Career foundations

Reading codebases, asking good questions, PR descriptions reviewers read, code review etiquette, estimation honesty. The soft stack that decides if you stay hired.

• 27.0What this chapter is and is not
• 27.1Reading a codebase you didn't write
• 27.2The first hour on a new repo (a checklist)
• 27.3Asking questions that get answered
• 27.4Writing PR descriptions reviewers actually read
• 27.5The PR description template that earns reviewers
• 27.6Code review: giving feedback that doesn't sting
• 27.7Code review: receiving feedback without flinching
• 27.8Estimation honesty (and the buffer that isn't a lie)
• 27.9Disagreeing in writing
• 27.10Standups that aren't status reports
• 27.11Documentation that gets read
• 27.12Async communication: Slack, GitHub, Linear etiquette
• 27.13Meetings: when to call one, when to skip one
• 27.14Pairing and mobbing — when they work
• 27.assignReview three open-source PRs and write the review you would have left

The half-life problem. What doesn't change vs what changes constantly. The information diet you can actually sustain.

• 28.0Orientation: a habit, not a one-time scan
• 28.1The half-life problem
• 28.2The 80% that doesn't change
• 28.3The 20% that changes constantly
• 28.4Your information diet: a real budget
• 28.5Newsletters worth subscribing to
• 28.6RSS as a curation tool
• 28.7Twitter/X and the noise-to-signal problem
• 28.8GitHub trending and release notes as a leading indicator
• 28.9Reading release notes well
• 28.10Learning a new framework in a weekend
• 28.11Communities: Discords, subreddits, in-person
• 28.12Side projects as a learning instrument
• 28.13When to switch stacks (and when to refuse)
• 28.assignAssignment: Design your 12-month learning loop

Spec it, design it, build it, test it, deploy it, iterate twice on real feedback. The portfolio piece you take to interviews.

• 29.0What a capstone is and what it is not
• 29.1Picking the project: three tracks
• 29.2Writing the requirements doc
• 29.3Writing the design doc
• 29.4Breaking work into sprints
• 29.5Sprint one: build the walking skeleton
• 29.6Testing strategy for a capstone
• 29.7Deploy and observe from day one
• 29.8Three friends, one painful afternoon
• 29.9Iterating on real feedback
• 29.10Writing the post-mortem
• 29.11Recording the five-minute demo
• 29.12Polishing for the portfolio
• 29.assignAssignment: Ship the capstone