Megan Resweber

Do you pay software engineers more because they have a master’s degree? What about certifications? I don’t. Credentials don’t move compensation for me. They tell me you studied, memorized material, and passed a test. That’s fine. It just isn’t the thing customers pay us for. What matters is what you can do with what you know. Can you apply that knowledge to solve messy, ambiguous problems? Can you make good decisions when the requirements are incomplete? Can you take ownership of outcomes, not just tasks? Can you raise the bar for the people around you? That’s what increases your value. That’s what increases your pay. Which leads to the real question we should be debating: What do you think a software engineer actually needs to do to make more money?

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A note to software engineers and others experiencing imposter syndrome: Hey friend, I get it -- truly. Imposter syndrome is a crappy feeling. Unfortunately, it's one of those things that will swell up, and by the time you're through it, you're probably growing into another phase of your career where it'll come up again. I've heard some people say that they don't think imposter syndrome is real (i.e. maybe you ARE an imposter), but I think it's bullsh*t. Many extremely successful people experience it routinely. I'm no expert in psychology but I suspect it comes from some amount of insecurity or lack of self-confidence at some level. Even small amounts of self-doubt can creep in and have a big impact. I always find that sharing transparent stories about feeling like an imposter is a great way to "ease" it a little bit for others. I'm not saying it's a solution by any means, because I think it takes time and some work for you to prove to yourself that you're truly capable, but I think it helps. I'm a principal software engineering manager at Microsoft. Outside of work, I create content daily about educating software engineers, particularly with C# for programming examples. One day, I used some allocated learning time to try learning about a new programming language. For context, there are team members that will be learning the same language and I want to be able to support them as they make progress. But it felt awful. I felt like I had never coded a single line in my life when I started today. I've been programming for 20+ years. I felt like a complete newbie, so imposter syndrome started kicking in. How can I expect to teach others if I'm having a hard time? Am I even going to be able to do this and get to a point where I can even use the language? But as much as it sucks to feel that way, I'm reminding myself that this happens all the time. The self-doubt kicks in. I wouldn't be where I am in my career if I didn't have these circumstances that force me to get uncomfortable and learn. So that made me feel like an imposter. But I know I'm not one. I know based on my experience I'll feel uncomfortable for a bit and then power through it. I'm sure you will too. A side note as an engineering manager: I hope that you can establish a good trust and respect relationship with your own manager. Let them know how you're feeling. They might be able to do a better/alternative job giving you positive feedback to remind you that you're on track. Wishing you success, friend. You'll do great. ---- 📨 Sign up for my email newsletter! 🗣️ Share with your network!

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Hate to say this but if you are asking for the following you are asking too much. Break up the responsibilities. Any one person doing all of this will have no focus and timelines will be missed. Have one individual focused on dev ops and maybe two on development. The dev ops individual can then focus on ci/cd integration, database tuning, security, backup and disaster recovery. I don't know any developer that's going to fit these qualifications and if they do they will not be able to keep up with changes. Key Responsibilities Serve as the technical lead on assigned projects, owning backend architecture, technical decisions, and overall solution design. Translate business requirements into technical requirements, architectural diagrams, and development tasks. Proactively identify technical risks and propose mitigation strategies before they impact timeline or quality. Serve as the subject matter expert on the project’s backend solution, answering questions around architecture, integrations, and technology decisions. Develop or extend existing CMS frameworks (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Craft). Work with front-end developers to ensure seamless CMS integration for dynamic content delivery. Work with front-end developers, designers, and project managers to deliver complete solutions and ensure all technical requirements are met. Configure, maintain, and optimize server environments for development as well as production facing websites. Monitor server performance, handle troubleshooting, and scale server architecture as necessary. Design, develop, and maintain custom API implementations for internal and external services. Integrate third-party APIs to extend the functionality of existing platforms. Implement custom CMS based plugins or extend existing CMS functionality depending on the project needs. Design, develop, and optimize relational (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB) and non-relational (e.g., MongoDB) databases. Ensure database security, backup, and disaster recovery requirements are met. Troubleshoot and debug back-end issues and optimize application performance. Participate in code reviews and contribute to best coding practices. Strong understanding of middleware solutions and their appropriate applications. Strong proficiency in server-side languages such as PHP, Node.js, C# and Java. Experience with server management tools and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure). Expertise in building and consuming RESTful/GraphQL/RPC/OData APIs. Experience with popular CMS platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Craft, etc.). Strong knowledge of relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Redis). Understanding of web security best practices (SSL, encryption, authentication methods). Proficiency with GIT version control. Experience with DevOps tools and CI/CD pipelines. Strong desire to learn new technologies and platforms to best serve project requirements.

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The Question That Separates Senior Engineers From Everyone Else When production breaks at 2am, most developers start randomly fixing things. Senior engineers pause and ask one question first: "What could actually cause this behavior?" This shift saved me from years of inefficient debugging. Before vs. After Old me: System crashes → panic mode → check logs → restart services → throw more memory at it → hope it works Now: System crashes → pause → map out possible causes: Database locks? Memory leaks? Network timeouts? Race conditions? Then investigate the most likely culprit. It feels slower upfront. But I've cut debugging time by 60%. Why This Matters The best engineers I work with all think this way. They understand the forces creating the problem before touching any code. Your production server isn't crashing because of bad luck. Something specific is causing that behavior. Your model isn't hallucinating randomly. There's a reason in your data or architecture. Root causes beat random fixes. How to Start Next time something breaks: Resist the urge to immediately start fixing Ask: "What could actually cause this?" List 3-5 possible forces at play Investigate the most likely cause first This systematic approach catches issues faster and prevents the same bug from reappearing next sprint. Questions for other engineers: What's your debugging process? Do you map causes first or jump straight to solutions? And what's something you learned early in your career that still shapes how you debug today? I'm curious what experiences help people think differently about problems.

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The last two posts I shared here—both some variation of “Stop Writing Code”—did not land softly. The response was sharp. Defensive. Negative in ways that usually signal a nerve was hit. That reaction wasn’t surprising. Telling software engineers that typing code is no longer the core of their job sounds like heresy. It threatens identity, career paths, and a mental model many of us spent decades building. But discomfort doesn’t make the claim wrong—it usually means the ground is moving. This new post goes somewhere different. It’s not about productivity gains, async agents, or why AI writes better code faster than humans. It’s about something I’ve noticed while using these tools: AI can rearrange, recombine, and accelerate—but it cannot create ex nihilo. It cannot step outside its box. It cannot originate meaning. That creative spark—the ability to add something genuinely new to the world—remains uniquely human. And I don’t think that’s an accident. This post is about AI, creativity, and why the more powerful our tools become, the more clearly I see the divine fingerprint in human imagination itself. 👉 Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/e39ph7DW #ArtificialIntelligence #SoftwareEngineering #Creativity #FaithAndTechnology #HumanInTheLoop #SystemsThinking #AIReflection #EngineeringLeadership

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The $30K mistake senior engineers make every year Most senior software engineers aren’t under-skilled. They’re under-positioned. And that mistake quietly costs them $30K+ per year. Let me explain. If you’re operating at Senior level ($140K–$170K range), the jump to Staff / Principal often comes with a $20K–$40K increase in total compensation. But here’s the part no one says out loud: The gap between Senior and Staff is rarely about better code. It’s about perceived scope, visibility, and influence. The pattern I see repeatedly Strong engineer. Solid architecture decisions. Clean PRs. Reliable delivery. Mentors juniors. But… * They’re not shaping cross-team direction. * Their impact isn’t narrated upward. * Their manager isn’t advocating strategically. * Their name isn’t mentioned in exec calibration meetings. So when promo cycle hits? They’re told: “Keep doing what you’re doing.” “Maybe next cycle.” “Need broader impact.” Translation: You’re good, but you’re invisible at the level that matters. That “next cycle” costs you 6–12 months. Which costs you $20K–$40K. Not because you’re not ready. Because you weren’t positioned. The hidden financial leak. Let’s say: You delay promotion by 1 year. That’s $30K lost. Delay it 2 years? $60K. Most engineers will spend months optimizing performance, learning new frameworks, polishing system design… But spend zero time engineering perception. That’s like optimizing runtime while ignoring the production environment. Technical excellence doesn’t automatically propagate up the org chart. Visibility must be architected. And here’s the psychological trap. High performers assume: “If I just do great work, it will be recognized.” That works early career. It fails at Senior+. At higher levels, you’re evaluated on: * Strategic thinking * Cross-functional influence * Ambiguity reduction * Executive communication clarity If you’re still optimizing for output instead of leverage, you’re capping your compensation. I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m saying it because most strong engineers don’t realize the cost of waiting. If you’re heading into your next review cycle and you’re not intentionally positioning your scope and narrative, you’re likely repeating the same loop. And loops are expensive. If this resonates, I’m curious : Are you actively positioning for your next promotion… Or hoping this cycle will finally “just work”?

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In the early days of code bootcamps, hiring grads was hard because we didn’t really know what to do with them. The company I worked for established a code school -> QA Engineer -> SWE pipeline and had a ton of success both getting value and training people. In a world of AI enhanced engineers, I think we go back to that. Manual QA has never been more important or effective.

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unpopular opinion: recruiters shouldn't reach out to software engineers and say your experience aligns with what we are looking for, then take them through 5 interviews. And If you are senior enough no coding interview. Its such a waste of time.

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