Alexander

140K Followers on LinkedIn: about technology, software engineering and life

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Here's the problem with FAANG Culture:

The smartest engineers in the world are at companies like Google and Facebook coding ads.

Let that sink in.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

@systemdesign42 Awesome I'll check it out

[Alexander @alexcancode]

I swear 90% of my x feed is questions.

What about yours?

[Alexander @alexcancode]

I'm less concerned that a product is bad and more concerned that nobody is telling me a product is bad

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Struggling to stay motivated working on a website side project instead of working a full-time job.

Being at google definitely gave me a lot more accountability.

Chose the name squarenote but just realized it sounds a lot like death note. Hope people don't associate the two.

Can read a little more about the adventure here:
https://t.co/jq2LcFkPxu

[Alexander @alexcancode]

@MarisaBrantley Your website has code smells

[Alexander @alexcancode]

The thing about launching something is you don't need a Steve Jobs presentation or a Superbowl ad.

You can just randomly drop a link to whatever you're working on.

Kinda like this: https://t.co/cuYtZPjENO

[Alexander @alexcancode]

1. Codes in light mode
2. Codes without dual monitors
3. Allergic to coffee

I fail as a software engineer

[Alexander @alexcancode]

@EcZachly Now we're talking

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Spent 3 hours implementing AWS cognito to realize it was trash.

Password email login is the way to go now.

Oauth is dead.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

If you're studying growth hacks, study substack.

They have:

Email links to reduce login abandonment.

Metrics as the first thing you see to optimize what you're doing.

Recommendations to promote each other.

Choose publications to follow before signing up so it doesn't feel like a blank page.

Everything is intentional and it's working.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

@EcZachly But have you tried email only magic sign in links?

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Two counterintuitive truths about motivation.

1. You can be motivated by multiple things.

2. You can be motivated by petty things.

Doing things just to prove others wrong or because you wanted to see if you can do it are oddly strong motivators.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Stop interrupting software engineers.

Let them cook

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Something I had to learn writing on LinkedIn is that High engagement != High conversion.

Making the post more relevant to a highly specific target audience helps a lot more than getting a ton of casual likes.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

I have branding feature bloat.

It means people are pretty confused on who I am because I don't commit to talking about the same things.

Which is good for me and my mental health. But bad for my audience and how confused they are.

People want to expect the same thing everyday from me but I can only talk about imposter syndrome and stand up anxiety so many times.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Instead of quiet quitting, go find something you actually care about working on.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

One of my biggest regrets making content is not writing down what I'm testing and whether it actually worked or not.

I've literally been yoloing it for years

[Alexander @alexcancode]

How does substack afford to send newsletter emails for free?

[Alexander @alexcancode]

Polls are a quick way to tell which content people will engage with.

[Alexander @alexcancode]

If you want to win longer form content formats, you just have to do two things

1. Be clear what the payoff engaging with the media is and actually deliver.

2. Take detours but make sure the detours are entertaining too.

Why I failed candidates as an interviewer could have been a 10 bullet article.

But I intentionally added how software engineering interviews are done just because that's also somewhat interesting.