SocialCops’ 10 (base 10) Engineering Commandments — the values that drive everything for the #Engineering Team #InsideSocialCops 🙌

(Thread👇) Tell us if you can relate to any of these? Do you have your own values that guide your decisions? Share them with us! ⛳

0. Coder != engineer

Coders focus just on writing code to make something work. Engineers take a much wider view, focusing on both the problem and every aspect of the solution. 🤓
1. “Import lib”

It's not wise to waste time building tools or libraries if there’s already something that does the same job! Wherever possible, extend existing libraries and contribute back to the community. 💁‍♀️
2. With great power comes greater responsibility

Every choice we make on our platform and every feature we build stands up to a responsibility — helping people make more data-driven decisions and bring about real change for millions of people. 💪
3. Fail fast and keep learning

Failing fast is about doing lots of fast iterations and learning from each, rather than getting stuck on one solution or decision. 👊
4. Know thy build

Knowing your build inside and out is a crucial part of engineering. It’s not enough to know what will work and when it’ll work. It’s just as important to know what won’t work and when it won’t work. 🚧
5. #ItIsNotMagic

There is never a magical problem or a random occurrence. We expect our engineers to figure out what caused a break, not throw their hands in the air and proclaim that it’s just broken — find what is happening under the hood. 🕵️‍♀️
6. Measure whatever is measurable

While our products help organizations make better data-driven decisions, it is important for us to measure everything that we can to figure out the next course of actions. 📊
7. Automate whatever is repetitive

Our base tendency should be to automate wherever possible, rather than doing tasks manually — automation gives us more time to work on building the actual product. ✔️
8. Premature optimization is the root of all evil

Pick the right battles to fight at the right time. If you optimize too early, you’ll spend and re-spend lots of time and still come out with not the most optimized solution. 🙅
9. When in doubt, ask!

Stuck or confused? 🤔 Just ask your fellow engineers! Someone will have a solution, or at least an idea to help you get started on the right path. ➡️
We hope these were helpful — whether you’re an engineer interested in working with us or you’re forming your own team’s engineering commandments! :) Interested to learn more about #engineering culture #InsideSocialCops? Check here: https://t.co/QTVs9tf1tj

More from Society

It is simply not correct to point fingers at wind & solar energy as we try to understand the situation in TX. The system (almost) had a plan for weather (almost) like this. 1/x


It relied on very little wind energy - that was the plan. It relied on a lot of natural gas - that was the plan. It relied on all of its nuclear energy - that was the plan. 2/x

There was enough natural gas, coal and nuclear capacity installed to survive this event - it was NOT "forced out" by the wind energy expansion. It was there. 3/x

Wind, natural gas, coal and nuclear plants all failed to deliver on their expectations for long periods of time. The biggest gap was in natural gas! The generators were there, but they were not able to deliver. 4/x

It may be fair to ask why there is so much wind energy in ERCOT if we do NOT expect it to deliver during weather events like this, but that is an entirely different question - and one with a lot of great answers!! 5/x

You May Also Like

"I really want to break into Product Management"

make products.

"If only someone would tell me how I can get a startup to notice me."

Make Products.

"I guess it's impossible and I'll never break into the industry."

MAKE PRODUCTS.

Courtesy of @edbrisson's wonderful thread on breaking into comics –
https://t.co/TgNblNSCBj – here is why the same applies to Product Management, too.


There is no better way of learning the craft of product, or proving your potential to employers, than just doing it.

You do not need anybody's permission. We don't have diplomas, nor doctorates. We can barely agree on a single standard of what a Product Manager is supposed to do.

But – there is at least one blindingly obvious industry consensus – a Product Manager makes Products.

And they don't need to be kept at the exact right temperature, given endless resource, or carefully protected in order to do this.

They find their own way.