Wednesday Wisdom

Not that I know, but here are some thoughts... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/how-to-become-a-tl-101

In 2026, I will again spend a lot of time explaining to people that things that sound really simple are actually quite complicated and that two things that look alike are in fact quite different. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-problem-fractal

Note: This is the 12/24/2025 episode which I apparently forgot to publish on the date itself :-) Full article: https://josvisser.substack.com/p/parameters-for-success

I used to think not nice was cool. How wrong I was! Full article: https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-gift-of-nice

Perhaps the hallmark of a good engineer is not that they always write good software, but that they can get bad software working and out of the door in time when the situation requires it.

Hot take: You might be doing SRE all wrong! https://josvisser.substack.com/p/misinterpreting-sre

Everyone is stressed... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/stress

Learning happens when you have to sink or swim... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/tg-special-a-reader-question

Respect what came before because often there is much hard-earned wisdom embedded in existing solutions. Also: Replacing working code is hard. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/respect-what-came-before

Modesty is not a hip trait in a world that suffers from culturally sanctioned ADHD, but all things considered, I’d rather be undecided while I am thinking, than wrong. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-gift-of-modesty

Or: How to be successful while making many mistakes 🙂 Read, watch, and subscribe at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/more-things-i-learned-running-a-small

Experience is what you get when you are expecting something else…

The problem with heroes is that heroics don’t scale; instead: Boring scales. Call me old-fashioned (or boring) if you will, but when I am in charge of running some service, I want my days to be uneventful. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/unhappy-the-team-that-needs-heroes

If you have code reviews without actual reviews, postmortems that do not lead to improvements, and training without learning, you have form without function. It might look good, but it is useless. Read, watch, and subscribe at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/form-without-function

You might like the boat you are in, but make sure you leave it before it starts making water.

If your team's culture is not what you think it needs to be, do not explain what needs to change, instead, model the desired behavior and look for a first follower. This week's article: https://josvisser.substack.com/p/show-dont-tell Referenced video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ Thursday Thoughts article: https://josvisser2.substack.com/p/keeping-it-real-about-the-european

Adaptability is the new safety net… Read at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/security-is-temporary-adaptability

If you are a software engineer today and you are  not  learning how to be a better and faster coder with AI agents, you are doing yourself a disservice that might have significant ramifications for your career.  Do not miss this bandwagon . Read, watch, and subscribe at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/coding-in-the-time-of-ai

Whenever I get feedback, I always check if someone didn’t just explain some of the rules of the game to me. Read and watch at https://josvisser.substack.com

People with experience solving small problems often underestimate the difficulty of solving big problems. Read and watch at: https://josvisser.substack.com/p/scale-is-the-only-problem-left

If you are, like me, a certified brainiac who relishes in spouting endless factoids, I invite you to consider this: You might be wrong. Considering that you might be wrong will make it more impressive if you are right and, as a bonus, will make you a nicer person to be around.

If you want to be effective and professional, you better know your tools well and spend time gaining the required knowledge and experience. Read and watch at: https://josvisser.substack.com/p/know-thy-tools

When communicating in a professional context, you want every communication to count towards something. This in turn means that you need to have crystal clarity about your goals. If you communicate without a plan, then it should be no surprise that your non-existent plan does not come to fruition. Read, watch, and subscribe at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/all-communication-is-strategic

For the systems you own, do you ever look at the logs and metrics? If not, you are not the owner, you are, at best, the lazy guardian of a bunch of orphans, anyone of which could become the next Voldemort. Read, watch, and subscribe at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-burdens-of-ownership

Hot take: If you want to work in this field, you need to understand computers. Read and watch at https://josvisser.substack.com/p/keeping-it-real