Resumé Driven Development - Your Career is In Your Hands

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1. 

   E1274 · 4 Nov 2025 · 35 min

   Part One - Bryan McCann, CTO of You.com, on AI, Engineering, Art, and Everything In Between

   Hey everyone and welcome to today's episode of Developer Tea. It's been quite a while since I've had a guest on the show. Today, I'm joined by Bryan McCann, CTO at you.com. We dive into a wide-ranging discussion, exploring the philosophical origins of his career—from studying meaning and language to working in very early AI research. This discussion is less advice-heavy and more focused on kind of theory and discussion. I hope this is insightful for you and helpful as you crystallize your own philosophies on these subjects.

2. 

   E1273 · 27 Oct 2025 · 18 min

   Going to War with Burnout - Less Hours Isn't Your Only Option

   I'm tackling a massive challenge today: burnout. While the standard advice usually involves working less, I want to show you a practical dimension of burnout you have more control over, focusing on increasing your agency and autonomy to manage chronic workplace stress more effectively. Burnout is classified by the ICD-11 as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

3. 

   E1272 · 17 Oct 2025 · 15 min

   The Good and Bad of Choosing Measurements - Traps and Opportunities of Measuring What Matters

   In this episode, I dive into the management mantra that "what is measured is managed" and explain why this simple assertion often leads to a complex trap. We discuss why the act of measuring team productivity is never neutral—it's an intervention that immediately changes behavior, often resulting in unintended consequences like gaming the metrics. We'll explore how to collaborate with your team to find measurements that truly drive desired behaviors.

4. 

   E1271 · 7 Oct 2025 · 18 min

   Engage in Deliberate Practice to Level Up Your Engineering Leadership Skills

   I want to dive into the concept of Deliberate Practice, which sets the greatest apart in fields ranging from sports to writing to engineering. I’ll explain why it’s much more than just repetition or experience, and why applying it to your career can lead to rapid improvement. Most importantly, I will provide concrete ways you can apply deliberate practice to level up your engineering and leadership skills, especially in areas that are traditionally difficult to practice, such as communication and strategic decision-making.

5. 

   E1270 · 2 Oct 2025 · 21 min

   Shift Your Locus of Control to Take Charge of Your Engineering Career

   This episode explores the concept of Locus of Control and why developing a more internal locus of control is beneficial for your career and life. You'll learn the difference between internal and external perspectives, why one is more useful than the other, and practical exercises to shift your mindset to believe you have more influence over the outcomes you care about.

6. 

   E1268 · 18 Sep 2025 · 16 min

   Forced and Unforced Errors

   In this episode, we introduce a simple yet powerful mental model from the world of sports: forced vs. unforced errors. By understanding this concept, you can shift your focus from things outside your control to the simple, foundational behaviours that truly define a successful career.

7. 

   E1267 · 14 Sep 2025 · 14 min

   View Your Productivity Through the Lens of Values and Priorities

   In this episode, we introduce two fundamental thought experiments to help you uncover your true priorities and core values. By exploring scenarios of scarcity and abundance, you'll learn to align your daily actions with what truly matters, leading to a more satisfied career and life.

8. 

   E1266 · 3 Sep 2025 · 14 min

   This One Skill Signifies Seniority For Software Engineers

   This episode explains what is arguably the best career advice you'll hear this week: the one skill that signifies seniority in software engineers is the ability to synthesise and optimise for multiple factors at once. Instead of focusing on a single factor, such as performance or maintainability, senior engineers identify and weigh the various trade-offs involved in any decision.

9. 

   E1265 · 27 Aug 2025 · 14 min

   Backup Plans and Risk Reward Curves

   This episode focuses on the critical importance of having a backup plan, not just for technical redundancies but especially for situations involving human error, which are highly prevalent in one's career. The core argument hinges on understanding risk and reward curves, highlighting the disproportionate impact of failures compared to incremental successes.

10. 

    E1264 · 22 Aug 2025 · 24 min

    Second Order Consequences and Forcing Functions

    Todays episode delves into understanding and leveraging second and third-order consequences – the ripple effects that occur after an initial action – and introduces forcing functions, which are an inverted way of thinking about these consequences, designed to drive desired outcomes by first determining "what must be true" for them to occur. The episode also connects these concepts to the importance of effective goal setting, explaining how well-defined goals provide clarity, focus, and a strategic framework for decision-making and career advancement.