Write acceptance criteria that actually work! AC that helps you: - Build the “right Thing” - Build the “thing right” - Document I also cover how to learn this skill as a team and individual contributor. #ProductManagement www.jakeworth.com/posts/accept...

Fight to work on big things. When presented with the option of working on something big, like a new app or major new feature, or doing anything else, prefer the big thing. You'll learn more, gain ownership, build patterns, have visibility, and context switch less.

There is always an argument against shipping. Be the person always arguing to ship.

I'm trying to build a "Maine software engineer" Bluesky starter pack! If you you're a software engineer in Maine, send me a message.

Has anyone written a great guide to writing software bug and feature tickets? It's one area of our field that I see a lot of variance. #agile

Yesterday, I vibe-code a Python CLI to delete typos, one-offs, sensitive items, etc. from your Zsh history. One of my favorite LLM use-cases!

Auto-formatters? No thanks; I type it all perfectly by hand, in a way nobody disagrees with.

What are your favorite conversational LLM prompts? I'll start: I'll share a blog post and ask: "What are the weakest parts of this argument?"

In the next four weeks, you should go to a tech meetup.

Working in Docker this week for the first time in years. This watch (+ sync and build) setting has been a game changer.

You’ve been given programming some work, and you’re stuck. Hours have become days. To make matters worse, you haven’t told anybody. This is the solution.

I gave talk this week at Maine JS about the JavaScript MutationObserver API. It's really cool! Here is the app I made that demonstrates the feature.

Big win this week-- learning about Docker Compose Watch! Reduced iterations from over a minute to seconds.

🐛 Debugging tip: Stay focused! If something irrelevant comes up— your text editor's busted, you need to update a library— make a note and fix it later. My new debugging guide for rising engineers is out: 'Don’t Stay Stuck' 🚀 jwworth.gumroad.com/l/dont-stay-... #dontstaystucktips

💛 Tonight is our Meetup! Join me in Portland, Maine, for JavaScript Lightning Talks! meetu.ps/e/P4mxz/1Jbw...

Talking about MutationObserver on Tuesday, because it’s cool! Has anyone used it in a project? developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/W...

Today’s analog project: going to try to make a candle that smells like a brand-new Gibson guitar.

What's a favorite essay about programming for you? I've kept my own long list here.

"In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess." --The Zen of Python, Tim Peters

"Don't ask for advice; ask for a code review."

One "technical talk preparation" suggestion: practice with a timer. It's easy to go short, long, or spent too much time on a section. That can throw you off.

What's a book about business or technology you read recently, that changed how you think? Two from me: "Shape Up" by Ryan Singer, "The Ride of a Lifetime" by Robert Iger

I've been lucky to have worked with some great engineers, and one thing that they tend to do exceptionally well is reporting about their work at meetings.

You can understand computers. It bears repeating.

Live-coding interviews filter out good people. I try to avoid them myself and I don't run them as an interviewer.

🔥 New blog post! I wrote about learning something more deeply, JS promises, using the Feynman technique. Plus a little Chat-GPT feedback because it's 2025. www.jakeworth.com/posts/learni...

Steve Martin once said the secret to success is to "Be so good they can't ignore you." How do you get that good as a programmer? The most direct path I know is to build things.

When I find a bug with a software product, I learned from Steve Klabnik to always open a ticket, even when abandoning the product. We've all been on the other side, building something and wondering if anybody cares. Or stuck, and so grateful to find a ticket that validates our situation.

Common (Ruby): user_a = create(:user, last_log_in: today) user_b = create(:user, last_log_in: last_year) Better: frequent_user = create(:user, last_log_in: today) unengaged_user = create(:user, last_log_in: last_year)

How does one exit Vim "Ex" mode? But first... how did you even get into "Ex" mode?

ZSH tip: leverage the aliases you already have! github.com/djui/alias-t... Input: $ git status Output: Alias tip: gst

Celebrating a win: I made my first dollar online this week. A few copies of "Don't Stay Stuck." Dinner's on me!

🐛 Debugging tip: every time you fix a bug, ask: "When I was stuck, what did I miss?" My new digital debugging guide is live today! 'Don’t Stay Stuck: A Debugging Guide for Rising Engineers.' #dontstaystucktips jwworth.gumroad.com/l/dont-stay-...

🔥I’m launching something tomorrow that I’m proud of! Watch this space.

I activated an egghead.io subscription for a while. Does anyone have course recommendations to share? Frontend / general technologist space.

🏆 Had my first question on Reddit (r/webdev) blow up today (that wasn't people dunking on my .vimrc)!

Debugging tip: when stuck, try a binary search (git-bisect, or commenting out half of a function). A binary search can identify *when* something stopped working. Sometimes you need to work backwards from an answer. #dontstaystucktips

I use Vimium in a weird way: cheap a11y checker. The link hint feature, `f`, only highlights elements it determines are interactive. So inaccessible elements (divs styled as buttons) get called out.

🚀 Today I watched 'Get Started with Vimium' on Egghead. It was really good! A couple of things I learned: egghead.io/courses/get-...

🚀 I published my first article on dev.to this week! Thoughts on what to do when you're debugging and feeling really stuck. dev.to/jwworth_/deb...

✨ I wish more folks knew git-apply. It's a favorite git trick! Found an interesting solution: git diff > experiment.diff git checkout . Want that solution (days, weeks) later: git apply experiment.diff

Debugging tip: reading dependency code is sometimes the best and only path forward. Learn to find it and read it. If you're counting on a library's documentation to have the answer, you're working with a fraction of the possible information available. #dontstaystucktips

If you understand what software engineering as a career actually entails (lots of people and organizational problems, understanding legacy code and tradeoffs) you are at a career advantage over those who understand the job as just producing code. Those jobs could be replaced. But that ain’t the job

Building in public: finished the first draft of my debugging guide. Planning to review, format, and publish in a week or two!

What if a customer's proposed feature doesn't make sense? To quote Bill Hader: "I've learned that when people give you notes on something, when they tell you what's wrong they're usually right, when they tell you how to fix it they're usually wrong."

Three months of using this feature, and I'm loving it! Tighter standups on two teams. Thank you, Jira. ❤️

"Code ownership" is an idea I'd like to explore. I understand the critique, but what are arguments in favor? Are we using the term precisely?

Tests tell us our software can work. Observability tells us our software IS working.

This week I gave a talk on the 12 Factor App methodology at work. Keep the configuration separate from the code, people! Here's the writeup and my slides.

Building in public: this week I'm drafting a pocket guide about effective software debugging. I want it to be short and useful!