Peter Cousins

[Gergely Orosz @GergelyOrosz]

Here are a few things you probably did not know about Reddit's iOS and Android apps: they are ~2.5M lines of code each, with 500+ screens, and a total of 200 native mobile engineers work on the both of them (including a dedicated iOS and Android mobile platform team)

But a few years ago, things looked very different - and Reddit quietly rebuilt their native apps from 2021. Today's conversation goes through what happened and how, with  three engineers from Reddit’s mobile platform team who led this work: Lauren Darcey (Head of Mobile Platform), @bkobilansky (iOS Platform Lead), and Eric Kuck (Principal Android Engineer)

Watch or listen:

• YouTube: https://t.co/KI3JlmEn8P

• Spotify: https://t.co/qL2Ki02Z5Y

• Apple: https://t.co/am48SkHVGn

---

Brought to you by:

• @withgraphite  — The AI developer productivity platform https://t.co/ro6mnhaZrS

• @getsentry  — Error and performance monitoring for developers. Get 150k errors (three months of Team Plan) for free at https://t.co/ewIA96b3Y0

---
Three of my takeaways from this episode:

𝟭. 𝗣𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 – 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻! One of the reasons Reddit started investing heavily in modernizing its mobile stack was that the “old stack” was slowing down developers. Reddit’s platform team got proof of this simply by asking native engineers about the biggest development-related challenges they face.

𝟮. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. Advice from Brandon for anyone looking to work on a platform team:

"You should try to work at a tech company for a year or two and actually see what happens after you ship a system — and then the assumptions change! You then have to figure out how to keep this thing going. You get a bunch of software design intuition because you have to like re-evaluate your assumptions for an incredibly long time. If you can do that, you're probably ready for platform stuff."

𝟯. 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 “𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲” 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲. LLMs integrated into IDEs seem to be increasingly helpful with backend, fullstack, web and even cross-platform (React Native / Expo) projects. However, Reddit’s mobile team shared that they get a moderate boost from the Apple and Android Studio LLM additions.

Native mobile development is distinctively different from web, fullstack and backend coding – and it seems that these IDEs with AI functionality have not done much to optimize for the expereince of native mobile engineers. Over time, this will likely change – but it’s a reminder that there are differences between fullstack, backend and native mobile development.(I wrote a book reflecting on more of the challenges unique to native mobile titled Building Mobile Apps at Scale)

[Gergely Orosz @GergelyOrosz]

What is "Submit Queue", "Local Dev Analytics", "DevPods?" Devs inside Uber use these tools every day: and @kageiit built several of these during his 9-year tenure at Uber (!!)

Gautam was mobile engineer #9 at Uber, and the founding engineer on Uber's mobile platform team - and he's now the cofounder of Gitar (automating code maintenance with AI). If you are interested in modern dev tools and how Uber works from the inside, this episode is for you:

• YouTube: https://t.co/NH0JfKTXXe

• Spotify: https://t.co/5xHSYudUC0

• Apple: https://t.co/kRNgOyKIDQ

Brought to you by:

• @getsentry — Error and performance monitoring for developers. Get 150K errors (3 months of the Team plan) for free at https://t.co/uoolyqTR6M

• @EngGuidebook audiobook: https://t.co/Tux2SHyFbf - written by me (Gergely) – now out in audio form as well.

----

Three interesting parts of the conversation:

1. Submit Queue: Uber bult a complex merge system to dela with the large number of commits, where each commit had to run long-running CI tests. It’s a problem that smaller and mid-sized companies don’t have, but Uber had: and so they scratched their own itch.

2. Local Developer Analytics (LDA): years ago, Uber started to measure the experience that devs had. Like how long did a build take, locally? How much CPU is used? They used this data to improve internal tooling.

3. AI changing software development: this is happening. “Vibe coding” leads to faster prototyping. Gautam believes junior engineers will thrive with AI tools because they will hit the ground running faster, and will be free of biases that hold back more experienced developers.

Thanks to Gautam for the great chat - and keep an eye out on what they're now building at @gitarcode, with several ex-Uber engineers!

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

@GergelyOrosz Everyone in the industry is aware but it seems it’s not being discussed as a community considering the impact if these tools were to not be available.

Personally it’s time for Microsoft to use its full productivity toolset and enter this space aggressively!

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Going to be a great year!
With so much to learn and unlimited opportunities. Bring on 2025.

[Satya Nadella @satyanadella]

GitHub Copilot Free for VS Code has arrived.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇺🇸 STEVE JOBS: THE BEST MANAGERS ARE GREAT CONTRIBUTORS... WHO NEVER WANTED TO BE MANAGERS

"At Apple, we thought hiring professional managers would make us a big company.

It didn’t work—most were bozos who could manage but couldn’t do anything else.

The best managers?

Great individual contributors who never wanted the job but took it because they knew no one else could do it as well."

Source: BusinessX on IG

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Some days and moments in life can really beat you down. Mind, body and Heart all at once. Got to dig deep to keep moving forward.

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Our hockey Team is really committed to having a great season, amazing to be part of this squad. Training in 31+ degree temperatures well past 10pm working on Fitness, skills and drills! #teamwork #SingaporeHockey

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

I would like to know which professional Tour de France cyclist google uses as a baseline to estimate the journey time. I consider myself healthy and fit and cannot meet this time without considerable effort. @Google #cycling @googlemaps

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Decided to ride my bike to gym and forgot to check the weather! Thunderstorms while in a dense forest is a very different experience.

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

So amazing to find these hidden but beautiful field hockey Astros! It’s something we appreciate in Singapore as the facilities are just world class wherever you go! #SingaporeHockey

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

@GraysHockey Review the Shoes:
1. Impact Protection ✅
2. Grip & dynamic running (150km) ✅
3. Inner sole kept sliding in the shoe, lost several toe nails ❌
4. Shoe laces do not maintain grip, spent a lot of time retying ❌
5. Drying post Water & moisture ✅
6. Build quality & adhesives ❌

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

@GraysHockey how can a company make such great sticks but such terrible hockey shoes. Might have to switch back to Asics !

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Less than one season in these @GraysHockey shoes and they have fallen apart. Really poor to see shoes fail like this at least the ankle and foot did not get damaged! #grayshockey

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

New custom built computer ordered! Known as a stealth setup as it has no flashing lights or decals just raw top of the range power! Let the games begin….

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Managed to squeeze in a Lunch Workout! First time in a very long time. Now I am Feeling Super focused for the rest of the day! #FitnessGoals

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

All engineers experience a sense of nervous excitement before releasing a ground breaking or complex Project. This weekend is no exception! #CoreBankingUpgrade #CodingLife

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

@davideborall I would agree legislation must enable core capabilities. These would be universal identity, mobile access and registration and lastly low cost payment and value movement. Question is do you trust the data will be safe ??

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Best part of CrossFit gyms in Singapore is that there are so many nationalities, past and present members that form a tight community. This means you always have a Gym to go to anywhere in your travels. If you are in Singapore 🇸🇬 come join a session at WAO fitness! #CrossFit

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Got to give credit to https://t.co/a8X2AjAhTn So Convenient, professional and an expert service on my @scottsports MTB!

[Peter Cousins @PeterCousins]

Lying on the floor in the WAO Fitness Gym post a tough workout. This is the sign that greats you on the ceiling! Big goals in 2024!! #CrossFit #CrossFitOpen