Insights from a Google Software Engineer
There are some great insights in Addy Osmani's 21 Lessons From 14 Years at Google. Here's some that stood out to me:
The best engineers are obsessed with solving user problems. The engineer who starts with a solution tends to build complexity in search of a justification.
Before you build, exhaust the question: “What would happen if we just… didn’t?” Sometimes the answer is “nothing bad,” and that’s your solution.
Energy spent on what you can’t change is energy stolen from what you can.
Writing forces clarity. The fastest way to learn something better is to try teaching it.
Admitting what you don’t know creates more safety than pretending you do.
As AI gets better it will enable engineers and designers to build more complex things faster but faster doesn't always mean better. Crap built fast is still crap. The real work is understanding what your users truly need (and not neccessarily what they ask for).