The Balanced Engineer Newsletter

December 2025 • Issue # 42

November is in the books and it was lovely. I went to Microsoft Ignite, which was huge and a ton of fun, and took a whole week off for the week of Thanksgiving! Every time I take time off I’m reminded how much a bit of rest impacts my creativity. I’m coming back to work this week energized, refreshed, and with about 1,000 new ideas!

🌱 Leadership & Mentoring

"Good engineering management" is a fad by Will Larson

Summary: Will describes how engineering leadership has changed throughout his career as the tech industry has changed. Early on there was very little interaction with his manager, and while that was the norm at the time, that was very different from the management styles popularized during the 2010s. In the 2010s, growth was key and hiring and retaining strong engineers was the most important thing engineering managers could be doing. Now in the post-ZIRP era, managers are expected to be contributors again. Will identifies which core skills are essential to be effective today and to be impactful across the fads, and outlines them in this article.

Why this resonates: I'll read basically anything Will Larson writes. He is both very good at identifying insightful things about the industry as well as sharing them out. This is once again one of those things that I've noticed as shifts in the industry (changing the expectations of managers) that he was able to explain in the business context of what has actually changed recently to cause this. If you're interested in engineering management or leadership in any sense, this is a great article to read to understand the way that leadership is changing!

🔄 Process & Culture

What makes something 'GitHubby' by Matt Nigh

Summary: GitHubby is a turn we've been using at GitHub for a while now to express the fun and quirky culture that is behind GitHub, and this article was a great interpretation of it from Matt Nigh. Matt often writes for the GitHub blog and his own blog, and encourages engineers at GitHub to write more as well! Some of the pillars of GitHubby-ness, according to the article, are combining technical depth with empathy, respecting slow, and community as a core identity. These are all some of the amazing reasons why GitHub is such a cool company and community.

Why this resonates: I've been at GitHub for nearly four years now, and often see a lot of this culture in action. This is one of the first places I've worked where we actually consistently live by a lot of the values, and change the way we are doing something if it conflicts with those values. For example, if we start going down the road of having too many meetings, we pull back and identify ways to be more async-first. As someone on a team that is pretty much evenly split between PST and Europe, that is incredibly valuable! This article resonates because it reminds me of all of the reasons that I love working here. If you're ever wondering what it's like working at GitHub, you should give it a read!

🎯 Impact & Purpose

In Praise of dhh by Filipa MV

Summary: This deeply moving essay by one of my colleagues was one of my favorite things I read this month. It recounts their journey through many years in the Ruby on Rails community, from discovering the framework as a student in 2007 when it was truly the bleeding edge software, to today. In particular, it discusses how the Rails creator known in the community as dhh was once an inspirational figure that has recently been radicalized into a much different human. It also calls upon the Ruby community to move forward in a way that prioritizes the community over anything else.

Why this resonates: I'm a big believer in how developer communities have shaped the web. My primary interaction with Ruby on Rails has been through my work at GitHub for the past several years, so I can't say that I'm deeply involved with the Ruby on Rails community. As such I thoroughly enjoyed reading this recount of the way the community has evolved over the years, since it isn't something I have deeply been a part of. This is also just plain excellent and compelling writing which I deeply appreciate. If you have the time I highly recommend giving it a read.

What I've Been Building

A quick look at what I've been working on this month

Blog posts

• A Software Engineer's Guide to Agentic Software Development

Overcommitted Podcast

• Ep. 32 | Navigating the Startup Landscape with Rick Turoczy
  • Rick is a community leader for startups in the Portland area. He has been a wonderful person to get to know over the internet in Portland!
• Ep. 33 | Looks Good to Me with Adrienne Braganza
  • This episode recaps the very first Overcommitted book club for the book Looks Good to Me by Adrienne Braganza. We chat about what motivated Adrienne to write the book and the most important lessons she has learned about code review.
• Ep. 34 | The Art of Storytelling in Leadership with Matt Sinclair
  • Matt is full of wisdom for engineering leaders. I highly recommend checking out this episode to learn about effective engineering leadership and his own journey.
• Ep. 35 | Decoding Developer Trends: Inside the Life of a Developer-Focused Analyst with Kate Holterhoff
  • "What exactly does a Developer Analyst do?" and more with Kate Holterhoff. This is a journey into her career as she understands and reports on developer trends, how she keeps up with the industry, and how she got started in her role.

The next Overcommitted Book Club is kicking off this month!

Join us in Discord to read along and learn from the Overcommitted community for the book Writing for Developers!