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charity wtf's about technology, databases, startups, engineering management, and whiskey.
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Thoughts on Motivation and My 40-Year Career
https://charity.wtf/2025/07/09/thoughts-on-motivation-and-my-40-year-career/
Published: July 9, 2025 21:20
I’ve never published an essay quite like this. I’ve written about my life before, reams of stuff actually, because that’s how I process what I think, but never for public consumption. I’ve been pushing myself to write more lately because my co-authors and…
In Praise of “Normal” Engineers
https://charity.wtf/2025/06/19/in-praise-of-normal-engineers/
Published: June 19, 2025 17:11
This article was originally commissioned by Luca Rossi (paywalled) for refactoring.fm, on February 11th, 2025. Luca edited a version of it that emphasized the importance of building “10x engineering teams” . It was later picked up by IEEE Spectrum (!!!),…
On How Long it Takes to Know if a Job is Right for You or Not
https://charity.wtf/2025/06/08/on-how-long-it-takes-to-know-if-a-job-is-right-for-you-or-not/
Published: June 8, 2025 23:28
A few eagle-eyed readers have noticed that it’s been 4 weeks since my last entry in what I have been thinking of as my “niblet series” — one small piece per week, 1000 words or less, for the next three months. This is true. However, I did leave myself some…
On Pronouns, Policies and Mandates
https://charity.wtf/2025/05/02/on-pronouns-policies-and-mandates/
Published: May 2, 2025 18:28
Hi friends! We’re on week three of my 12-week practice in writing one bite-sized topic per week — scoping it down, writing straight through, trying real hard to avoid over-writing or editing down to a pulp. Week 1 — “On Writing, Social Media, and Finding…
On Dropouts and Bootstraps
https://charity.wtf/2025/04/28/on-dropouts-and-bootstraps/
Published: April 28, 2025 05:05
In my early twenties I had a cohort of friends and coworkers, all Silicon Valley engineers, all quite good at their jobs, all college dropouts. We developed a shared conviction that only losers got computer science degrees. This sounds like a joke, or a…
On Writing, Social Media, and Finding the Line of Embarrassment
https://charity.wtf/2025/04/19/on-writing-social-media-and-finding-the-line-of-embarrassment/
Published: April 19, 2025 00:19
Brace yourself, because I’m about to utter a sequence of words I never thought I would hear myself say: I really miss posting on Twitter. I really, really miss it. It’s funny, because Twitter was never not a trash fire. There was never a time when it felt…
Another observability 3.0 appears on the horizon
https://charity.wtf/2025/03/24/another-observability-3-0-appears-on-the-horizon/
Published: March 24, 2025 20:49
Groan. Well, it’s not like I wasn’t warned. When I first started teasing out the differences between the pillars model and the single unified storage model and applying “2.0” to the latter, Christine was like “so what is going to stop the next vendor from…
Corporate “DEI” is an imperfect vehicle for deeply meaningful ideals
https://charity.wtf/2025/02/10/corporate-dei-is-an-imperfect-vehicle-for-deeply-meaningful-ideals/
Published: February 10, 2025 15:43
I have not thought or said much about DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) over the years. Not because I don’t care about the espoused ideals — I suppose I do, rather a lot — but because corporate DEI efforts have always struck me as ineffective and…
On Versioning Observabilities (1.0, 2.0, 3.0…10.0?!?)
https://charity.wtf/2024/12/20/on-versioning-observabilities-1-0-2-0-3-0-10-0/
Published: December 20, 2024 15:42
Hazel Weakly, you little troublemaker. As I whined to Hazel over text, after she sweetly sent me a preview draft of her post: “PLEASE don’t post this! I feel like I spend all my time trying to help bring clarity and context to what’s happening in the…
“Founder Mode” and the Art of Mythmaking
https://charity.wtf/2024/12/17/founder-mode-and-the-art-of-mythmaking/
Published: December 17, 2024 17:53
I’ve never been good at “hot takes”. Anyone who knows anything about marketing can tell you that the best time to share your opinion about something is when everyone is all worked up about it. Hot topics drive clicks and eyeballs and attention en masse.…