviors, like using more vocal variety or bigger hand gestures, those around them might find it weird. This is because familiar individuals have a preconceived idea of who you are. Their reactions can often be limiting for your desire to make changes. He offers two approaches to overcome this:

Finding "Neutral Ears": Giang advises practicing new communication behaviors with people who have no preconceived idea of how you sound or how you communicate.
Priming Familiar Conversations: When it comes to people who know you well, Giang emphasizes the importance of "priming the conversation". Instead of suddenly debuting a completely different communication style, he suggests explaining your intention to improve your communication skills

I found this particular segment really enlightening. Often, when we want to make a change, we fear that those closest to us might resist it—and that resistance can feel limiting. It’s an interesting psychological dynamic, and something worth keeping in mind, especially when you’re confident that the change you’re pursuing is for the better. I find this tension both relatable and relevant.

Summary

Here's some of the takeaways from this month digest:

Software engineering is programming over time. Investing in engineering excellence and best practices is essential for long-term success.
The tech job market is shifting. Understanding how your skills map to business value is key in this new era of efficiency and profitability.
AI is transforming the world. Stay nimble, keep learning, and double down on your unique strengths to stay relevant.
Communication is a learned skill. Building your vocal image is a powerful investment—it helps you negotiate your reality and influence how others perceive you.