Saying ‘I don’t know’ might be one of the hardest things in our industry — but a wrong answer costs far more than silence. Why embracing uncertainty makes you a better engineer and a more trustworthy colleague.

Developers at large companies often believe they’re solving harder technical problems than their startup counterparts. The reality? The technical challenges are often similar—it’s the politics and disengagement that make things complicated.

Best practices don’t age well. They emerge to solve specific problems, and when those problems fade, so should the dogma. So why do so many developers adopt techniques without asking what problem they were solving in the first place?

Many companies proudly claim ‘our teams decide’. But when autonomy comes without accountability, who owns the failures? A look at why this trendy management style often creates a new kind of dysfunction—and leaves managers in an impossible position.

Technical interviews have always felt artificial to me—puzzle-solving under pressure that reflects nothing about real work. After many interviews on both sides, I started wondering if there was a better way.