DEV Community

Cover image for You need a manifesto
Craig Nicol (he/him)
Craig Nicol (he/him)

Posted on • Originally published at craignicol.wordpress.com on

2

You need a manifesto

My software engineers’ manifesto:

  1. We write software to solve problems, not to create them.
  2. We write software for everyone.
  3. Those who don’t write software have things we can learn from.
  4. Always leave the project better than you found it.
  5. Sometimes the best contribution you can make is not writing code.
  6. Sometimes the best contribution you can make is deleting code.
  7. Sometimes the best contribution you can make is by talking to someone.
  8. Software is inclusive. Women broke the Enigma code, and black women got us to the moon.
  9. If you don’t hate in 5 years what you’ve written today, you haven’t learned enough.
  10. If you don’t have compassion for whoever wrote that code 5 years ago, you haven’t learned enough.
  11. If anyone can’t use your software, that’s a bug. Prioritize accordingly.
  12. Overtime is a bug.
  13. Debug your processes with as much attention to detail as you debug your code.
  14. Asking for help is a sign of strength.
  15. Work with the best. Don’t lower your standards to only work with straight cis white men.
  16. Be pragmatic. Shipped code is far more useful than perfect code, but if you can have both, future you will thank you.

Inspired by: You Need A Manifesto https://pca.st/episode/33cb401f-a028-4de2-b20d-ec2c96f2b019

Image of Timescale

🚀 pgai Vectorizer: SQLAlchemy and LiteLLM Make Vector Search Simple

We built pgai Vectorizer to simplify embedding management for AI applications—without needing a separate database or complex infrastructure. Since launch, developers have created over 3,000 vectorizers on Timescale Cloud, with many more self-hosted.

Read full post →

Top comments (0)

Billboard image

The Next Generation Developer Platform

Coherence is the first Platform-as-a-Service you can control. Unlike "black-box" platforms that are opinionated about the infra you can deploy, Coherence is powered by CNC, the open-source IaC framework, which offers limitless customization.

Learn more